Kroger — Local services in Irmo

Though I have been a loyal Kroger shopper in the different states I've resided, the Irmo Kroger by far is the most frustrating and dishonest location I have visited. During each of my last four visits, without fail none of their advertised digital deals or Buy More Save More sales go through at the register in a single transaction. Today alone, Kroger's dozen eggs were advertised for $1.49 each; Oral B toothbrushes for $0.99 each; red onions for $1.49 a pound; and navel oranges for $0.99 each. They rang up as $2.69, $2.69, $1.59, and $1.19 each, respectively. In other words, 4 out of my 24 items rang up wrong, a completely unreasonable rate of "error" on Kroger's part. Each time the erroneous price came up, I had to call the self-checkout attendant for assistance with a price override, delaying even further what should have been a swift, smooth checkout experience.

On the subject of my experience with the self-checkout attendants, Madelyn and Ashley were easy to flag down but, frustratingly, would not complete their task at my register before hopping to another self-checkout customer waving for help. I would be left standing with a screen still stuck on their employee login pinpad, while they helped four other people behind me.

When I raised my frustrations over the poor customer service and the habitually dishonest pricing with the store manager, Jacki, she was defensive and unapologetic. She found various speculative excuses for the attendants' behavior and, more importantly, did not offer any apology for the pricing problems. Though she openly admitted that she knows about the BMSM and digital deals not going through, and stated she had personally done price overrides twice before on the eggs, her overall response was hands-off. When I also pointed out that one of the products I had been planning to purchase was only $7.99 last week and today is now $16.99--an astronomical inflation of 212%, as opposed to the CPI's reported inflation rate of 4%--her reaction was nonchalant.

As a final piece of feedback, I told Jacki that their competitors--Publix, Food Lion, ShopRite, Aldi, etc.--have price promise policies, by which they make any undue pricing error experiences right for customers by giving the item free. Such policies are in place to monetarily incentivize companies from top-down to be honest and accurate with their product pricing. Jacki was once again unreceptive, arguing that customers would "take advantage" of such a policy. Such a response demonstrates that she is mistrustful of customers but could care less about those customers' perception of Kroger's integrity. Jacki should realize that by insisting on their current pricing practices and refusing to change or improve, she is complicit with this theft of customers' hard-earned money.

My advice to other customers is not to be lured into this Kroger by the promise of special deals. The exorbitant amount of time it takes to go through the pricing errors and corrections, as well as the lassez-faire attitude of the store manager, are not worth your effort or gas. Value your time and money, and go support more honest grocery stores...

This was one of the best grocery runs I have ever experienced! First, I was wondering if I should treat myself to a coffee when Witt told me about their happy hour; 50% off my coffee!!! [SCORE!!!] Second, everything we needed was fresh, organized, reasonably priced, and/or on sale. Finally, when I thought we would spend 20 minutes waiting in line, I asked the cashier a few lanes down if she was still open. Even though her light was off, she was kind enough to help me check out but I was to be her last customer. We had everything on the conveyor belt, and two more carts began to form a line behind me. I turned to them to explain she was trying to finish her shift to clock out, but the couple behind me seemed rather upset by this. Kendra explained she had finished her shift, just as I had just told them, but added that they were welcome to stay and she would take care of them. They seemed as if they would stay put for a moment, but got angry when she looked around to see who might be available to open another register. (This wasn't done out of malice, with an attitude, or rude remarks. But, genuine concern for the customers who would be waiting in the only open lane) Despite Kendra's dedication to happy customers, the man grumbled as the couple CHOSE to leave and fall in line at the express lane. I thanked Kendra for helping me check out quickly with my kids, and apologized for making it seem like she was still open. She smiled and said I had nothing to worry about. It is, also, worth mentioning that I was the one to tell those behind me that the lane was closed because she was working and hadn't yet seen them. On top of all this, she kept her cool and was never rude; I found this to show remarkable strength of character on her part since, the man lost his the moment I mentioned the lane was closed. His ego wasn't being indulged in an "appropriate" manner so, he then tried to be intimidating by asking if so and so was working because this inconvenience to him was ridiculous; he knew so and so personally and he would definitely speak with his friend about the matter. So, I wanted to say thank you Kendra for your kindness to my family and the grace you exhibited while this man threw a tantrum. God bless anyone who has ever worked in retail of any kind, and thank you Kroger for recognizing the kindness within this woman who wanted to continue helping customers even if it meant...

I have been shopping at this particular Kroger location since 2008. The prices and the deals are great, but the customer service, cleanliness, availability of product has deteriorated greatly.

I use the natural foods section a lot, and many, many spots are gaping. This area could be a huge boon for Kroger since there is no natural foods store in Irmo, but it seems understaffed and is never well stocked. Daiya, milk alternatives, meat substitutes, and other specialty products will have a space on the shelf with a price tag but the space will be entirely empty. This has been going on for months now, and I have gone elsewhere for these products because Kroger has become entirely unreliable.

The Frozen department is always in disarray, and is also frequently out of products, particularly frozen fruits.

I went into the store two months ago and someone who I assume is a front end supervisor of some kind was screaming at the baggers and other cashiers across the checkout lines. This happened again a few weeks later, and is completely unprofessional. Hearing raised voices completely destroys the customer service experience.

Recently, it seems that a lot of the aisles have been cleared of tables promoting particular brands, which is good, because it was far too crowded navigating the store. I hope this trend continues, and they start making the store more open and less cluttered.

The produce section also seems to be low on product, particularly organic produce, and sometimes even when they do have it, it is not in optimal condition.

Also, it is 100% inexcusable that a company with profits as high as Kroger is incapable of having enough baggers for EVERY open checkout line, but this problem is not unique to this particular Kroger. I imagine it's difficult to retain competent staff, and I doubt Kroger offers a rate of pay or benefits that would make anyone want to stay.

The only department that is consistently well organized, well stocked, has good service, and never has empty spaces is the meat department, so kudos to the people managing and running that particular department.

Shopping at Kroger has become frustrating and unpleasant, and I have taken my business to Publix. I give two stars because the prices are good, and when items ARE there, they are the best deals...