Harris Teeter ~ Vent: My First Harris Teeter Vent

[nccouponqueen]

I have had an ongoing love affair with HT for well over a year now...my closest one has been very coupon friendly. Tonight, not so much. I went to take advantage of some good deals and to use up most of the $1 off seafood Clos Du Bois winetags I've accumulated over the past few months. I've used 2-3 here or there- each time to buy pouches of salmon or tuna. Since I've built up quite the stash and they're expiring on 10/31, I had a pile of 15 to use along with 15 pouches of salmon.

The cashier, who I'm very familiar with after shopping there so frequently, scrutinized the winetags closely and asked me what they were for...I said I was using them for the salmon. She then said she thought they meant "fresh seafood" only. I said the coupon did not indicate "fresh," it simply said "seafood." She rang for a manager. A mid-level mgr came up and scrutinized the coupon. He then said that since it said "one per purchase," I could only use one. I then tried to explain the difference between a purchase and a transaction...and noted that most coupons say that and it's so you'll only use coupon per item you're purchasing.

They then sought the help of the "head" manager who told me that these were for "fresh" seafood and that notwithstanding they'd let me use one of the coupons. Ugh. I had them void out the 14 other salmon pouches. I was tempted to have them void out the whole thing and walk out I was so frustrated. I take great pains to play by the rules of couponing and have used these type of coupons for canned/pouched items of seafood countless times before with no issue.

I'm halfway tempted to just give up on my closest store and shop at other nearby HT's. Am I being ridiculous?

[cpnmaniac44]

Originally Posted by nccouponqueen I have had an ongoing love affair with HT for well over a year now...my closest one has been very coupon friendly. Tonight, not so much. I went to take advantage of some good deals and to use up most of the $1 off seafood Clos Du Bois winetags I've accumulated over the past few months. I've used 2-3 here or there- each time to buy pouches of salmon or tuna. Since I've built up quite the stash and they're expiring on 10/31, I had a pile of 15 to use along with 15 pouches of salmon. The cashier, who I'm very familiar with after shopping there so frequently, scrutinized the winetags closely and asked me what they were for...I said I was using them for the salmon. She then said she thought they meant "fresh seafood" only. I said the coupon did not indicate "fresh," it simply said "seafood." She rang for a manager. A mid-level mgr came up and scrutinized the coupon. He then said that since it said "one per purchase," I could only use one. I then tried to explain the difference between a purchase and a transaction...and noted that most coupons say that and it's so you'll only use coupon per item you're purchasing. They then sought the help of the "head" manager who told me that these were for "fresh" seafood and that notwithstanding they'd let me use one of the coupons. Ugh. I had them void out the 14 other salmon pouches. I was tempted to have them void out the whole thing and walk out I was so frustrated. I take great pains to play by the rules of couponing and have used these type of coupons for canned/pouched items of seafood countless times before with no issue. I'm halfway tempted to just give up on my closest store and shop at other nearby HT's. Am I being ridiculous?

It could have been an isolated "clerk" issue. I'd NEVER use 15 wine tags at the same time.....they may be thinking...wow...you bought 15 bottles of wine?
I'd just not want to be that obvious, regardless of where you got the wine tags. I've been asked where did you get your 10 coupons (like coupons)?
I say friends, family, FRIENDS (like HCW or other site).

[nccouponqueen]

Yes, I know- was semi-flamed on another board when posting this. I normally don't use so many, but since they're about to expire I just wanted to use them up right away. And I had children in tow which doesn't exactly lead to the brightest of thinking.

And no in case anyone's wondering, I didn't take them all in one shot...these were slowly accumulated by picking up 1-3 at a time over a couple of months. I'm not one of those folks who descend upon the wt's and tearpads and snatch every one up in the store.

[mama2kangaandroo]

I don't blame you, I would be frustrated too! And so what if you did buy 15 bottles of wine at one time, there's nothing wrong with that. It gets annoying when the clerks start to judge us and/or act like we're trying to break all the rules. That happened to me once at HT and I did walk out buying nothing. Of course I later regretted that, as I had to go to another store and find everything again, lol. But I definitely understand how you feel!

[VivaciousJewelz]

I love how managers/clerks randomly make up rules for coupons as they go along. This happened to me at another store (not HT) where the clerk tried to say that I couldn't use a coupon that said "any" on a trial size (even though almost ALL coupons say "exclusing trial size", this one did not). I just try not to use a lot at one time to stay under the radar.

[partialsmith]

I think the coupon probably was intended for fresh seafood, but I don't think that was the real issue they had with the coupons, as the coupon will be reimbursed by the manufacturer either way. This probably has to do with their right to limit coupon quantities, which is in their policy. Some stores, like Lowe's Foods, set hard limits -- only 4 like coupons will be honored. Harris Teeter doesn't have a hard limit, but 15 makes them suspicious. This (usually) isn't because they think you're trying to defraud them, it's because one customer who has found a really good coupon deal and happens to have 15 coupons will deplete the stock for other customers who may want to take advantage of the deal. So for every one customer like that who walked out happy, you have 10 other customers mad because the product is out of stock. Grocery stores are retailers, not wholesalers, so they try to keep a typical retail stock on hand. Your one purchase of 15 items may not seem like too much, but it takes just a few customers like that to leave them with nothing for anyone else. Limiting your coupon use is a way to limit your quantity, since they figure you may not buy so many items if you can't use the coupons.

Another example of this (that doesn't even involve coupons) is my father-in-law, who has found a particular bottled tea he likes to buy in large quantities. He buys it so much that the store has started keeping an extra case on hand for him, and once they even spotted him buying it off the shelf and let him know they had a case just for him! I'm sure this is partially a courtesy to him for being a loyal customer, and partially a courtesy to their other customers, so they don't come in and find an empty shelf.