PROVIDING AWARENESS FOR THE CONSUMERS OF SUFFOLK COUNTY NY
"In Unity There is Strength"
Place of Occurrence: Shop-Rite #801 1905 Sunrise Highway Bay Shore NY:
12/23/08 9:19PM-The Suffolk county business identified above scored a big ZERO for customer service. The assistant manager was on duty. A customer service employee opened up a previously closed checkout lane. Did they take the NEXT customer in line from one of the adjacent checkouts? A BIG NO! Instead what happened next was that the employee simply announced, "Lane 6 is now open!" This brought a rush of shoppers who had just gotten on the ends of other lines and as a result they checked out ahead of those who were still patiently waiting their turn! A complaint to the assistant manager brought a response of, "Well you have to speak to the store manager, but he's not here right now. He'll be in tomorrow at 7 AM." So I waited until "tomorrow," which was today (12/24/08) and I called at 9:00 AM. I explained to the store manager, in full, what had happened on the previous evening. His response? "Well, that just happens sometimes!" THAT TYPE OF RESPONSE IS NOT ACCEPTABLE! It shouldn't happen at all! This serves as AN EXAMPLE OF POOR CUSTOMER REGARD from an indifferent store manager who, judging by his answer, apparently couldn't have cared less! Perhaps if it is noticed by management that a lesser number of customers are seen to be shopping there the level of customer care and respect will increase!
12/08/09 10:14 AM- On a recent trip to the store it was discovered that chicken breasts were priced higher than they should have been.
The labels on the packaging of the chicken breasts show the price per pound of the bird, the total weight of the chicken breast and the total price which is the total weight multiplied by the price per pound. We found that the three breasts which we picked out were marked with a weight, on the average, 8 ounces higher than the actual weight of the breast. Of course this then resulted in a higher price being printed on the label than there should have been and the inflated price being charged by the store! The actual weight of each breast was determined by using the digital "customer scale" inside the store. We complained about this and the price of the chicken breasts was reduced at the checkout. We don't know if the remaining chicken breasts in the refrigerated poultry case were also price adjusted! Good thing there was a digital "customer scale" there so we could check the weight precisely!
Well guess what! Today 12/09/09 we discovered that, according to a assistant manager at the store, there no longer is a digital "customer scale" in the store! Instead we were directed to the produce aisle to use the hanging analog scales to determine the weight of our selected chicken breasts. You may be familiar with the produce scales. They hang from a hook and have an analog face with a pointer which rotates around the face of the scale and provides the approximate weight of whatever you have placed in the tray which hangs from the "chains" which support it. However, we have yet to find an analog hanging scale which is accurate to a degree of hundredths of a pound or anywhere near that, and moreover we have yet to find a hanging scale where the pointer even points anywhere close to the "zero" as it should when the tray is completely empty!
We really don't know what to make of the disappearance of the digital "customer scale!" It mysteriously vanished right after the chicken breast incident. Could it be that they don't want us to know what the poultry or meats actually weigh? Hmmmm!
Update as of 12/14/09- There now is a "customer scale" on the counter in front of the Butcher's Station. When we complained about the lack of a scale on 12/08/09 apparently it had some impact upon the store!
When shopping at Shop-Rite, as well as any other supermarket use the "customer scale," which, by law, has to be provided for you so that you can be be sure that you are not being "short-weighted!" After all it's YOUR money!
On December 19 2009 we purchased a chicken breast at the Buonadonna Bay Shore Shop-Rite. The product weight sticker indicated that the weight of the product was 4.63 pounds. The price per pound was $1.49 so the label price of the product was $6.90
We got it home and then we weighed it on our own precision and professional "deli" digital scale, which weighs in units of 1/100th of a pound and is certified accurate by the Suffolk County Department of Weights and Measures. We found that the weight of the chicken breast was far less than indicated on the weight/price label affixed to the chicken breast! On our scale the chicken breast weighed in at only 2.24 pounds. THIS IS OUTRIGHT CONSUMER FRAUD! Of course, once you have cooked and consumed such an item it's too late to complain about being defrauded!
