Why I Fought to Save Three Bucks (and Why You Should Too)
Published on - August 7th, 2008 (by J.D. Roth) This guest post comes from Donna Freedman, a blogger at MSN Money’s Smart Spending blog. Donna is one of my favorite personal finance writers. This is a reprint (with permission) of one of her recent pieces.
On Friday I visited Office Depot for school backpacks at the killer price of $2.99. Along with other loss-leader school supplies, they’ll be donated to a local social services agency. At the checkout, I handed over a “20% off all backpacks” coupon from an Office Depot mailer. The cash register wouldn’t accept the coupon. “These are already on sale so the coupon won’t work,” the salesclerk said.
I noted, politely, that the coupon did not say “not good on sale-priced items.” The cashier tried again. No dice. “It’s not letting it go through,” she said, and waited. I got the distinct impression she wanted me to say, “Oh, that’s OK.” But I wasn’t going to say that, because my belief is that a store should honor its published offers.
She called a manager, who told me the coupon wasn’t intended for sale items. I again pointed out that nowhere on the coupon did it say that. This started off a 10-minute dance between manager and consumer over what would have been a $3 discount.
Before you write me off as an intractable miser, consider this: What happens when consumers do not insist that businesses keep their word?
All kinds of reasons
During our little discount minuet, the manager demanded to see the mailer from which I’d taken the ad, saying it would explain that the coupon was not good on sale items. I went out to my car and got the ad; it said no such thing.
The manager, whom I’ll call Nancy, tried several other tacks. She pored over the fine print in the store’s weekly ad — complaining it was hard to read because the doctor had dilated her eyes that morning — but nothing in the ad excluded coupons. She said that “corporate” never intended for coupons to be used with sale items, and that’s why the computer wouldn’t allow it — the computer is programmed by “corporate.”
If that’s the case, I suggested, then “not valid with sale items” ought to be written on the coupon.
She looked at it again, noting the phrase “we reserve the right to limit quantities.” I’d bought five, the limit noted in the weekly flier. Nancy said, “I’ll give you the coupon on one of them.” I replied that nowhere on the coupon does it say that it was good for just one item.
“It says ‘one-time use’, so I’ll let you have it for just the one.” I suggested that “one-time use” might actually mean that I couldn’t use the coupon again the next day.
Nancy said that when I signed up for the store rewards program, I would have gotten an e-mail explaining, among other things, why coupons couldn’t be used on sale items. I repeated, “Shouldn’t that be written on the coupon itself?”
A real headache
The manager said she’d send my “information” to corporate headquarters and have them explain why coupons can’t be used on sale items. First she asked for my driver’s license, which I would not have given, and then decided that just my rewards card would do. She wrote down the card number and told me that at $2.99, the store was losing money on the backpacks. Using a coupon made it worse.
I replied that I was familiar with the concept of a loss leader: you lose money on some items to get people into the store.
Finally the manager told the cashier to override the register and ring up the discount for all five backpacks. “I don’t want to spend any more time on this. I have a headache,” she said.
You and me both, Nancy. Confrontation is not easy for me. I simply wanted Office Depot to make good on its published promise.
Why you should care
Some of you are probably thinking, It’s only $3 — give it up, already. I don’t think that the amount matters. The company mailed me a flier full of discounts in the hope I would come to one of its stores. When I tried to use one of those discounts, employees decided that it shouldn’t apply to sales.
Suppose you saw a coupon good for 20% off all winter coats, but when you get to the store you’re told, “Oh, it’s not good on red coats.” Or imagine seeing a car ad, “20% off all Chevrolets,” but when you get to the dealership you’re told that it’s only good on four-door sedans.
There’s a term for this. It’s called bait and switch. Get the customer into the store and then change the terms.
What happened at Office Depot was not a bait and switch per se, but it still wasn’t good customer relations. Yes, I understand that the company is taking a hit pricing its backpacks at $2.99 and that an additional 60-cent discount hurts even more. But that’s a cost of doing business: Advertise something really cheaply and hope people buy enough other things to make the loss leader worthwhile.
Certainly any company is within its rights to limit coupon use on loss leaders. But if that’s what corporate wants, then corporate needs to be very clear, and it needs to do so on the coupon. I don’t want to rely on the personal interpretation of a cash register. Or a manager with a headache.
J.D.’s note: I’m proud of Donna for standing up for herself. It can seem ludicrous to fight bureaucracy for just a few bucks, but I make a point of doing it, too. (Read “I want my four dollars!” for a real-life example from the early days of Get Rich Slowly. I love that story.) Later today I’ll share another tale of fighting corporate madness. Photos by The Consumerist and mlcastle.
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I agree about the principle, but I’m more with Bether:
“…The immediate result of this is that you feel self-righteous, and everyone around you feels annoyed at you for something they have no control over.
If you are this irritated over a coupon, you should deal with it in the appropriate manner. Write to someone who does have control over these things. If that doesn’t work, escalate it. There are several appropriate ways of dealing with this that do not involve having a hissy fit in the store. Yes, they are more time consuming. They are more effective, however.
