Random Coupons Not Doubling: Is this why?

[EshuBarakeno]

I noticed 11 of my coupons did not double. None of my coupons were DND 9's. 2 were DND 5's, and only 1 was a second "like" coupon in 1 transaction (but that one did double so it clearly wasn't the issue).

So I went to customer service to see if they would reimburse me and the guy read me the policy. He said it says that coupons won't double on items where doubling would make it exceed the price. Now before if you had a .50 coupon on a .75 item it would only double by .25, but now he said if you have a .50 coupon on a .75 item, it won't double at all. I went through my receipts and 9 items fit that description. 2 more items fit that description after my e-coupons were factored in.

I was curious if other people had this experience? Keep in mind if you did the mega deal this would apply to the prices of the items before the mega deal was factored in.

These were the items I bought that I think were the issue:

Rozoni pasta ($1/1, not $1/2) (Now suspect Kruzteaz instead of this!)
Wheat Thins (Someone here mentioned the $1/1 not doubling for them, so I used the $1/2)
Ritz Pretzel Thins
Kettle Chips
Zone Protein Bar
Almond Breeze Milk (with .55 e-coupon applied)
Dawn Hand Renewal (with .50 e-coupon applied)

The only good thing he said is that for coupons that do double, there is no limit on how many like coupons will double.

I would like to know if other people had this experience before I shop again. I want more crackers and some cat treats, but based on this I don't think they'd actually be free.

[invisible161]

whats the price of the kettle chips?

last week, the campbell was 99 cents after mega and with a $1/2 that would give me overage on 2campbell. The coupon did double. I dont know why some coupons double and some dont. Today I used the 75cents wheaties coupon and it did not double.

[EshuBarakeno]

whats the price of the kettle chips?

last week, the campbell was 99 cents after mega and with a $1/2 that would give me overage on 2campbell. The coupon did double. I dont know why some coupons double and some dont. Today I used the 75cents wheaties coupon and it did not double.

The Kettle Chips were on clearance for $1.89.

I think it would only apply to the prices before the Mega Deal, since the price the soups ring up as is $1.49.

Were the Wheaties less then $1.50?

[invisible161]

The wheaties are part the cereal deal, 4 for 1.49 each. If you bought less than four the price would be 2.49each.

[ChipL]

Wish I could help. I know from my receipts that not all of my $1 coupons have doubled, but even trying to watch as they've been scanned, I haven't been able to keep complete track as to which ones have doubled and which haven't.

Were any of those items Mega deal items? Mega deal does NOT reduce the price of an item by 50 cents--it just gets you a $5.00 discount if you bought enough items. So I think coupons will double on Mega items, but maybe not on something like the Wheat Thins, where the discount is applied to the specific product, not to your grand total.

All of my Sierra Mist coupons went through, but I don't think any of them doubled. It's interesting that the CS manager at your store thinks a $0.50 coupon won't double at all if the item is $0.75 -- but we know that a $1.00 coupon will ring at face value and won't adjust down for an item that's only $0.88.

So it's better to have a coupon that's worth more than the price of an item to begin with than it is to have a coupon that will be worth more than the price of an item after doubling . . . ?

Like I said, I wish I could help. I also wish Ralphs receipts were more like Albies receipts, where items and coupons are categorized. That would make it easier for us to tell what doubled and what didn't.

Chip

[californiashopper]

I noticed 11 of my coupons did not double. None of my coupons were DND 9's. 2 were DND 5's, and only 1 was a second "like" coupon in 1 transaction (but that one did double so it clearly wasn't the issue).

So I went to customer service to see if they would reimburse me and the guy read me the policy. He said it says that coupons won't double on items where doubling would make it exceed the price. Now before if you had a .50 coupon on a .75 item it would only double by .25, but now he said if you have a .50 coupon on a .75 item, it won't double at all. I went through my receipts and 9 items fit that description. 2 more items fit that description after my e-coupons were factored in.

I was curious if other people had this experience? Keep in mind if you did the mega deal this would apply to the prices of the items before the mega deal was factored in.

