Meijer not matching all competitors' ads

[Dyllan]

I just sent a letter to Meijer via planetfeedback.com. If you have a Meijer store in your area, you might be interested in reading it:

To: Meijer, Inc.

I was at Meijer (Cincinnati, Ohio, Eastgate store) on Tuesday, June 12th. As usual, I had brought ads from numerous other stores for purposes of ad matching. Meijer promises to match "all competitors' ads." Before shopping I read over their disclaimer to make sure none of the ads I planned to use were disqualified. Nothing in the disclaimer even remotely applied to my situation.

When I reached the checkout, I was told they would not match the ad I had brought from CVS because the sale price was on a store coupon. It was not a cents off coupon, but a coupon that said "this item costs this much." We all know how these drug store coupons work. They are in the ad at the door, and sometimes copies of them are sitting by the product. The coupons are merely a gimmic to make you think you're getting a special deal that not everyone else is getting, but anyone can walk in and pick up the ad they are printed in.

I was told that they would match the store coupon price, but would not allow me to use manufacturer's coupons with it. I had used competitors' ads, and even coupons in those ads with manufacturer's coupons before. I had also used Meijer store coupons with manufacturers' coupons before and had no problem. This new restriction applied to a few of the items I was purchasing. I checked out without the items, then went to talk to the person at the service desk about it.

At the service desk, I was told that they would not match the CVS store coupon at all. I wanted to speak to the manager about it as I had been told two different things by two different people, and neither matched what I had been told or what had been done in the past, but with the delay this situation had already caused I was going to be about 15 minutes late getting home for dinner, so I left.

This morning (Thursday, June 14th), I called the store and spoke to the manager. He told me that they do not and have never matched coupons in the ads of other stores. He tried to explain to me that a coupon in an ad was not an advertised price, and thus they would not match it. I asked him a few questions and talked to him for a while about it, but I still do not understand why a coupon in an ad is not an advertised price. By any definition I understand, an advertised price would be a price that is put in their ad, which this is.

I told the manager that he needed to include this in the disclaimer under the "We match all competitors' ad prices" signs. However, it was clear he was simply trying to get rid of me at that point and would not be considering my suggestion.

I have wasted hours at the Eastgate Meijer store and on the phone with their store manager, and have left completely unsatisfied. I will not be returning there since I can no longer get the best prices by bringing in competitor's ads. Both Kroger and biggs are closer to my home and have always taken care of my problems with courtesy. Something that the Meijer store manager, at least, lost towards the end of our conversation.

I ask that, at the very least, if you are to limit what ads you match, that you outline that in the offer so that other customers do not have to go through what I have.

And I warn customers of Meijer, or at least the Eastgate Meijer in Cincinnati, Ohio, that the competitors' ad matching is not the offer they claim, and talking to the managers will produce no positive results. If you wish to find the best deals, do not limit yourself to shopping at Meijer with competitors' ads.

Thank you for taking the time to read my letter. I hope you can respond soon, and I trust that you will prove more reasonable and courteous than those at the Eastgate Meijer store have.

From:
John G.
Cincinnati, OH

[barbaralarry]

Thanks for the warning post. I shop 4 grocery stores each week, after making a print out of the sale items I want. I have never done the Meijer Competitive Pricing with the ads... I thought it more trouble than just driving to each store. I dont like the idea of having to carry all the papers in with me and then hold up the line while I search through them for the ads (3 kids with me).

I do alot of grocery shopping, and doing it your way might save time (not sure), but it seems too hard for me. Meijer is also the farthest grocery store from my home. We're in Ohio also, next time I go to Meijer I will ask about the circumstance you were in to see how this store would handle it. If I find out anything, I'll post you back! :-)

[luckyme123]

Well we don't have that store here.
But I do price matching at K-mart and Walmart often.
Those 2 stores do not match competors "coupon" prices.

[SkyeJaz]

Has anyone ever received a response from a company using Planetfeedback? I've written several letters (both good and bad) and have not even received ONE response...ToysRUs, Sense of Serenity, Nationwide, Walmart, Kmart...etc., they ALL have ignored me...hmmmm...just curious as to what experiences everyone has had with PF.

[luckyme123]

YES. Planetfeedback can work sometimes, it depends on how the company values your complaint, I guess.

Reflect.com responded almost immediatelyand quickly offered to fix my problem when I complained thru PlanetfeedBack.

But MileSource did not respond when I complained thru planetfeedback.

[Dyllan]

I've had great luck with PlanetFeedback. Though Meijer just sent me a form letter via email saying they were sorry (it was an obvious form letter and didn't address my letter at all), other businesses have given good responses.

