Popular Hudson Valley Grocer Illegally Charges Clueless Customers
So what do you do when you notice that you have been charged for something that you shouldn't have been? You double check, right? You make sure that you are not in the wrong and that for some reason, that this isn't what you were supposed to have been charged.
I went to a different Stop & Shop, Route 9, South Road, Poughkeepsie, than I normally do, for my grocery shopping and thought that it was just a normal day, when I looked at my receipt and see a bottle deposit for some drinks that I bought. I thought, wild, I never noticed that they had deposit on them. What a jerk I must be, not bringing them back to the store, and tossing the bottles in the recycling. So, I checked the bottles.
Interesting that the bottles don't say that there is New York State bottle deposit on them. I start doing the math, over two transactions at this store, I had spent 80 cents on bottle deposits that I could never get back. Right? If I put this bottle into a machine to get the 5 cents, there is no obligation to give me 5 cents back. How much money had other people been charged? Did anyone even notice the error?
So I made a trip to the store and asked at the customer service counter about the charge. To be honest, I was expecting to just be handed the 80 cents and be on my day, not what happened.
The customer service reps told me that they had no control over it and that I had to pay the deposit. I asked about the whole, if I try to put this bottle in the machine, that I would not get 5 cents back, etc. Still, said no control over it, have to pay it. A second person confirmed this. Then they called a grocery manager who said, yep had to pay it. They stress that the had nothing to do with the deposit.
Everyone suggested that I call the Glacieu company (Coca-Cola) to ask them about it.
I even pointed out that this cannot be the case, because the Hyde Park Stop and Shop and the Highland Hannaford, two other places that I purchase these items do not charge me a bottle deposit when I purchase this brand of water. Are they sure that there isn't some sort of a 'thing' that could be happening with the programing of the computers at this particular store?
I asked if anyone else had brought this to their attention, they said nope. I said, you realize you are charging people for something that they are never going to get back, right? They completely agreed that it didn't make any sense whatsoever, but that is they way it is and that I had to pay it.
If you have receipts, check them. See if you have been illegally charged this deposit fee on any item that you don't need to pay it on.
Whomever the reps were talking to on the phone, I was told it was the Grocery Manager told them to give me the 80 cents this time, but that they would not do it for me in the future, because they 'had no control over it.' It was suggested again that I contact the beverage company.
There was an associate who came toward the end of the conversation, who asked what was going on and if she could help. When the situation was explained, she suggested that it could be on "the file" for the store and that they would look at it the next day, when that particular manager was back in the store.
Will this ever get rectified? Will people simply continue to be incorrectly charged money that they can never get back?
I have reached out to Stop and Shop for comment.