April 3, 2008

A note about my deals below . . .

Well, I’ve had quite the morning! I went into town to pick up a few things I needed and I was armed with my Excedrin coupons. I know that people have used them successfully at the Airport Road Meijer, but they were out of Excedrin. So on my way home, I hit the East Jackson Meijer.

When it was my turn to be rung up, the cashier looked at the coupons and said that he had to call a manager for approval and went on to announce (to me and all of the people standing behind me) that I was attempting to commit coupon fraud. Talk about humiliating. The manager came out and said that trying to get overage on a coupon is coupon fraud and he could press charges. I explained that this was brand new information to me (and I'm still not convinced that it's true) and asked if they could just give me the discount up to the amount of the sale price of the Excedrin. The manager begin inspecting my coupons. He then said that two of my coupons were “copied” (they had just been printed on my black and white printer at work) and continued to accuse me of “coupon fraud.” I showed him the watermark on the coupons and let him know that I had not, in fact, copied the coupons.

Meanwhile, Jack is sitting there crying and the people behind me are staring like they’re watching an episode of “COPS” play out in front of their eyes. I told him that I would just cancel my purchase and leave. He then said he’d give me the $.99 from each coupon toward the Excedrin (making them free with no overage). I have no idea what caused the sudden change of heart, but I suspect that he feared I might pursue this issue a little farther if I left empty handed (and he was probably right).

That said, I was so humiliated that I’ll make it a point to avoid that particular Meijer from now on.

I've e-mailed a few people who have blogs about coupon deals exclusively and write about coupons with overage all the time to see if they've had any experience with this.

Let me make myself perfectly clear: If using coupons like this is a "moral gray area" I want to have nothing to do with it. Honestly, the thought of this being something "dishonest" or "fraudulent" never crossed my mind until now. One concern concern that struck me on the way home is this: The cashier put those coupons in the drawer, without making any indication on them that only $.99 was given toward my purchase. When they send them in for reimbursement from the manufacturer, will they collect the full $2? If so, that seems like coupon fraud.

I've got a headache. Good thing I'm stocked up on Excedrin.

7 comments:

Xander said...

oh no! tell me what you find out on this one! i want to know if it is a real offense or not, because i'm just venturing into the world of coupons and overage and don't want to end up behind bars.

Smith Family Blog said...

Hey, you're a private citizen, and the used the intercom system to question your integrity-- sounds like a perfect case of defamation!!!

Unknown said...

Oh my word...my face would have turned red and I would have started sweating. Once when I was using one of those flat earth coupons the lady said she had to get her manager to see if they accepted this sort of coupon. That alone made me avoid that walmart!

Maria W. said...

I can almost guarantee that if you had a stack of like 50 coupons towards your overflowing cart the cashier probably wouldn't have even gave it a second thought, let alone harrass you or call a manager. I can tell you that my friend Kim who is a law abiding citizen uses these types of coupons ALL the time and hasn't "paid" for shampoo, conditioner or toothpaste for years. She also usually gets cereal for like .50 a box. I sent her an email to see if she has ever encountered this issue. Did I mentions she drives to Coldwater to go to Meijer. Why does she drive so far? Because she takes her shoebox full of coupons to the store that doubles up to 1.00. I consider her the coupon guru!

Erin K. said...

I always knew you were secretly living a life of crime.

Julie Durocher said...

I have had bad experiences from that Meijer too! Not just with coupons!I try to avoid it! They had to check my $7.00 Enfamil coupon because they "weren't sure if they could accept it"! I'm sure!

Anonymous said...

Hi Sara,
I used my Excedrin coupon at Meijer's today and had no problems at all BUT..I used the self checkout. Maybe a tip for next time..