Sprouts vs. Whole Foods

A wonderful experience with Sprouts Farmers Market this morning. After a brief workout and swim, I stopped by the Sprouts at Ridgegate to pick up some fruit for my smoothie. Organic strawberries were on sale for $2.98/lb so I bought 2 and a few other things. Since my list was short I thought the bill was a bit higher than I expected; however, I didn't check the receipt until I got home. Turns out they'd mistakenly charged me $3.99/lb for the strawberries. This afternoon I had to run some errands so stopped by Sprouts to let them know; wow was I surprised. Instead of just giving me the $2 difference, the manager gave me $7.98, the price I was mistakenly charged for 2 pounds of strawberries. I tried to object and said I want to keep the strawberries so he only owed me the $2 difference; he said, no, it was our mistake and you had to drive back here and gas is not cheap so I'm refunding the entire charge. Wow! For $5, he bought customer loyalty; smart manager yes but even more important - he was a kind person; what a pleasant experience.

Contrast this with my Whole Foods shopping experience. Readers might be aware of the case in New York where Whole Foods was caught overcharging for food. ofhttp://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/07/02/whole-foods-apology-overcharging-nyc/29611035/
I experienced similar overcharging on a regular basis at the Whole Foods in Colorado where I used to shop. More times than not, I'd get home, only to find that I was overcharged. A common example was with apples or other fruit. Whole Foods would put out a sale sign in front a huge pile of apples advertising a price of say $1.99/lb; but when I'd get home, I often discovered they charged me more; often double. I only discovered this because I just had an inkling that the bill was higher than I thought it should be. When I took the trouble to return to the store, they always apologized and refunded the difference. They never went the extra mile like the manager at Sprouts did and more importantly, they never fixed the problem, which eventually led me to believe the overcharging was intentional and not just an honest mistake. Glad to see somebody (i.e. New York) finally held Whole Foods accountable for their actions. I try to avoid being negative and to give everyone the benefit of the doubt but after being overcharged (that I know of) many times, I no longer shop at Whole Foods. Yes, there produce is wonderful quality and their selection is amazing but I'd rather do business with someone I can trust.