Monday, October 20, 2008

Food Lion Drama

Act One:
 Lorena, being ever so frugal, is at home checking out the weekly specials at the different grocery stores. She compares the specials to the coupons that she has to see if any of them match.  She knows this is the way to get the best deals.  Discovering that Food Lion will have the Michelina and Lean Gourmet on sale over the weekend for 77 cents each and knowing that she has four 'one dollar off every five' that you buy coupons (two for Michelina and two for Lean Gourmet), she decides this would be a great deal since it would make them only 57 cents a piece.

Act Two:
   One the way home from the zoo on Friday, Lorena stops at Food Lion. She runs in quickly to get a few of the things that she knows are on sale and that she has coupons to match.  She is excited about the 12 pack Cottonelle that she got on sale for $4.99 and also the 75 cents off coupon making them only $4.24 a piece.  Add to this diapers and a few other things. But she is mostly excited about the Michelina and Lean Gourmet that she buys.  20 to be exact, because she knows that they are on sale for 77 cents a piece.  After purchasing her items and returning to the car, she is reviewing her receipt on the way home (don't worry, husband is driving) and realizes that the Michelinas rang up for 77 cents, but the Lean Gourmets rang up at $1.69. Frustrated at missing this while they were being rung up and then second guessing whether or not they were really on sale, she quickly runs to the computer on her arrival home to check.  Yes, the online ad says that Michelina and Lean Gourmet are both on sale.  She prints out the ad and tucks it, along with the receipt, in a safe place for her next return visit to the store.

Act Three:
    Early Monday afternoon Lorena heads back to Food Lion for a few things, both kids in tow.  She heads into the store and patiently waits for someone to show up at the Customer Service Desk.  When the lady arrives, Lorena nicely explains to her that what she paid for the Lean Gourmet did not match what was advertised in the online ad.  The lady goes and confers with a couple of other coworkers.  They discuss the issue and the lady returns with the store ad showing that only the Michelina were on sale not the Lean Gourmet.  Lorena shows her again where the online ad shows as you scroll the mouse over the Michelina that both Michelina and Budget Gourmet are on sale. The lady points to the bottom of the page on the store ad where it says they are not responsible for typographical errors.  Therefore there is nothing that they can do. It is an error from the corporate office and they are not responsible for it at the store level. She calls over both of the other coworkers who try to explain the same thing to Lorena and they tell her that the only thing that she can do is go home and bring back the Lean Gourmet and they would be happy to exchange for the Michelina at the 77 cent price.  Lorena is not very happy since she would have to spend quite a bit in gas to go home, get the meals and bring them back, not to mention that it is not an easy task to get two little ones in and out of the car a multiple amount of times.  Lorena gets very frustrated at this point, and as they are saying "I am very sorry" to her (which she doesn't exactly believe), she departs the store without making any purchases and considering never returning there again.  She proceeds to Walmart where she purchases the items she needs.

Act Four:
    Lorena comes home and writes a nice email to the corporate office explaining the whole situation.  At the present time, she is anxiously awaiting the reply to see how the story will end.


2 comments:

Allison said...

let me know if you don't hear back from FL corporate. i got a peep on the inside there.

Anonymous said...

yeah, i am not a fan of the food lion either... that one that used to be at the bottom of Academy ruined it for them.