As I mentioned in the previous post, one of my frustrations with HEB is that any time you really want a product, they are almost sure to be out of stock. This is partially due to the fact that so many people shop there; an employee actually told a friend of mine that the best time to find an item is between 3 and 6 AM, before the masses pick it all clean. Of course, it doesn't help that most of their employees are too busy checking their cell phones and wiping the drool off their jaws to bother checking their stock.
Grandma waited until 6:15 AM to pick up her beloved Choco Nuggs Cereal. Bad move.
The Letter
Dear HEB,
They say there are men of small pleasures, and men of habit. I happen to fall into both of those categories. That means there are a few small things that, when I have them, make my life generally pleasant and enjoyable, but they have to be just the right things. I am writing because, somehow, your store sells many of these things, but I would never know, because they are NEVER in stock. My bi- or tri-weekly HEB
shopping experience has become an exercise in searching fruitlessly (or just with whatever fruit you have on sale in those rotting crates in the parking lot) for items like juice, salsa, cereal, and crackers.
Just for the record, the specific items I have in mind that, when I find them on your shelves, is somewhat akin to discovering the Higgs boson, are Arriba hot salsa, O's cereal, Chicken in a Biskit crackers, honey wheat bread, and grapefruit juice. The juice I'm not specific about, as long as it's not that horrible calcium-enriched stuff you sell that tastes like children's fluoride.
Tastes like HEB Grapefruit juice...
The pathetic thing is that I let you get my hopes up. Every time. I come bounding down the aisles like a kid on Christmas morning. Well, a kid who knows he's doing no better than a new pair of shoelaces, anyway. And every time there's a small, deep hole on the shelf where my desired product should be. I end up settling for some depressing alternative, like your dry heave-inducing Raspberry Chipotle crackers. I've written you about those things before; did you think it would help to put some
sexy new picture on the box? Of course you didn't--you just did that to rub it in my face.
The cereal is the worst. As you may or may not be aware, O's happen to be the most wonderful, smile-bringing breakfast cereal in the universe. Maybe the terrorists have realized this, and you've cut some backdoor deal to sell them 90 percent of your supply at a huge markup. Worse, I've lived in Texas for two years, and I have confirmed with your more conscious employees that O's cereal has never been given a designated slot on your cereal aisle (at least not at the 41st street location).
So every week, I go down the aisle on tiptoes, searching the overflow section for my beloved O's, but it seems too many others have learned this secret. It's never there.
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Can you tell which one the terrorists want most? Me neither.
They say if you can't say anything nice you shouldn't say anything, so I suppose I should say something nice about your store. Well...it's nice that you have weighty shopping carts. That way, when I slip in the 3-foot area of standing water in your produce section like I did last night, I can catch myself on the cart. So thank you for not buying the cheap plastic carts like Target. That might have spelled the end of me.
In short, HEB, I hate you. But I hate you like a trailer park housewife hates her abusive husband. Sure, it's awful every time he comes home; he's drunker than last time, and he always gives you a fresh shiner (there's something else you have in common--there's always plenty of Shiner). But you keep coming back because, let's face it, you know you can't do any better, and he knows it too. I just hope my abused-spouse mentality doesn't rub off on my children and begin the cycle anew...
He knows what HEB is doing to mommy inside.
The Response
"Hello and thank you for contacting us at our H-E-B Web Site. We always appreciate
hearing from our Friends and Customers.
One of our goals is to maintain the safe, clean and pleasant shopping environment every
Customer expects and deserves. We are always disappointed if we learn a store is not
meeting these standards. Your Store Director will review your comments and do
everything possible to ensure we are maintaining our store at the high standards we
hold ourselves to. We have also forwarded your comments to our Manager of Food Safety
for his immediate investigation. Thanks for letting us know.
Providing Customers with the products they want when they want them has always been
important to us. Sometimes demand exceeds our expectations, creating out of stocks.
When this occurs, it usually takes one to three days for the store to be back in stock.
When a distribution problem occurs at the manufacturer level, the delay may be longer.
I apologize for your inconvenience. You can be assured that we are working to keep "out
of stocks" to a minimum and replenish the stock as quickly as possible when they occur.
I appreciate the time you have taken in detailing your concerns with our store. I will
formally document your comments, and ensure they are directed to the appropriate
members of Store and Regional Management for their review and action. Our goal is to
provide our Customers with excellent service and a superior shopping experience. We
are always disappointed to learn we have let down a valued Customer. However, we
cannot improve without valuable feedback like you have shared with us. I know our Store
Team will work hard to ensure your future visits to our store meet your expectations.
Thanks again and please accept my personal apology for any inconvenience you have
experienced.
H-E-B is proud to serve you as our Customer and we will look forward to all future
opportunities we may have to serve you. We genuinely value your comments and your
business. As we strive to deliver superior Customer Service, we encourage you to
continue letting us know how we can serve you better.
Sincerely,
Suzanne
Senior Customer Relations Specialist
H-E-B Grocery Company
1-800-432-3113"
Amazingly, this time I got more than smoke blown up my ass. The next day,
HEB had a spot on the shelf for Oh's, and it has been in stock ever since.
You are all welcome.
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