Ian Kirk
PO Box 2775
Olympic Valley, CA 96146
January 9, 2013
Customer Service Center
Safeway Inc. - M/S 10501
P.O. Box 29093
Phoenix, AZ 85038-9093
Safeway Inc. - M/S 10501
P.O. Box 29093
Phoenix, AZ 85038-9093
Dear Customer Service Center:
Although I find it an unpleasant task, I feel that I must
bring to your attention a problem I am had with your manager, Russell at The
Tahoe City CA location.
Being new to Tahoe City I have enjoyed shopping at the
local Safeway for all my grocery needs.
On my visit on January 9, 2013 I asked a teller if Safeway cashed pay
checks from the ski resorts, because I was new to town and didn’t have a local
bank where I could make the deposit, and she didn’t know so she told me to ask
Russell the manager.
Russell directed me over to another counter and asked for
my check and if I had ever cashed a check at Safeway before, I reply, “No I
have never cashed a paycheck at Safeway before.” He told me to type my social security number
into the ATM/Credit Card Scanner machine at the counter. For some reason we had to redo the process
again because something didn’t go through, and Russell again asked me if I had
ever cashed a check at Safeway before where I responded, “No I have never
cashed a Paycheck at Safeway before.”
After retyping my social security number into the ATM/Credit Card
Scanner it endorsed the back of my paycheck.
Russell then told me to sign the back of it over what the machine had
printed on the back of the check. I
asked him for a pen and he went and got one from the produce stocker because he
didn’t have one on him or at that counter.
Upon looking at what was printed on the back a fee of over $10 was going
to be taken out of my check for cashing it at Safeway. I calmly ask Russell if this was correct and
he informed me that yes it was a check cashing fee. I asked Russell why he didn’t tell me that
there was going to be a fee involved and he said, “I do so many of these I just
figured you knew that there was going to be a fee involved.” I responded by saying, “I told you I had
never cashed a check at Safeway before three times. Do you think it is fair that you charge me a
fee without disclosing it to me first? Russell
responded with a demeaning tone, “ I don’t know where you can cash a check
without a bank account without paying a
fee.” I calmly responded by informing
him that I could have taken it to the Casino’s or to Bank of the West and they
don’t charge a fee to cash a check and now that you have endorsed the back of
the check without disclosing that there was going to be a fee I can take it to
either of those places to cash it now.
To which he turn to his coworker Kelly and told her that I was
requesting that the fee be waive since it was not disclosed to me by neither
him nor the ATM/Credit Card Machine I typed my Social Security Card number
into. Kelly just shrugged her shoulders
and mumbled something to the effect that, “yep 2.50 per 100 dollars that right.” I said to Russell well how about just giving
me a 10 dollar Safeway gift card since I do all my grocery shopping here anyway
and we can forget the fact that you didn’t tell me there would be a fee for
cashing my check. He informed me that NO
he could not and would not do that and told me, “You were born in 1977 you
should know better than to think you can cash a check without paying a fee.”
Now I don’t know what type of managers training that you
as the Safeway Inc. use but I would hope it does not include belittling long
term customers in front of other employees when the management fails to
disclose a fee attached to a process the customer is unfamiliar.
I don’t know how you as
Safeway Inc. would like to resolve this situation but I am interested to find
out because after taking my other check to Bank of the West, which is less than
a mile down the road, and telling the teller what had happen, she ask if it was
the short stocky manager? I responded, “Yes
it was, his name is Russell.” To which
she responded, “That’s not surprising he is a real ________.” Let’s just say she used an adjective that
should not be used in a professional business letter, and if you choose to want
to contact her to verify this incident I would not want to get her in trouble
with her management for a slight slip of the tongue speaking off the cuff and
from experience.
In conclusion I appreciate your prompt attention to this
matter and look forward to whatever resolution you choose, and sharing that
resolution with the local chamber of commerce, the entire staff at Squaw Valley
and Alpine Meadows, the Better Business Bureau, and all forms of social
media. It’s not the events that happen
to us that shape our outcomes, but the reactions we have to those events that
shape the final outcomes in our lives, businesses, and relationships.
Sincerely,
Ian Kirk
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Remember we always want to share ideas and perspectives, and always want to be respectful of others. Anyone found not respecting others will have me go NINJA on them!!