You may have won the scuffle, but it has no effect on the war.”
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Part of the problem that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention here is the enforced helplessness of the cashiers. If cashiers make a mistake, they can’t correct it themselves – they have to call a manager over to turn a key. (Message from company to employees: we know you’ll steal from us as soon as our backs are turned.) Even the managers have trouble sometimes figuring out what the magic code to override whatever has been programmed into the computerized registers.
Too often, it’s easier for these front-line employees to make up “reasons” why the coupon/discount/whatever won’t work and try to get the customer to go away quietly. It isn’t evil, just stupidity – on the part of those setting corporate policy and programming those registers.
If you set up systems that make it easier to turn away the customer with a lame excuse than to actually help them buy what they want at the advertised price, and if you pay employees minimal wages and give them minimal training, what you get is a lot of people doing what’s easiest for themselves – not what’s best for the customer (or ultimately the company).
So yes, stay and fight the battle in the store if you want, or write a letter to corporate, or if you have the time, do both. Also, if you find a store that gives its employees latitude to make the customer happy, it may be worth it to stick with ‘em, even if their prices aren’t always the cheapest.
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If this bothers you that much, show it by shopping at a local store next time. Of course, they won’t be selling backpacks for $2.99, but I’m willing to bet they always give the customer the benefit of the doubt.
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Wow! I can’t believe Office Depot put up such a fight! When I worked in retail, we would never have fought with a customer like that, we would have given them what they wanted in a situation like this. Hell, the management made sure that the front line employees were empowered to deal with a situation like this, and make the customer happy, without having to call a manager.
Sure, there are times when a person is legitimately trying to scam the company, and employees may have to act as though the customer is NOT right, but something like this is not one of those situations. I’m dumbfounded by the behaviour of the Office Depot employees in this story.
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“There are several appropriate ways of dealing with this that do not involve having a hissy fit in the store.”
I don’t really think she was having a hiss fit in the store (But yes, there are a LOT of people out there who do). Personally, I see a lot of times that the managers are the ones having a hissy fit at the customer.
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I think Donna did the right thing on principle. It is important for consumers to speak up and not let companies get away with practices like this.
Even if you ignore the matter of principle, I also think that saving $3 should not be dismissed as a ‘waste of time’. If I read right she spent 10 minutes discussing the issue and saved $3. Thats $3 for 1/6 an hour or $18 after tax dollars or more like ~$25 per hour pretax. Thats pretty good return on time compared to a lot of peoples pay rates. Where we each draw the line about what is worth our time is an individual choice.
If you do complain like this then its best to keep it civil and be polite to the cashier and manager. They are just trying to do their jobs and its not going to improve anything by being rude to them. Sounds to me as if Donna kept it civil.
I think its important to complain at the low level first. If the clerk had the policy wrong then complaining might get a manager to quickly resolve it. If you don’t complain then they won’t fix it. Its also important to follow up and also complain at the high level. Donna should follow the bad experience in the store by writing a letter to corporate. It is in fact the corporate policy that caused the issue in the first place.
Also, by the way, this is not ‘bait and switch’ by definition.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/ad-faqs.shtm
“How does the FTC define “bait and switch” advertising?
It’s illegal to advertise a product when the company has no intention of selling that item, but instead plans to sell a consumer something else, usually at a higher price. For more information, ask the FTC for its Guides Against Bait Advertising.”
Jim
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There’s a lot of comments on here about being in the right and sticking to your guns. However, what really bothers me about this particular case is that it is totally not clear that Donna is in the right.
1) A coupon is for one item. She wanted one coupon applied to 5 items. The language on the coupon made it pretty clear it was for one item. <– This is the main argument why people are having problems with Donna’s post.
2) The backpacks are already on sale. Corporate obviously meant for the 20% off coupon to be used for non-sale items and so they should have marked it as such. I understand that the coupon didn’t specify that, but she’s getting a freaking great deal on a backpack already and guess what? Corporations make mistakes sometimes. Just b/c amazon.com offers a Wii for $1 mistakenly on their website does NOT mean they have to give it to you for $1.
3) Her main reason for sticking to her guns is to fend against the bait and switch. I could totally argue that this is not a bait and switch tactic and just an honest mistake by Office Depot.
J.D.’s case (the one he linked to) is much more clear cut and in that instance I commend him for fighting for his $4. But I think what really irks me about Donna’s situation is not so much the small amount of money involved, but a combination of her murky logic the fact that it’s only $3.
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@Rachelle211: “If the manager doesn’t like all the customers complaining holding up the line, then that manager needs to talk to corporate. They are much more willing to listen to him then to me.”
Actually, no. Corporate is MUCH more willing to listen to you than to a front line manager, and you would have MUCH more influence. Clearly, you’ve never worked in retail, nor known anyone who has (at least not at the front-line of a big-box)
They care what YOU think, because you give them money, or not, based on how irritated you are. They don’t give a DARN what the front line manager thinks: The manager is beholden to the company for a job, but “My way or the highway” is the company’s attitude towards branch employees.