I wrote to Wendy's about a local store that has horrendous customer service and cleanliness issues (I won't go into details, but I would never eat anything from that restaurant), and they wrote back via snail mail apologizing and telling me they would send the regional manager out to check out the location.

I also wrote to Golden Corral. I had a bad experience there, though not nearly so bad as the one I had at Wendy's. They sent me $20 in gift certificates to make up for it.

So I can assure you the site works, but not all companies are as responsive as we'd wish.

[bestmidwest]

I grew up near the very first Meijer, and they used to be ok. But when I went back to visit my mom and dad in Michigan, mom took me to the new "flagship" store they had built in Greenville, and I was appalled. They are so overpriced that you would have to be a Rockefeller to shop there, and the staff is less than courteous. Their prices on most "everyday" grocery products were at least double what I pay for the exact same thing in Chicago, and the income levels in that area of MI are about 1/2 what they are here....my advice, shop anywhere else you can.

[patsyk]

The big sign in front of our MI Meijer store says ALL in capital letter. They have a table in front of the checkouts with all the local competitors ads. Yet, when I took one ad up to customer service to get the advertised price on bananas, they said they don't match weighed items!!@!!

I think their big sign should read:

We match SOME competitors prices!!!!!!!!!!!

[barbaralarry]

The Meijer in Newark, OH doesnt match produce prices either... they explained that its because some stores get special deals on produce at different times, so they would lose money if they did that.

The whole point of my using their flyer for matching prices is so that I dont have to visit more than one store.

Doesnt work for me....

[Smishbear]

Meijer price matches products. There is even a big sign at the customer service desk at the MI store that says what is and is not price matched - grocery items included. If you have a coupon from another store why would they take it? That would be like me walking into Kroger with my Meijer coupons and expecting them to accept them. They can't send those into a manufacturer or their corporate office and be reimbursed for that coupon. That's how they work. It's a business as well. They don't like to just give away money.

~A Meijer supporter~

[katlnhats]

I agree with the above post and we don't even have one of those stores here in CT, but the stores we do have, won't accept competitors coupons, as they're stuck for the lost money. Makes no sense to accept them, and if they did before, it might have been a new cashier that didn't know....
Also, a coupon from another store isn't considered an advertised special, those are the ones that you can get more than one in the Ad itself.

Produce also makes sense at least here, as we have fruit and veggie markets that nobody can beat, also farmers markets. They'd lose money on every produce item they sold. Just my opinion.
Kat

[cattlekid]

My local Meijer stores here in the Chicago suburbs (I have two in my town) do not price match on ANY grocery items. They used to price match on everything and I never had any problem when that was the case (a couple of years ago now).

Personally, I stopped shopping at Meijer because of their poor quality of produce. I prefer one-stop grocery shopping so I switched to Jewel. Better quality produce and if I shop with their ad and use coupons, I feel that prices are competitve to Meijer.

[katlnhats]

Hi,
I love one-stop shopping too. And the store I choose to shop at is one that's been here for a long time and they have good sales, that I can use manufacturers coupons that they double so I make out ok. With the price of gas, though it's gone down (for now), running from store to store, is a waste of time and gas.

Kat

[prizoteus]

I work at Meijer in Columbus, Ohio (If you happen to shop at the one on Cleveland Avenue, then you might see me, I'm apparently the 'nice cashier'), and I do have to agree with the points above.

That being said, I feel the need to clarify a few things about ad-matching.

For clarification's sake (at Cleveland Avenue Meijer, anyway), we:

1)Match local competitors' ads within the same-scale (Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger, Giant Eagle, etc)
2) We don't match produce prices. Ever. Regular grocery prices and GM prices can be matched.
3) We actually do price match ourselves. I've done it once or twice before. People from, let's say, Michigan come in with Meijer ads (which are virtually identical to ours, except prices and taxes and location information), and we'll match them.
4)We do match Meijer-brand grocery items against our competitors' brand items (like milk, cereal, etc-- again, except produce)
5)Very rarely do we honor competitor coupons (like Kroger's Catalina (checkout) coupons-- up until very recently, they used the same kind we did, except we had red-rimmed coupons and theirs were blue). This isn't so much of a set in stone policy, but rather if the manager-in-charge is in a good mood or if you have a new cashier. We do take non-catalina coupons from competitors, provided there are no special limitations on the coupon (example: This Coupon Only Good at 2258 Broad Street or Good only at Cleveland Avenue Kroger)