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Whole Foods and a holiday customer experience
What happened at Whole Foods when the checkout computers went down:
There was no storewide announcement of the problem, or its consequence. Cashiers simply told customers there was a computer glitch, bagged their groceries, wished them a happy holiday and a safe drive, and sent them on their way.
Hall estimated that up to $4,000 in groceries were given away before the computers began working again.
She said Donoghue did not consult headquarters before making his decision and said she has heard no negative feedback from the top brass.
"They just totally trust us to do what is right for our customers," she said.
A year or so ago, I picked up a pretty pricey candle at Whole Foods. When I got to the register, the candle's price wasn't listed in the computer. The checkout person, knowing full well how expensive those candles are, said, "Eh, let's charge you $2.99 for this," and rang it up. No waiting for a price check--just an immediate choice to charge me a nominal amount and send me on my way. We pay for that type of service at Whole Foods, but I'm still pretty impressed.
Here's and opposite story: 2 weeks ago my daughter had a virus and my wife sent me up to the drug store for some medical relief. It so happens that at an intersection a mile from my house are 2 such establishments: Walgreen's and CVS. I opted for Walgreen's. After grabbing my necessities and an impulse buy, I proceeded to the check-out to discover that their registers were down. They said that they could be back in 30 seconds or 30 minutes; there was no way to know. I waited for 5 minutes with my $6 in items, when my annoyance overtook my patience. I just left my stuff at the register and proceeded across the street to CVS where I was done and could see that the same people were still waiting at Walgreen's. I wish Walgreen's could have taken the hint from Whole Foods.
Last year at the holidays I did all my Thanksgiving food shopping at Whole Foods for a dinner I was having. I belive I bought about $350.00 in groceries and it filled about 5 bags. Since my Whole Foods is on the scond floor of a building with escalators I decided to use their complimentary drive-through bag pick-up.
I live about 10 miles from the store and when I got home I found they had put someone elses groceries in my car.
I immediatly called the store and they aplogized, sent a taxi with the correct groceries, picked up the other bags and had comped me for the full price of the bill.
That's amazing service and I did not have to ask or get angry.
Yesterday I went to buy a 40 pound bag of dog food at the PetSmart near my work. I put the bag on the belt and waited a few minutes. The cashier told me I was not supposed to put my bag on the belt: I said I'll try to remember that next time; she persisted. She pointed out a worn sign asking me not to put my bag on the belt. I got mad and said to myself, self, I shall not shop at PetSmart again.
Wasn't it WholeFoods CEO who was accused to recommending the company's stock in a blog site or someplace and he did it without revealing his identity and relation to wholefoods.
Last May, I took my friend visiting from Japan to Whole foods,...she had a digital camera and took a photo of the bakery items...and the guy working behind the counter told us to stop taking the photos!, you're not allowed to take photos, in a confrontational tone..
What an asshole he was.