I stopped in at Longo’s today, a store where I don’t usually redeem coupons because I rarely buy grocery items there. However, they were offering the best price for Eagle Brand condensed milk, at $2.99/can. I had 2 coupons from the Robin Hood “Bake Some Memories” recipe booklet for “Buy 1 Eagle Brand product, Get 1 Eagle Brand Dulce de Leche free”, and Longo’s was the only store that I had seen the new Dulce de Leche (Caramelized milk) flavour.
I quickly found what I wanted to buy and took the four cans to the Express checkout, thinking I would be out the door lickety-split. The cashier rang up my purchase and I gave her my coupons. She looked them over and then deducted $4.49, the cost of the Dulce de Leche, and $2.99, the cost of the plain condensed milk. I politely pointed out the wording on the coupon and that’s when she got upset. She argued that my coupon said, “Buy 1, Get 1 Free”, so she charged me for one can of each flavour. She said that I couldn’t pay $2.99 and expect to get a product that cost more for free. She acted as if I had asked her to take the money out of her pocket! I stood firm, forcing her to call the head cashier over. The entire time, I was acutely aware that I was in the Express line. There were hungry, agitated people in line staring daggers at me, the idiot couponer. Of course the head cashier acknowledged that I could have the Dulce de Leche milk for free, regardless of what I paid for the first product.
The cashier was not happy and quite frankly, neither was I. It was a simple purchase, I had read the coupon correctly, and there was no need for any dispute. Even with extreme couponing becoming more popular recently, some cashiers still treat couponers like they are second class citizens. I did not do anything illegal, and yet this person was completely offended that I was receiving a free product. This is precisely why so many people refuse to use coupons! I hate the embarrassment when the cashier is mean to me but the savings always makes me feel better.
i feel ur pain, went to Valu Mart at the coupon stand got coupon eggs 2doz $1.00 off.
went to get 2doz eggs found some on sale 2 doz for $5.00 plus i had coupon took cashier 10 min to get her head around it and she went to check it out with manager…
If you’re at the Longo’s I think you were at, I’ve had problems there before with rude personnel. The good thing about Longo’s is that they make a big internal fuss about customer service, and I highly recommend you write this post in the form of an email to the company. They will take you seriously and deal with their employees accordingly. I’ve written in twice over the last 4 years regarding shoddy customer service, and both times I have received satisfying replies with apologies, as well as offers of a free gift card. I turned it down the first time out of principle, but took them up on it the second time, because it really was an atrocious situation that time. In fact, I later found out that my second email resulted in some serious repercussions for the person I complained about – he’s no longer at that location. I know you shop for the best dollar value, but I usually shop for the best products for our lifestyle regardless of price and as such, customer service is very important to me because I feel that’s where I get my “value” in shopping at higher priced stores. And regardless of dollar value, customer service standards should be upheld at their respective establishments, especially when you’ve done nothing wrong. 🙂 Miss you! xoxox
Hey C…I felt that the head cashier dealt with the situation appropriately. I was in Longo’s again today and I went through that same cashier’s line. She was very pleasant to me. It helped that I didn’t use any coupons. Message me if you get a chance. We’ve got some catching up to do!
Being American, I always use coupons and find that the attitude toward couponing here is totally different than that in the US. The cashiers act like they are doing you a favor by allowing you to use the coupons. Last year I had a terrible experience at a Great Canadian Superstore. I had coupons for free vegetarian foods. They were from the internet and I printed off about 4 of them. I used two at Loblaws with no issue. They were happy to have me use the coupons. At the Superstore it was a different story. The cashier had to go over to customer service to ask about them and then the idiot at customer service told me that I could only use one coupon when the coupon did not have any disclaimer statements like that on it. She said that because they had the same code on them I could not use two. I told her that the coupons you pull off the shelves all had the same codes and I could use multiples of them. She told me it was because they were internet coupons. I was flabbergasted by her stupidity. AND THEN to show me just what an idiot she really was she told me that the stores did not get the money back from the coupons. I told her she was wrong. She said that I obiviously never worked in a food store or I would have known that. I proceed to tell her that my career path had me aspire to a more meaningful job than working at the customer serviced desk at Superstore. I told her I would be calling the manager. So the next day I called the manager and told him what had happened. He assured me that I could use as many of the coupons that I wanted. He also told me that he would deal with her since this wasnt the first time there was a complaint about her lack of customer service skills. The next time I went in I asked about her and they said she no longer worked there…..ZING! It pays to complain.
Hi Lori! Thanks for your comment. I don’t know if the attitude towards coupons will ever change in Canada. It’s also shocking that stores don’t train their staff properly, both in the use of coupons and in customer service. Good for you for speaking up!