[cundiff2001]

They made me so mad today, I came home and fired off this to corporate. I am just so sick of it lately.........

This explains it all.......

Hello,

I was in the Main Street Walgreens in O'Fallon MO today, trying to take advantage of the Robitusisn Register Reward buy 3, get $10 off next purchase, while trying to use three Robitussin manufacture coupons. The coupon stated 'one per purchase,' which I know means one couopn per item purchased, not per transaction carried out. I have emailed several companies and asked this exact question about their coupons.

The asst. manager (I did not get her name) refused to take more than one coupon saying that because of the 'per purchase,' more than one coupon could not be used. I calmly tried to explain the difference between 'per purchase' and 'per transaction, but she either didn't understand or didn't think this was correct. I also tried to explain that companies word their coupons 'per purchase' so that people to not try and use multiple coupons on one item. I even showed her the recipt where it says 'number of items purchased.'

She refused to try to scan the coupons to see if they would be accepted. I asked her to please ask a manager (not just an asst.) to which she also refused. At this point she was very rude telling me, "We can limit what we accept. It is a new policy. I don't have to take any of your coupons. Your trying to get these for free. You can't do that."

I doubt suppliers of Walgreens would want to know that the coupons they spend millions of dollars distributing by various means are being refused. The ads and sales are generated by the companies. They know that people are going to use them in conjuction. As I am sure you know, they refund stores the face value of the coupon PLUS an $.08 handling fee. This is also true for the Register Rewards. The store loses nothing.

I also doubt Wal-greens wants business turned away, even business generated with coupons. My family fills over $2000 of prescriptions at Walgreens almost every month. There are several other pharmacies in my area, but your stores are always clean, convienent, and usually staffed by friendly, helpful people.

I do not appreciate being spoken to in such a tone in front of other employees and customers just because I am trying to save my family money. I am a smart shopper and try to stock up on items we regularly use when I can find a great deal. If I purchase multiples of an item, I use multiples of the same coupon. I have done this in every Walgreens is O'Fallon for years, as well as several other stores. She acted like I was doing something odd and committing some sort of crime.

May I please have a copy of Wal-green's Corporate Coupon Policy so I can shop in your store within your guidelines. While I do not feel that I did anything wrong, I want to be sure there has not been a coupon policy change. I would also like to have a copy so that I may show a cashier/asst. manager/manager in the future if the same issue arises.

Thank you for your time,
Sincerely,
Ashley Cundiff

[Sullygirl]

Go get 'em!

Sounded very polished to me. I hope they reply!

[NJMom]

If it makes you feel any better, my Walgreens just shot me down, too. I wanted to do the Robitussin deal twice and they said I could only do it once. Okay fine. Then they said only 1 coupon could be used. I walked out.

[cundiff2001]

I put this in wags thread too b/c I thought this might be the wrong spot. Mods please delete one if necessary.

[w1df10wr]

Very well written!!

[leftyjunk]

I had a remarkably similar response from some lovey Wags employees on my Friday trip to Wags as well. I had all the deals lined up and all of my coupons and everything exactly as it should be. As soon as the cashier saw I had coupons, she stopped ringing up my purchase and called a manager over. The manager tells me that I am trying to commit fraud and that I could go to prison for trying to use more than one coupon per purchase. I did the same as you and tried in vein to explain what this actually meant, not what they "thought" it meant. I got so upset that I called Wags customer service while in my argument with the manager person. Cust service was great. They were astonished that the dude wouldn't take the coupons and told me to tell him that he had permission to take each and every coupon I had. The cs person even wanted to talk to the manager, but the manager refused. The second I get off the phone and the manager starts to ring me up again, he says again that he will not use more than one coupon for each of the same item I am purchasing. I call customer service back. They again insist that the manager take my coupons. Get off the phone and then the manger starts ringing up again, telling me that he will "do it this time, but never again"...and then gets to my wags coupons. HE WON"T TAKE THEM. He said that I am trying to use too many coupons at one time and trying to defraud the store. He said fraud and defraud so many times I honestly was about to cry. I ended up leaving the entire cart of groceries sitting there and I went to my car and called CS again. They were very nice, again and this time gave me the corporate relations number. I call that number and this woman wasn't so nice at all. She said that he is required to take my coupons (specifically more than one coupon when purchasing multiples of the same item) BUT NOT IF I GET THE ITEM FOR FREE WITH THE COUPON!!!!!!!!!! I was so surprised I hardly knew what to say. I explained that I didn't understand why it would matter because the companies reimburse Wags for all qs used and I had never had anyone ever tell me that I couldn't do this. She said that it was against their policy for anyone to get an item for free no matter what. And that if that is what I was doing then I was trying to defraud the store.

