By: Kylee

I am writing of a problem at the west winds, Calgary RCSS.

i have mentioned this multiple times to managers, floor people, and head office.

it seems as if the real Canadian superstore does not care on bit about consumer health.

every time I walk into the store i must avoid the produce section. EVERYTHING IS MOLDY!

the “food” that is just discussing enough not to remain on the front display is put up for a 50% off deal .

this is a gigantic violation of consumer health and safety!!

By Dionsia

My husband and I had a very good experience with the store manager of Superstore at Bison Drive in Winnipeg. We encountered an ambiguity in interpreting the 25-item limit at the self checkout and we were publicly reprimanded by a shift manager. Consequently, we asked for a meeting with the store manager, Rod Hill. He first listened to us courteously on the phone, immediately understood our point of view, and then agreed to meet with us to discuss the matter further. During the meeting, he apologized on behalf of the store and assured us that he will take action so that we and other customers would not encounter a similar situation in the future. Interestingly, he opened our meeting by saying: “I’m here to listen”. Overall this is the kind of response one would hope to receive from the manager of any organization.

By itzakadoodle

Here’s my email to Ellen Roseman of the Toronto Star:

Hi Ellen,

I’ve followed your column and blog for years and have read some pretty unbelievable stories on poor customer service.

I’m not claiming to have the worst consumer story but being told I’m a piece of garbage by a customer service manager has to rank up there.

I went shopping at the Real Canadian Superstore (Don Mills location) today for about 2.5 hrs.

I’ve recently moved into a new apartment and need everything, from furniture, to applicances, to housewares, to bath items, cleaning products, etc.

The only possession I came to the new apt. with is my clothing.

So this weekend RCS was advertising that they would price match competitors lower priced identical items AND have a NO TAX event.

I figured I could save a lot of money by taking advantage of these promos.

I arrived at the store at 9am and went to the electronics department first, as I need a t.v. and dvd player, etc.

I spoke to a very nice young man named Muhammed who assisted me with some questions on the tv I planned on buying.

Because I drive a compact car, I asked him what time the store closed as I would have to come back with a family member’s pick-up truck to load the tv.

I bought a few things from that department and paid for them directly there. I’ll mention the receipt # for the benefit of RCS customer service department to verify my transaction and time I was in the store (trans id 2049. lane 34.)

I spent the next two hours picking up smaller items as I was leaving larger items for when I had the pick-up truck. I also made a list of everything I would be buying later, including a Christmas tree and all the decorations that I need for my little daughter and me.

When I got to the self check-out, I left the price match items for last and advised the customer service rep (Alex) that monitors the self check-outs of my price match items.

I bought some Dove shampoo and conditioner that were on sale at Pharma Plus for $2.99.

Alex refused to honour the price because the flyer mentioned “selected types”. I pointed out to him the pictures of the product in the flyer were identical to the items I was trying to buy. He still refused.

I mentioned that with such a policy to not honour prices if “selected types” is printed pretty much excludes any kind of price matching since the vast majority of manufacturers have multiple varieties of the same brand (flavour, scent, etc).

It would be nearly impossible to actually honour a price match unless the manufacturer only made one type of a product.

So he continued to refuse and I wasn’t about to argue with him.

I gave him a Canadian Tire flyer to price match a Vileda ProMist mop which I didn’t expect to encounter any price matching problems.

He refused again because he now claimed Canadian Tire’s regular price was $2 more than RCS regular price. I told him that’s irrelevant and of course retailers will not have identical prices on every item.

He then said the mop I had was different than the one in the picture and that he know there is a second type of ProMist.

I told him there is only one, and the picture is identical. (I checked the Vileda website tonight and they only have one ProMist mop)

He called for a price check.

No one came. He shouted out to another person, who refused to do the check because it wasn’t his department. He called again, and again.

I waited for about 10 minutes before someone from that department came over.

I don’t recall her name but she even told him it’s the identical item, and he tried to use his “logic” of different regular prices to support his case.

She decided to go see if there was another type being sold.

