H-E-B — Local services in Houston

I used to recommend HEB to all of my friends about how convenient it was and convinced a lot of them to try it out because I loved it so much and it's so great for people who work all the time and do not want to deal with the stress of going to the grocery store after a long day or weekend. I absolutely did not want to resort to an angry email or phone call but after giving HEB multiple times to redeem the situation, this is what I am now spending my time doing- causing another inconvenience. As I helped my HEB driver get my groceries out of her trunk, I asked her if the groceries in the backseat were mine as well because I could grab them and she stated they were not. I unloaded my groceries after a long day at work and started to meal prep my food (this was on Tuesday night). I quickly noticed a lot of my groceries were missing and I didn't have all of my ingredients to make dinner with. I looked at my past order and counted 10 missing items. A little annoyed- but people make mistakes so I just simply called HEB to try and resolve the situation. I was forwarded to a woman who was not very sympathetic and seemed annoyed with my situation and gave me the option of a refund for my missing items (which I did not take as I wanted my items to eat/cook with) or to come and pick my items up from the store (I was in the middle of cooking and I paid for delivery so opted out of this option as well). I finally just said they could be delivered the next business day and that was fine and she asked what time and I said 5PM is fine and I would be home by then. I received a text around 9PM that night stating my HEB curbside order would be ready tomorrow and was confused since I ordered delivery (I didn't know it was the same thing). I called HEB because I wanted to make sure they would be delivered and not expecting me for curbside. I called and was transferred to curbside and the phone rang and rang with no voicemail. I hung up and called again and was transferred with the same solution. I called one last time and the lady walked over to HEB curbside to get someone on the phone for me. The woman I spoke to confirmed again that my groceries would be delivered by 5PM the next day. Fast forward to Wednesday. I get home from work and 5PM rolls around and I don't have a text from my driver yet stating the groceries are on the way so I call HEB. The person I speak to lets me know they will be there between 5-6PM. Annoyed but again just trying to be patient I wait for 6PM to come around. 6PM rolls around and I still receive no call or text stating my groceries are on the way so I have to call HEB again (you would think someone would've called an already upset customer just with an update by now). The person I speak with says they're waiting on a driver and that I can reschedule if I need to. This is when I lose my patience a little and explain my entire situation and that I cannot wait around because I have volleyball that night at 7PM to go to. I said I would like some type of compensation for my trouble (something I don't think I've ever done but this is ridiculous by this point) and I inform the person on the other line that I will simply come and pick up my groceries the next day after work. It is now Thursday. Annoyed and fighting traffic in Houston I get to HEB curbside and someone delivers them to my car. 4 items still missing so he has to go back and get the other items. I then ask him if it was him I spoke with regarding my situation and about the compensation for the trouble. He tells me they can refund my delivery fee to me. No offense but a whole $7 refund (in 3-5 business days) for my inconvenience is a slap in the face and laughable. He then asks if I would like for his manager to call me the next day and I said I would love that please. I said I will be at work but if he can please leave me a voicemail I will gladly call him back when I get off at 4. Friday comes and I receive no call, no voicemail, no email, no word from HEB or any manager. It's been months and I have yet to receive a VM or the whole $7. I...

This H-E-B has great reviews written by customers but I haven't seen any by an employee so I've decide to write about my experience working at this location.

I've worked legally in 4 different countries, Brazil, Spain, England, and now the US. This H-E-B was my first and only work experience here in the United States. At this H-E-B I found the best superiors and leaders I've had in my whole work experience.

Shannon was my store director. She was my superior and leader. She's friendly, she understands the needs of the employees, she tried to get to know more about us, our family, etc. She gave me great opportunities. She promoted me to a full time position (with all the benefits that H-E-B provides for its team). During the Christmas season of 2017 (the busiest days) she allowed me to take vacations and go to Liverpool, UK to renew my wedding vows for my 10th wedding anniversary.