Needless to say I am extremely disgusted with WAGS right now and when I got home I wrote a very long email to the corporate complaint thingy explaining everything that happened and everyone I spoke to and the multiple conflicting answers I was given. Out of the 6 people I talked to, not one was willing to give me a copy of the coupon policy, even though I could tell the cs people were reading from it because they were all telling me the same info verbatim. The only one who seemed to be making it up was the store manager, employee and the corporate relations person.

I have to say that I think that this has made me done with Wags. I get great deals at Kroger and don't care for the hassle and horrible time that Wags is giving me. I think that a lot of us need to continue demanding written coupon policy from them. Having it just repeatedly changed whenever they want makes it very difficult to do much shopping at the stores.

ARG Sorry to take over like that, but i was just surprised you had such a similar experience. please let us know if you get a response back and I'll post mine as well.

[julieleaps]

My experience over the weekend wasn't as bad as either of these, but, when I went to the check-out, one of the assistant managers came and stood behind the counter while the cashier checked me out. It made me feel uncomfortable, like I was doing something wrong. Well, it turns out that what I thought was a RR for the Ponds, was simply an ad for a future purchase. Apparently, the Ponds RR had not generated because I had used a RR on that purchase - even though it was from a different product(?). Anyway, he interceded at that point, and to his credit, he was polite, but went on to explain to me that the reason it had not generated a RR is because there was some loophole that some people had figured out so they were getting free products! I, equally polite, responded by saying that if Walgreens had a problem with that, then why did they offer FREE items in their Rebates? I also stated that it was very confusing to keep track of their different savings offers. I asked to have the Ponds refunded from my prior transaction, and offered to go to the photo counter as to not hold up the line. That way, I could get my $3 RR I was entitled to. He kind of chuckled and said, well I suppose you could - like I was doing something extraordinary or something. Then when I went to the photo lab I had to explain to another asst mgr why I wanted the refund and to buy back the product. He wasn't exactly rude about it, but he sure wasn't pleasant. I asked if the store had started doing ink cartridge refills (it's a fairly new store), and he said no, and I sure hope we never do.

What kind of attitude is that? I'm writing corporate, too.

I felt like they were looking for opportunities to "catch me" doing something wrong. Has corporate sent out some new correspondence to their stores regarding coupon fraud??

[leftyjunk]

Thought I should update what happened...

Last week I got a call from the Wags manager that gave me the hard time described above. He just pretty much told me that he was "sorry" and that corporate talked to him and told him to accept all coupons. I asked him what this specifically meant and asked if I could use 2 same coupons on 2 same items and he said "if the coupon says that"...So I stated the whole "one coupon per purchase" that most coupons say and asked if this meant to him that I could use it on 2 items/2 coupons...he basically just repeated the whole "if the coupon says it can be used that way" line. This went on about 5 times. I finally got frustrated and told him goodbye.

Then on Friday afternoon I got a call from the same manager. (Does anyone else think its weird that they would have the person I had a problem with call me?) Again he asks if I am going to come back to Wags and said that he spoke to corporate about coupons and said he was really sorry if I misunderstood but he was never saying that I was committing fraud, just that using more than one coupon is considered fraud. It was a stupid conversation. Again he wouldn't really state anything outright. I did finally get from him that he is not allowed to reject any coupon UNLESS the register will not accept it. So, this supposedly would mean that I could use wags coupons and mfg coupons on the same items and also should be able to use more than one same coupons on more than one same item.
Anyhow, it was a very circular conversation and I just was annoyed when it was over. He did ask me repeatedly if I was going to come back to wags because I'm "a valuable" customer.
Not sure if this is helpful to anyone, but it appears to me that corp says that all coupons are ok as long as the register takes them.

[cundiff2001]

Yeah, I got a call yesterday from the store manager and she basically said she will take whatever amount as long as they are not "one per transaction," or "one per customer." That's all I wanted in the first place. If they wouldn't be so snarky, I would gladly give them some qs and get them started on deals. I really think it is alot of misinformation AND jealousy. I guess we'll see next time........

[bargainshopper]

Way to stick with it. I didn't feel like arguing with my cashier today about the robitussin coupons, but I had the same thing happen. She was only going to take one coupons for 4 items. I said fine just ring up 2. I got a double coupon newspaper and some $.24 sandwich baggies and the 2 Robitussin that are BOGO and I ended up paying $.24 after using the one coupon and a $4.50 RR and got back the $5 RR. What ever I lost out on some RR there but I just didn't feel like getting into it with her or anyone..

[joshmamabear]

that was a well thought of letter. here's my comments on some points you brought up,

At this point she was very rude telling me, "We can limit what we accept. It is a new policy. I don't have to take any of your coupons. Your trying to get these for free. You can't do that."

