Safeway

"We are a large 4 generation family of shoppers with Safeway Alamo since it's original location. We grew up with this store. Now because of the amount of time required to download, search, scan and click we can no longer shop here. Tonight there was clear signage posted for prices but the register didn't ring properly. The result was being charged twice as much. It took 3 employees 12 minutes to try to decipher the original price, the sale price, the discount price, the bulk price, the ad, the app, "can you try your wifi again?", "can you turn your wifi off and try again?" can you turn on data?", "can you make your selections on the app before you come in?". Are you kidding me? This has happens, to some degree, EVERY VISIT for past 6 months. Too hard. We slowly started making the transition to Trader Joe's and Lunardi's last summer where prices are EQUITABLE for all shoppers and you don't have to do any work with apps or wifi or scan while shopping. The Safeway employees are like community/family which makes us sad, but we don't have the time and energy it requires to shop at Safeway anymore. If we are going to be forced to pay more than others we prefer to shop at Lunardi's or Draeger's. Tonight we left our cart, said a few good-byes and drove to Danville to shop. P.S. Our last visit to Alamo Safeway we watched an elderly woman get overcharged because she didn't have a cell phone and doesn't know how to use an app and they wouldn't honor the sale price without it. She was clearly confused, and embarrassed for holding up the line, and paid it anyway. This is despicable!"

"This is the best Safeway. Top notch service. Starbucks is a great place to start. Deli is nice, Carl is the guy to talk to there. Over in the meat department the guy with black rimmed glasses is the guy to speak to."

"This Safeway--and possible all Safeway stores-- routinely charges illegal amounts of tax on taxable items. Yesterday, I was charged 14.27% tax on a 750 ml bottle of tequila ($1.14) for which I paid $7.99. The official sales tax rate for Alamo, Contra Costa County, California, effective July 1 2023 is 8.75%. I used a Safeway store coupon for this purchase, which I had received in the mail. The coupon specified $5 off on a 750 ml bottle of wine or spirits. State tax law requires store coupons to be applied BEFORE tax is computed. The checker failed to apply the coupon. When I pointed this out, he applied it at the end, and it was taxed by their system. I went to the service desk for assistance. The employee who came over, an older, diminutive woman with a gray ponytail, tried to make up stories to excuse the error: she claimed there were other taxable items on the ticket when there were NO other taxable items there, refused to consider that the checker had made a mistake, insisted that their system was correct. When that didn't work, she became abusive and treated me in a rude, condescending, insulting, and dismissive manner. She told me to leave the store. When I asked for her name, she at first refused to give it and walked away. I confronted her, and she finally said her name was "Debbie" (if that can be believed). Is this how Safeway allows their employees to treat their customers? I hope the knowledge of this incident will alert shoppers to the abuses of this company and act accordingly."

"Everytime I go here, the checker tries to overcharge. My wife bought two cabbages and they tried to charge her $17!!!! It was marked as 0.39/lb or $1.79. I called customer service to complain, and the woman who was the customer service manager was extremely rude and lied to me, saying we needed a digital coupon to get that deal. My wife had taken a picture and there was nothing stating the need for a digital coupon, only a member price and we are members. The service manager continued to argue about the need for a coupon, completely lying to me and being rude. This is not a good place to shop. Beware of them trying to overcharge you. On another occasion, they tried to charge my father-in-law $50 for a bottle of wine, which he didn't buy. He's visually impaired and he didn't notice the extra charge. We had to go back and speak with the manager, who reviewed the video and agreed with us- we got a refund, but it was a waste of our time, and aggravating. I don't plan to go back."

"This used to be my favorite grocery store. Why? Because the shelves were always stocked, the lines were rarely long, even on the busiest of days and everyone was always so friendly, especially the customers. I also liked it because of the store layout and the elegant design - if that’s possible in a grocery store. I’ve certainly been in stores with better design (think Roseaurs) but for a California store, this one was great. So what happened? Some designer came in and totally ruined the place. The colors are comically bad, the flooring is awful and all of the charm is stripped out of the place. It feels like you are in 1971 Kansas. Wide, ugly and barren. I should say the shelves are still stocked and people are friendly so that part is still good but I found myself so angered by the horrendous remodel that I’m having a hard time keeping my rating up to a four. Safeway screwed this up as badly as Chris Bangle mucked up the 2004 BMW 5 series."