WTF Kroger? Being charged $4.95 for pick-up

I placed the order on the app for pick-up. Pick-up is free if the order is more than $35. My order totaled $49. They were out of several items and did not substitute. After they deducted the out-of-stock items, my total was $32.97, so they charged me the $4.95 fee! I assumed that if they were out of the item(s), and my original order was more than $35, I should not be charged the $4.95. Thoughts?

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The MSC I shop for reimburses the fee, so no biggie to me either way. I am starting to think that they need some narrative space regarding the substitutions, or lack thereof though. It's one thing to check a box on a report for a shop, but as a customer who does occasionally use pick-up, it is to the point where I would almost be inclined to go somewhere else because of such, and I think they probably would like to know these things if they are paying for these shops. The last pickup I did, three items were listed as no viable substitution being available (and thus omitted). These were in no way specialty items. As a regular customer, I would have been bummed if I had not only not got the things on my list, but had thus dropped below the pick-up limit and got hit with the extra charge.

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
@Phoebe70 wrote:

After they deducted the out-of-stock items, my total was $32.97, so they charged me the $4.95 fee! I assumed that if they were out of the item(s), and my original order was more than $35, I should not be charged the $4.95. Thoughts?

Yep! Same thing happened to me yesterday. There have been times when they correctly do NOT charge the fee due to their out-of-stock issues (and this is *after* it was shown as in stock during the ordering process), but I've been erroneously charged it a few times. I'm assuming we are not supposed to make an issue of it with the store after the fact because it would draw attention to ourselves.

I also had one yesterday where I had to refuse a substitute because I've tried the substituted brand and it's terrible. That brought my order to under $35 but they correctly did NOT charge me the pick-up fee.

Yes, the MSC reimburses for the fee, but they still only reimburse max $32 (not complaining!). That means if I order $35.01, have no service fee, and get reimbursed $32, I'm voluntarily out of pocket $3.01 and I get a lot of nice groceries. If Kroger is out of stock of an item bringing my new total to $34.99, then they slap the $4.95 fee on that, my order now costs $39.94 and I'm still reimbursed $32, so I'm involuntarily out of pocket $7.94.

I completely agree with GinnyLynn -- we need space on the form for letting them know about these things, which always affect whether I would recommend the service or not. I've been (rightly or wrongly?) using the last field, where we put N/A if we have a receipt, to explain in cryptic shorthand what happened. Which is really tough to do in 100 characters or less!
On a similar topic, I did some of the Target pick-up shops. Evidently they can only be pick-up (in store) if ordering from the website. You have to open the app or order on the app in order to be able to choose drive-up. I didn't find that out until I did my first order and had to ask inside how to get it to be drive-up. The clerk wasn't even sure! But because I had to go inside, it was not drive-up, and they declined the shop :-( I explained the problem in the follow-up but to no avail. Expensive learning curve. Being that they just started these shops, I thought there should have been more leniency but that is just my bruised pocketbook talking! The rest of my shops were done in the app and were able to be drive-up!
I did a Target as well, and ordered from the website too. Didn't realize until I got there that there was nothing on the drive-up sign telling me how to let them know I was there! Luckily I got on the app right then and was able to switch on the spot from pick-up (which I'd assumed was curbside) to drive-up. Or I would have been in the same boat as you!

I have had to accept, though, that there is sometimes a learning curve cost the first time I do a new kind of shop. Ah well....
After uploading the receipt there is a space for comments about the receipt. That is where you should mention about the fee charge.
The reports for the Kroger shops are, in my opinion, ridiculous. I was given the wrong bread, and it wasn't listed as a substitute. I didn't realize this until I went home and was unpacking everything. I didn't feel like driving the 20 miles roundtrip to return it. I rated the experience as a 7 out of 10, but there's no where to write any comments as to why I rated it a lower score. Usually I prefer a short report, but on the Kroger shops I've had so many screw-ups that a comment section is needed.
I got a box of someone else's diapers. I don't even have kids. It was in my trunk so I didn't see it until I got home. I felt compelled to drive it back since they're around $50 a box. Otherwise, thankfully I've only got my own stuff.

I did have a fun one this week. They had chips on sale for $1.88 a piece. If you bought four. I had four on my list but they didn't sub one and by taking it off it charged me $17 for three packages of chips! They were quick to refund me though.
I always pull to another part of the parking lot and check my order right away.