She was right in saying the store has the right to limit the coupons that they can accept. They also have the right to limit sale of an item, if necessary. BUT the bolded part is way out of line. You are not even trying to get the items free, the coupons you redeem are part of tender/payment for the item, its just a "different" mode of payment but its just like cash/DC/CC. She is the only one limiting you from doing it, but otherwise, it is not illegal to do so.

I doubt suppliers of Walgreens would want to know that the coupons they spend millions of dollars distributing by various means are being refused. The ads and sales are generated by the companies. They know that people are going to use them in conjuction. As I am sure you know, they refund stores the face value of the coupon PLUS an $.08 handling fee. This is also true for the Register Rewards. The store loses nothing.

I've contacted P&G previously regarding some stores not accepting their coupons. From what I was told, they cannot force any store to take their coupons. It is up to the store and its policy whether to accept their coupons or not. For me, it was a way of saying that they value their relationship with the store and these stores have the last say on whether they would like to accept these coupons or not. After all, its the store that loses business if they reject a coupon as part of payment. as far as RRs are concerned, we read a lot of irregularities on its use by dishonest customers. When OYNO RRs just started, it didn't have the strict terms of use it has right now. But obviously, its the manufacturers themselves, who sponsor these RRs who have put those stipulations to protect themselves. As much as WAG would like to move all their stocks but if its in a manner where customers use the RRs they earned to keep buying until the store is wiped out, they have to find a way to deter "abuse".

in relation to the much talked about Robitussin $3 IP, several discussions have been posted all over the net and most of them boils down to massive use of this IP. the IP has been up for over a year now but it only stirred so much interest because of the sale plus RR promo last week. it triggered the "mass printing" of the IP and Walgreens may have realized it too late so they just let the sale end and now, they refuse to take the IPs in sets of 3 knowing that is how the RR is generated. Do stores have the right to limit the acceptance/outright reject the IP or any coupon for that matter? Certainly, and it is not a customer's right to demand use of any coupon at any store.

JM2C.

[Blue Angel]

I"m sorry you had to go through this, but I totally understand how you feel.
I went through the same thing a few weeks ago with the robitussin deal. I"m a newbie , been scared to do a deal because i'm not sure how this all works. I went and did it anyways and got attitude from the cashier and manager. I had my baby with me and he was acting up, probably cuz I was standing still for so long. ( he likes to keep moving)
He's 15 months need I say more....... Anyways, I dealt with , attitude, rolling of the eyes, and was treated like I was a criminal doing something wron. The manager even took like 3 minutes to read the coupons i had. ( just had 3 rob coupons thats it) She stared at it, looked at it the front then the back, then read it again. I thought she was going to pull out a magnifiying glass any minute. We had exchange of words ( i posted this already) and just didn't care how she treated me. I was soooooooooooooooo mad that they made me feel like using coupons was against the law. They embarrassed me in front of the customers that by then there was a long line of peeps. In my younger days I probably would of really gotten ghetto on her and probably every word out of my mouth would of been a cuss word.. maybe even tried to slug her one. Ok now i'm exaggerating, but boy did I want to smack her one sooo bad. I"m still angry about it, I think more because she made me almost cry in there and people didn't know what was going on but she made me look like I was commiting fraud. I still have to write to corporate but i'm waiting to still calm down a bit so I can be as professional as possible. Yes its been almost 2 weeks ......

[Bethg68]

Originally Posted by cundiff2001

They made me so mad today, I came home and fired off this to corporate. I am just so sick of it lately.........

This explains it all.......

Hello,

I was in the Main Street Walgreens in O'Fallon MO today, trying to take advantage of the Robitusisn Register Reward buy 3, get $10 off next purchase, while trying to use three Robitussin manufacture coupons. The coupon stated 'one per purchase,' which I know means one couopn per item purchased, not per transaction carried out. I have emailed several companies and asked this exact question about their coupons.

The asst. manager (I did not get her name) refused to take more than one coupon saying that because of the 'per purchase,' more than one coupon could not be used. I calmly tried to explain the difference between 'per purchase' and 'per transaction, but she either didn't understand or didn't think this was correct. I also tried to explain that companies word their coupons 'per purchase' so that people to not try and use multiple coupons on one item. I even showed her the recipt where it says 'number of items purchased.'

She refused to try to scan the coupons to see if they would be accepted. I asked her to please ask a manager (not just an asst.) to which she also refused. At this point she was very rude telling me, "We can limit what we accept. It is a new policy. I don't have to take any of your coupons. Your trying to get these for free. You can't do that."

