I'm not a big shoplifter, but felt compelled to lift a $10 bottle of wine at Ghezzi's after they misled me with an in-store promotion. At issue was a rebate deal on Cruzan Rum. They had a big sign in the store, offering a $10 rebate on two bottles. I bought two bottles, asked for the rebate form, and was told "It's online". The Cruzan website mentioned the rebate, and stated that rebate forms were ONLY AVAILABLE FROM THE RETAILER. I made an extra trip back to Ghezzi's with this info, and was told they'd have to get back to me. I left my name and number, and guess what happened? Nothing, of course. Well, by now I felt I had wasted enough of my time, so I returned to Ghezzi's a third time determined to be made whole. A couple of Muskegon's finest happened to be in the store when I returned, so I was a bit tentative. That was when I realized that the place is really a shoplifters paradise. Sure, there's some minor security; but the way the merchandise is stocked and displayed, as well as the store's traffic patterns, make it really easy to pocket whatever you want. In the case of my $10 bottle, I just strolled out of the store with it...no problem. Also, I noticed that the place was really busy and understaffed during each of my visits. The friendly counter person was doing her best to keep up, but was quite overwhelmed.
I guess my advice to the Ghezzi's management would be: A) never blow-off a paying customer who is having a problem with one of your own promotions; and B) look into hiring some more help...one person minding a store of your size makes poor customer service inevitable.
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