so what's up with kroger and coupons now???

[SMS80]

had a weird experience today and it just didn't sit right...

i normally am strictly a publix girl and occasionally go to food lion but kroger's smart ones at $1.88 and ivory soap at $10/10 caught my eye.

so i got 5 ivory soaps and 20 smart ones. Had no problem using five $0.50/1 on ivory (which ended up being free) but was treated like a borderline criminal for trying to use two $4/10 on the smart ones. my transaction was put on hold, the cashier is trying to tell me that they probably won't take the coupon because the items were on sale (yea, i just looked at her like she was crazy and had two heads), the customer service person made me go to the counter and wait while she went upstairs to research the coupon. once they are okay'ed she proceeds to tell me that they have to be very careful because they don't get reimbursed, etc., etc. and of course in her tone of voice, she's still sounding like she's talking to a criminal.

whatever, i got my stuff and now i don't think i'm ever shopping there again. if it's a good deal they have going on, i'll just take the ad to food lion and have them price match it and they will take my coupons with a smile.

anybody else have this happen or has this one store gone rogue?

[cheapcheap]

Yikes! Luckily, that hasn't been my experience in ATL. They've informed me kindly that they no longer take IPs for more than $1, but all my Qs go through without question. In fact, there's more extreme scrutiny with certain Publix cashiers.

If you want to keep your shopping options open, it's worth contacting corporate or the store manager.

[mangokiwi]

I'm in Georgia and I've noticed that Kroger has become more strict on IP coupons. I was denied use of 6 (2 of 3 different MQs) last week, just saying that they don't accept them. I went to the CS desk, and they accepted the IPs, giving me cash back, but explained that there was a lot of fraud on IPs and they won't accept any IP for FREE items. The CS rep mentioned the FREE 12-pk Coke IP as an example. She apologized and said the cashiers are gunshy about the IPs.

For me, it means I'll likely use my IPs at Publix and skip the hassle at this particular Kroger. 2 other Kroger stores near me don't care. They accept anything.

[concernedshopper]

It is hard on them though, because if you look at images of fraud coupons you can't really tell a difference, so you can kind of understand them being gunshy about them, although it still stinks to be doing it the honest way and being grilled. That's why it makes things harder for everyone if a few people don't follow the rules.

[CouponSAHM]

My store went nuts about IP's one time and I copied our list of fraudulent coupons from here and brought it to them. I told them that I would bring them an updated copy any time they wanted or they could research for themselves online. But to give me a hardtime just because I had an IP was a little on the crazy side when all they had to do was educate themselves.