The whole event took so long and it was such a frustrating scenario to save $2 that I decided to leave the mop and the entire purchase (about $150 but that was a fraction of what I would’ve spent over the course of the weekend sale).

I walked over to the customer service counter to request to speak to a manager. As I waited there, the girl who did the price check approached with another man.

He gruffly asked to see my flyer (he had the mop with him) and I told him I wasn’t interested in buying it anylonger.

He said “fine”.

I said here’s the flyer if you want to see it for your own benefit. He shoved the flyer back at me saying, “I don’t need it.”

At that point I was somewhat taken back by his attitude and aggression in shoving the flyer at me.

He walked away.

I got tired of waiting (yet again) to speak to the CSR so I decided to leave the store.

As I was walking away, the same man came towards me and so I asked him what his title is.

He refused to tell me and asked what I want.

I told him I wanted his title.

He said he’s the Customer Service Manager.

I told him he didn’t act in a very customer service friendly way by shoving the flyer at me.

He started off accusing me of waving my arms in his face and that I threw the flyer at him.

As I told him I did not waive my arms in his face, he walked away from me and said, “You’re a piece of garbage!”

I said excuse me, and he repeated it.

I said “thanks for saying that” and walked away, with every intention of complaining to head office.

As I walked away, he continued to yell at me in front of customers, saying he’s “got my number” and trying to get me to come back to challenge him.

Ellen, I’m 5′7″ and 150lbs. I’m not a big man by any stretch of the imagination.

This manager was at least 6′7″ and well over 250lbs.

His “look” is one of intimidation.

I certainly did not waive my arms in front of him, did not “throw” my flyer at him, and I acted in a reasonable manner by walking away from his anger.

Obviously I’m shocked at his behaviour, especially given he’s a customer service manager.

The way I see it, he had many opportunities to rectify my unpleasant experience and try to retain me as a customer. He would’ve have first gone to the self-checkout expecting me to be there. He would’ve seen that I abandoned my purchase. Obviously Alex told him I walked over to the Customer Service Counter.

At that point he could’ve asked me if there was a reason I abandoned my purchase and what could he do to resolve it. Instead he chose to be indifferent at the lost sale and aggressive towards me. And at this point he hasn’t yet insulted me or tried to incite a physical altercation.

I’m hoping that the security cameras caught the whole interaction because they will see that I did not do the things he accused me of, they will see him shoving the flyer at me, they will see him walking away from me as I tried talking to him, and they will see his anger, aggression, and yelling at me as I left the store.

Ellen, I don’t think Mr. Weston would ever condone such behaviour from an employee.

It’s one thing to be having a “bad” day and maybe not be at your best, but to insult a customer, yell at him, and try to incite an altercation is beyond acceptable behaviour.

Please forward my complaint to a high level manager at RCS/Loblaws as the company needs to be aware of this person.

His name is William.

I do apologise for the lengthy email but I like to be detailed for the benefit of all.

BTW, I went to a competitor to purchase my tv. They offered to beat the RCS sale by 5%and gave me some freebies to make up for the “no tax” savings I would’ve received at RCS.

Needless to say, I’m not planning on doing any more shopping at RCS until this issue is resolved. They’ve lost out on at least $2000 in sales that I would’ve spent there this weekend alone.

Thank you for your time and effort.

By Unfairly company and bullshit

Wow so I just recently hired in there a month ago, then everything goes smoothly…A few minor mistakes that is not a big deal. My supervisor called me yesterday basically saying she’s letting me from the job. I asked her for what reason then she just said that its not in the standard something like that…with so many excuses shit like this….I asked her if she could be more specific then all she can say is not gonna work-out…I feel that the decision that have been made by supervisor and one of the store manager is likely unfair to me…I feel disappointed to what I realized cause they didn’t even discuss with me first or give me just diciplinary action if I have done something wrong because I know I never steal or made criminal action that could have been cause termination..one of the manager in there and I talked to him about it and he said that they can’t tell what is it the cause why I am terminate from the company…I mean really? I don’t have right to know why I am terminate? you just simply kick me for not giving me simply reason, all they give to me is a bunch of bullcrap, IS THIS HOW YOU TREAT YOUR EMPLOYEES without any just importance! .I am very aware of the rules, I am very aware of my job, I am very aware of law….I haven’t sleep since last night because I was thinking about what did I do wrong then I came in this morning and went to C.S hoping that I could find some answers about this, so the one of the manager was came to me and I was gonna shake hands to him and say good morning. he seems more unfriendly this time because he never want to shake hands with me he said “we already talk about this” so he walked away with me in the way out and he just said that “you may go now, the decision has been done”. I mean really…what a great manners from one of the manager in RCSS.

