A price matching policy can be a good thing since it keeps customers happy and loyal, but there has to be some limits on the policy.

What would you do if a customer was clearly abusing the price match policy, and was even being rude about it?

That is what happened to the supervisor in this store, but he had to just give her the reduced price anyway.

Read on to find out why.

Price Matching

I work as a supervisor at a large grocery store that offers price matching.

So, if Heinz Beans are on sale for $1 at another store within the geographical area, and you can show us their flyer, then we will give you that price for a maximum of two items.

The policy also states we reserve the right not to match an item.

More and more people are price matching now with the high cost of groceries of course.

It is good that this supervisor is willing to step in and help with normal work.

Last night I had to be on a till as we did not want to cover a sick call.

A woman and her daughter come through with about 20 items and she announces that they will be doing some price matching.

The first item they wanted to price match are No Name chips. Well we do not sell no name brand so she wanted our in-store brand.

Sorry, these items don’t qualify.

Also, that flyer says buy 3 for $3.99 and our policy specifically excludes multi-buy offers. I told her this and she says, “Well I talked to your store manager and he said it’s okay.”

Now I know that my store manager has okayed the No Name/in-store brand swap in the past, he is very customer-focused and I respect that, but I know for sure that the limit is two of an item.

There is no way that this will be approved.

This woman has not two, not three, but seven bags of chips.

Again I tell her the limit is two and she says, “Well I talked to your store manager and he said it’s okay.”

So, I went to the customer service desk to find the price matching policy and it’s gone.

Wow, he gave her the lower price!

Resigned, I give her the price match for her seven bags of chips.

As I am doing this, she comments that I must be new here.

This really set me off because I have worked in the company for five years and I am literally in charge.

She responds, “Well every other cashier here has given me these price matches.”

This lady is just a scammer.

The next thing she wants to price match are the in-store brand of frozen fruit from another store. Again, she has four bags instead of two.

I reminded her that the limit is two and she said, “Well there are two of us here, so if you want we can do it on a separate transaction.” She said this in a “fight me” kind of tone.

So after I scanned the items she says, “Do you have a problem with this?”

She is just looking for conflict.

I asked her what she meant and she said I was throwing her items around.

This is completely untrue.

I will spare you the details of the rest of the interaction as it’s more of the same, but she also managed to violate the part about the competitor being in the nearby area as she also found a flyer from an obscure store to price match.

How much abuse will this guy take?

Later on, she also made these three comments in a condescending tone:

1. You should be grateful that we are giving you our business.
2. You shouldn’t take it out on customers if you’re having a bad day.
3. I will be making a call because your service is very poor. (or words to that effect)

People do what they have to do, but there is no reason to be rude.

Look I get it, groceries are expensive and I also price match on occasion as well. What I am not okay with, is the fact that she clearly already knows what our policy is, and is now intentionally abusing and violating the policy just because my store manager is a nice guy.

She is not even TRYING to be reasonable, and is intent on getting her way at any cost.

I almost felt bad for the daughter who was just silently showing me the flyer offers on the phone.

Hmm, I wonder where the complaint came from.

Fast forward to tonight when my store manager emailed the management team including myself, that they had received a complaint about price matching, and reminded us to be positive and friendly with price matches.

You could not find a more accommodating person in our store with price matching, I literally had another customer yesterday where I already knew the price he wanted to price match his Flour to because I’m in tune with our competitors’ flyers.

But I am not okay with being walked all over and intimidated by someone who is just here to take advantage of us.

Manager need to know that sometimes the customers really are wrong.

The way she treated me was disgraceful and the only reason why I gave her the price matches was because if I refused her, she would just go to the other cashier (young) and intimidate her too.

As for my store manager, the fact that he takes the customers’ side even in the most egregious situations tells me that I will not be working for him again.

This would drive me crazy. The manager doesn’t have the employee’s back at all, which is not acceptable.

Read on to see if the people in the comments on Reddit have anything to say about it.

This commenter has a great response.

If you don’t enforce policies, why have them?

Price matching would be a hassle.

This commenter is right I suppose.

Policies are there for a reason.

If you don’t follow store policy, bad customers will abuse it.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.