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@ CFO (#43),
Does your company allow customers to make a mistake, such as paying their bills late or simply forgetting to pay at all? Or, like most companies, do they charge out wazoo?
Why should companies be given a break on mistakes or oversights? People are paid money to check over these things. Many people look at the ads. I’m sure there’s a stock disclaimer that they could have just printed on the coupon.
It’s not a valid argument to say she was “beating the system” or taking advantage. The company offered a special deal and then the store tried to invalidate it. She chose not to pay the higher price. It’s rather logical to me.
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this happened to me yesterday!
i was ordering a new 4GB SD card for my camera on the circuit city website, to pick up later that day at my local store. there was a standard 4GB card for $25, and an ultra card (faster) with a usb reader for $30! so i chose the more expensive one – it was better, and i could use the usb reader on my laptop.
WELL, i got to the store, and they tried to give me a plain ultra card with no reader. i calmly explained that i chose the more expensive card to get the reader, and asked if they could provide me something comparable. the guy helping me, though very nice, didn’t seem to understand what i was asking. when he finally said he didn’t have any comparable product, nor did he have what i ordered, i told him i’d take the whole thing off my order rather than accept something less than what they sold me.
at that point he offered me $5 off, which i gladly accepted. actually, it worked out pretty good for me – i got a nicer memory card for the lower price!
yes, i took up the cashier’s time, yes, i annoyed the people behind me that were waiting, but at ALL times i was calm and pleasant, and i just wanted what i paid for. $5 is $5 and it can add up very fast! as far as i’m concerned, consumers have a right to argue against FRAUD, which is what it comes down to.
just don’t be a jerk to the cashier – no front line employee deserves to be abused when they’re just trying to do their job.
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Hooray.
You did the right thing. The manager should have simply caved and done what the coupon said. Corporate was not careful enough and ended up costin g their own company a lot of money. You on the other hand made money at the rate of about $27 per hour.
($3/[10minutes]*6[10minutes]/hr.)= $18
$18/(1-marginal tax rate)= $27
Good job.
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People use coupons on sale items on a daily basis, though. For example, lots of grocery coupon clippers wait until an item goes on sale at their supermarket and then use the coupon to save more bucks. I never buy cereal without it being on sale PLUS coupon–so I’m spending $2 or less for a box of Cheerios or whatever. This kind of stuff DOES add up in the grocery budget of many families.
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beast without a name said: “Consider Bed Bath Beyond’s 20% coupons that will be accepted past expiration. Both they and LNT take each others coupons – even expired! I used a 1-day expired Chick-fil-A coupon the other day and no one said anything. THEY could have been sticklers, but weren’t.”
BB&B and LNT send out those coupons regularly. They accept expired and the other’s coupons because they markup their prices (by at least, you guessed it, 20%). They’re still making a huge profit on items after the coupon. They make more on the items you buy without the coupon simply because it was was brought you into the store.
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Principles…yeah right…hehehe…whining 15 minutes over a $3 thing when you could have spent 15 minutes with your kids instead or could have made a lot more by working instead of acting like an idiot.
If we all would fight over every principle while shopping, then we would need 5 times more time to shop, not to mention all the others who have to wait for us…get real…sigh
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Just reiterating some great points that are being overlooked:
1) You may put a dollar amount on your time, but that is only applicable when you are working, or could be spending your time working. If it is after work and you aren’t picking up soda-cans that $3 dollars is the only way you are going to be making money in that particular 20 minutes. (Its a well-known economic principle, and I can’t think of its title)
2) You are not wasting the managers time, that is what they are being paid to be there for. They might have other ways to spend their time, but solving problems on the floor is why they get paid more than cashiers.
3) You have no debt to the people behind you in line. It may not be nice to make other people wait to receive your discount, but neither is it nice to call this women names and disparage her story.
4) Yes, cashiers have frustrating jobs some times, but so does everyone else. Being a cashier is not worse than most jobs where you have human interaction, it is part of your job to pretend to be friendly, cashiers just don’t get negatively impacted if they are jerks about it (unlike a waiter or waitress would in the tipping system).
5) Debbie was not being greedy, she was not taking more than she was offered, she saw an advantage and took it. That’s not being greedy, that is being a smart consumer. While if everyone did this, it might be worse for the world in general, (maybe, I guess?) she as a person should not be expected to make any decision that does not directly benefit her. And as I can see in the comments a lot of people are Wal-Mart shoppers, Costco, Winco, Target, and Safeway. You are not making the moral decision to hurt your own pocketbook, so don’t expect it out of anyone else. And if you don’t shop at any of these places, you have other values than your pocketbook, and you can’t expect this site (get Rich slowly) to cater to those interests. People are looking to save money, and using what a corporation has sent to your house to entice you to go to their store should not be considered taboo.
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I keep commenting because I get more outraged as I read through the comments. I disagree with the people who say “one time use” means the coupon was good for one item only.
To me, that means you can use/present the coupon once, and then surrender it to the store. You can’t go to five different stores and buy out all the items with that coupon.
Does a one time use camera only take one picture? Most coupons or deals that limit the amount of items or product you can buy say “Limit __ per customer”.
