December 2018 by Christopher A.
I would give this place zero stars if I could. An experience from a trip to this Giant Eagle yesterday (12/13/18). Some background: my wife and I are managers at the same company, a mid-size construction outfit that works statewide, and in some surrounding ones as well. We have both been Giant Eagle club members for several years, and frequently shop here. Last night, we had a task for our company. We were looking to obtain many gift cards (totaling over $9,000) for our employees as Christmas bonuses. This is something that our company had done for several years, and had no issues whatsoever. Last night, we had started the same process, and it took quite some time. The young ladies, all junior employees, were quite helpful and willing to assist us in the complicated process. One manager, Jason Smith, was not quite so helpful. At first, he had just walked by and asked if everything was okay as we got our gift cards together. We replied in the affirmative. He stood over us (uncomfortably) for some time, then moved on. Finally, as we had all the cards together, the young ladies were helping us to check out. Before we could get further than placing the cards on the belt, Mr. Smith walked over and told the cashier not to ring anything up yet. He said that he had called "corporate", and they said that there will be a $3,000 limit on the transaction. My wife mentioned to him that we had made these types and quantities of purchases before, but he said that was no concern of his. We asked then if we could do this in multiple transactions, to which he flatly said he wouldn't allow it. We asked to speak to the manager, to which he replied that he was. We then asked to speak with the store's general manager/owner, which he indicated that he was as well (this was later found to be untrue). I asked him personally what the real deal was, why he had to call corporate to understand what should be a known store policy, and why this "policy" couldn't be mentioned during the 50+ minutes that we were getting the cards together. He just said that's the policy, and he'll ring us up under the rules stipulated. We were still willing to work with it since I had a corporate card as well, which meant we would be able to purchase $6,000 of the cards. That's when we were thrown another curveball. My wife and I got married recently, and my wife hadn't changed her name on her advantage card. Now, Jason said, we would only be able to get $500 worth of cards since the name didn't match. Again, he attributed this to "corporate policy". The attitude of this gentleman was smug from the start and got even more smug as we continued. I felt really bad for the nice young ladies, who looked extremely uncomfortable. When faced with the option of getting only $3,500 worth of the cards (less than half of what we needed), we instead left the cards and groceries on the belt and walked out of the store. We were able to purchase everything we needed from a nearby Walmart in less than half the time. This would have ended my complaint, but I decided to call the store today and let them know what happened. I found out from an employee that Jason Smith was not the GM/owner, but rather that person is Marc McKillop. I was able to speak with Marc only moments ago. After telling him the story, he informed me that he was the one Jason had spoken to the night before, and that he set up that "policy" on the spot. I asked if he was okay with Jason identifying himself as the GM, he said he had no issue there. He mentioned specifically that the store is privately owned by him, and operates as a franchise. I asked him if there was a written policy regarding what we were told about these gift cards, to which replied (and I quote), "We don't have to have a policy. It's our option to serve or not serve whoever we want, however we want." I couldn't believe my ears. I thanked him for his time and hung up the phone. I don't know why they thi
