Alright I had been shopping at the Kroger on Cleveland and Metropolitan yesterday and was on the way back to my car. I was approached by a fresh-faced young woman who said that she was "a part on Kroger Customer Appreciation Day": and that they were conducting a "Free windshield safety check". The word "free" immediately aroused my suspicions and I told her "no thanks". As I was taking my empty cart back to the store, I noticed that one of the women had descended onto a car with two older women in it who were parked in a handicapped space.Being the fearless crime fighter that I am (aka: nosy bitch) I walked up to the car in time to hear the woman rattling off her spiel.She had attached a weird-looking device to the woman's windshield and was telling her that if something was wrong with it, that the woman's auto insurance would pay for it @ no out-of-pocket charge to her.I smelled a big rat and at this point I interrupted to ask them if they had permission from the store (as I knew they didn't work for Kroger). The woman gave me some double-speak about how he company called " CHIPPO" was doing these free tests in "honor" of Kroger customers. "SO, I said, You really aren't affiliated with Kroger at all!"( they had NO name tags or Company ID on themselves by the way and were conveniently out of business cards) The younger woman in the car got nervous and told her mother to stop giving them information because she was in the process of giving them her car insurance policy number! I said " yes and if you give her that, you will get billed and your insurance rates may very well go up even if you don't pay out of pocket!" The other young lady who was supposedly the manager of this "CHIPPO" company was involved by this time and got defensive asking me if I was a Kroger manager. I stretched the truth and told her yes ( I'm on a first-name basis with a lot of the employees there) .At that point the less elderly woman in the car demanded that they take that devise off of their windshield which they did with some difficulty.At that point the supposed manager said " But it's not finished fixing your windshield!" at which point I got a little aggressive and said " Ma'm there is NOTHING wrong with their windshield, at least not until you got a hold of it!" The owner of the car insisted on exchanging phone numbers with me and also took the name of the supposed manager of this company. I told her that if a crack developed where they had attached that devise that they needed to get in touch with this bogus company IF they actually do exist at all.( I have since Googled "Chippo" and there is indeed a windshield repair company by that name, ( but again, these women had no ID on themselves and were also conveniently out of business cards). At this point the owner of the car thanked me and left. I had groceries to get home but I plan on talking to the Kroger management today to get to the bottom if this. Remember folks : 'Tis the season to be scamming! Be hyper aware of strangers coming up on you in a parking lot and don't feel guilty of being suspicious! It's called "Instinct" and unfortunately most of it has been conditioned out of us… Enjoy the holidays but keep your wits about you and your credit cards and personal information even closer! Happy Holidays and Bear Hugs to you all! LOKI
My Hero!!