Thursday, October 27

Kmart Double Coupon Shopping DISASTER (A Rant By Yours Truly)

I'm sure you've all missed my rants of couponing disasters.  Fear not!  Kmart has pulled through.  As I mentioned earlier this week, Kmart is having a double coupon event this week.  My friends over at The Coupon Commandos and I were excited to go take advantage since no other stores double around here.  We spent a lot of time preparing.  Of course, it takes one crabby, stubborn person to ruin all that hard work.  That person's name? Robin Turley, HR Associate at the Round Lake Beach, IL store.

Here's what I started with in my cart (intending to buy):


...and here's what I ended up buying:


You see, my friends and I were going to buy Fuze and use a $.75 manufacturer coupon.  Apparently because it had a CVS logo on it, Kmart would not take it OR EVEN TRY TO SCAN IT! I called corporate, as did Robin the HR Associate, while my friend looked up Kmart's coupon policy.  The gentleman I spoke to at corporate told us he would call the store and resolve it with Robin.  Meanwhile, she was on the phone with someone else from corporate, who took her side.  My friend filed a complaint and is expecting a call from the store manager.  After all, he did read from their own coupon policy the following...

We accept any manufacturer’s coupons that have a scannable bar code and that are not copied from an original coupon. Upon using the coupon, it must be surrendered to the cashier. We accept $5 off coupons, BOGO offer coupons, and free product coupons, but they are not doubled during our double coupon events.

At this point, I decided I was only going to buy the very best deals.  Kmart did not deserve my patronage.  I dropped all the items I did not buy at customer service for Robin to put away (though at this point she wouldn't come out of her office.)  Not only did the store lose out on the sales of the items they would not honor coupons for, they missed out on a majority of what I was going to purchase.

My "favorite" part was that Robin (the HR lady) was shaking her head towards the cashier with that "can you believe these people?" look.  I asked her why she was shaking her head about us.  She said she wasn't, but when I asked what she was shaking it for, she had no response.

Oh, but I'm not done, the icing on the cake is that one of their own STORE coupons didn't come off my total!  I was supposed to get Bar-S hot dogs for $.88 with super coupon, but ended up being charged the regular price.  (This was of no fault to our cashier, who was wonderful and just doing her job.  She scanned the coupon and the computer did say it had gone through.)

Needless to say, I was not impressed with this trip to Kmart.  We'll see if corporate cares to do anything about the rude behavior, lack of honoring valid manufacturer coupons, overcharging due to a store coupon not scanning properly, and the fact that I'm sharing this with my 1700 facebook fans, 600+ Coupon Commando members, 65 followers, and other people who read my blog.  Unfortunately I won't be blogging as many deals as I would have, due to this experience.

I'm sure this seems like a lot to go through for a 75 cent coupon, but it's not about the money.  It's the principle.  What ever happened to "the customer is always right?"  Why is the person who works in the HR office and has nowhere near the knowledge of coupons that I have trying to tell me how coupons work?  Why do stores refuse to follow their own coupon policy that you show them in black and white?  Why are couponers made to feel like they're doing something wrong when they're not?  So frustrating...

Getting off my soapbox, for now.

To be continued (if corporate responds)...

9 comments:

  1. I stopped even going through the door at Kmart last November when I had a similar issue. I can find the items I need somewhere else...somewhere that appreciates my business.

    I try hard when shopping to match up my purchases with the sales ad and coupons. I do not "family code" shop or try to use coupons not as intended. In return, I expect to be treated with honesty and respect.

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  2. I dont understand this as well. I went to our kmart one time to use coupons and had the same ordeal. I had a rude cashier as well non of them knew their coupon policy and refused to look at mine they then told me theirs didnt say that but refused to let me see their that was "different" and told me they could not show me. That day I was buying at least 100.00 worth of birthday presents that were put back and my business was taken to another store. These store are hurting their self us Bloggers post deals and the stores to go to. We send them tons of business. We might get tons of stuff for a little of nothing with coupons but they get all their money back plus the shipping and a handling fee. So they actually make more off couponers they prolly make 20.00 extra of all the coupons I take in one trip :)

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  3. the 2 best things i have done since i have been doing coupons,stop going to K-marts and when i get there ads i throw them away,period.its not worth dealing with them or the headaches

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  4. I have had similar issues using Kmart. They had double game coupons the one week and as we are on a tight budget and some of the games were also on sale I decided to try to go in. When I walked upfront my cart contained 35 games for nieces and nephews as well as my own kids, I left with 3 games because they refused to use 99% of my coupons due to them being expired though they were due to expire 2 days later.... and they refused to use my laundry soap coupons because there was also an instore coupon to save a dollar......It was chaos and I was beyond displeased

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  5. I too have STOPPED going to Kmart all together. I don't even think I would go there if they were giving away $100 dollar bills. They have put SO many restrictions on their doubling events, that the trip isn't worth it. The headaches are just not worth it. The lack of people skills, coupon policy knowledge, and down right disrespect is appauling. In fact, I have yet to hear of any "good" couponing stories from anyone.

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  6. To get to the store, I have to travel(and I do) pretty far to give them my business.. I will now choose to save the gas money and spend the extra $$ at a store closer (where people are not so rude, who wants to go out of their way for that???)...too bad, cause I usually buy a whole lot more from them when I'm there then just what I wanted.....

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  7. Kmart has been a bad place to shop for me as well so I hve completely stopped going there and instead go to other stores that give me less hassle...Sorry you had to go through that and hope that the corporates right the wrong done to you!

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  8. Does Kmart allow competitor coupons? The store where I work doesn't allow coupons from another store.

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  9. No, they do not allow competitor coupons.

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