By Derek Neighbors, Published on August 21, 2011
I have never really have had a bad experience at Target, but then again I rarely shop there. That is until tonight. Normally, I highlight people that are doing great service like QT or companies that have great service, but maybe had a bad day like Discount Tire.
This one however takes the cake. I needed to return something to Target and asked my wife if she wanted to join me. She was excited as she mentioned they had advertised “matching ads” so she could do her grocery shopping while we were there. We do this regularly at Walmart with no problems. I have been trying to avoid Walmart (which means more driving to each individual store), so she was happy to shop Target.
The return went fine. Shopping went fine. We got to the clerk who didn’t know how to Ad Match (no worries, new employee and new service). When he called the supervisor she stated that they only honored stores that didn’t have a customer card. This pretty much rules out any store with an ad. She then mentioned Albertson’s was okay because they recently discontinued their card. My wife was willing to comply and have them take back half the groceries she had just collected. However, she didn’t have the Alberston’s ad. Unlike other ad matching stores Target doesn’t have them available. I finally put my foot down and told them to cancel the order and I wanted to talk to a manager while the young man rung up a game I was buying for the kids. The supervisor walked away refusing to get a manager.
The clerk was soooo apologetic and was utterly embarrassed. I reassured him several times he did fine and he was not the problem. On the way out of the store my wife showed me the sign. “NOW MATCHING ADS” (or similar) with fine print that says “ALL local-stores (except target.com). See Service Desk”. No fucking mention of ONLY STORES WITHOUT LOYALTY CARDS. At this point I was now irate. If they had spelled out the exception I would have been mad (at my wife for not reading), but now I felt they had lied.
When I got home I called the store and asked to speak with a manager. The manager came on and I asked to talk to the store manager. They said they were a manager. I again told them I did not want the on shift manager, that I wanted the store manager. They stated he was not in. I asked for his name and they refused. Yes. They FUCKING refused. I asked when he would be working next and they refused that as well. At this point I was livid. Is this SO common with this organization that they are afraid to let people talk to their bosses?
Apparently so. I am not the only that thinks Target Sucks. Even their employees hate them.
Update
I got the following response from Target I assume from a web form I filled out. Kudos to responding in a timely manner. Sad that customer reps can’t use their last name or give a better way to carry the conversation forward with them.
Dear Derek Neighbors,
I’m sorry your recent trip to our Queen Creek Target store didn’t meet your expectations.
We’re always looking for ways to improve your shopping experience. Hearing about your experience with the team members at this store is important to us. I’ve documented your thoughts and comments, as well as your comments about our Low Price Promise, which will be shared with our Store Operations team for further review. It’s just one way we can keep working to provide you with the experience you’ve come to expect at Target.
We appreciate your feedback because it helps make Target even better.
Sincerely,
Kyle Target Guest Relations
www.target.com
(800) 440-0680