This is NOT the first time that this has happened to us at Shop-Rite in Bay Shore!
Unfortunately most consumers have too little time to verify the weight of the item and just hurry to the checkout and, trusting the label on the product, pay whatever the label shows!
Shop-Rite makes an unwarranted and illegal profit because of poor souls like them! To be fair however, we want to state, for the record, that Shop-Rite claims that they do not place the weight/price stickers on the product and that the supplier of the product is responsible for that. According to the Suffolk County Division of Consumer Affairs, Shop-Rite is still responsible for ascertaining that the label affixed to the product displays the correct weight, unit price and total price according to the weight shown! It is their representation and responsibility to the consumer that the weight and pricing information is correct!
A written complaint has been made to the Suffolk County Department of Consumer Affairs/ Weights and Measures Division. We'll let you know the outcome! We are keeping the chicken breast in our freezer to preserve it as evidence of the blatant rip-off!
When in the Bay Shore Buonadonna Shop-Rite, if you shop there at all, BEFORE YOU HEAD TO THE CHECKOUT WEIGH EVERYTHING WHICH YOU INTEND TO PURCHASE FROM THE MEAT & PRODUCE DEPARTMENTS!
Today, January 15 2010, we went into Shop-Rite to speak to a manager regarding the overpricing of the chicken breast. The manager offered to refund only the price of the product. They're just not getting off that easy! We are still going to hold out until Consumer Affairs investigates this illegal practice of theirs! We'll update you when the investigation is undertaken! We want to be compensated for the illegal and immoral practice of theirs which is overcharging the consumer!
If a consumer went into their store and attempted to switch labels on two of the same item so that they could get the higher priced items(s) at a lower price and if they were caught doing this don't you think that Shop-Rite management would seek to prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law? Darn right they would! But when they overcharge for the items they sell and rip you off and then they get "caught" they merely and sheepishly offer to refund only your purchase price to get off the hook, well, they're not going to get away that easily!
Today is Friday January 22 2010
We just received a telephone call from Shop-Rite Corp. in New Jersey. The Caller I.D. showed that it was Wakefern Foods calling but it's still Shop-Rite.
An offer was made to settle this matter regarding the mis-labeling and short-weighting of the chicken breast.
The offer is to refund the money paid for the underweight and overpriced bird along with a complimentary gift card to use at Shop-Rite.
We would truly like to know how many folks are following this story and how they feel about not only this story but about the entire website which, after all, exists to provide information to the people of Suffolk County regarding the businesses which operate here! So if you have the time to send out a short and quick e-mail we'd really appreciate that!
We thank you in advance!
Today is Friday 01/29/10- Yesterday we returned the chicken breast to Shop-Rite. This was done only after we received a Shop-Rite "gift card" in the mail. The value of the gift card is $25.00 We obtained a refund of $6.90 for the chicken breast. The matter is now closed and it is to our satisfaction. However, we still maintain that any retailer selling to the public should verify that the weight of any item, which is sold by weight, should check the weight label to be sure that the public is receiving the correct weight of the product.
For illustration purposes, pictures are available for viewing by clicking the link:
Click
for
pictures
01/26/11-
You know, it might almost seems as though we have nothing else to do but to pick on Shop-Rite, especially their store in Bay Shore NY. However, the reason for this is that the Bay Shore store is close to our home and this is the only Shop-Rite we ever patronize and they just seem to always have the tendency to shirk their responsibility to the public for providing the intended value for the money spent at their store.
So what brings us to write today?
Well, last week they had boneless chicken breasts on sale at $1.99 a pound.
There was no brand name on the package which leads us to believe that cartons of the chicken breasts came packed in bulk and the store personnel then repackaged them onto foam trays, about five to six boneless breasts on a tray, and then weighed them and priced them.
We purchased a tray and took it home. We cooked the breasts that night. Actually we baked them in the oven in an aluminum pan. All we placed in the baking pan was the chicken breasts on top of a thin layer of Canola oil spray!