These were the items I bought that I think were the issue:

Rozoni pasta ($1/1, not $1/2)
Wheat Thins (Someone here mentioned the $1/1 not doubling for them, so I used the $1/2)
Ritz Pretzel Thins
Kettle Chips
Zone Protein Bar
Almond Breeze Milk (with .55 e-coupon applied)
Dawn Hand Renewal (with .50 e-coupon applied)

The only good thing he said is that for coupons that do double, there is no limit on how many like coupons will double.

I would like to know if other people had this experience before I shop again. I want more crackers and some cat treats, but based on this I don't think they'd actually be free.

I've been a lurker here for a long time but never posted. Thanks everyone for the great deal posts!

I think you are right about the coupons not doubling at all if the double price would exceed the sale price. It would explain why the Krusteaz coupon didn't double last week ($1/1, price BEFORE Mega deal $1.99). It would also explain many of the other random coupons that don't seem to be doubling.

However, I think the additional two that didn't double were probably the two that said DND, rather than the two ecoupon ones. Ralphs' registers don't seem to be capable of adjusting coupons based on the ecoupons, just like they don't adjust for the after-Mega prices. But I HAVE noticed that all of the cashiers seem to be watching the coupons very closely for the DND language, and manually preventing the doubling of them. One of my cashiers last week told me that they get in a lot of trouble if they let one double that says DND. Also, the fine print on the weekly ad now says that it excludes coupons that say DND.

One of the cashiers that I had last week acutally printed my receipt and started manually calculating the after-Mega price for every one of my coupons so that she could manually enter the correct amount and not give me any overage. I spoke with the manager, and he agreed that the policy is no overage AFTER Mega event price. I left my entire order.

The few pennies of overage that I would have gotten wasn't the issue, but I'm not going to stand there and wait AND hold up the only open line, while the cashier manually calculates every Mega event price on my receipt. If that's how Ralphs want the coupons to be calculated, they ought to program their registers to do it that way.

Also, I noticed that the registers are not limiting the doubling of the coupons, but at all three stores that I visited (Riverside County), the cashiers manually prevented the doubling of more than one like coupon. I think that what Ralphs did is to temporarily put their old register programmming back in place (double up to $1, four like coupons) for this promotion, and some stores are manually preventing more than one like coupon and other stores are letting them go through.

[californiashopper]

Forgot to say that they apparently did tweak their old programming before putting it back into place, so that the coupons won't double at all if it would exceed the value of the item. The fine print on the ad does specifically say that now.

I'm wondering if when they go back to their normal doubling policy (maximum $1 after double), maybe the coupons will go back to doubling up to the sale price rather than not at all if the double would exceed the sale price?

Actually, my theory is that the additional limitations will stay in place. I think that the reason Ralphs is offering the Super Doubles right now is to throw us a bone as they implement further limitations to their coupon policy. (I don't have any older ads, but I don't recall some of the fine print limitations that are now in the ad being in the older ads.) And remember when they previously changed their coupon policy, they rolled out their rewards program at the same time? I know that I certainly don't earn as much in rewards as I used to save with the more generous doubling policy. And I won't save as much during their current Super Doubles as I will lose long term if they will no longer double when the sale price exceeds the double price.

Just food for thought. I guess time will tell.

[deeann7]

I found out today that a coupon that is $1/2 will not auto double

[californiashopper]

I found out today that a coupon that is $1/2 will not auto double

Another one of the new exclusions in their fine print says "any coupons that require the purchase of multiple items." I did have some of those type double for me earlier this week, but I was wondering if they were still working on programming their registers to block them from doubling.

I stand by my theory that their current promotion is just to put some salve on our wounds while they further restrict our use of coupons.

[jennifer6183]

Yes Eshu.. this is exactly what happened to me on Monday. I watched it happen... then after I checked out because the young male cashier wouldn't/couldn't help me, I spoke with the manager and explained what happened, and he gave me $10 cash to compensate for the ones that didn't double.