Ralph's is not "fresh for everyone" as their ads state but I will get to that later. Long-time, frequent customer but not any more. Horrible in-store experience in which there was nobody at the meat counter and another customer comes in as I am looking for the employees who are supposed to be there. They finally show up and take another customer ahead of me. I let the person go, but she has three orders and since I was in a rush I finally said I was next in line and can you please take care of my small order so I can go - refrigerated and frozen items are in my shopping bag. The customer I let in front of me makes some nasty comment which is not rebuked by the employees, so I said something back and the situation gets a bit testy. I get the manager on duty, Claudia (a real "winner") who I believe retaliated against me for a previous complaint against the store (San Diego, California - G Street) by saying "I know who you are and I am not going to do anything." Who am I? A highly educated and accomplished person who would be three levels above you in the organization. I called corporate, complained about the situation and that they need a bell at all counters and a ticket-number dispenser, giving this backwards store an intelligent solution(s) to this issue. They thanked me, said they will take care of the situation and have the District Manager contact me, which he does.
He seems like a nice guy who recognizes there are problems in this store, says "give me two weeks" to get back to me, and then does not even several months later now after I follow-up with the company a couple of times (parent company, Kroger in Ohio). Although I got comped for the incredibly unprofessional and rude behavior by the incompetent employees there, I was disappointed in no callback from the DM - I suspect this is because he realized he is also responsible for these buffoons and they have also made him look bad (wondering if he is even still with the company).
There was also another issue in which the expiration date of a product in the meat section was not put on by the employees, as the manufacturer instructed. I alerted the manufacturer who thanked me and took care of the situation. More incompetence and possibly danger. Ralph's also raises its prices and has f-a-k-e "Sale" signs after jacking up the price and then dealing it back only a little bit, still costing a lot more than what the price was previously. Manufacturers are also putting less in the packages, so check the net weight. You might occasionally see a sign on the package stating "20% more" but you will never see what they are now doing, putting 20% LESS in the packages. Tropicana orange juice now has 46 ounces in it instead of the 64 ounces previously. Are they or Ralph's/Kroger lowering the price? See for yourself. I have also found RALPH'S products NOT FRESH, and sold closer to the expiration dates than before - possibly because their products don't sell at the ridiculously inflated prices and they still don't lower them in general.
Avoid Ralph's. Their "solution" is to thank the customer, maybe comp the person and hope you go away without resolving the issue.
Now Kroger is merging with Albertson's (to cover up the huge quarterly financial loss last year -?) and selling off dozens of stores combined as you can read about online. This does not look good to me. Albertson's charges exorbitant prices in my opinion, so this is like two F students marrying. They also try to trick you so be very, very careful, especially at Ralph's. RALPH'S: NOT FRESH FOR EVERYONE, and also a bad company. Ralph's practices and stupidity make me want to just "ralph" which is slang for vomit (look that one up, too).
