Kroger "substitutions"

You might say I'm just a little bit disappointed with Kroger right now. I did a pick up shop today, I ordered 10 items, I came home with 2. Every single thing they substituted was completely and absolutely unacceptable. Substituting non fat Greek plain yogurt for for whole milk Greek vanilla yogurt. There was a coupon for 2 pounds of butter, They substituted a 2 pack of the exact same butter for $2 more than what I was going to pay for 2 separate 1 lb. boxes of butter with a coupon. So I refused that, and the yogurt of course. The bacon that I ordered 2 packs of, is out of stock, and apparently there is no other bacon in the entire building that they could have substituted it with. They wanted to substitute my medium salsa with mild salsa. I ended up coming home with asparagus and pickles.

The good news is that I have 3 Regular kroger shops tomorrow, so I should be able to get the things that I wasn't able to get in my pick up shop today.

This is me being a b**** because I can't get what I want.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2022 03:53AM by Morledzep.

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I always order staple items that I am fairly certain will be in stock. Otherwise I run the risk of not getting the full reimbursed amount. Also the good news on substitutions, if necessary, is they will charge the lower price if the substitute is priced higher.

I never buy anything that I couldn't use if substituted.

@pegleg2000 wrote:

I never buy anything that I couldn't use if substituted.

Would you accept non fat yogurt plain yogurt as a substitution for whole milk vanilla (slightly sweet) yogurt? Or would you pay the extra $2 for the butter because the coupon didn't apply? As far as the bacon goes, there are thousands of brands and styles of bacon, there are even several different styles and cuts by the same company. ANY of them would have been fine, but they didn't even try to substitute it. I would have been happy with any bacon that isn't maple flavored or sugar cured. Everything I ordered was staples in my house.

Kemach, they don't change the prices of the substituted items. And the coupons only apply to the items you ordered, not the substitutuions.

I do quite a few Kroger pickup shops. If I accept a substitution, I get charged for the lesser of the two items. If I’m using a Kroger coupon they apply it to the substituted items but not always with manufacturers coupons.

@Morledzep wrote:

@pegleg2000 wrote:

I never buy anything that I couldn't use if substituted.

Would you accept non fat yogurt plain yogurt as a substitution for whole milk vanilla (slightly sweet) yogurt? Or would you pay the extra $2 for the butter because the coupon didn't apply?

No for the yogurt. We use nonfat greek yogurt and I never order it for pickup because of the possibility of substitution. I dont buy many items for pickup that have a coupon in case of a problem. I save coupon items for in store. I have had substitutions where the item they gave me was more expensive and I was charged the original lower prrice.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/29/2022 12:19AM by pegleg2000.

I sure would never be able to do the job of the "picker" who fills orders. Some stores, they text you with any substitutions and ask if the substitution is okay. Other stores, no. I prefer to do my gambling in a casino!

My daughter used to order groceries delivered. She gave up after ordering two oranges at $0.59 lb and getting two 5-lb bags. No way to make it good without actually returning the bags to the store, and since she was home with an infant, totally negated the point of having the groceries delivered. Very disappointed. That was not the only thing wrong with the order, it's just the one I remember laughing about.

@pegleg2000 wrote:

No for the yogurt. We use nonfat greek yogurt and I never order it for pickup because of the possibility of substitution. I dont buy many items for pickup that have a coupon in case of a problem. I save coupon items for in store. I have had substitutions where the item they gave me was more expensive and I was charged the original lower prrice.

That is not what was happening here.. The things that they substituted they charged me the price of the items that they put in my cart, not the cost of the items that they replaced. When I asked if the coupon would still apply to the butter, he told me the price of the 2 pack of the butter. And the price of the 1 lb. Box of butter without the coupon. Not that my butter would be $4.94, which is what I would have paid for 2 packs with the digital coupon.

@Morledzep wrote:

@pegleg2000 wrote:

No for the yogurt. We use nonfat greek yogurt and I never order it for pickup because of the possibility of substitution. I dont buy many items for pickup that have a coupon in case of a problem. I save coupon items for in store. I have had substitutions where the item they gave me was more expensive and I was charged the original lower prrice.

That is not what was happening here.. The things that they substituted they charged me the price of the items that they put in my cart, not the cost of the items that they replaced. When I asked if the coupon would still apply to the butter, he told me the price of the 2 pack of the butter. And the price of the 1 lb. Box of butter without the coupon. Not that my butter would be $4.94, which is what I would have paid for 2 packs with the digital coupon.

Maybe that’s a reason for mystery shops. The over charge should be reported and I believe there is section on the report to do that.

There were questions about and notes regarding substitutions on the last one I did. They sure did want to know how they were handled. They wanted to know about the coupon handling too. It is cool when all goes well and you finish a shop thinking it was a big score. However, other times, you realize that there could be a reason why they were inclined to hire a few shoppers, and it was all in a long day's work. Hopefully, the others will work out better for you.

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
"Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."
-- Abraham Lincoln

@Morledzep wrote:

This is me being a b**** because I can't get what I want.

You were not provided what you ordered. That is not being a witch. Please, let us not make it OK to call ourselves one.

@kenasch wrote:

Also the good news on substitutions, if necessary, is they will charge the lower price if the substitute is priced higher.

Most times, yes. On a recent pickup shop, I ordered a half-gallon of milk for a certain price. They substituted two separate quarts of milk, and charged me more when they shouldn't have.

For another one, I placed an order for over $35, and didn't refuse any items so my final total was also $35, and they piled the $4.95 pickup fee on top of it when they shouldn't have.

That said, I'm doing enough of these shops that I'm not going to kick up too much of a fuss if I'm out a dollar or two here and there. It doesn't happen often, and I am swimming in surplus groceries right now.

I got some follow up questions from the mystery shopping company. They wanted proof that I tried to purchase the right number of items. So i did a screen shot of the cart showing all of the things they didn’t sell to me, and the two things they did.

It's been approved..

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2022 12:41AM by Morledzep.

Ugh, another one today where they had an out-of-stock item with no available substitution, taking my total to just under $35, and then erroneously charged me the pick-up fee.

I had a good one yesterday, they only substituted two things and the things that they substituted were better than the ones that I ordered. And they charged me the lowest price, they did it all right without even a fight. I was impressed.

This wasnt a shop but the other day I ordered a Perdue split chicken breast for about $2.50. They substituted it for a $6 pack of fresh tenders. The next week I thought I'd try my luck again and ordered two packs. This time they substituted it, but didnt adjust the price. I called customer service, went through prompts, and the automated line added $5 to my account. I also sent an email and thd response confirmed that they should always adjust the price to match the original item when the price is lower.

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