Grr. Argh.
There's a store down here called BevMo!, which is chock full of cool varieties of beer, a nice liquor selection, and a lot of interesting nonalcoholic drinks (like my beloved Dry lavender soda). Ben and I went there with Leah in December and stocked up on things like Kahlua and double chocolate stout. It was good times. We went there again last weekend and were thoroughly pissed off. Here's my complaint letter:
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On Friday, March 20th, my boyfriend and I stopped in at BevMo! to purchase a variety of drinks, including alcohol. At a past visit we were pleased with BevMo!'s wide variety of beverages and wished to sample more varieties of drinks.
When asked for our IDs we promptly displayed them - both were Oregon driver's licenses, as we are residents of Oregon attending school in California. The store manager seemed suspicious and asked us what we were doing in California, and we told him we were Oregon residents but going to school. The manager told us that they were unable to accept our identification. This was surprising to me, as I have purchased alcohol at southern California Trader Joe's, Food-4-Less, Von's, Albertson's, Rite-Aid, and Ralph's using Oregon identification, and have told cashiers before that I am a student. Additionally, both my boyfriend and I have purchased alcohol *at this BevMo! location* in December. No mention has ever been made of my possessing Oregon identification at any of these facilities prior to this incident at the BevMo! The manager did not offer to ring up our nonalcoholic purchases, and when told that we had purchased alcohol at this location before, simply shrugged and said "Sorry." We were given no other opportunity but to take our money elsewhere.
It is interesting to me that BevMo! claims to enforce a policy of accepting California identification only, when a) no other stores in the area do so, b) machines exist for easy verification of out-of-state identification, and c) this particular BevMo! chain does not appear able to enforce its own policy consistently.
The kicker to this was that before the manager told us we could not purchase there, I began filling out a form for BevMo! club membership. I had only filled out my name and e-mail address before we were told we could not buy there, and left. Despite the fact that our legal, government-issued identification is not accepted at your establishment, and the fact that we were clearly unwelcome there, my e-mail address was still added as a member of Club!Bev. I find this particularly ironic.
In short, we were highly disappointed by the service we received. The manager did not attempt to explain the reasoning behind accepting California identification only, and made no explanation for why Oregon identification was acceptable at that location three months before. We will not be visiting any BevMo! locations again, even if we do, in the future, decide to establish California residency. We will also be informing our friends and classmates that BevMo! refuses government-issued, legal identification and that the service is poor, and that they would be better off visiting a local grocery or liquor store for their beverage purchases, alcoholic or otherwise.
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The manager was really rude about it, I felt. His whole tone was very suspicious, like we were totally kids with fake IDs or something, despite the fact that there are times that neither of us get carded, so obviously we don't look that young. If he'd just really apologized for us previously being served (instead of a "sorry" with the implied "that's not my problem" that was in his tone), and explained that this was their policy *because* X, well, it still would've been disappointing, but at least he wouldn't have been trying to make me feel like a criminal, which was the very distinct impression I got from it. Much rage was induced. And I never did get my lavender soda or double chocolate stout. *weep*
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On Friday, March 20th, my boyfriend and I stopped in at BevMo! to purchase a variety of drinks, including alcohol. At a past visit we were pleased with BevMo!'s wide variety of beverages and wished to sample more varieties of drinks.
When asked for our IDs we promptly displayed them - both were Oregon driver's licenses, as we are residents of Oregon attending school in California. The store manager seemed suspicious and asked us what we were doing in California, and we told him we were Oregon residents but going to school. The manager told us that they were unable to accept our identification. This was surprising to me, as I have purchased alcohol at southern California Trader Joe's, Food-4-Less, Von's, Albertson's, Rite-Aid, and Ralph's using Oregon identification, and have told cashiers before that I am a student. Additionally, both my boyfriend and I have purchased alcohol *at this BevMo! location* in December. No mention has ever been made of my possessing Oregon identification at any of these facilities prior to this incident at the BevMo! The manager did not offer to ring up our nonalcoholic purchases, and when told that we had purchased alcohol at this location before, simply shrugged and said "Sorry." We were given no other opportunity but to take our money elsewhere.
It is interesting to me that BevMo! claims to enforce a policy of accepting California identification only, when a) no other stores in the area do so, b) machines exist for easy verification of out-of-state identification, and c) this particular BevMo! chain does not appear able to enforce its own policy consistently.
The kicker to this was that before the manager told us we could not purchase there, I began filling out a form for BevMo! club membership. I had only filled out my name and e-mail address before we were told we could not buy there, and left. Despite the fact that our legal, government-issued identification is not accepted at your establishment, and the fact that we were clearly unwelcome there, my e-mail address was still added as a member of Club!Bev. I find this particularly ironic.
In short, we were highly disappointed by the service we received. The manager did not attempt to explain the reasoning behind accepting California identification only, and made no explanation for why Oregon identification was acceptable at that location three months before. We will not be visiting any BevMo! locations again, even if we do, in the future, decide to establish California residency. We will also be informing our friends and classmates that BevMo! refuses government-issued, legal identification and that the service is poor, and that they would be better off visiting a local grocery or liquor store for their beverage purchases, alcoholic or otherwise.
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The manager was really rude about it, I felt. His whole tone was very suspicious, like we were totally kids with fake IDs or something, despite the fact that there are times that neither of us get carded, so obviously we don't look that young. If he'd just really apologized for us previously being served (instead of a "sorry" with the implied "that's not my problem" that was in his tone), and explained that this was their policy *because* X, well, it still would've been disappointing, but at least he wouldn't have been trying to make me feel like a criminal, which was the very distinct impression I got from it. Much rage was induced. And I never did get my lavender soda or double chocolate stout. *weep*