During the baking process we checked upon them several times. The aluminum pan we used was now HALF-FILLED with water! The boneless chicken breasts were now swimming! We DID NOT add any water prior to placing the pan into the oven so in essence the chicken breasts were apparently injected with a goodly amount of water prior to being offered for sale. Now we are not stating or implying that Shop-Rite injected them with water BUT, we are stating that the QUALITY CONTROL at Shop-Rite stinks! Why aren't those chicken breasts first test-cooked in their QUALITY CONTROL test kitchens BEFORE they are foisted upon an unsuspecting public? Seems that maybe no one at Shop-Rite cares enough to do do this! Hmmm, maybe they just don't have QUALITY CONTROL on their agenda!
So if you buy
this product you're getting ripped off paying $1.99 a pound for
boneless chicken breasts with injected water! We here at
don't
think that the public deserves to be treated in this manner!
So we wrote to Shop-Rite. We'll let you know what the outcome is! ******(See below!)
If the outcome is not favorable to us we will issue a formal complaint to the Suffolk County Department of Consumer Affairs! We'll let the agents at consumer affairs discover this rip-off aimed at the consumer! We will also keep this incident posted right here indefinitely for all to see. Consumers in Bay Shore NY have a right to know!
Meanwhile take our advice and DO NOT purchase "generic" boneless chicken breasts pre-injected with water at Shop-Rite! They (Shop-Rite) are guilty of failure to properly utilize quality control practices and thus for selling water-logged boneless chicken breasts to the public! You're supposed to be paying only for chicken without "added water" inflating the price!
One more thing....we still haven't heard anything from Shop-Rite from the very day we visited their website and posted our complaint. That day was SUNDAY January 26, 2011 No matter how they portray their degree of "consumer-responsiveness" it's really just lip service! They really don't want complaints from the public which shops and spends their hard-earned money there!
AND FINALLY! This
website exists to benefit the consumers of SUFFOLK COUNTY NEW YORK. THE NEXT
TIME YOU SHOP AT SHOP-RITE OF BAY SHORE NY SEEK OUT THE STORE MANAGER AND TELL
THE MANAGER THAT YOU VISIT THIS WEBSITE AND ARE GUIDED IN YOUR CHOICE OF MERCHANTS BY WHAT WE
PUBLISH IN
a
Power to the
consumer! If Shop-Rite store managers know that we are a UNITED
FORCE, THAT WE HAVE THE POWER EITHER TO SHOP THERE OR MAKE A DIFFERENT CHOICE IN
OUR SUPERMARKET SHOPPING EXPERIENCE THEY WILL NEVER SEEK TO
DEFRAUD US! FURTHER, THIS INFORMATION WILL TRAVEL ALL THE WAY UP THE LADDER TO THE
Shop-Rite CORPORATE OFFICES! IT'S IN YOUR HANDS! TELL THEM THAT YOUR SHOPPING
CHOICES ARE GUIDED BY
AND THAT
STANDS READY TO EXPOSE, HERE
ON THIS WEBSITE, ANY IMPROPER, ILLEGAL AND UNFAIR PRACTICES PERPETRATED BY
Shop-Rite AGAINST SUFFOLK COUNTY CONSUMERS! LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU
AND WE BOTH SERIOUSLY MEAN BUSINESS AND THAT OUR CHOICES TO SHOP THERE
OR SOMEWHERE ELSE WILL BE REFLECTED IN THEIR STORE REVENUES!
IF YOU, AS A CONSUMER HAVE HAD ISSUES WITH Shop-Rite OF BAY SHORE NY, WE'D LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT THEM. PLEASE USE THE E-MAIL ADDRESS BELOW TO COMMUNICATE THEM TO US!
******We have received the following, on Wednesday February 9 2011, from Shop-Rite:
We received the above letter with two gift cards (pictured above) totaling $15.00
The purchase price of the chicken breasts was between $7.00 and $8.00
We consider the matter to be settled satisfactorily in that we not only received what constitutes a full refund of the purchase price of the product but actually more than the purchase amount!
We salute Shop-Rite for their attention to this problem and their generosity!
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