Jeff C.

IS THERE ANYBODY ELSE OUT THERE WHO HATES OR IS EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED WITH MEIJER'S SHODDY 'SELF-CHECKOUT' SYSTEM? (especially the Ft. Gratiot MI location) I've been having trouble with both the lousy 'old' and the recent 'new and improved (?)' self-checkout systems for about 4 years now. The old – constantly red and green lights stopping and then clearing the way to continue, the lights sometimes flash red then green so often they should use them for blinking Christmas lights. Lots of 'wait for attendant' notices (key word here is WAIT), machines stopping your order with a red light somehow thinking it's a separate order (not exactly Artificial Intelligence), see the line you're in get the dreaded red light and jump to another? That lane often will get the red light too. Other glitches also. On to the 'new and improved' system. The machines will often spit back or reject perfectly new and fine bills from the on-site ATM or my bank. Over and over. Often the few and sometimes overwhelmed human attendants can't get to you, will walk right by you and say "I'll be back to help you in a minute" and then disappear to the back of the store to put items back. Other attendants will come over and 'push the wrong button' to solve your problem and cause more delays. I'm missed a dozen or so buses at least by just a minute or half a minute over the last 4 years. I end up spending 1-1/2 hours for 30 minutes of shopping and 10-20 minutes of of checking out. "Try allowing for more time" you say? I allowed an extra 10 minutes last night and STILL missed another bus. Again. I complain half the time, but get lame apologies, lip-service about speaking to the employees and improving things, etc. but the same problems keep happening, even with their shiny new and improved system. THEY DON'T OR CAN'T FIX THINGS. Or maybe don't really care. I know a couple of people who also don't like the Meier's checkout experience. Even some of their employees don't like it! I've cut back my Ft. Gratiot Meijer's shopping by 2/3's. Maybe I need to skip them even more. Feel free to post your own horror stories.

This is at the Ft. Gratiot MI location: I was really treated like dog crap last night at this location when usually I've had good experiences the last 3 years. Tonight was terrible. I KNOW they were busy and the hostess told me there'd be maybe a 15-minute wait when I came in at 7:15 pm. I said 'fine' and sat nearby and waited. I was in plain sight there for at least 35 minutes going on forty and what really p****d me off was that 2 other parties of 2 and 3 people came in, got on the waiting list, and were told of the wait and 5 minutes or a bit more and were blatantly seated before I was. Others also went ahead of me but this appeared to be different, probably reservations called in. The hostess made herself more scarce as my time went on. I got fed up and left because i was at risk of missing the last nearby bus pickup plus I didn't like this treatment. I don't know if they practice age discrimination, single diner bias, if this is company policy and procedure, or the hostess was messing up. Most likely some explanation or excuse will be provided later.

I used to do business with Enterprise back in 2007 when they had an office in St. Clair, MI at a car dealership. Things fine then. 2 or 3 years later when money was tighter, I tried to rent a car for Friday only and drop off Saturday, the next day. Since they were closed on the weekend, I was told I'd have to rent for 3 days and the earliest drop off would be Monday. No thanks. Enterprise saves on payroll on the weekend AND makes more money by trying to sucker the customer into paying for days they don't need the vehicle. A nice little 'double dip' in the cash flow department. They had a rep try to call me to smooth it all over or do a little reputation damage control but we ended up playing 'phone tag'. Enterprise in SC is now gone for some reason. No payroll to worry about there anymore. Now let's move on to the nearest remaining location in the area - Ft. Gratiot, MI. A friend of mine said this location was great for their 'cheap weekend rates'. A year or so after the Covid crisis I tried to get this great weekend rate but it seemed very expensive. Why? They stopped the weekend rates for some reason and went to regular prices! I passed on this great deal, also. Now move on to 6 days ago when I needed to rent a large SUV or van to get some artwork of mine down to Detroit for an art exhibition and was on the Enterprise site exploring quotes, availability, and make a reservation, but I could not rent from them when I showed them my 'reloadable' (their definition PREPAID and therefore not acceptable) credit card. (This must be the mark of a shady customer.) I've had this card for almost 4 years. Never been refused by anyone except THEM. After I got rejected I secured a rental of a Penske Van from Solo Storage in 45 minutes online and picked the vehicle up next day. They didn't turn their nose up at this same card and ran it, and everything was cool. I got my work to the show safely. I'll be using Penske again. Nice, convenient, down to earth, and fewer roadblocks. I do appreciate the nice employees at Enterprise Ft. Gratiot, though - this was the fault of their 'suits' higher up. After busing to their store in frigid weather, the employees were concerned for this gimpy 67 year-old guy and gave him a lift back into town. Very nice treatment. I just wish the suits were a bit more helpful. Enterprise is now a useless entity to me, as I am to them. Maybe we're even. And the other mom-and-pop car rental in town has more problems than Enterprise. Slim pickings up here.