By Kevin

For the second time in two months I have gone to the Real Canadian Liquorstore in Signal hill (Calgary) to buy an item listed in a flyer. The flyer came out today for a promotion set to run for five days, but lo and behold the store had none of the item in stock. The clerk gave me a half-assed shrug and said they were unable to get any stock. Maybe tomorrow? This is phony and misleading advertising plain and simple. If you cannot get any stock, then do not advertise the product. I’m done with Real Canadian Superstore.

By Jay

A week back I order some print from the RCSS website, they send you an email to confirm your oder, a couple days later my order was in (or so the e-mail said) and off I trotted to the store.

When I got the store (at 8am) the lady at the photo counter asked if they called me, I said no and said that I recieved an email stating my order was ready for pick up, she told me that doesnt mean anything, I asked her to take a look for my prints which she did snarkly

She asked me what I ordered and I told her I ordered the sale item prints, before I finished she cut me off and said she had “no idea what the sale photos were.”

Then she just stood there with a glare, I was prety upset with her atittude and upset my prints werent in, I tried to smile at her and said forget it

I almost walked over to customer service but stopped myself.

I THEN recieved a phonecall an hour later saying my order was ready ……WHAT?

Im pretty upset with the customer service lately from RCSS and I personally wont be sending my photos to there deparment any longer, wondering if anyone else has had similiar experiences

By Lanny

I got my flyer from Real Canadian Superstore on Thursday January 27 for a sale starting Friday January 28. The 2 items that I wanted to purchase on sale were bulk cheese for 8.49 and frozen pizza for 4.97. Either my wife or I have been in there all 3 days since the sale started and have yet to see the cheese (empty shelves with little signs saying restock me) and the pizza choices are limited to 2 or 3 kinds as opposed to the 15 different varieties shown. When asked what is going on with these items, we have been given more excuses than a 6th grader who did not do his homework. Everything from sold out(that was day 1,2,and 3 of the sale)the stock is in the back and will be restocking shelves in the evening(this is at 10:30am Saturday) and the ever present standby excuse the trucks are late. I am a long haul trucker for a major company here in Canada. To satisfy my curiosity I called my dispatcher to ask how the highways are both east and west of Manitoba. All trucks with our company are on time and there are no delays. We are talking about upwards of 500 trucks. This leads me to believe that Superstore will not be putting have these items on the shelf while the price remains this low. They refuse to give out rain checks and will not substitute another item even though there are comparable sized (but higher priced) cheeses and pizzas now occupying the spot where these deep discounted items should be. This is not the first time I have encountered this problem with R.C.S.S. and I would go so far as to say it is being done on purpose. Get the people in the store with unbelievable low prices on one or two items, never have them in stock for the period of the sale and know that once we are in the store and have a cart half full of items we are going to follow through with our purchases. I know this letter is going to have zero effect because by the time anyone acts on it the sale will have come and gone with superstore pulling the same stunt just with different items and again the simple excuse of the trucks being late cannot be proved wrong. However any other grocery store that I shop at will have the decency to put their flyer on the front door with said items circled and explain that they are not available. Rain checks available at customer service. Superstore will not do this, they wait for you to find out for yourself, usually when you are half way through your shopping trip and too late to go any where else, so you purchase the higher priced item, grumble about it and then forget about it.

