No W.I.C. at Bashas?

Posted Thu December 7, 2006 9:28 am, by Laura R. written to Bashas Inc

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Last night I went into Bashas to do my weekly grocery shopping. Although I really don't like their prices, I do like their staff, well, at least until last night. Although, last night was the first time I had encountered these two females. I know that seems bizarre, but in the past 3 years that I have been shopping at this location, I have not ever seen the manager that was presented to me but I had seen the cashier, just somehow never went through her line.

Anyhow, to the point. I went there last night to purchase my formula for my 6 month old son with my W.I.C. voucher. I really appreciate the help that W.I.C. provides for my family, if you are not familiar with it; what it is is the state government issues a certain number of vouchers for you and your children under 5 depending on your household income which help provide, Eggs, Milk, Cheese, Juice, Cereal and above all infant formula. At-any-rate, when I went through the checkout line, the cashier rang up my 3 12 oz cans of formula, totaling, $38.97, (that will last about 1 1/2 weeks for my 6 mo old son). After filling the voucher out, she had me sign it (all standard procedure) and then got ready to compare my signature. That is where we seem to have run into a problem, according to her, my signatures do not match. Let me remind you, I have been shopping here for 3 years and been receiving W.I.C. for 4 months using these vouchers at Bashas. She said she would have to get the manager and have her verify it. Well, the manager seemed to have agreed with her saying that I was not the person who should be signing this voucher and that I am basically committing fraud. In my personal opinion, I think my signatures looked pretty darn similar. Okay, whatever, not to be so absorbed as to worry about what everybody thinks about me, but there were people looking at me like I was a common criminal. One in particular being the pharmacist which fills my prescriptions (he was in line behind me). How humiliating. So, I simply told the ladies to have a nice night and left the rest of my groceries sitting on the belt. I was too embarrassed to finish my shopping. I really did surprise myself bynot spouting off and telling them to go f themselves.

When I got home, my husband called and talked to the manager. Although he did say a few things that I wouldn't have, she told him they have been having a lot of problems with fraud at their store. How is that my problem?

So, now I have this voucher that I am unable to use because it has already been filled out and signed. I will have to call W.I.C. and see what they can do for me.

I suppose maybe I am overreacting and perhaps writing this just helps me vent a little in regards to how much this irritated me and I should just take a Midol and call it a day. However, is it so necessary to make someone feel or look like they are committing fraud in front of quite a few people?

I am not sure what I expect Bashas to do. I don't think there is a price you can really put on ones humility.

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Re: No W.I.C. at Bashas? by m.e. r. Posted Fri December 8, 2006 @ 12:43 PM "I really did surprise myself bynot spouting off and telling them to go f themselves." "I should just take a Midol and call it a day" Take a midol, call it a day and rewrite this letter, leaving this first part out. you will be more likely to get a response. Reply No need to rewrite by lrbnsn04 Thu December 14, 2006 @ 9:54 AM Re: No W.I.C. at Bashas? by CrazyRedHead Posted Fri December 8, 2006 @ 9:27 AM This was a big problem a couple of years ago. My sig varies, depending on the situation. When I sigh for them at the office I am standing, usually juggling a couple of kids. When I sign at the store, I am usually alone or have my son in the buggy. I have been through this quite a bit, but they usually just ask me for my drivers license to compare. Now, all you have to do is sign the stub and there is only one sig required on the vouchers. I'm so glad. Reply Talk to your WIC office. by Tina N Posted Thu December 7, 2006 @ 11:27 AM They may reissue the voucher and they will, most assuredly, investigate Basha's a lot closer. We ALWAYS tell our cashiers to check signatures before ringing up anything. That way if there's any question, the voucher isn't ruined. Reply Re: No W.I.C. at Bashas? by prisoner6 Posted Thu December 7, 2006 @ 11:05 AM Take it from experience --- the state probably has a lot of "sting" operations on establishments that take W.I.C. They seem to test the stores in a lot of ways such as testing to see if the store will take an item that is not actually on list, testing to see if the store will take it for over the number of items or amount, or, like you, testing to see if the store will take a voucher where the signatures don't match. Managers have to be EXTREMELY careful. Since the store did not take possession of the voucher (and hopefully no one at the store signed it) then I don't see why you can't exchange it. But I'm not a W.I.C. expert. Reply