Food Lion
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This situation I am about to discuss is…
This situation I am about to discuss is a well needed topic that should be broadcasted globally! Yesterday I did some grocery shopping for my family. I decided to go to Food Lion #0775. After 5 mins of being in the store a woman approached me and asked if I could help her with her groceries for her baby. I looked at the cart and 1/3 of the cart was filled. It was very well organized and it did not look like it would cost that much for her items. She was dressed elegant. So you could tell she was not homeless. Her presence was very sad; as if she was about to cry. I felt sorry for her and said “yea of course I’ll help your baby out.” I’ve never been approached by anyone in this manner before. So I did not think I was being scammed at the beginning of this situation. I told her I just started shopping so I’ll meet her at the end once I am finished grocery shopping for my family. As I was done shopping at the end she was in the laundry detergent isle. She came out of the isle with a tide pod laundry detergent container. She said if she could get that item as well because her clothes are dirty. I said yea no worries. Then once we get to the register I stood in front and she was behind me with her cart. She continued to thank me and said I was a good man; a lot of times. She then asked lastly what was a visa gift card. She had a hard accent and said she can barely speak English. I told her it’s a card that you can only use if you put money on it. She asked if I could and I said I’m sorry I can’t really afford any more items. She said just like $20? I then said yea that’s cool. Now the cashier began ringing my items up first. Once he was almost finished with my items I left to the bread isle quickly because I forgot an item. I told the cashier that he could ring the woman’s items up that was behind me as well. He asked about the visa gift card and I said to put $20 on it. Once I came back from the bread isle he was finished with ringing up her items. I looked at the total and it was $637.81. When I do grocery shopping I usually spend between $200-$300 a week. When I saw that total I panicked and the woman was just standing there looking sad. I felt bad in the whole situation and I just felt like I needed to help. So I did out of the kindness of my heart. As we were leaving out of Food Lion she asked if she could have the receipt. I said no it’s ok I’ll keep it. She then said I’m just scared because the police think I steal. I told her take my number down and if the police stop you I’ll tell them I have the receipt. She said ok. As I left to walk to my car she says can I at least take a picture of the receipt. I then again said you have my number just call me if the police need any further information. She said ok thank you. I was parked towards the front of food Lion. Once I drove off and looked back in the direction the woman was walking in she vanished. This morning I calculated the total of the receipt to see how much her items were and it came to a total of $428.68. I then notice at the very end of the receipt the Visa card had $100 on it with a $5.95 activation fee. At this point I really feel scammed. Not only did she beg for the receipt but she also put $100 on the gift card after her and I agreed to $20. She must of told the guy at the cash register to change the amount to $100 when I left to the bread isle. Unfortunately nobody wants to assist me with this issue. I have contacted the Food Lion store where the situation occurred, Food Lion Corporation, and my bank at PNC. Everyone has stated that they can not doing anything for me because I purchased the items. I really did not think that the items in her cart would amount to that price. I had the funds for maybe $60 or $70 at most but unfortunately it was significantly greater. Everyone please be careful. I have never experienced a situation like this and I was scammed in person. It does not feel good especially when that money could go towards taking care of my family.