By Nipper

I recently visited Super Store in Thunder Bay , Ont. , I went to the pharmacy to try to order some accessories for my Pro Active TENS machine which I purchased from them and have ordered spare electro pads before . I wanted to get spare electro wires , they hummed and hawed , went to the back and finally came back and told me they could not order them for me and that I would have to order direct from the supplier and walked away , leaving me standing at the counter . What has happened to customer service???? I buy all my groceries and prescriptions from this store if this is the kind of service I will be getting I will shop elsewhere. I contacted the supplier told them what happened , they were really supprised and said they could have ordered no problem , they gave me the name of another supplier in Thunder Bay , which had them in stock . It seem like you have to much business to care about the small sales and look after your once loyal customer .

By Vanessa

I too am a loyal Superstore customer. In order to dispense contacts and glasses you have to be licensed in the field. Having researched before I purchased from Superstore Optical, I found there prices considerably lower for the exact same progressive lens from my Optometrists office. I have had nothing but excellent service from them and very knowledgeable staff.

By Lisa

I am so dissatisfied with the optical customer service at the Superstore optical. Joe the store manager is very unprofessional and doesn’t give you a date as when your glasses will be ready. I have been waiting over 1 1/2 weeks for my sons glasses and Joe has not idea when then should be in or if he even ordered them. I had to call the production compamy( where they get there glasses from) myself to see if my sons glasses were even ordered.. I would never go back to this optical place and would not reccomend it to any of my friends or family.

By Rob

Not too long ago,I approached the manager of Clareview superstore.I
wanted to point out that no name sour cream was priced cheaper in the
smaller container than the larger container.Right away i got the
fealing of being dismissed as a hassle rather than a helpfull
customer.Rod ..the manager told me the wharehouse may have excess
small containers.This didnt make sense to me as dairy products are
returned for credit.Rod totally brushed me off.His assistant manager
Rick was standing with him at the time.As I walked away.Rod said under
his breath.”brush your teeth”I heard him and asked him “What did you
say?I heard that”(I take anti depresants of wich a side affect is bad
breath)I am very concious of this so i pay extra attention to my oral
hygene.After confronting Rod.He went on a tirade about me intimidating
his employees and went on to say “I was banned from his store”I
remarked “I have a prescription at this pharmacy i would have to wait
another half hour for”I procee ded to the pharmacy and sat in a chair
waiting for my perscription.After I got it I went to go pay for the
items i had.On my way to the till rod and rick were in a spot standing
wich I had to walk past.Rod stopped me and said”he had gotten me
confused with another person who was intimidating his staff.”Going on
to say I was not banned from the store.And he was sorry for the
misunderstanding(never appologising for the brush your teeth
comment)On my very next trip to the same store…I was packing my
groceries when I heard a loud commotion with someone screaming “lets
go nigger”I told the cashier To take my money and groceries and put
them aside as I went to go help with the altercation taking
place.Outside the store fron doors was a group of rather small
security guards and Rod with his arms folded trying to get a native
gang member(the native fella proclaimed this)to exit the property.I am
larger 6 foot 2 250 pounds.I assesed the situation and determined i
should intervene.I approached the native fella when he said to me”What
are you going to be the hero?”I told him “Maybe there was somthing I
could do to help him?”And “whatever it was “I assured him “IT wasnt
worth it”The native fella started to leave and I noted the security
and Rod started back into the store.After I was sure the fella was
definatly leaving.I went back to my cashier where she had taken my
money and left the change and reciept nicely on my grocery bag.and
taken the time to move them to the side so she could help other
customers.As I left the store…Rod was standing between the double
doors of the exit.I commented to him”You never know when someone who
dosnt brush thier teeth is going to save you”His reply….A Howie
Mandel hand bump.Not even a thank you…….As far as
babysiting…Most 13 year old babysitters would be more helpfull and
diplomatic than the manager of this store.And as the sign says at the
customer service wall.”IT starts with me,Rod.Store manager”I wont even
get into the employees who have treated me as if My presence as a
shopper was painfull to deal with.However one particular employee does
come to mind.This employee also worked at the self check out line.It
is a shame that the almighty dollar is such a priority that staff are
asked to do so much more than the wage they are paid is worth.That
they become resentfull of the customer.And the customer is tested to
see how far they can be pushed to accept marginal quallity of products
and service.I will be searching for my local farmers this summer to
give him my business for meat and vegatables.And look forward to the
country welcome and service I know I will recieve.   

by Max

My daughter and I have been loyal customers of Superstore for year and used to really enjoy shopping there.

