"Bed Bath & Beyond: Where the Customer Is Never Right!"
Sunday evening on Dec 20th, my girlfriend (GF) and I went to a Bed Bath & Beyond in Wichita, KS to shop for Christmas gifts. We went to the store in New Market Square. One gift we selected to purchase were spice bottles. There were about 75 spice bottles on the shelf marked $1.49. I was going to purchase 16 of the bottles. When we were checking out at the register, the bottles rang up at $2.99 each. I said no no no....the bottles are marked $1.49 on the shelf. The cashier called for a price check. My girlfriend immediately departed to meet the associate at the location of the spice bottles in the store. A few minutes later, her and the associate approached the register. The associate walked behind the counter and then confirmed that the bottles were in the wrong location and were priced incorrectly. He told me the price for the bottles was $2.99 each. I replied that the bottles were marked on the shelf at $1.49 each. I then said, "To me, it seems it shouldn't matter what they may cost, they were marked on the shelf at $1.49, so I should get them at the marked price." Now, up to this point, I had been pleasant, cordial, polite and respectful. The associate then looked at me and in a very rude tone said, "Sir, I am not going to argue with you about this." Well, I instantly went Sonny Corleone (The Godfather) on the guy and in a moment of rage said "Well, F*ck you then." He then got even more ramped up and told me that I did not need to talk that way. I told him that I did not appreciate how he spoke to me. He said he was going to call the cops. I told him to call the cops. He then told me to leave the store. I told him I was leaving the store. I then asked my girlfriend to go to the car and retrieve everything that we had bought from that Bed Bath & Beyond earlier in the day (This was our second trip to the same store that day). Her and I went to the car and pulled out everything that we had previously bought from this Bed Bath & Beyond. We walked back into the store and approached the same cashier where I said, "I have items to return." She proceeded to scan and refund us the cost on each of the items (around $175 worth). The associate, (Greg, I assume, from his name tag), was still behind the counter and took each item as the cashier scanned it and turned and threw it into a large canvas bin for returned items. He was obviously still furious that I had the audacity as a low life customer to challenge him by telling him "Well, f*ck you then!" He must be accustomed to intimidating customers with his rude attitude. At the same time, I was still furious because of not only what he said to me, but how he said it to me. I was very angry when walking out of that store.
In summary, I have always liked Bed Bath & Beyond. I recommended Bed Bath & Beyond to friends and family whenever the opportunity presented itself. That feeling has now permanently changed. If the way I was treated is representative of how costumers are treated universally by Bed Bath & Beyond employees, then I can understand why the company's stock performance is always garbage. It appears the corporate culture has changed for the worse. Is it possible that the company has created a new corporate motto that goes something like: Bed Bath & Beyond: Where the customer is never right!?
This was the first time in my life where a store had items mispriced and admitted that the item was mispriced but refused to sell the item at the marked price even though it was the wrong price. I was happy and jovial that day out Christmas shopping with my girlfriend. I was not an angry disgruntled customer. I was wearing my Santa hat and she had on her elf ears and hat as we went store to store shopping that day. Her and I had been having a great time. Greg, at Bed Bath & Beyond, ruined all that. He ruined the experience her and I had going, and he ruined the day for us. I can promise to all who read this that I will never again step foot inside a Bed Bath & Beyond store. This was the absolute worst experience I have encountered as a customer in a store interacting with a store employee. Any opportunity I get going forward I will be shorting this stock.
PW read more