I don’t understand the wasting other’s time argument. The cashier and manager were doing what they were paid to do. If you are too important or busy to wait in line hire a personal shopper or order online. If I am running late, I don’t expect others to accommodate me for my mistake.
This is not about taking advantage, sticking it to the man, being miserly, wasting others time, or other nonsense. This is about requiring companies to adhere to their own policies.
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Basically, it comes down to this:
How much is not looking like an ass worth to you?
Because when you make a big deal over a coupon misunderstanding, even if you are completely in the right, you’re making several people’s lives a little bit more difficult and a little bit more irritating, and because of that, they will perceive you as an ass.
The error on the part of the store would have to be much more blatant and the cost to me would have to be much more than $3 for me to be willing to look like an ass.
Yes, stores should be more clear regarding their coupons, and yes it’s crappy that you’re being put in a situation where you have to choose between money and not looking like an ass, but that’s just how it is. You have to choose one, you can’t have both.
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If you owed your cell phone company, the electric company, the gas company, or a credit card company $3, they would TAKE YOU TO COLLECTIONS.
in new york the local drugstores are notorious for not changing prices, changing prices, not honoring coupons. i usually don’t fight for the item, i just ask them to void the sale. but i’m not going to pay more because of laziness, sloth, or ineptitude – unless it’s my own
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The Manager flopped. If it really was corporate policy, she should have not given the discount and cited corporate policy. If the argument continues, then give the numnber to the DM and have the customer take it up with them.
Take it or leave it. End of argument. If you don’t like it, there is a Staples or Wal-Mart somewhere close by.
Move on!
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I wonder if the same folks sneering at this woman for trying to save a few more dollars are the same folks who claim that anyone can make it and those who don’t are just losers and whiners?
Forgive us little folks who need to save a few bucks.
Anyway, my hubby and I have lots of extra backpacks. I’ve given away some, but I think I’ll keep a few extra around for our future children.
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What is a major difference between highly successful people and everyone else? The ability to accurately prioritize things and focus energy accordingly.
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Who cares whether you look like an ass or not. It really is the principal of the thing. Especially nowadays with gas being what it is if I make a special trip somewhere just to save a little extra cash, I will make a fuss over a large corporate company trying to weasel its way out of the savings I went there for in the first place. I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt to a small mom & pop shop only because a mistake in a coupon/price would be a result of them wearing enough hats not including proofreader. A large chain such as office depot has enough layers of people checking and double checking fliers, coupons and ads. If there is a mistake they should be called on it.
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Wow, I’m impressed that your Office Depot had the $3 backpacks by Friday (I’m assuming it’s the same sale we had here that started on a Sunday and went through Saturday.
I went on Tuesday for that sale, and was told they were all sold out already. I’d tried to buy the $5 backpacks a week or two earlier on a Thursday and when I asked about them, everyone just shook their head and said they went fast. Personally, I’m skeptical they even had the darn backpacks, which I wanted not for my own kids but to donate (filled with school supplies I’ve been buying at loss leader prices) them to kids who can’t afford their school supplies.
On a similar note to your experience, but not nearly as bad, I got seriously dirty looks when I took a receipt into Fred Meyer (local grocery and more store) asking for the sale price of a filebox that I bought on a Friday for $9.60 and they’d gone on sale Sunday (two days later) for $8.99. Was it worth 61 cents for her to do the refund? Well, I wouldn’t have made a special trip to the store for the refund — the gas would have cost more than the refund! — but I needed to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy anyway so I thought it was worth a couple minutes of my time to get the darn 61 cents back. And hey, the cashier shouldn’t care how small the refund is; she gets paid the same anyway.
Anyway good for you for getting your discount! The manager should have saved everyone a headache and just given it to you anyway!
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I recently went into Office Depot and was looking at their clearance items. I saw 5 copies of WordPerfect Office for $2.98 each. I took one to the cashier and she said it rang up at $298. I said it is clearly marked Clearance and $2.98. We called up a manager and he said it was $298. I said there are 4 other copies on the rack that are marked $2.98. I went to the rack and got the other 4 copies. I said I could see they might have mistakenly marked one wrong but… five copies ???
The manager said give it to him for $2.98. He took the other programs and put them under the counter.
I should have bought all 5 and put 4 copies on ebay at $200 each.
Captain America
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The writer was clearly in the right for standing her position. The coupon was an offer to discount by 20% “all backpacks” up to the stated limit. She accepted this offer by ponying up her funds and coupon for the 5 backpacks. The store was obligated to deliver on the discount. Anybody waiting in line behind this stalled transaction was free to leave if they were in danger of losing their $100 an hour. I don’t think the writer was holding a gun to anyone’s head.
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Oh, yes and congratulations to all of you who are so successful and have your priorities in order that you don’t have to worry about saving a few dollars on your purchases. Not everyone lives your exalted lifestyle. The purchaser could easily have been another minimum wage employee trying to get her kids’ school supplies and needing all the discounts she could legitimately get.
