H-E-B plus! — Local services in San Antonio

I'm highly upset about the experience I had at the McCreless Market H‑E‑B on South New Braunfels just a couple of hours ago.

I walk into the store to purchase a vegetable tray for our luncheon at work tomorrow. As I was waiting in the checkout lane, I thought about purchasing air fresheners for my classroom and decided to go for them after buying my items. (There were only three lanes open and more than six or seven customers at each lane.) I pay and proceed to the aisles to get the air fresheners. I stop myself on my way since it was getting late and decide to buy them the following morning in hopes of there being fewer people at the checkout lanes or more cashiers. I head towards the exit and a loss prevention associate, AJ, approaches me and asks to see my receipt. I show him my receipt and as I'm walking out, I look back curiously to see if he's checking other receipts. He's not. I walk back into HEB to find out why he did this--because in essence, the underlying assumption is that I'm stealing. He tells me that they're required to check receipts when a customer does not exit directly from the checkout lanes. I compare my experience to other HEB locations in San Antonio and suggest that it's not right to single out individuals who they believe could be stealing, unless they're caught in the act. He calls for Bea, the "acting GM," upon my request and tells me that she will reiterate what he said and back him up. After talking with her about their protocol, which she is unclear, and explaining to her that the message she's sending to customers is one of distrust between the business and consumer, she calls for security to escort me out of the store all while AJ is smirking. Security arrives and doesn't see the need to escort me off the premises, so I continue speaking with Bea about their protocol. She tells me she will have Paul, the GM, contact me. I walk out of the store and I hear her say loudly, "Oh my God!"

Should you visit, expect to experience one of the three:

1. Backed up checkout lanes
2. Inherently classist policies
3. Unskilled employees in professionalism and...

Let me start off by saying I THANKFULLY DO NOT SHOP HERE, this is not my neighborhood H.E.B., and unfortunately I was on this side of town and needed to pick up a few items, so I made the stop. People leaving 4 to 5 stars, saying this is a great H.E.B need to wake up!! This is NOT a customer friendly grocery store. You should not be used to this type of treatment. The employees are the ones who need training on, personal etiquette, and customer service! Just because you serve a certain type of people does not mean you should treat them any differently. Everybody's money is ALL THE SAME. With that being said, in that SHORT time while I was in there, I saw a manager RUDLEY talk down to an older gentleman, talking to him like he was a bother; I obviously don't not know the whole story, but I do know he was asking for help on where to locate a certain item. I obviously don't not know where certain items are located in this particular H.E.B so when I asked an employee where I could locate an item, she simply said, "Oh, I'm not sure" & walked away. LONG LINES!!! Really??? I mean REALLY you, should know by your monthly reports how many items your customers are typically purchasing on average. So what does this mean? If you need to open up more "Express Lanes" do so, there were so many people waiting in long lines, like myself, who only needed to purchase a couple items, but very few express lanes were open so I had to wait in line behind a lady who kept coughing, and did not BOTHER to cover her mouth!!! Doesn't she know it's FLU season!! Why are you TRYING to spread your damn germs!!! Finally I get to the cashier who sees me, says nothing, but just the total. Why does this all matter? Because you want your shopping experience to be pleasant, you want to go in get your items and leave. If you need help finding an item, you want the reassurance of knowing an associate can help you find just what you are looking for. This H.E.B needs some SERIOUS training on customer service A.S.A.P. a little friendliness, helpfulness, and a smile...

So today I had a horrible experience at the McCreless location at 3:55pm, I was attempting to pay with 2 credit cards, the first one went through but second card declined due to my card being expired so I ran to my vehicle to grab another form of payment while my husband waited with our cart. I walked back into the store at 4:05pm to find my husband without the cart and said an employee by the name of Myrakel and TJ took the cart from him. The cashier called for them to bring our cart back but I noticed a bit of running back and forth as if they looked lost, we waited for about 10 minutes before I decided to walk over to see what was taking so long. Myrakel had a horrible attitude and explained the cart was lost in these 10 minutes and she would try to find it, I asked how they could loose my cart after I partially paid the first part and why they even attempted to remove the cart from my husbands hands when I was gone for 10 minutes at the most! I was furious as she started giving me attitude and was confronted by a manager by the name of Destiny. She explained the cart was emptied out in those 10 minutes and I could start picking my items back out, no ma’am that should not even have happened, my husband and I spent an hour shopping for our items for us to have to “shop” again. This was completely frustrating and was confronted by another manager by the name of Kat? She handed us a $25 gift card as if this would solve our problem and was told the basket should’ve stayed on hold for 2 hours at least, I appreciate the attempt but I would’ve rather the person who tore my basket apart place it back as it should’ve stayed! After this unacceptable situation, I’m sure I’m not the only one that has gone through this! The worst part of not only tearing my basket apart was dealing with Myrakel, I felt as if I was going back and forth with a child who felt she needed to lie about searching for my basket and dealing with an attitude...