Raley's — Local services in Grass Valley

I ordered my birthday cake in advance. I was not able to celebrate until the day after. I took the cake out and everyone sang Happy Birthday (of course) but as I was taking the candles out, I noticed the cake was wrong. It was chocolate :( I was so upset we jumped in the car and headed straight for Raley's.

When I arrived, I was extremely upset. I had to wait 5 minutes before someone acknowledged me. When I explained what happen, the person waiting on me apologized profusely. I ordered a white cake with whipped cream icing. I received a chocolate cake with butter cream icing. I told the lady that I knew it was butter cream because the colors are too perfect. The colors run a little with whipped cream icing. They lady agreed that the cake was definitely not what was order.

The manager on duty came over and did the same, apologizing profusely. They took my order again and made certain it was accurate. They even asked someone different to prepare my cake.

I asked them to cut open the cake I brought back because I was curious what was on the inside. Now I know that chocolate starts with "C" and white with "W" so it's confusing how the person who made the cake got that wrong. I mean if it was a carrot, ok I might would attempt to understand but this??! That person was not caring about their work.

Well, I went back the next day to get my "correct" cake and I asked the person who gave me the cake was the icing whipped cream. Her response, she didn't know. I bet she was the one who messed up my order in the first place.

When, I got home, I got a call from the manager who helped me the night before. She said she was hoping she could be there when I got the cake and asked did it look correct. I told her I did stick a knife in just to check and it looked correct. I thanked her for taking the time to follow-up with me.

Long story, it was a great cake (not just because I got it free) and the customer service was well beyond what I expected. 2 thumbs up to the ladies who made sure I had a great...

All the plastic produce bags fell apart at the bottom today when I shopped. My lemons fell to the floor. A woman next to me was having the same problem and had pulled off a 1/2 dozen bags that also broke. I pointed this out to a worker standing in the aisle (after saying 3 times "excuse me") who was talking to a friend in another aisle. His response was, "that is too bad". He did not offer to pick them up and just kept talking to his friend. In another aisle a woman was using a tie to close the bottom of a bag.

The clerk at check out was very helpful. The add for Monday said that bacon was on sale in the deli for $5 per pound. In the case marked deli meat I put 2 packages in my cart. When I got to the check out the checker said that I had to go to the meat department. Since I will be having knee surgery in a few days I just could not walk back that far. She sent the bagger to get some for me from the meat dept. The bacon was the very same already packaged in the meat deli section. Thanks to the clerks good customer service it only took 2 minute and I was on my way.

I have been shopping at this Raley's for over 30 years, but the last few months many products have disappeared from the shelves, fewer brand choices and some items out of stock. Also, every time I shop items have been moved from one aisle to another and signage does not always help. Potato chips are given one whole aisle and jellies and jams have about 8 feet of shelf space. Columbus meats are carried in the deli but no longer can I get Italian Dry Salami. Of course it is in the packaged deli meat section at twice the price of the deli where I could get exactly how...

I'm really surprised at all the negative reviews I'm seeing. I've been shopping at 3 grocery stores in GV since moving up (again) over 20 years ago. Each serve a purpose for me. I started shopping at Raley's when I transferred to their pharmacy years ago. The store is clean, relatively well-organized (except the supplement aisle), and the staff is (mostly) friendly and helpful, though it seems like morale has gone down in the last year.

The pharmacy wait time at its busiest is far and away less than CVS and I appreciate that they stay open so late. The pharmacy techs are friendly and helpful, especially Grace. The ones who aren't are replaced pretty quickly, I've noticed.

As far as it being "overpriced", last year I threw a gathering. I went to Safeway in Brunswick first and about fell over at how expensive a bag of chicken was. The same bag at Raley's was, I kid you not, $8 less. As with any store, you have to make choices and shop around. If you use their Something Extra discount program (especially the $5 Monday sales) regularly, the money you spend adds up in points, which can then be applied to a shopping bill later.

All that being said, I avoid the sushi there because the quality has taken a tumble ever since they started making it in-house. I think it used to be made by Suzy-Q's and it was delish. I used to LOVE their sandwiches, but now I only get one if the woman I call the Sandwich Queen is there. My other comment would be that I don't think that customer comments reach the staff. I'd given kudos to the Sandwich Queen at one point and had asked her about it the next time I came in and she said she hadn't heard...