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Good for you. We had a similar experience at JC Penney’s, the last time we went there (about ten years ago). Store coupon for 20% off of something, the coupon said it wasn’t good for sale items. We tried to use it on something that wasn’t a sale item – the computer wouldn’t give us the discount, and neither the salesperson or manager would fix it. We left.
What’s funny is that just about anyone who takes basic management training (let alone a business degree) hears the same thing – when someone fights over something like this, you give it to them. People who have a bad experience tell a number of people about it, and they tell other people, and you quickly lose a lot of money. There’s no way that office depot’s upper management wouldn’t know this, but “Nancy” must not have paid attention in her training class.
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This is a great post!
I’ve had a similar experience at Office Depot where the corporate policy went against common sense.
(I accidentally made somewhere around 350 copies upside down… so I copied 350 blank pages. And the person in charge loaded the pages back into the photocopier and said something like, “I’ll only charge you 3 cents a page for these.” I had to argue for something like 10 minutes that I wasn’t paying for blank paper that had just been put back inside the copy machine.)
I definitely agree it’s important for customers to stand up for themselves.
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While I agree that it’s important to stand up for yourself, I have to wonder how many people were in line behind this woman. Her attitude is “me, me, me” and I doubt that she would ever take into consideration other customers whose time she also wasted, not to mention making them listen to a ridiculous fight. It would have been much better to smile, hand the manager the backpacks, and walk away.
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As a former OD employee, I dealt with customers like this. I completely agree that coupons should be honored especially with the detail they usually put on every single coupon that goes out. “Corporate” does control the computers, but a manager does have the ability to override.
I’m a frugal person myself. I would usually fight these type of things at retailers… but just remember that it is just as frustrating for the employees involved as it is for the consumer.
Personally, I think the manager should have just taken care of the issue to win the customer over instead of complaining of a headache… that’s ridiculous!
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When I was 8, I put 10cents into a vending machine, and I was supposed to get a fake plastic ring… and it ate my 10 cents. So, I went to the cash register right behind me, asked for my money back – they wouldn’t give it to me; so I went to “Customer Service” at the back of the store and waited in line and they wouldn’t give me my money – they said to go to the manager’s office across the mall, and so I did – I walked over and they felt SO sorry for me (remember I was 8!) they gave me my 10 cents. I kept it as a souvenir.
I’ve done similar things, where they had different prices on the label and it was scanned through incorrectly. In Quebec, they have a law that allows the consumer to prosecute (through the government) a store that doesn’t have accurate prices on their tags and scanners.. I think this needs to happen more often.
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I love this story. I was living in the San Francisco Bay Area about 10 years ago and I go into a Dry Cleaner. A customer was arguing with an employee of the cleaners on a bill. He insisted that he should only pay $41.50 based on a coupon he was using. She said he had to pay $43.75. Well, the employee finally gave in and he got his dry cleaning for the $41.50 he wanted. The guy promptly leaves the store and gets into a late model Mercedes. At that point I realize, rich people do not spend money. A few dollars here and there can save you hundreds at the end of the year. It is a GOOD habit to have.
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One thing everyone has failed to notice here. It is not about the $3, it is about fraud. Explaining the problem to the local District Attorney (or County Attorney) in your area would have solved the problem. The printed coupon is a “contract” between the customer and the store. The store has to follow the coupon as printed. Just say that a store prints a coupon for half off all tee shirts in stock, you cut it out and take it to the store. You pick up a great looking tee shirt, take it up to pay for it and the clerk says “…that tee shirt is not one of the half off shirts because it has printing on it…”. The clerk refuses to give you half off. Show them the coupon and show them where it says “all tee shirts”. If the clerk still refuses, purchase the shirt at full price, making sure you have the coupon and the receipt showing what you really paid.
Then make an appointment with the local “officer of the court”. What you will find is an attorney who will start a case file.
It happened to me. Two weeks later, the store was locked and sealed by court order. The assets of the store seized. And the owner of the store was in jail. Seems that he had a history of “bait & switch” in 3 states under different store names, dating back 6 years. No I didn’t get my half off (which would have been about $6), instead after he was convicted in court, I sued the “holding company” he owned in small claims court. His wife showed up in court, but the judge was not buying her story. I received the full $5000 allowed by my state. She had to sell personal property to settle the judgment, but at least I know they will never screw the public again. Most of their merchandise was “imported” from Mexico. During the investigation, no record of any kind was found of import records. Seems the ‘importing’ they were doing required sneaking the ‘junk’ into the US, in the middle of the night, across unpatroled parts of the Mexico/US border. No importing fees and higher profits. I won on this one as well as put a stop to the crook. I do think it would have been better for them to have given me my half off. I won because I stood up for my rights as well the rights of others.
And Yes, I am a Disabled Vet. A member of the US Marine Corps. I don’t take crap off of any one.
Semper Fi
1968-1974
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This one is for Sean
1. Give people 15 minutes to find out to how to save $3 that day without having to pick a fight…
2. It’s not about wasting the manager’s time, it’s about wasting “management” time. If everyone whines like this lady, then they need a lot more managers, but then don’t come back complaining that you pay a lot more in that same store.
