Harris Teeter ~ Other: Coupon Abuse at HT

[ShoppingCartDiva]

Definitely sad.

I sincerely doubt it was an honest mistake. Honestly, if you take the thought and foresight to select your 20 coupons, you would darn well know that the coupon is for the chocolate kind of Werthers (which really aren't all that tasty IMO).

[couponlady]

Originally Posted by PHmom At another store I heard a cashier and manager discussing someone who had been in earlier and cleared the shelves of windex, forcing them to take all of her coupons even though there is a limit of 3.

I'm wondering how a customer was "forcing" them to take her coupons. A store has the right to say "no". Some people are like kids, if they know that they can throw a fit to get their way they will do it every time they feel it is necessary. If the store says "no", they should enforce it, every time.

[lonniesweetie]

My ADD and I had an interesting experience. We both had three Qs for the CBA Pizza Kits and had picked up three boxes each. She went through one line and I went through the one beside her. My cashier rang up all my stuff and then ran my Qs through no problem. Even congratulated my on my 2.34 total. Then just as I was getting ready to pay, my daughter said, Mom, did you know that the CBA Q was expired? Apparently, my old eyes misread the Q as 7/31/08, but her cashier (who must have really been checking the Q's) said it was 7/13/08. Well, I turned around to my cashier and asked her to look at mine and sure enough, it said 7/13/08. I told her to void those Qs and the CBA's and she said, "But it scanned through." I insisted that she take it off, but she didn't want to, even the MOD said it wasn't necessary. I was mortified, don't want anyone to think I was trying to pull something.
Do you think it was possible that the 7/13/08 was a typo, and the barcode was correct? Too late now, but I thought it was interesting.

[chantal12002]

Originally Posted by couponlady I'm wondering how a customer was "forcing" them to take her coupons. A store has the right to say "no". Some people are like kids, if they know that they can throw a fit to get their way they will do it every time they feel it is necessary. If the store says "no", they should enforce it, every time.

I TOTALLY AGREE with you. How can you force a manager to take coupons when you have the policy written in the store? It is the manager's job to enforce his policy and someone throwing a fit should not make him change his mind. That person LEARNED that throwing a fit works!!!!
I used to work in a grocery store during my college days and my manager would bend over backwards for his customers to make special orders of products the store was not carrying but would not let go if some customer threw a fit about something obviously ridiculous. You know what? He may have lost a "few" crazy customers but everybody gained in the end. It was a thriving store until he retired!!

Perhaps HT should consider some training for managers that would pertain to triples and how to handle difficult situations like this one. Maybe have security guards to step in if a customer becomes verbally abusive? I don't know... I am sure corporate could think of some ways to deal with this without cancelling triples for everyone altogether. Triples is a great for a store IMO and before giving up there are things that could be put in place to better moniter the abusers of the system!

[liane66]

The cashier knew the lady didn't have the correct product, but he told me that they are "forced" to accept the coupons in a situation like this. This is bad for triples b/c if HT comes to believe it will lead to coupon abuse I doubt they will continue the practice in the same way CVS has cracked down in a major way on their coupons.

[disabledvetswife]

Two things:

1. What taser story???? We don't have a HT, so I don't really read this thread if it was here.

2. I mistakenly tried to use the Gold Bond coupons on the trial size the other day at WalMart. I received them in trade and specifically asked for the coupons good on ANY. Well, these aren't the q's that say not valid on trial size in bold lettering. It is written in the fine print, about 4 lines down and I didn't see it at all. They probably would've went through except the cashier took them to someone else because she didn't know you could put a $1 q through for a .97 item and that cashier saw it. She brought it back to me and said I couldn't use them on trial sizes. I said, it doesn't say that and she said yes, it does and pointed to it. I was SOOOOOOOO apologetic because I honestly did not see it. she said not to worry, she didn't see it either.

[PHmom]

Originally Posted by couponlady I'm wondering how a customer was "forcing" them to take her coupons. A store has the right to say "no". Some people are like kids, if they know that they can throw a fit to get their way they will do it every time they feel it is necessary. If the store says "no", they should enforce it, every time.

These customers threaten to call corporate and tell all kinds of stories on the managers. Then the customer is rewarded with a GC from corporate, sometimes as high as $50. They call and claim that the managers were rude to them. They admit to using too many coupons but insist that the manager treated them badly instead of explaining it nicely. Then when the managers try to tell their side of the story it looks like sour grapes. This is how they are "forced". You are absolutely right that they can say no but it is simply easier for them to take the coupons knowing that it is wrong than get written up and even possibly lose their jobs if they get enough complaints. I have this directly from a store manager, he tries to enforce the limits but is in fear for his job if too many of these dishonest people call and complain.

Then the managers all discuss these situations at the managers meetings. And eventually they may all convince corporate that it's not worth it to have triples.

So the problem really isn't the managers or even HT corporate, the problem is dishonest customers. I'm not sure what the solution is, or even if there is one other than these people changing their ways which probably isn't going to happen.

[aurorahorse]

Our "special" HT trip

That's the taser story....wow!!!!!!

[uummm]

Originally Posted by lonniesweetie Do you think it was possible that the 7/13/08 was a typo, and the barcode was correct? Too late now, but I thought it was interesting.

Expired coupons typically don't beep. That is why the cashier is supoosed to be checking the coupon expiration dates. I know with coupons that tend to be issued monthly, all have the same bar code on them. And if you think about it the IP all have the same barcode, but usually expire 30 days after print. It would be impossible to have different barcodes on all coupons with all these different expiration dates. I noticed on some from the news paper that tend to be reissued every month (specifically the yoplait ones) that they have the exact same barcode on them each month, just different expiration dates.

The only thing my HTs looks for (if they bother) during triples specifically is the expiration dates. They can't possibly be efficient if they were to check every single coupon against every single item. The only ones they check are the ones that beep.

I accidently forgot to grab a candy bar I had the coupon for. No biggie, I told them to just give me back the coupon. My error, not theirs- but I guess if I made a big enough stink then I could have made $.75.

I think the other part of the problem is poor cashier training. How many of the cashiers actually checked the expiration dates, or if a coupon beeps they just push it through because they don't want to chec? Or how about coupon limits? How many people got to the store an hour after triples started and most of the money makers were GONE? Do you really think there was a run on that store from 7-8? Or do you think one or two people went in and did 3 orders back to back and bought all of what they had? If ALL the stores enforced ALL there rules ALL the time, then people would figure out this wasn't worth it, to go through this fit throwing every time.

Just like with children, you have to be consistant! Otherwise you have those ones that figure out "if I pitch a fit I will get my way." Kinda like "but that isn't how mommy does it!"

[dinade]

I made quite a few honest mistakes. I bought 3 juicy juice and tried to use 3 qs I didn't realize (or read it my fault( that you had to buy 2! Then my motts juice was expired! Doh!! and I bought 3 cans of chicken and bought the wrong stinking kind. Doh doh doh!!! Oh well they were nice about it.