Other National Chain Store ~ Vent: Fred's Discount Store ~ Redeeming coupons at Fred's-What can happen to you.

[poolel]

I find it extremely necessary to publicize the situation that happened to me as I shopped at my local Fred's store this past Saturday, January 24, 2009. My husband and I had similar coupons and had planned to get 5 transactions each so that I could get the coupons used up before expiring. We each got a Crest toothpaste and a Dawn dish liquid on all orders except one which was only a Dawn. I was first in line before my husband and proceeded to hand the cashier coupons for each transaction. As she scanned them, the manager comes up to me out of the blue and says to me that he would allow it this time but next time I could only get one transaction. I told him since when? I have been doing this forever. He rudely says "I know" and walks off. I notice that he is standing at a distance in back of me with 2 police officers talking with them. After my husband's transactions are completed we turn to leave and one of the officers approach me and ask if I will speak to him. So I go over and he proceeds to question me about my coupon usage and where I get my coupons. The officer says to me that they know that people use fraudulent coupons by printing them and he wants to make sure nothing fishy is going on. Mind you, I have shopped at this Fred's store using coupons for 6+ years and have always done things the same way. Then the manager says "We have paid you for things" as he glares at me. I look at him and ask "When have you paid me?" The guy had no proof of that neither did he have proof that I had used any fraudulent coupons. But he calls the police anyway and makes an embarrasing spectacle of me in the front of the store with no proof or concrete evidence of any wrong-doing whatsoever. Keep in mind that my husband was with me and did the same thing I did, but yet the focus of attention was on me and me alone. There have even been times when my husband has gone by himself, and nothing was ever said to him. Can you say DISCRIMINATION? I am strongly considering legal action against Fred's for the embarrassment not to mention the defamation of character and false accusations put upon me by this manager. I would like some input from anyone willing as to what would be the proper way of handling this situation to my advantage. Thanks in advance.

[mama22qts]

Well, they shouldn't have done what they did, but I don't see anywhere that they discriminated against anyone. Just because you got the attention and dh didn't doesn't mean anything. It just means that perhaps the manager remembered you being there before and not dh as much.

Were you just using dawn and crest?

And I don't think you should be interested in handling it to your advantage; your focus should be on working the situation out fairly.

I don't think you can take legal action against anyone for embarrassing you. Not to mention the fact that according to what you said, the manager didn't accuse you of anything. Defamation of character is extremely difficult to prove, and he'd need to have stated that you fraudulently used coupons as a fact, when you did not.

[mama22qts]

In our Fred's FAQ there is a phone number for customer service as well as a link for the website. I'd contact them to at least let them know how you were made to feel.

[VJWilson27]

Actually I disagree. I think calling the police was completely unnecessary and only used a tactic to scare her. Since there was nothing they could actually do without proof, there was NO reason for them to be involved. Something should be done about the way she was treated and she has every right to search out a solution.

(I'd love to live in a town where the local PD has nothing better to do than harrass a local couponer...LOL)

[amys]

Having the police question her is one step away from arrest and just sly of an accusation of fraud.

Definitely contact corporate on this!

[mama22qts]

Yeah, that's why I suggested calling customer service; there were no other accusations made. OP, do you know that they called the police? Or were they just there for security or something.

[poolel]

Ofcourse I know they called the police. They were waiting for me to check out so that they could question me. They called me over to speak with them. I have contacted customer service and they e-mailed me back without wasting time. They are supposed to be investigating this and are supposed to contact me back via e-mail. As for the discrimination part, I feel that I have grounds for claiming discrimination because my husband was doing the exact same thing I did right beside me and no one said anything to him. But yet I was made out to be a bad person and not him.

[mandigirl_12879]

i think a civil suit could be brought against the manager personally. i'd alo write a letter to the editor of the local paper.

[nurseannette]

Harrassment is against the law. Using coupons is not.
You should pursue it however far it takes to make you feel better.
I am sure you were mortified. Since when do you have to prove where
you got Q's unless they're IP's?

[joshmamabear]

afaik in the coupon policy that is posted on the registers of our Freds, it says doubles are up to .70 limited to 1 "like" item PER CUSTOMER PER DAY. I know that is quite restrictive but they have the right to set their own policies. therefore if you're trying to get more than 1 coupon to be doubled and they refuse, they are acting within corporate policies. although the customer can purchase other "like items" and use coupons, the other coupons will just be taken at FACE VALUE. if your DH was shopping too, since he is also a customer, he should be allowed to use 1 coupon for the Dawn and Crest that will double. you can still purchase 4 of each while using coupons which will be taken at FACE VALUE. I know also Freds don't take IPs so there should be no question about it. They don't accept coupons for outright frees w/o buying anything else but they take BOGO coupons that are non IPs. I am not sure why they mean by copies of inserts coupons, they may not understand what copies mean. Having a lot of similar coupons cut out from papers doesn't mean they are copies. I think informing them of the source like the Sunday papers will clear it up since its not illegal to buy several of the Sunday papers to get more coupons.

you can request for their corporate coupon policy to verify the information I shared or write to Mr Ryan McElroy of Freds customer service.

HTH.