3. I wonder how you would react if you would have complaining people in front of you every day for 15 min, because face it, that’s what would happen if we all would follow the advice “Why I Fought to Save Three Bucks (and Why You Should Too)”.
4. True
5. The whole world knows that you can’t have a coupon for an item that’s on sale, and I’m pretty sure this woman knows this too, but because it’s nowhere mentioned (a human mistake like the mistakes she will make every week) she tries to benefit form it. That’s not being a smart customer, that’s being a jerk who lacks social skills and only sees companies as “evil”.
Mind you, it’s fair of people to fight for certain issues in stores, but fighting over a human error like this only shows lack of social skills.
As for those who support the woman; get real! How would you react if the police decides to follow the law from now on over every issue, no matter how minor…sigh, get real and try to see the bigger picture folks! The store made a mistake, stop acting like a jerk by trying to benefit from it, it’s not like any got physically or mentally damaged for Pete’s sake…
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Look at Office Depot’s stock chart (ODP) for the last two years ($42.00 dropping to $6.00). This is why capitalism works. This is a great story of voting with your dollars. Imagine the people that attempt to use the coupon, are told it didn’t work and are made to feel like crooks for trying. I’m guessing it’s happened more than once and that next time customers find another place to spend their dollars. I love America.
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J. Donner wrote: The whole world knows that you can’t have a coupon for an item that’s on sale.
This is wrong. In fact, the opposite is usually true. Unless expressly prohibited, coupons may be used for sale items. We do it every week when shopping for groceries. But it doesn’t just apply to small things.
True story: I’ve been coveting an expensive Stickley chair at a local furniture store. The normal price is $3000. Right now, it’s on sale for $2500. Just yesterday I was at the store (buying a $12 doorknob, not furniture) and I saw the new price.
“You know,” I told the clerk. “I have a 10% off coupon for this store. Does it apply to that chair?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Even at the sale price?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“So, I could bring in that coupon and have that $3000 chair for $2250?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said.
“Too bad I can’t afford it,” I said, and we both laughed. I left with my $12 doorknob.
Just the fact that there’s so much debate on this topic (135 comments and counting!) proves that there is no universal standard. When in doubt, ask about store policy!
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you go girl! it doesn’t matter what the amount is, they can’t pull that on you. it’s unfair, and if the coupon doesn’t say no, then all systems should be go. i would’ve done it too. on top of that, i would’ve probably written some crazy letter to the store AND head office of the whole chain threatening to never come back to their store and to support their competition instead because of the awful customer service. then they might send you a gift certificate or something… but that’s just me, i’m a little nuts some might say, but customer service is very important to me. if i’m gonna spend my money in your store, you better not lie to me, and you better be nice. otherwise $h!+ is gonna hit the fan!!
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The $3 I saved helped pay for some of those supplies. For the next few weekends I’ll be hitting those loss leader sales again, in order to take over more items before school starts.
Incidentally, there was no one behind me in line for most of the time I spent talking with the manager. When someone did show up with a purchase, I stepped aside so the cashier could wait on her.
I promise you that I was not rude. I never raised my voice. I did not use aggressive behavior or body language. When the manager walked off, the cashier actually apologized to me and I said, “It’s not your fault that the cash register wouldn’t accept the coupon.”
As for whether I should have been working and making money instead of stressing over $3 — well, as a freelance writer I set my own hours. Besides, I *did* end up working: I went home and wrote and edited this post.
Everyone who doesn’t agree with my belief that stores should be held accountable to honoring their advertising is certainly welcome to his or her own opinion. I’m simply sharing mine. I’m not insisting that everyone feel the same.
Thanks to all for the feedback, and thanks to you, J.D., for running the piece and the link.
Best regards,
Donna Freedman
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I find it funny (or should I say “sad”) that some say “well, $3 is a big deal for me!” while typing this on their computer, with a licence for Windows and also an internet connection they pay for every month…sigh.
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Well, I’m glad that you weren’t rude and that you used the money for a noble purpose. That’s a lot more than can be said for most customers I’ve had to deal with.
Make no mistake: just because I really disagree with how you handled the situation does not mean that I don’t “agree with [your] belief that stores should be held accountable to honoring their advertising.” I simply think you went after the wrong people.
The cashier and the manager weren’t the ones that decided to make the register balk at your request, yet they bore the full brunt of your “stand” (even though you weren’t rude, it was an uneasy “confrontation”), and the manager will likely get fussed at for not following company policy. That’s a double serving of suck for a person who played no part in the mistake.
Unless Nancy was exceptionally rude (and trying to stick to what she knows to be company policy even though an unclear coupon seems to indicate otherwise so that she won’t get fired is not being rude), then please send Office Depot a note about the incident, so that maybe Nancy won’t get reprimanded for Office Depot Corporate’s mistake.
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$3 is not a lot of money and I admit I don’t have the patience to do what this poster did.
However, kudos!! You’re well within your right and most of us just give up or don’t think it’s worth the hassle. Congrats.
I wouldn’t care so much about $3 as I would about the principle of the matter. Whether it’s $0.15 or $15.00, a store should honor its commitment and congrats on standing up for it.
