The Chamber of Commerce urges us to, "Shop Port First". Instead of us all driving off to the big box retailers or the mall, we're supposed to support out local merchants. Hey, I run PortWashington.com so I get it.
However, some of the stores around town treat their customers like dirt. Most do a fine job but a few have made me pretty angry recently. So angry in fact, that I'm breaking a self imposed rule to avoid using the site (and this blog) to dump on the businesses that get me ticked off. So, here goes.
The first inductees into the Merchant Hall of Shame are the BP gas station on Port Blvd. and King Kullen.
The guy behind the counter at the BP station was on the phone with tech support trying to fix his cash register or lotto machine when I walked in. Did he acknowledge my presence? No. Did he tell me how long he was going to be working on his problem? No. Did he apologize for making me wait? Nope. Did he totally ignore me for minutes while I stood there? Yep. So, I walked out. All it would have taken was one quick sentence to let me know if I should wait but apparently that's a little too much effort. No more gas at BP for me.
My wife and I usually go to Stop and Shop. However, we happened to be at Payless Shoes, and needed some milk, so we bought a gallon at King Kullen. The milk was sour when I opened it; way beyond drinkable despite not being past its Sell By Date. To my mind that means it was not refrigerated properly. My wife took it back the next day for a refund. We've returned things to Stop and Shop occasionally and have never had the slightest problem. The surly woman behind the "Courtesy" counter at King Kullen decided somewhere along the line that customers are to be treated as criminals. First she said the milk look like water (accusing us of drinking the milk and refilling the container). Then she said that they didn't sell that brand (but my wife had the receipt). She then dropped a big ledger book on the counter, without explanation, and turned around to continue her conversation with a co-worker. My wife had to ask what she was supposed to do. After filling out some information, my wife was finally given her refund (all of $3.80). Of course there was no apology for inconveniencing us. No more shopping at King Kullen for us.
Port is a small town. People talk. I run a nice web site that gets lots of hits and is the number one Google listing when you search for "Port Washington". I'm angry and I don't care who knows it.
So congratulations to BP and King Kullen for providing terrible customer service and making it in to the Merchant Hall of Shame.
