I’m writing this letter concerning an incident with Safeway (Seattle store @ 4011 S. 164TH St) which happened back in December. I know it’s been awhile and quite frankly I don’t expect anything to be resolved, especially a refund. I just need to get it out of my system.
Back in December of about a week before Christmas I submitted an online order for my mom and scheduled for it to be delivered on December 24th. I spent $161.18 for items meant for our Christmas day family gathering. One of the items was the medium Taste of Italy platter. A fairly important item. The items were delivered on the 24th as planned but the driver failed to deliver the platter. I found this out after speaking with my mom that same day. I called Safeway to inform them of the undelivered item. I was eventually told that they couldn’t get a hold of the driver. As a suggestion the rep informed me that they can deliver the platter on the next available day. I think that it would have been Sunday the 26th or maybe even Monday. Hello, the whole point of the platter being delivered “before” Christmas was to be there “for” Christmas. Excuse me but that was a fairly stupid thing to suggest. I suggested they contact a manager at the store to somehow have one delivered sometime that day. She said she couldn’t do that.
My mom lives within 3 miles of the store but doesn’t drive because of health reasons. As a small business owner I would have thought to show great customer service someone from the store, even the manager should have personally delivered the item. This small act of exceptional customer service would have made me a truly loyal Safeway customer.instead I’ll drive miles out of the way to shop or purchase gas somewhere else.
Checking my bank records I never did see a refund. Why did it take so long for me to follow up?
1) I’m a self-employed contractor. It’s typically slow around the holidays and with this slow economy, business just died after the New Year (still slow and just starting to pick up). I find that I’m busier when it’s slow, trying to drum up work. So unfortunately I didn’t pay attention.
2) The rep knew it was never delivered. You would think that she would automatically issue the refund after our phone discussion. Unfortunately we can’t depend on these companies being dependable. We have to check up on them.
3) I asked my mom several times through the months to review her account to see if Safeway possibly credited the refund to the card that she has on file for her home delivery.
This whole incident has left a very sour taste in my mouth. Okay, I know it’s just a platter. There are worse things that people deal with in this world. It’s the principle that matters. There just seems to no service in customer service anymore. Whatever happened to customer service? Why would a rep even think to suggest delivering an item, which is obviously meant for a special family day, to be delivered on another day? And she mentioned this more than once. Did she actually think that her suggestion would be a solution to the issue at hand? I still don’t understand her thinking to suggest a delivery on another day.
I called and spoke with a Safeway customer service rep a month or so ago concerning this issue. I was told that they don’t keep purchase records that long but she will see what she can find out and someone will call me back within a week or two. I never did receive a call. Unfortunately I wasn’t surprised.
My mom, not being able to drive, has this Safeway deliver her weekly groceries. Unfortunately there are no other grocery delivery services available in the area. I have looked because I just do not want to give Safeway any of our business.
Let’s look at the way it should have been.
1) Missed platter delivery.
2) Manager contacts driver. Can’t contact driver? Has an employee or he/she personally delivers the platter.
3) Safeway’s stock just went up tenfold in my book.
4) I do all of my food shopping at Safeway. I purchase gas for my family car and my business vehicles at Safeway.
Reality:
5) I lost about $50 (cost of platter)
6) Safeway lost approx $2000 of business from me. Not counting business lost to friends and associates I’ve told of the incident that seemed to have issues of their own concerning Safeway. This just reinforced their decision to not shop there.
That’s how it works in business.
Kris
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