I doubt suppliers of Walgreens would want to know that the coupons they spend millions of dollars distributing by various means are being refused. The ads and sales are generated by the companies. They know that people are going to use them in conjuction. As I am sure you know, they refund stores the face value of the coupon PLUS an $.08 handling fee. This is also true for the Register Rewards. The store loses nothing.

I also doubt Wal-greens wants business turned away, even business generated with coupons. My family fills over $2000 of prescriptions at Walgreens almost every month. There are several other pharmacies in my area, but your stores are always clean, convienent, and usually staffed by friendly, helpful people.

I do not appreciate being spoken to in such a tone in front of other employees and customers just because I am trying to save my family money. I am a smart shopper and try to stock up on items we regularly use when I can find a great deal. If I purchase multiples of an item, I use multiples of the same coupon. I have done this in every Walgreens is O'Fallon for years, as well as several other stores. She acted like I was doing something odd and committing some sort of crime.

May I please have a copy of Wal-green's Corporate Coupon Policy so I can shop in your store within your guidelines. While I do not feel that I did anything wrong, I want to be sure there has not been a coupon policy change. I would also like to have a copy so that I may show a cashier/asst. manager/manager in the future if the same issue arises.

Thank you for your time,
Sincerely,
Ashley Cundiff

Ashley,

When you get that coupon policy it would be great if you could somehow share it will your fellow AFC friends. I know I would love to have a copy so if this happens to me I will have a policy to show them!

You go girl!

Beth G
Pelham,AL

[leftyjunk]

I'm fairly sure no amount of begging will get them to actually give anyone a printed copy of a general policy. I asked for it from about 10 different people and they were all clearly reading from the same one, yet NO ONE would let me have the actual policy. arg. Very strange that they wouldn't want us to know exactly what it said and all.

[newbie2008]

They have no idea what they are doing. Seriously! On so many levels.....
1. Each store seems to have its own policy. And just runs with it, regardless of what CS/corp says. Even CS/corp contradicts itself....
2. They are ticking off buyers left and right. To the point that they are losing buyers by not accepting legit coupons.
3. They change policy mid-stream which only adds to the confusion.

I used multiple RR to pay for items this past Sunday. Tuesday I go in and they tell me (same store) that they have a new policy, and can only take 1 RR per transaction. Today (Weds) I go to a diff Walgreens and they tell me they will take every RR I have that will cover my expenditure. Go figure! The left hand doesn't know what the right-hand is doing.

It's incredibly frustrating and not worth wasting my breath on, when they tell me, once again, that policy has changed. I just leave it all, walk away, find another store to shop at, and MAYBE venture back inside if there's a really really good deal. Otherwise, I can walk away w/o a problem. They aren't the only rodeo in town.

[KayTay01]

Originally Posted by newbie2008

They have no idea what they are doing. Seriously! On so many levels.....
1. Each store seems to have its own policy. And just runs with it, regardless of what CS/corp says. Even CS/corp contradicts itself....
2. They are ticking off buyers left and right. To the point that they are losing buyers by not accepting legit coupons.
3. They change policy mid-stream which only adds to the confusion.

I used multiple RR to pay for items this past Sunday. Tuesday I go in and they tell me (same store) that they have a new policy, and can only take 1 RR per transaction. Today (Weds) I go to a diff Walgreens and they tell me they will take every RR I have that will cover my expenditure. Go figure! The left hand doesn't know what the right-hand is doing.

It's incredibly frustrating and not worth wasting my breath on, when they tell me, once again, that policy has changed. I just leave it all, walk away, find another store to shop at, and MAYBE venture back inside if there's a really really good deal. Otherwise, I can walk away w/o a problem. They aren't the only rodeo in town.

I agree totally. They are definitely not the only place in town. The only transaction I made in there this week was the nabisco cookie and milk deal, and only because it generated a 3RR. We have 2 Walgreens here, and they tell me the same thing about the RRs. After doing the Kmart doubles this week, I'm basically set on anything that Walgreens offers.

[Fohrenburger]

Hi,

After 27 years of Retail Store Management and now Retired, the Customers are number 1. Without Customers your business will fail. No matter if the Customer is wrong, you never ever treat anyone with disrespect, especially in front of anyone or any other Customers. I honored all the Coupons in all the stores I ever worked at. Remember, the Companies who issue these coupons, will always give the Retailer extra in handling fees. Therefore, lost of revenue is quite low, compared to losing a Customer over a Coupon. Writing off a bad coupon, is a lot better than losing a Customer. When a Customer leaves the store Happy, you can count that Customer will tell their friends/relatives, etc. how Great they were treated. Therefore creating future potential sales for that specific store.

Hopefully the above info has helped some one and thank you for your time.

Have a Great Day and Evening!