Kroger — Local services in Sugar Hill

Horrible grocery pick up experience it was awful!!! Placed an order on Monday 4/19 for pick up on Tuesday 4/20 between 3-4:00 pm. Received notification on the app that order was ready, and to check in within 15 minutes. When I am on the way. Once arrived I checked in. I then was approached by Bri who explained that they were understaffed that my order had not even been pulled yet, she proceeded to ask how many items I had? She shared that the next shift of "high schooler's" would be coming in soon since school is letting out. She suggested I come back later that evening or the following day. I chose between 6:30-7:00pm that evening and she agreed. When arriving back to Kroger at 6:30 I called to check in. A guy named Joseph came out got my name, and explained he would check on my order. After waiting 10 minutes (which is nothing out of the ordinary) two more cars have pulled up. Joseph comes out loads one of the cars...and then another... two cars have been loaded at this point and I am still waiting. I was able to wave Joseph down keep in mind its been over 20 minutes and he says someone will be out shortly with order. I am over it at this point. I am doing my best to be patient and understanding. A guy walks out with my order and hands me my receipt I give him my coupon and EBT card which covers my whole order I only have food items. He then leaves my groceries outside my car and walks back into Kroger. I have frozen items so I proceed to load my own groceries because I need to leave and waste no more time. Out comes Joseph with my card. I ask if everything is good and he proceeds to tell me I owe $1.00 and some change. With out a new receipt or any explanation I hand him $1.00 in change and leave in a hurry knowing I shouldn't owe anything. This has never happened to us before. I have used the grocery pick up at many Krogers since before the pandemic and this has left me very aggravated with Kroger at Sugar Hill. I cant imagine they would do this to an elderly individual or someone with children. The order was still showing open on my app two days later. I called customer service so I can share my experience. I am not trying to gain anything. KROGER PLEASE DO BETTER!! Work on the communication and customer service training. If you are so behind on orders POSTPONE ALL PICK UPS until you have more...

Update - they recently "relaunched" this Kroger location and see and staffing have been better. Tonight we went in to buy an overflowing cart of groceries for a party and at 8:45pm there were no open full service lanes with a cashier. My wife asked two people who said they were about to be off shift and nobody was available to open a register. I was contemplating taking another star off my review when Grant stepped up and opened a register to check us out. Grant was also going off shift but he helped us anyway. With Grant in mind I am adding a star.

Update - as noted, I have been a loyal Kroger customer for decades but this Kroger location is simply bad. Today there were several full service lanes open - and I should have just gone there - but I decided to try the self checkout since I only had a few things. 3 of the lanes were flashing errors so I went to another one that seemed to be working. Then... the guy in front of me in that lane got an error. It took a while for the associate to get to him to fix the issue, but it was finally my turn. I scanned the first several things with no problem. Then, I scanned a bag of salad. It seemed to show up in the list, was going down the belt and then the belt reversed. Kroger is a little cheaper than Publix, but the consistent service issues at this location just aren't worth it.

I am usually a Kroger fan but today's experience was not good. At 3pm on a random Sunday there were lines in both directions across the front of the store for people waiting to get to a self-checkout. There was only one cashier lane open, yet I saw several associates (who looked like they may have been managers) pushing carts throughout the store. When we got to the front of the line there was no associate supporting the six self checkout lanes on that end because he went to get cigarettes for one customer. We weren't especially in a rush but even still we debated abandoning the cart - only politeness kept us from walking away. I know enough about the grocery business to know that it is tough, but you are Kroger and I...

Update: (I recommend a different Kroger) still having all the same problems as below, but now there's a new one! Apparently when you sign up for a time slot online, it means nothing. They don't limit each slot to just a few people. I know this because EVERY time I schedule a morning pickup, they call me and say "we're running late, your order won't be ready until 11:00 etc". They have actually told me "we had a lot of people request 8:00 am pickup so we're behind. If people have to sign up for a time slot, why are you not limiting it? Also, why am I always the one who gets bumped? It makes NO SENSE. Again, if you don't care to offer this service to your customers, DON'T offer it. We can go somewhere else. I have been shopping at this location for years, so I'm not posting this on impulse. The pickup service is really starting to make me mad. Half the time, they say something is out of stock, and I'll go in the store and find it myself. They have also started labeling their kroger brand items (simple truth, etc) as "only in store" or "out of stock" and then your only option is name brand. There is no way their own brand of stuff is always unavailable or not able to be picked up by the kroger shopping associate. Why do they do this?? They want to force us to spend more on name brands? It's gotten to the point where they will no longer let me buy organic chicken for pickup at all. It's always "out of stock" even though I always see it when I'm in store. Also, they DON'T even attempt to pick fresh produce for you. If you buy berries through pickup, forget it. They will give you the mushiest, moldiest berries because they don't care. So we just end up throwing them out. I'm now to the point where I have to buy most things through pickup, but still have to go in the store to get my own fruit and chicken. Ridiculous. If you don't want to offer this service, then don't offer it. But if you're going to offer it, why make it so hard for the...