We were standing in the self check out line when a lady with a cart on the otherside formed her own line, I asked the Superstore worker who was standing there if there were 2 lines or 1, she snapped back at me that theres just one line, by this time the lady who formed her own line had gone to the check out stand and proceeded scanning her groceries, I told the superstore clerk that that lady had gone in front because she thought there was a line on the other side, the line I was in was about 20 people and we had waited 10 min at this point, I wasnt rude and I didnt raise my voice at all, the clerk then walked up to the lady pointed back to me and said, that lady wants you to take your groceries and go to the back of the line because you  budded infront of her, and then said, yeah shes one of those. I was appalled, I didnt know what to say, the clerk then came back to her area which is were I was standing and said to me, there happy now, you should be able to do things yourself, this isnt my job to babysit you people, then she turned around and started muttering about how I should have just told the lady myself and not stop her from doing her job, so I said excuse me, and she turned and looked at me but didnt say anything, then I said excuse me again and she started yelling at me about how this is not her job, I was shocked and my 11 year old daughter was frightened by this behavior. I went to customer service right away and got a Manager a pointed out who she was and told him what happened, I was very upset by this point and could hardly speak, his only concern was were my daughter was because as he told me, children get lost all the time in here. I know 1 or 2 people dont reflect the whole company but lets face it, you are a Manager in charge of making sure your customers are safe and not attacked.

by KathyN

I’ve never had trouble using printed coupons before until today…

The cashier called over to customer service, and this young man comes over and starts staying they cannot accept “PHOTOCOPY”, and when I said I got it off of their website, he says “Well then, you have to talk to them”.

Inside I was thinking, what have happened to “The customer is always right”?!?  He was rude and judgemental in accusing me of photocopying a coupon!

He could have simply said that they cannot accept the coupon…  And apparently RCSS doesn’t even accept cheques anymore — and companies like Ensure mail out cheques.  Soon we’ll have to take our business elsewhere!

by Lydia

I went to your Delta Superstore with a good intention.  I went to customer service with a bar of mozarella cheese that is moldy that I have purchased Jun 29/09 with a expiry date of nov 17/09.
I did not have my receipt with me.  I was hoping just to get the cheese replaced and tought not having  a receipt will matter and make you aware of the bad product I have bought for $3.00.

the response I got from cust. service is-  I have to take it back to the store where I  bought the cheese which is about 10-15 mins. drive. because they may have a problem with refrigeration and that they have no poroblem at their store, or that I may have left it in the car and cause the cheese to go bad.this is a $3.00 value of purchase.(I bought the cheese at your king george store), since we were at the delta store to look at the bbq we tought returning it will not make a diff. where you buy or purchase the item. then I asked for the manager cause the cust. serv. clerk did not look at my problem nor did not try to understand what I was trying to explain.  I asked for the manager and the manager’s response was - they don’t take back dairy products and more so not having a receipt that I have to take it back to the store where I have bought from.

My frustration is - I was not trying to return and get money back, I wanted the store to be aware that this is a 3 week old product that I have purchase, expiring in nov/09 and has turned really moldy with a cost of $3.00. and all I wanted was a replacement.  Driving to the originating store will cost more than replacing.

I felt no emphaty and no understanding from the clerk and the manager with what I was trying to convey.  Could have been just a simple make the customer happy for a $3.00 value of cheese.  !!!

In my frustration and rather than going into an argument and creating a scene.  I resulted in throwing away my cheese in the garbage.

