It's only three cents...

I needed to go to the store and since we might get bad weather, I stopped at the store closer to my work. One of the items I added to my cart was vine-ripened tomatoes. They looked good and they were on sale if I used my Dillon's plus card. I *always* use my Dillon's plus card.

I got all my shopping completed and waited my turn to check out. The clerk (Denise) was in training but she was doing a pretty good job. It was horrendously busy in there and she was not being flustered at all. But, she put the wrong code in so the tomatoes rang up as scallions (with a total price of $3.89). She couldn't get it to reverse so she had to call the manager over to have an override.

The weight of the tomatoes going in was 1.30 pounds; the weight of the credit was 1.29 pounds - a difference of three cents. I told the manager that I was being charged $3.89 but he had only credited $3.86. His response - it's ok; it's only three cents. My response - yes, but I'm paying you three cents more than you're crediting me back. He said he just put in the credit for the amount and the weight so maybe the weight was off on one or the other. Yes, I say - but I've been charged more than you're taking back off. I didn't buy scallions; I bought tomatoes. I should be credited with the correct amount and not an incorrect amount.

He walked away! I could not believe it. This was a MANAGER!!

I just looked at the clerk and the sacker and said I was certainly glad the difference wasn't a couple of dollars. They just stood there, not saying anything. I asked them again - yes, it's only three cents and I'm not trying to make a big deal of three cents but did they understand what I was even saying??? The manager should have had the smarts to realize that if $3.89 was charged and the credit showed -$3.86, there was something wrong. In essence, I paid for the clerk's finger on the sack because when he did the credit, she was standing away from the register. It's only three cents to me, but how many other customers pay for a finger resting on the produce or some such thing? Three cents charged to me, times XX number of customers a day, could be a really tidy profit for the store.

The more I thought about it, the more irritated I've become. The guy should have stood there until he figured out why the thing was off – or manually put in another credit. If it had been off the other way, I would have said – hey, you gave me back too much money. It's only three cents, but it's the principle of it.

On top of that - the clerk AGAIN charged me for her finger because the tomatoes when she re-weighed them came up as 1.30 pound. Why when it's a charge, it's more weight than when it's a credit???

If this is an example of how this store operates, I'll be sure to take my business elsewhere. I realize they were busy (but it was tapering off - nearly 7:00 pm - so he had the time to figure out why it was off and should have had the level of customer service to have done so). I am very disappointed that I was having to explain math to him and he still wasn't getting it. And, to walk away when an issue is not resolved to the customer's satisfaction is highly unprofessional.

I sent this letter to the district office. The money isn't an issue as much as getting an apology would be. I want the assurance that clerks won't rest their hands on produce bags while they're weighing something and the assurance that the manager will be taught how to fix an overcharge so the amount of the credit is the same as the overcharge.