Stater Bros. Markets — Local services in Riverside

Good clean store with good prices and a great environment. Unfortunately multiple trips in the past few months have been ruined by poor customer service from the cashiers. The last two by the same employee.

I shop at Stater Bros over other, cheaper grocery stores (like Food4Less) for a better shopping experience but have been left very disappointed recently. For my last two visits specifically, I’ve had the extreme displeasure of having “Kelly Marie D” as my cashier.

The first time I had her as a cashier, it was before closing on a Sunday and she had a long line. I went out of my way to be kind polite during the bagging process and was only met with sass and passive-aggressiveness. A kind “How are you doing?” from me was met with a nasty, sarcastic “Just fine, thanks”. A simple “I’m sorry, I didn’t understand you” was met with a sassy, snarky “Well, I’ll try harder to make more sense next time!”. She also decided that I did not know how to use a chip card reader after it failed one time (the card readers are dirty and don’t seem like they’re regularly cleaned). So she grabbed the card out of my hand without asking, and swiped it multiple times herself instead of using the chip (which is the only way my bank accepts my card). Unsurprisingly, after swiping it way too many times my bank shut off my card for suspicious activity and we had no choice but to embarrassingly put items back. After we left I noticed that the strip on my card was worn off where it hadn’t been before, and bent. She had both used the wrong method by swiping too many times, locked me out of my card, and damaged the magnetic strip on my card in her frustration. After that disaster of a shopping trip and a long call with my bank to get a new card, they told me the swiping done by Kelly caused it to be blocked.

Today, the second time in a row we had her, my girlfriend and I were met with just as much sass as the first time. We recognized her right away as the same sassy cashier as a couple weeks prior. Our bagger today was much nicer than her! She didn’t make eye contact, was very silent, and displayed zero customer service skills. After passive-aggressively asking for and checking my ID (after I had lightly joked that I find my electronic signatures bad) we left once again with a sour taste thanks to Kelly and a desire to never come back.

Kelly and other cashiers obviously hate their jobs, treat their customers poorly, and made us hate shopping here. We chose Stater Bros over other stores NOT to be treated like garbage and to have a better experience, but we clearly need to...

The only reason I wouldn't give this Stater's a 5-star, is because they aren't as cheap as Food-4-Less, but definitely comparable or cheaper than other local stores. And I don't go to Food-4-Less I absolutely have to because I'm especially broke that week... the nearest F4L is inconsistent, sketchy, and I often get attitude from staff. It seems this white girl can't hang - or even be cordial - with the predominantly Hispanic crew/shoppers. I've literally had a cashier completely ignore me while she chatted away with the Hispanic lady behind me in line, and didn't even acknowledge me until I was glared at for payment. No joke.

Yes, there can be unsavory loiterers in the lot/sidewalks, but Stater's does have security always within sight, and in almost two years frequenting this location, I've never had an issue. I can always count on the quality and consistency of the items. On occasions where we've needed 'special' items they don't regularly stock, they have happily accommodated our requests in their next order to their suppliers. They literally ordered a box of tapioca flour for us, and had it available on the shelf a few days later. We love the crew back at the meat counter - especially the tall skinny guy with a forearm tattoo, good guy for sure. We've debated inviting him over to hang for football, but didn't want to be weird. They may not have the widest variety, but again, quality and consistency is great. Just this morning their bakery was willing to accommodate a huge, last minute, 700x cookie order for pick up tomorrow morning for me.

The staff is always nice to interact with, store is always clean, and I can always count on finding what I go there for.

Parking lot can be hectic, but the store is so centrally located, I can't blame them.

Well done Staters, we're "snobs" from New England, and we...

Terrible customer service, rude, over priced. Very general, so anything too specific you need, they won’t have. But today, I’ve had enough. I’ve taken my dog to that stater brothers multiple times and no one has stopped me for it. My dog is well behaved, but he got diarrhea in the store today. I took him to the car immediately, then paid $100 on goods. They told me they were going to make me clean it up, fair. But then they said- it was my last and final warning, and if they see my dog again- I’d be banned from the store.

Accidents happen and I felt that was too extreme towards a regular customer. If they didn’t want a dog inside, they should have confronted me the multiple times I was in there with my dog or prior to the accident. Instead of being harsh-toned and absolute, no customer service or people skills.

He should have said “I understand accidents happen, but dogs are not allowed in the store. We cannot allow you to go back to the store with the dog. I hope you understand that if I see your dog in the store again, we will no longer be serving you here.”

Rather than “I was going to make you clean that up. Dogs are not allowed in stater brothers, and if I see you with a dog again- you will be banned from this store.”

He was not understanding, polite, no if ands or butts. If he is not understanding, there is no reason for me to be- why would I shop at a place that is hostile towards me?

I’m never going to that stater brothers again. I shouldn’t have just left the items there and not buy anything after how terrible...