I agree it would be nice if you could input some comments. I had one that didn't go well and gave a low rating and would like to have been able to explain why.
@pegleg2000 wrote:

After uploading the receipt there is a space for comments about the receipt. That is where you should mention about the fee charge.

Yes, but unfortunately that's the field limited to 100 characters! I abbreviate a LOT! ;-)
I am the mom of adult male children. My youngest, the one that lives here, is 36 years old. I will ask him to get something for me, and tell him where it is and even tell him where it is on the shelf. He will look directly at it and say it's not here, we don't have that that. I can walk to the shelf and pick up what I asked him to get for me. If this was a one time thing I probably wouldn't notice it, But this happens almost every single time. The same goes for going to the grocery store, I tell him to go to a different department and pick up something that I want, telling him where it is. And he will come back in a few minutes with something entirely different or say that they don't have it, when I get to that department it is always right on the shelf where I told him to look.

I think this is a thing, I think this is why we are having so much trouble getting the things that we order In the pick up orders. To some people vanilla isn't a flavor so much as it's considered "plain," so they don't really see the difference between plain yogurt and vanilla yogurt or or full fat/whole milk and non fat. And most of these children can't read a simple sentence, let alone tell the difference between words that look similar or sound similar.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/03/2022 09:28PM by Morledzep.
@Morledzep wrote:

I am the mom of adult male children. My youngest, the one that lives here, is 36 years old. I will ask him to get something for me, and tell him where it is and even tell him where it is on the shelf. He will look directly at it and say it's not here, we don't have that that. I can walk to the shelf and pick up what I asked him to get for me. If this was a one time thing I probably wouldn't notice it, But this happens almost every single time. The same goes for going to the grocery store, I tell him to go to a different apartment pick up something that I want what, telling where it is. And he will come back in a few minutes with something entirely different or say that they don't have it, when I get to that department it is always right on the shelf where I told him to look.

I think this is a thing, I think this is why we are having so much trouble getting the things that we order In the pick up orders. To some people vanilla isn't a flavor so much as it's considered "plain," So they don't really see the difference between plain yogurt and vanilla yogurt or or full fat/whole milk and non fat. And most of these children can't read a simple sentence, let alone tell the difference between words that look similar or sound similar.

I try to order basic stuff that will not be hard to figure out. Such as eggs, produce, cleaners. We drink unsweetened vanilla cashew milk. I do not order that as there could be so may variations they could pick for the order. I do lots of in store shops besides the max of the online orders so I have no problem getting the complex stuff on my own.
Morledzep, I think you have a point there!

I've mainly been lucky. I try not to order anything that says "low stock" when I'm placing the online order, because I figure that's courting trouble. :-)
@amyann2 wrote:

Morledzep, I think you have a point there!

I've mainly been lucky. I try not to order anything that says "low stock" when I'm placing the online order, because I figure that's courting trouble. :-)

I try to mostly order from the weekly ad. Stuff that "should" be in stock. And probably relatively easy to find, because they put the sale items on displays and end caps to get folks' attention. Honestly, I didn’t think that the yogurt would be so difficult. Or that they couldn't find name brand thick cut bacon on a wall of every type of bacon.
I have been fortunate. I've completed many of these shops and haven't had a problem. Only once was a substitute item needed, and it was appropriately replaced. Someone here indicated that the maximum reimbursement is $32. True. However, the maximum reimbursement at Krogers for purchases is $25! Any additional reimbursement is only triggered if you are charged a pickup fee. Although I have never had a problem, I don't assume the order is correct. I always check. I re-bag the items in my own personal reusable shopping bags while I'm still parked in the pickup stall. Regarding my "thoughts" about the original post, as a regular customer I would have been irritated. But as a mystery shopper I could care less because the pickup fee is reimbursed.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2022 12:12AM by 1forum1.
I am not asking which msc does these particular grocery shops but just generally for all types of pick up and/or delivery shops is there a list of companies that do them? I have only seen online shops with delivery and then send back types of shops but these sound more like pick up or delivery and keep shops to check on the delivery experience from various different stores. If there are several companies doing these can you list them?
Sandy, you might try starting another thread, since this one unfortunately already names the client.
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