I was standing in line at the supermarket today and overheard the woman in front of me talking to a manager about a recalled item. The woman was trying to figure out how she could be compensated when she didn’t have a receipt and had thrown the item away. The manager was sympathetic but couldn’t give her a refund without anything to document the purchase. I suggested that the woman call the manufacturer to let them know that she had bought the recalled item but couldn’t get a refund and ask them to send replacement coupons. She was pleased that I had given her a solution to the problem—one that she hadn’t considered.
When there is a problem with an item purchased at a supermarket, there is usually a way to resolve it:
Wegman’s chocolate cakes are the BEST!. There was a short period of time when they weren’t carrying the small ones. So we tried the vanilla version. While I’m sure that many people like it, we hated it. Wegman’s isn’t around the corner and we weren’t going back for another few weeks. I didn’t want to keep a perishable item for a couple of weeks, but I kept the receipt. When I returned a few weeks later, Customer Service understood that we didn’t like the cake and that it wasn’t reasonable to keep this perishable item for a few weeks. They issued a store credit for the $9 cost.
You should be reimbursed for problem products, and there usually is a way to do that. And it's a good idea to let manufacturers and vendors know when there is a problem. If they’re alerted to the problem and see a trend, they can take steps to fix it.
AS ALWAYS, THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX AND SPEAK UP.