I have been a long time customer of superstore. I have returned items with and with no receipts with values of more than $3.00.

by Biddie

I have been a customer of The Real Canadian Superstore since it opened in Alberta.  My son & I were in store # 1566 on July 9, 2009 & upon leaving the store my son was stopped by a gentleman at the exit door.  My son was taken back by this as we have never been stopped leaving one of your stores before.  I have to admit that my son is not subtle & develops a rude attitude very quickly so when he was asked to stop, he basically stated “What the f— for?”  The gentleman asked him for the receipt.  My son attempted to keep walking & he was again asked for the receipt.  At this point, my son yelled at me as I had already walked through the exit door.  I passed the receipt through the small opening left as the door was closing & then opened the door manually & went to stand beside the gentleman.  I did not hear what my son said but I’m sure that he was rude & the gentlemen looked at him & said “If you don’t like it, don’t come back”.  Even though I had not heard what my son had said, I definitely heard this gentleman tell my son not to come back.  When I challenged him on this statement & the way he was talking to my son he told me “If you don’t like it don’t come back”  At that point, I was infuriated at the lack of respect & customer relation skills of this gentleman so I took my receipt out of his hand & left the store.

On July 10, 2009 I returned to this store with my daughter to speak to the store manager regarding the incident the day before.  I was disgusted to find out that the gentleman that I had dealt with on July 9, 2009 was actually the store manager.   I attempted to speak to him about how he had treated my son & I the previous day.  As I started to speak, he interrupted me & told me that I did not hear the whole initial conversation with my son.  I then stated to him that I know how rude & obnoxious my son can be however, that did not give him the right to degrade & demean another human being.  I again attempted to speak with him to try & somehow resolve this or to at least receive some acknowledgment that the situation could have been dealt with in a more appropriate manner.  This gentleman attempted to take over the conversation & turn it all back over onto my son (who certainly is responsible for being rude) & would not let me speak.  I forcefully then asked him to stop talking & listen to what I had to say.  He then said he would listen but within less than a minute he was again interrupting me by talking about having a responsibility to his 400 staff & 5000 customers.  I let him know that I did not have a problem with loss prevention as I have worked for a major Canadian retailer as an inventory control supervisor & know how much money that can cost a company.  This gentleman still showed me no respect & would not listen.  I let him know that I was contacting Head Office & lodging a formal complaint against him.  His response was “Go ahead, I’ve had lots of complaints laid against me” as he walked away from me.  This situation was dealt with in front of the Assistant Manager & the staff at customer service.  It was very apparent that they were all embarrassed to be there & the Assistant Manager would not look at me at all.  As this gentleman walked away, I said “this is the disrespect I am talking about”.  He completely ignored me & waved his hand in the air as if to say “get lost” & kept right on walking.

At no point was there any acknowledgment that  he had been disrespectful, no attempt at any type of resolution, no apology & no assumption of responsibility for the role he played in this situation.  Furthermore, to be disrespectful to the same customer twice in 2 days is beyond belief.  this type of behavior.  If this gentleman treated me this way both times I had contact with him, I have to wonder how he manages his staff & what other customers have been offended by him. As I have managerial & supervisory experience I was absolutely appalled at this man’s behaviour.  As a manager you have an obligation to your staff to set an example & it is your responsibility to deal with complaints in an appropriate & respectful manner.  I guess I have to ask  “What kind of reputation does Loblaws/Mayfair Foods wish to portray to their customers?”

After my experiences over the last two days, I have decided that my grocery dollars will be better spent elsewhere.  I will not return to the Superstore for anything that I have always purchased there.  I will be transferring my husband’s prescriptions from your pharmacy as well.  My children are in support of me & will not be purchasing their groceries, gas, liquor or cigarettes from any of your stores either.  I would think that in times where people are pinching pennies & watching where they spend their money, retailers would ensure that their customers are treated with respect & that any complaints are dealt with in a reasonable & fair manner.  Where has the idea gone that without customers, retailers & their employees don’t have a job?

I have e-mailed a complaint to the customer service department in Ontario.  So I await their response