This morning as I headed out to do my couponing before all the shelves were wiped I felt awesome about the day and the deals I would be getting. Sorry to say that as I made my way from store to store everything just kept going wrong and I got fed up by the time 1:30 rolled around. At CVS the shift supervisor more or less accused me of coupon fraud simply because my printables wouldn’t scan, at Wal-Mart nothing was stocked, at Rite Aid my +UP reward did not print when I purchased the qualifying products and finally at Family Dollar the cashier made a smart remark about not be able to help her co-worker because she “had a ‘spender’ in her line”. As a result, this post.
1. If your coupons don’t scan, it doesn’t always mean they aren’t valid. Top reasons my coupons don’t scan are 1) the price and the coupon are the same amount 2) the price is lower than the amount of the coupon 3)the cashier did not ring my item up. A lot of cashiers at places I shop have to manually enter my coupons because their systems will not take off the coupon if the item price is equal to or lower than the value of the coupon. (This is especially true for dollar stores like Family Dollar and Dollar General.)
2. If the cashier will not accept your coupon for various reasons such as “this coupon is more than the item, I can’t take it” or “it won’t scan, I can’t accept it” (the last being for newspaper coupons, not printables) and you know very well that it IS valid for that item, get another opinion! If this means having the cashier call the customer service manager or just checking out and going to customer service yourself. I have had to do the second one quite a bit at Wal-Mart when I don’t want to hold up the line for $1 coupon; I walk right over and say “I gave them this coupon [show coupon] for this product [show product and receipt] and was told they couldn’t accept it because [insert reason], is that correct” and usually they side with you and take your coupon and give you back your money.
3. If the cashier argues the coupon policy with you and you know better, pull out your stores’ coupon policy or ask for the customer service manager. In my experience, a lot of cashiers don’t know their own coupon policy or misunderstand it.
4. If you have a coupon uneducated customer service manager that wants to argue with you and you know you’re right, have them call corporate or email corporate yourself and have it sorted out. (I will most definitely be doing two of these today. Hate to, but respect is respect and I don’t appreciate being publicly humiliated and being called out for coupon fraud when that’s not at all what it is.)
5. If a reward (such as an ExtraCare Buck or +UP reward) doesn’t print, point it out the cashier at CVS and they will print one for you or for Rite Aid, call the customer service on your receipt and they will fix it. For some reason Rite Aid can’t print them out when they don’t print anymore.
6. If you think your before coupon total is wrong, have the cashier check the receipt. Before using coupons I would never question, now I realize that I have probably paid for things I haven’t even bought quite frequently. A lot of times a cashier will double scan something (I just had this happen at Rite Aid a month ago, a $5 toothbrush; $5 is $5!) or something will not ring up at its sale price such as holiday clearance items.
Just remember, if you’re thorough and pay attention to what’s going on while shopping you’ll catch a lot of these mishaps. And another thing, there’s always someone else to double check your questions. If it takes you a customer service manager, two phone calls and a train ride, you’ll find answers!
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