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Plain and simple — You’re a CHEAP-ASS with nothing better to do!
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Hi,
I’m from Antwerp, Belgium. I read your story with interest. I’ve been in this kind of situation myself a couple of times, with mixed outcome.
Overhere there’s some guy who actually tends to go out hunting for wrong ads and showing up at the store in question with bagloads of coupons and an attorney to make sure they honour their ‘mistakes’.
In the Past, that ‘Coupon-guy’ has been able to purchase hundreds of things, ranging from frozen food to TVs for only a few dollars … IN TOTAL !
Donating to family, friends and the needy, this modern day Robin Hood is trying to do the same as you mentioned: Stand up against (possible) lies on behalf of the companies. The consumer has rights too you know
Just wanted to share … so if anyone has plenty of time and a good eye for great deals, go ahead !
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I usually scan through but never comment on the opinions of others. However it appears that some people either didn’t read thoroughly or ignored parts. Others appears to be belligerent. Please think through before criticizing.
I have extensive training and experience in customer service. In this day and age customer service can make or break a company. There are too many options for a customer to stick with a company or product that is inadequate.
I am living in a developing nation where the $3 that Donna saved would allow a student I know to go to her classes for a day by providing transportation and food cost. The young lady is being forced to drop out of school despite being an excellent student because she doesn’t have money to cover transportation.
I am tired of people that put others down because it is easier than to lift them up. So here is me making a stand for Donna and anyone else that stands up for themselves.
Mom always says- There’s three sides to the story. Yours, Mine, and the Truth. I of course do not know more than what is stated by Donna.
12- Arlene- I have a feeling that the people Donna donated these items to appreciated that every penny she saved to assist them. It doesn’t matter the # of people in the line behind her, if a store is to have integrity then they should honor the coupon.
33- Jeff- Yes, obviously karma should take the money out of her grubby little hands… so, I guess you are talking about the hands that will be delivering the supplies to the kids who can’t afford them. Wonder how that karma will play out?
35- UncleMidriff- I must point out that it wasn’t Donna, but Office Depot that created the stress. She was merely adhering to the coupon rules. As you make a very valid point- Office Depot probably won’t care about this issue but they should. If what is taught in customer service training is true, it used to be that if you offer poor service the customer will tell 10 people. Now you offer poor service they tell 10 people and a blog entry is dedicated to it. At this point over 140 responses have been logged.
36- Matt- sounds like you didn’t plan very well. You go in to save a few bucks on some pens during a big sale. What did you expect? If you couldn’t see this coming I wouldn’t want to hire you. (see 79- KC)
43- CFO- maybe if a company isn’t willing to learn a lesson and stand by their price then they don’t deserve to be in business. Standing by your word will get people to come back. Blaming the customer for taking advantage of the mistake will send them away.
—— maybe that is why you don’t have $3 to spare. Not trying to be snarky, just good luck with future finances.
49- Tom- greedy? hum, they offered her the coupon through through a mailer and she has a card from their rewards program. Obviously she has been a loyal customer and they targeted her with this marketing. She didn’t find it in the newspaper or search for the discount online.
52- Dave- lucky for you that you have the luxury to say it isn’t worth $3 to you. Your argument that the coupon is “built in” is invalid because it is not stated on the coupon. Perhaps you are missing out on some opportunities and are too nice to the companies.
54- Troy- it is not whining to ask for proper customer service. If this issue was not solved as it should have been, when it was, who is to say that walking away would have been her next step?
56- FranticWoman- she was not asking for the coupon to be used on her total order, just the items that fell under the coupon which were the backpacks. Since it was not expressed that the coupon was valid for only one backpack, but was valid for only one trip to the store, she was following the terms of the coupon
60- Kevin, 62-Adam- Donna is not the one who is undermining the value of the customers’ time, it is Office Depot. Where does the responsibility of the sales being processed correctly fall?
84- Jane- Why should she be embarrassed for asking then receiving what was offered?
90- WOW- “violating the spirit of a coupon” you mean for it to be valid on what it is advertised to be valid on? How crazy is it that she would expect a coupon that the company mailed Her! should be valid? And you calling her a “greedy a**”, does this keep in spirit with this forum?
93- Adam- she is not complaining to the low level grunts, she is asking for someone to honor a promise made to her by the company. Unfortunately these customer service reps work very hard and are given minimal authorization. To get the appropriate result she had to go to the next level. And yes, it was a promise when they mailed her the coupon.
96- Matthew- congratulations on being paid a decent wage. Many people do not and Donna happens to be trying to help out some of these people. I assure you that every penny counts when you are providing for those without a lot.
101- Lilly- when did asking for something to be handled properly become known as having a hissy fit?
114- JDonner- “acting like an idiot” when did keeping what is yours become stupid? It sounds like making sure that she keeps track of her money allows her the opportunity to purchase things for people that are not able to themselves
117- UncleMidriff- “How much is not looking like an ass worth to you?” It sounds like the same could be asked of you.
