Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Hostility Stores Have for Couponers

I had a horrible experience couponing at Fry's yesterday because I thought I'd give the one by me a shot again but the management made sure to show me their hostility again.  Just like always I stayed very kind to them in response but they really didn't care.  I think that store hates couponers and makes sure to show me even though I always follow the rules.  Other than that, in the last 3 days I saved around $1,000 with my couponing.  We did really well.  On average between the three stores I saved around 75%.  Pretty good!  My favorite deals were the $7 bags of string cheese that I got for only $2.50 apiece so I grabbed about 14 bags of them.  Also, I paid 29 cents for sour cream and 69 cents for cottage cheese.  I got about 80% off of my 7lbs of fresh ground beef at a different store.  Anyway, would take forever to share all the deals.  Basically, couponing works!  I actually found coupons for ground beef which is really, really rare.

I probably should share some of the same problems I get from Fry's when I coupon there.  This is not always at one store but the one by me serves as a good example so I'll share.  First of all, just two days ago I shopped at Fry's and they decided when they saw my cart that they did not want me to separate my items by threes.  The policy states that over three like coupons, they will not double.  I don't really buy in huge bulks as I only buy six of each things.  Unless, I get some online coupons and it's such a fantastic deal I get 10.  Because I only have six items and six coupons, I'll just separate in two different orders.  Well, they decided two days ago that they didn't want me to do that and just have me put it all in one order and all coupons will be made worth $1.  They didn't want the line to back up with customers.  So, I came back yesterday and did the same thing except this time they gave me no warning and the SAME check out lady decided to not tell me till she was scanning my coupons that she would NOT up my coupons after the third item. When there were wrong prices on items she would not stop and check it for me, even though I would ask, and when coupons would be stuck together, when she'd skip over them, she refused to go back and fix it to scan it.  On coupons that legitimately should have doubled up to $1 but didn't, she would ignore me and refuse to fix it.  I would kindly try to ask her to fix these things and she would either huff out loud, get irritated at me, and finally called the manager (that dislikes me very much).  Instead of checking into the right prices, he would just argue and say there is no way that item would be priced that.  When he finally did call back to that department to check the price, the guy wouldn't even know about it or explain why the price tripled overnight even though they said it wasn't supposed to.  The manager talked to me with such a hostility you could cut it with a knife.  Another manager lady came up and made sure some of my coupons wouldn't double.  When I kindly asked if I could just separate the transaction into two so my coupons would double, she once again ignored me and kept scanning.  Once she was done I simply went to customer service and got my money back.  I'm done going to this store, done with being hated because I'm a couponer.  I've never once talked rudely to the management there and have always kept my cool, even made sure I was following policy.  I have called corporate before to report the male manager but in order to cover his tracks he lied and said I was trying to break all the rules.  I keep a policy paper in my coupon book to make sure I know how Fry's works.  As of now I've been having to drive 10 miles out of my way to a Fry's store that has a nice manager.  She doesn't break rules or anything, I just love her because she's always treated me nice and respectfully when explaining things.  I always feel welcome there.

I guess in order to coupon, we're just gonna have to accept that bullying will almost always come with it.  Especially inconsistancy with the policies.  I will just deal with it in order to save money for our family, it just can really be a downer on your day.  I think sometimes it'd be good to send in coupon secret shoppers in order to fix poor customer service issues. 




3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It just doesn't make sense when stores are difficult over coupons. They don't lose any money over them! They are reimbursed for the coupon PLUS handling fees, and you are buying things that you might not otherwise buy at their store. It's a win-win for them. I don't know one couponer who is not polite and up to date on the policies. WE rarely make mistakes with our coupons and the store does it all the time. I don't have a Fry's, my problem store is Walmart. I no longer use my coupons there and they have lost about $1000 a month of my business.
CSmith
ps. I think your family is sweet and I enjoy reading your blog:)

Mom said...

We don't have coupons here. You have no idea what I would give to be able to save even with one coupon. Our grocery bill for 2 kids, 2 adults, and 3 animals is 200 dollars a week. That's pull-ups, wipes, and toiletries included.

Virginia Revoir said...

Oh, coupons are such a blessing. I've been slowly taking my business elsewhere (like Safeway) because they treat couponers better than Fry's. It just depends though again on the management. We spend a lot of money a month on groceries so I don't know why they think we only get freebies there.

It is such a blessing to be able to coupon. It's different by state though because my sister lives in a different state than I and no stores double coupons.