Because I was living at The Susanne apartments complex just across the road from H-E-B, I applied for the first position available: night stocker. The hardest job I've ever had. I had to take a lot of red bull and eat a lot of chocolate in order to stay awake. Mondrell Bacon was my supervisor. I never had any disagreement with him. Actually, he was a great supervisor, a kind man. As a married man, raising two teenagers, I could not keep that position any longer. I needed time for my family so I changed departments. Shannon, again, friendly and considerate, showed me the best option for me: Produce Department.

I applied for Produce. Robert Garza was my new supervisor there. Here I experienced more of the same: a friendly leader –there’s a huge difference between boss and leader-, a driven manager who understands my needs as an employee. Robert never told me “No”. He always tried to find the way to help not just me but the whole team. How can we say “No” back to Robert in his needs? In Produce, we are more than a team; we are a family. I felt supported by my co-works as I did by my leaders.

Because Robert and Shannon allowed me to, I could travel to Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago (Batman is my favorite Super hero), New York (where I felt at home), San Francisco (my favorite city in US because it reminds me of Barcelona a place that feels like home), New Orleans (my second favorite), Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin (I wish I could live there). I'm go to miss river tubing in Guadalupe river…

Nevertheless, my work visa has expired and I must to go on. Honestly and respectfully, I did not fit the American way of the life. As we say in the UK, America is not my “cup of tea”. I am leaving America because there are better places to live in. I am leaving America by choice. Despite my personal decision to return to Europe, H-E-B West Alabama and its team were the best part of the US for me. I never felt myself underestimated there. I was encouraged to give my best for my crew and for our costumers.

I really enjoyed to have been serving this community for more than 2 years. I enjoy offering customer service. Thank you for the good reviews that you, as our customers have written. Having been part of this team, receiving such reviews is already a great recommendation letter.

One last thing: if you go to Produce and the crew is stocking up the shelves –especially bananas-, please, respect their job. Don’t try to catch the newest banana from the box; don’t invade our little work space. Wait patiently. They won’t take long to restock the shelves. Your time is as valuable as theirs. There are people who go through a two hour commute to serve you guys. Please, be kind. Especially on Sundays, the busiest day of the week.

Thank you US. Thank you HEB. Thank you Shannon. Thank you Mondrell. Thank you Robert. Thank you Deedee (Human Resources) Thank...

Overall, it’s a great new feature that needs some tweaking, but I would still highly recommend it. Several of the items available in the actual store are not options to select to order online yet. They need to catalog more of their inventory. However, I would say at least 90% of the inventory is online to choose from, at least from my list of regular items.

Further, several items available on the website for my store were not actually available at the time my personal shopper picked out my groceries. This is because I was told the shopper picked my items out at 9:30am, and my order was set to be picked up at 1:30pm that afternoon. I ran in after I received my curbside and was able to buy about half of my missing items immediately. Having shoppers pick out my items closer to my arrival would solve that.

Just like when you go shopping for yourself, some items may not be in stock. However, if they are going to shop hours before a customer’s arrival, then they should double check right before pick up time and see if those missing items are now available. It’s a little odd to be told they are out of stock and then walk in and actually see the item on the shelf.

As for my produce. Most of it was great. Overall, I gave my produce selection 9/10. They picked out great bananas, avocados, and blueberries for me just to name a few. I wrote notes about how I wanted the produce and they followed them. The only bad produce I received was my green onions which were terrible. They were either selected carelessly or selected at 930am and went yellow and limp at room temp and without water for hours. However, those just cost a dollar, so it could have been worse.

I chose “no substitutions” because I am very particular about what I want. If you are also particular, I would make sure to uncheck the box allowing for substitutions as well when you are ordering online. I imagine in the notes for the item you could specifically state which brand/substitution would be acceptable to you, but I didn’t even risk that.

I love, however, that once I put the time into building my standard grocery list online, it’ll just be a few clicks here and there to reorder my groceries. Easy to add to the list and take away from the list as needed. And for $5, this feature is truly a time saver after your first big grocery list creation. I would recommend anyone to give it a couple tries, learn the features, and hopefully...