Tony's Fresh Market — Local services in Joliet

For starts if I had the choice I would leave 0 stars and this is NOT a spur of the moment review either and I've given ample time for a response before I posted this. I love to leave positive reviews and do so all the time. Alternatively I have no problem leaving bad reviews when deserved and in my opinion, this is one that is "well-deserved."

On Sunday April 27th, 2025 I called and spoke to someone at the customer service counter regarding a concern I had about a product I purchased on April 19th. As I was preparing to eat the contents I noticed the meat did not look right and seemed very aged looking. I then looked at the date on the printed deli label and it stated it was packed on March 5th and to be sold by March 15th. I'm a little shocked at myself for not noticing the expired date in the first place as I'm usually a lot more perceptive about expiration dates and such.

I explained to the customer service rep that I didn't have my receipt anymore and as asked, I gave her the last 4 digits of the card I used, the date and the total of the purchase. She did find the transaction and confirmed the gyro deli kit in question was on the receipt but a refund couldn't be issued without a receipt.

As I stated with her, the purchase price was not going to “put me in the poor house” and being in retail myself, I understand returns, receipts and refunds policies. I wasn't looking for a refund but an exchange for another gyro kit that wasn't over 30 days expired would have been nice.

According to the representative I spoke with, I was to expect a call from a Manager which I never received regarding the situation so on the 29th I wrote a letter to the manager (Carlos) which is basically a copy of this review. I wrote with a marker DO NOT EAT, circled the expiration dates, went to the Plainfield store where I purchased the aforementioned food item and left it with the customer service rep and left the store. Before I left, she asked if I wanted a refund but I told her I didn't have my receipt and asked her to just make sure Carlos received the letter explaining the situation. As I was exiting the doors I heard him being paged to the service desk. I did have my name and phone number signed in the letter and once again I did not receive a call. The closing statement within the letter stated my intentions of not patronizing Plainfield Tony's Fresh Market in the future. Although I did not state it in the letter, I'm also having reservations on shopping at the Joliet store.

This may seem a bit trivial to those reading it and obviously The management could give two !@#$% about it either, but a meat product and a dairy product being sold that is well over 30 days expired is a serious issue and I'm thankful I did not eat it. On the positive side of this situation, I've re-affirmed my diligence on future purchased items anywhere and everywhere I buy consumables. Check your expiration dates and/or used by dates people and shame on you...

This review pains me to write. I been going to Tony’s for 8 years - this location. I would make the 30 min trip from my house past closer grocery stores. I would tell everyone about this place.

Prices were so good for many things when I started going here. Then things changed and meat prices went way up maybe 5 years ago. Ok. Nothing lasts forever. I get it. But produce and deli was still excellent so I kept going. Then deli prices went up. So I scaled back my visits. It’s just not worth a trip to save a few bucks on produce and spend it on gas and time.

Then when I did go, I started to notice when I got deli counter items, they kept pricing it wrong. Things on sale would be full price. Or they’d get the code wrong and charge me for something priced a lot more. This happened maybe 3 times in a row. I can understand a mistake. Or even possibly 2. But 3 times? That’s a trend. So I haven’t gone back for about a year. Until today.

Today I went out and stopped to get a few things. The sausages I wanted were $4.99 marked down to $3.99. I said I wanted 2 of the $3.99 sausages and pointed to them. So she took out 3. Ok. Whatever. I’ll have left overs. When she handed them to me, it was $19+ 🤨 so I looked at the tag. Yup. They charged me $7.99/lb. Completely wrong product. So I said excuse me miss I think you charged this wrong. So she started saying well noooo this one was… and I stopped her and said wait… I pointed to the one I wanted and I said I want the one marked 3.99/lb. She said but but that’s the price for… and I held up my hand and said hold on. I’m looking at the price here right now. It says 4.99/lb on sale for 3.99. So she starts furiously working with the scale. The gentleman next to her said - she’s taking care of it she got the wrong item.

Now. This sort of marks a trend. I honestly had forgotten about them charging the wrong prices at the deli counter in the year I hadn’t returned. But now it all came flooding back. This can’t be a big coincidence. My advice: if you get anything from the deli counter check prices like a hawk.

Tony’s - sorry it came to this. You were great. And I respect you. But man you really let me down. I see all the new coolers and display cabinets so I guess you’re doing good but I won’t be back anytime...

Today at Tony's I encountered a very unfortunate experience at 4:22pm. As I was checking out at a register, I seen that the paper plates I bought rang up the incorrect price at $6.49 when they should have been $5.99 on sale. I asked one of the gentleman cashiers that was training Ruth about the price and he went to check it. He came back ans mentioned that was price was $6.49 and not the sale price and that I was not going to get the sale price even if the item was in the incorrect place. I told him to ask the manager and a young supervisor assistant told me the same thing but really that she did not know what to do. I told them I was still taking the plates and that I was going to go take a picture and follow up up someone else. After I paid I went back to the aisle and took a picture of the tag where there plates were stocked and I went to the front office and showed it to the manager Jose. I asked him to let me know what the price of the item was with the picture. He said the price is $6.49 with an attitude. I responded, "look I don't care about the reimbursement, but can you go and fix the plates to be in the correct place". His response was, "no because a customer could have put them there". I responded back to Jose, "please go and fix the problem so that no other customer will get confused". Jose told me with an attitude, "no, I am not going to fix it". I was very upset that all o can tell him was, "thank you Jose, that's fine". At this point I don't care about the cents, but I am wondering if even their own employees are changing items and confusing customers so that they can pay more for their groceries. If that's the case, that is very wrong of Tony's and management that are not professionally trained or people friendly. I hope this gets up to headquarters and figures out the type of professionalism that is lacking at this store from management to employees at the...