129- TJensen- Donna’s obligation is not to the other people in line. But perhaps she benefited them anyway by giving someone else the courage to stand up for themselves in a future situation.
# “J. Donner Says:
August 7th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I find it funny (or should I say “sad”) that some say “well, $3 is a big deal for me!” while typing this on their computer, with a licence for Windows and also an internet connection they pay for every month…sigh.” Who is to say that the people who don’t have the $3 is sitting on a computer in a library with free access. Just because you can not imagine a world different than the one you see doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
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Just to add to the stories, I just this past month had to fight ATT for a $125 rebate offer that was promised to me. 2.5 hours total on the phone. About 10 different people, and I finally got someone when a nice employee finally said that I was right and the “condition” that everyone else said excluded me from my $125 was written nowhere on anything to which the customer had access.
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Seems to me that Office Depot’s corporate office screwed up when they printed the coupons. But that doesn’t explain the conduct of the manager. I’ve worked at a major department store that had a more liberal coupon policy to start with and even then we often honored coupons even if they were expired or being used on an item that was excluded by the terms printed on the coupon. All came down how big a fuss the customer was making.
I wonder how closely Home Depot corporate monitors coupon use and if the manager thought she would get in trouble for honoring the coupon?
Penny-wise, Pound-foolish.
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Hi!
You should read Stew Leonard’s Rules 1 & 2
Rule 1 The customer is always right
Rule 2 If the customer is ever wrong re-read
Rule 1.
I am a store owner. This kind of stuff is crazy for the store. Look at the expense to them
Say Checkout assistant $12,00 per hr $ 6.00
Supervisor $16.00 per hr $ 8.00
Manager $20.00 per hr $10.00
Total wasted $24.00 and still the inevitable result of having to give the discount.
Imagine if they said good on you I wish more people would think of doing that. You’d be a customer for life. Probably worth $70,000.00
profit to the store.Who am I to say right again! my thinking is convoluted enough.
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Here’s a healthy example, just happened a today in fact.
Check one of my bills today and it appeared “a bit off” (less usage, but same cost as heavier months). On calling them, turns out I’ve been getting billed incorrectly for the last 4 months.. net result I now am owed the equivalent of $240.
Thing is, if I didn’t question things like the small stuff – and YES this means questioning even a $0.03 difference in price – I would be less inclined to question a bill that was “a bit off”. For the net loss of $60 per month!!
Believe it or not, having the habit of ignoring small stuff, means you will be that much less likely to question the big stuff (you simply won’t care). That’s why so many are applauding this example. People that find it hard to comprehend: are you perhaps being ripped off to a much larger scale that you “just don’t worry about”?
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I can sympathize with the manager here. We’re so driven to produce sales and protect the company’s margin that we forget we’re merely flogging consumables for a distant faceless legal entity, to the actual people who stand before us every day, and begin to feel personally offended when someone wants to deprive “us” of “our sales.”
But just because I sympathize with her actions does not mean I condone them. While I don’t believe the customer is always right, and have had to turn down more than my share of customers seeking a discount, you can only support your position on behalf of the company if the company is willing to support you by advertising their terms of sale clearly. If the company’s terms are ambiguous or invisible to the consumer, it becomes the decision of the manager, and that decision should ALWAYS favor good customer service.
I applaud you for sticking to your guns. You were right, and the manager should have honored that the moment it got down to “corporate intentions” vs. “what the damned coupon says.” Yay for smart consumers!
Oh, and one final note: If you do get upset over a decision a manager makes at a corporate store, please don’t utter the phrase “I’ll never shop here again!” This is precisely the moment the manager will stop caring about said legal entity and will feel a wave of relief that they will never have to deal with you and your conflict ever again. If you want results, ask for the number to corporate customer relations. If you truly are right, it will make a difference. If not, the manager will be protected and you’ll get an appeasement discount.
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I had a strikingly similar experience with Office Depot a few months ago. I’ll try to be brief about it, though it was a 30-minute ordeal that ended with me leaving and bursting into tears of rage. Yes, I’m a bargain shopper, but it was OD who sent me the coupons to get me into their store in the first place. The computer refused the coupons, even though there was no fine print that said they weren’t applicable to sale items. I was polite throughout, but firm, and asked for a manager right away, but the cashier refused to call one (and she wasn’t one of the “young ones” we’re supposed to be easy on). The price rang up differently than it did on the shelf, and I was sent back with another employee to verify. Then, when she finally consented to override the computer and give me 30% off, the computer took the 30% off the incorrect price — you wouldn’t believe how much work I had to do to convince her that $4.99 and 30% off was not $4.01, because that’s what the computer said it was. The manager was called after about the 5th time I asked — again, I was polite but firm. But the cashier felt I was “abusing” her, and made a point of telling me that she *never* used coupons, and that even when she’d encountered a similar problem in another store, she never confronted anyone about it. Because this is the second time I’ve encountered problems using COUPONS THEY SENT ME, ultimately, OD has lost my business for good. I will not go into their store; I will not buy from them online. And I am a small business owner, a Girl Scout leader, and a mother who buys a lot of school supplies. They’re hurting themselves with their own “policies.”
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