H-E-B — Local services in Castroville

I have been a loyal customer of HEB Alamo Ranch for many years, but am giving it one star because of its dangerous new locking carts.

I was pushing my cart alongside the sidewalk that runs west between the store and Alamo Parkway, towards my car which is parked at least 50 yards within HEB property limits, when suddenly without warning the wheels of my cart locked. Apparently this is a new feature to prevent some kind of rampant cart theft!

So here I am stranded with a full cart of groceries, on the side of the road at night. There was no warning sign, no one out there to help me, and cars are whizzing by as they always do. I have two choices: 1) try to push the cart with the locked wheels, risking physical injury, or 2) leave my cart unattended hoping that it doesn't get hit by a car in the dark or that my groceries are not stolen, go back into the store to get a new cart, load the groceries from one cart to another in the middle of the road, and hope that the second cart does not also lock and that I don't get hit by a car during the process.

HEB Alamo Ranch manager: I sincerely doubt that you are losing that many carts to theft, and you need to consider whether the cost of a lawsuit for medical or property damages is worth that loss. I would like to propose the following remedies:

dismantle the locking carts. if not willing to dismantle, at least extend the distance range of the locking feature to Alamo Parkway so that customers can get to their cars safely. implement a safe pedestrian crosswalk on that side of the store if you want customers to push carts on the other side of that road instead of alongside the sidewalk. at the very least, put up a warning sign: stop! no carts beyond this point!

Until this issue is publicly addressed on this website and is resolved, I will maintain my 1-star rating and will take my business to another HEB location (such as Bandera) or...

Great store location only thing I miss desperately are the days when someone would help you carry out. It would be nice there were all at least a few employees that were available to help carry out and load. I was by myself shopping with a very few basket and I ended up having to walk to the other side of the parking lot after bagging my own groceries. I grew up working for HEB so I don't mind taking care of my own groceries and bagging them myself but what makes it hard is when the cashier is difficult to hear doesn't give me a total and then rushes me along before I know I have all my bags. Then no one told me the other door had closed Yes I know it was probably announced but still I was parked handicapped and that didn't help me much when I had to walk clear across the parking lot. I felt rushed and I did forget something so I had to go back inside and purchase something else when I did this I went through the expressway which was still on the other side of the store from where I had to exit so I did quite a bit of walking even though I shouldn't be both times with no help The second time I had a basket I was carrying that I could barely left but no one helped me out I asked if there was a basket available and I was told no. I remember when I worked at HEB it was required to help someone you didn't even ask if they needed help out. Unfortunately that's not the case anymore I felt as if I was bothering the express checkout crew and holding up the first cashier who told me she was ready for me to pay several times but gave me no total I wasn't able to get to my card right away because I was trying to rebag my groceries my chips were in with the cleaning products. I love this store grew up with it when the scholarship the whole bit but tonight I was very disappointed in the...

I ordered groceries online and went to the store to pick them up. An HEB employee comes out to the car and puts them in the car for you. I ordered multiple cleaning chemicals in bags with loose tops that they put in my backseat instead of on the floorboard or back of the vehicle. Since there are a lot of bags it is difficult to know what is in which bag as they are piled on each other. 2 of the bottles had the lid unscrewed and dumped all over and into my backseat staining and discoloring the seat material, and damaging food. The items like bread and damagables were stacked underneath heavy items.

They were nice at handing us chicken and some items up front to keep away from spilling but gives a false sense of care when other items are placed incorrectly or have the lids open. They use a single bag for a single items that don't need to be bagged separately and group items together that shouldn't be frequently. This has happened multiple times during visits and have to say something now.

Lastly, they use an enormous amount of bags for no reason and it's so wasteful. Things are not double bagged like they should be and many many items are a single item to a single bag which is baffling. 79 bags with over half in single bags. Why is this? This location should save the cost of all the wasted extra bags and use that to train employees on how to properly bag items and placement in a vehicle. If they can't, they should stop offering curbside pickup. It defeats the purpose of it ruins your car or food with chemicals mixing due to improper handling.

They are all incredibly nice though. The customer service experience is light years above other grocery chains but they are lacking in the...