Yep, Gristedes mostly sucks

As previously explained, I emailed Gristedes' customer service on Friday evening. To my pleasant surprise, I received the following reply on Sunday:

In a message dated 3/18/2007 2:36:21 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time, CustomerService@Gristedes.com writes:

Dear Ms. B:

Thank you for your e-mail and thank you for ordering from Gristedes Online Supermarkets of New York. In response to your e-mail, I will submit a request to have UPS pick this up from the address you provided upon placing your order. Once we have confirmation that this is back in transit to us here in New York, we will re-ship the correct product back out to you. Thank you in advance for your patience.

In the meantime, if there is anything else we can help you with, feel free to contact us at this e-mail address. Thank you for your business and we look forward to your next order with us. Have a great day!

Best,

Carolina Urena
Customer Service
Gristedes Online Supermarkets of New York
(e) customerservice@gristedes.com
(ph) 866-239-9806
(FX) 212-243-7932

So far so good. Monday and Tuesday go by and UPS is a no show. Now we're talking perishable goods here (with sell by dates of 3/15/07 and 3/17/07) so yesterday evening I email again, informing that UPS has not stopped by and inquiring if a call tag was in fact issued.

To my dismay, here is the response to my inquiry:

In a message dated 3/21/2007 10:10:06 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time, CustomerService@Gristedes.com writes:

Dear Ms. B:

Thank you for your e-mail and thank you for ordering from Gristedes Online Supermarkets of New York. In response to your e-mail, I do apologize for the delay in having this order picked up. I have inquired about the pick up and have been informed that the product you received is the actual Arnold Raisin Cinnamon Bread however the package has changed to reflect the type of raisins used in the bread. I have contacted the manufacturer in order to verify this information and they have confirmed that the Sun maid is indeed the Arnolds Raisin Cinnamon Bread. Please inform us if you still wish to have this product picked up. If you wish to verify this information you can view on the back of the package in small letters that the manufacturer is Arnolds Foods Company Inc.

In the meantime, if you have any further questions, feel free to contact me at this e-mail address. Thank you for your patronage and we look forward to your next order with us. Have a great day!

Best,

Carolina Urena
Customer Service
Gristedes Online Supermarkets of New York
(e) customerservice@gristedes.com
(ph) 866-239-9806
(FX) 212-243-7932

To which I reply (after doing about 30 seconds of online research):

Dear Ms. Urena,

Per our telephone conversation, I will expect an email confirming that a call tag has been issued to UPS for pick-up of this order. As I mentioned, I can buy Sun-Maid Cinnamon Swirl Raisin bread in my local supermarket and not have to pay shipping.

According to the Arnold's website, http://arnold.gwbakeries.com/subcat.cfm/subcatId/58, the Sun-Maid Cinnamon Swirl Raisin Bread is a different product from the Arnold Raisin Cinnamon bread. The UPC for the Arnold bread is 7341005205 and the UPC for the Sun-Maid bread is 7341005240.

If the Arnold bread is available, I would love return the Sun-Maid bread for an exchange. However, if Gristedes is unable to provide the Arnold bread, I will expect a full refund.

Thank you for your assistance in this matter.

I am offended by the fact that someone at Gristedes actually thought I would buy their lame explanation.

I am taking an inordinate amount of satisfaction from the fact that I was able to blow their argument out of the water.