H Mart — Attraction in San Diego

We have been a fan of H Mart on Mira Mesa since its grand opening, but our very negative experience there about two weeks ago just changed our heart completely; I would give maximum number of negative stars if I could.

What happened was I used a 100 dollar bill (withdraw from Bank of America ATM) for payment, and it got scanned with their small electronic device and was flagged as a fake; then, they scanned it through several different machines of the same type as the first one and declared it as a fake dollar bill; I requested them to use the traditional method of the pen, and they refused to do it. Then, they really tried to confisticate my 100 dollar bill WITHOUT giving any types of documentation back to me as proof that the bill was fake; I demanded a document in return or just give me back the 100 dollar bill, so I could take it to the bank for verification and get my money, but they still refused to give me a document or the bill back with the statement that they have the right to confisticate the “fake” dollar bill without giving me any documentation.

After a very lengthy debate with them (involving higher ups of the store, how many I am not sure because the seem-to-be leader there made the phone calls and interact as a middleman), I made a very strong point that if they take away my property (the 100 dollar bill) without giving me any types of documentations is the definition of robbery, and I would call the police if necessary; finally, after about 30 minutes, they decided to give the 100 dollar bill back to me. And the whole debate happened right in the walkway between the cash register and the seem-to-be leader’s cubicle and in front of other customers checking out, and even some of them asked and wondered why the store tried to take my money without giving something back for me to work with the bank. I think they tried to put me in a shameful situation, so that I would decide to walk away without fighting.

I went to the Bank of America to verify the 100 dollar bill, and it was declared as the real 100 dollar bill, NOT a fake; I explained what happened to the bank teller, and he was very surprise and just couldn’t believe that happened; he told me that the store had no right whatsoever to confisticate my 100 dollar bill without giving anything back of the same value in exchange, and he thought maybe the store tried to take that dollar bill to the bank, but the store had to trade me an equivalent value if that...

Nice store. Clean. Customer service helpful. But the store needs to work on their layout. (1) Kimchi should be in the middle or back of the store, not near the entrance. Who wants to carry kimchi throughout the store? It'll warm up and go bad by the time you get to the cashier. (2) The natto should be near the other frozen foods, not near the entrance. First not many people eat natto. Second, like kimchi, who wants to carry around natto throughout the store. It'll defrost and and go bad by the time you get to the cashier. (3) The ramen should be closer to the produce, near the front. Ramen don't go bad. People know what ramen they want before the walk in the store. It shouldn't be hidden in the back where it's hard to find. (4) All canned tuna should be in one place. This store has American tuna in one place and the Korean tuna on the opposite side of the store. I almost walked out thinking they didn't have the tuna I wanted. (5) All rice should be in one place. I was looking for a particular brand of rice. They had the 15 lb near the produce and the 10 lb on the opposite side of the store. As I said, the store is nice and clean. They need to work on better placing product in appropriate locations like other H Marts. I'll still return, because I don't want to drive farther to the...

I am very pleased that we have a Korean supermarket in the area. And so, regarding the products, I have no complaint. The personnel who stock products in the aisles are very polite & helpful, but many times, they do not read Korean & many of the products are from Korea - so they are unable to answer translation questions about text on the products. The H Mart employees who do speak and read Korean should be courteous and helpful when approached by customers about product descriptions in Korean. Recently, when I needed assistance reading product labels for a product, I was directed to speak to an H Mart employee who could read Korean. The employee was standing at the front talking to another employee. The H Mart employee initially tried to avoid answering my question. Then, when I insisted, he followed me to the product aisle and in a raised argumentative voice, insisted that there were no differences among the products. H Mart Management, please train your employees who speak Korean to be courteous when asked to translate Korean product descriptions by customers. When I passed him a moment later, he appeared to be standing in front again with a co-worker laughing - I do not know what these 2 workers are supposed to be doing but one of them needs customer...