Hi, this is Tiffany, Paul’s wife, and he asked me to tell you about my experience tonight at Walmart.
A friend and I ran out to do some shopping and I had a catalina that I was going to use at Walmart. When I checked out ( same store that Paul had used them at 3 times in the past 2 days) I was told, “NO”! Not even nicely, very rudely. The cashier would not even scan the coupon, he actually threw it back at me. I asked him if he could call a manager over. He threw a fit and finally went to get one. He kept yelling at me in the mean time, that it was a Randalls coupon and ONLY that. I nicely pointed out it said, “manufacturer coupon” at the top. The manager came over and also refused to take it. I showed her the coupon policy and she said she “didn’t care” and that “corporate was going to have to override her.”
I paid for my purchase and walked to the car. Frustrated, I called Paul to “tattle” on my store!!! I was sooo mad! He told me to stay there and he would be right up. Paul came up with all the emails and even screen shots of the Walmart Facebook page where they explain that they take catalina coupons. He talked to both managers that were there. They both REFUSED to take it.
They actually had no explanation as to why they couldn’t take it. At one point the manager said that ” It might beep” Paul explained that they would have no idea because they refused to even scan it. The manager told us, “give the benefit of the doubt to the cashier” I have no idea what he was trying to say! Then they said that if it beeped they couldn’t take it. It went on and on and on. They made no sense AT ALL and talked in circles the entire time.
Talk about frustrating! So now what? I am calling first thing Monday morning and ask them what they will be doing about this. The more people that call, the better they will start training their cashiers!
This has to be happening to all of us. It is inexcusable that there can’t be more consistency with this store. There is no reason that one person has no trouble and the next person does.
Thank you for allowing me to “vent” in this post 🙂
This is the exact reason I stopped shopping at Wal-Mart. They treat you like some kind of criminal just because you want to use a coupon. I had a printed coupon for $5 off Shrek and the cashier didn’t want to take it. The manager came over and said do whatever if it scans then go ahead. I just can’t believe they act like it is such a big deal that you are using a coupon. I used to heart the mart until they lost all of their customer service skills.
Hi Tiffany & Paul,
My sister works at a Walmart in another state. I asked her if they had received training about this and if so what was said. Her reply? “They told us what to do and talked in so many circles that none of us understood how to handle it. We were told that basically only Walgreens store coupons would work as a competitors coupon. They said there was “something about a catalina” but when they read it they didn’t know what a catalina was so they didn’t know anything more to tell them!”
Well, there you go. IGNORANCE is bliss I suppose. I do agree with Tiffany. Call, write, email and do NOT let up. Use their Facebook page Paul linked to as well. DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT, DOCUMENT! These are all the things that my Targeteers and I went through trying to get the Target stores lined up with what corporate was calling their coupon policy. My stance is if it is corporate policy and a store is not a franchise – THEY BETTER FOLLOW IT!
Also, don’t be shy about writing Attornies Generals in your home state and that of the State of Arkansas (Bentonville, AR is WM headquarters) to let your voice be heard. Oh and if you can wrangle an interview with a larger newspaper, that may help too. If not, you can always write to the editor of the Arkansas Democrat Gazette and whatever the Bentonville, AR rag is and attempt to get your letter published.
Bottom line is you can’t back down until they get the message loud and clear. I have my cheerleader uniform on stand-by. Go get’em!
Ginger
It seems like the more Wal-Mart corporate tries to get friendlier to the modern era, the worse the store managers get. My local WM will no longer take a coupon with a higher value than the item you’re buying. AT ALL. If all they sell is a $.97 product and the coupon is for $1, you just have to buy it without the coupon, period. I’ve taken so much of my business elsewhere it’s not funny. I used to be in WM 3-6 times a week, no exaggeration. If I’m in there once a week now it’s a lot.
One of my favorite cashiers is so frustrated with their shenanigans that she will automatically price-match stuff in my order, even when I didn’t know it was on sale elsewhere. I’ve gotten to where I try to shop on Friday morning, as I know she’ll be there and she’ll have the competing store’s sales almost memorized! And as for the other stuff, I just take my business where it’s appreciated. Period.
I’m sorry you had to deal with this. I have had cashiers and managers act like that to me too, and I know it’s no fun. Mr Walton must be rolling over in his grave with the way they’ve turned his customer-oriented company into what it is now.
Call 1-800-WALMART. Put a complaint in at the home office. Stores get in a lot of trouble for complaints, and you’ll probably get a $25 gift card out of it. Don’t deal with the store. I know how the system works. I used to be an assistant manager. Good luck! I look forward to hearing how things go for you!
I rarely shop at my Walmart anymore. If a coupon does not go through, they do not tell you and just put it in their bags anyway. I feel they are ripping off the consumer by doing that. If the coupon doesn’t work on their registers, they should return it to the customer so that they could use it elsewhere. By the way, many of the prices I see on this site, do not apply to my Walmart.
I hate to hear that. That is one of the things I put in my FAQ’s because prices do vary from mart to mart. It usually is a pretty small variance on the $1 or less items!
I totally agree!! Last week I went in with four coupons for 1.00 off coffee mate, and us coffee drinkers all know how much we love the coffee mate coupons. Well, when I got home I realized the ‘extremely grouchy cashier’ scanned the coupons multipal times because they kept beeping, but the coupons were not credited to my balance. I was so bothered by that. I felt cheated because they get refunded for that $4.00 from Coffee mate PLUS I ended up paying full price for all four of my creamers I bought! Ugh.
Go BACK!!! Tell the customer service what happened and that you want your $4. I know it is a hassle, but at some point you will be in there anyway right?!
I was told by my manager in Semmes, AL that it is still the stores discretion on what they would take. It was explained to me that they will take another’s store manufactured coupon if it has another’s store logo on it and that is it! However, when I go back again I am sure that I will be told something different.
On a bright note I found your site trying to learn more about “price matching” so maybe I can master that.
Thank you!
Mary
Mary, Thank you so much for the comment. When I asked corporate about leaving it up to the store managers discretion, they said NO. They must follow the policy. I think that is an easy way for the managers to not have to learn what their policy means.
I just have to ask. Is this Tiffany from “My Litter of Six?” I love both these blogs!! You guys just rock my socks off!!
It is! I am a lucky guy.
That is so awesome!!! Thanks to both of you for all you do!! I read both your blogs at least once a day!!
Please don’t give up on Wal-Mart–my children, extended family and friends work for Wal-Mart.
I live in what is called “Wal-Mart” country that houses the “Home Office” and my city is home to the #1 store. We, too, have had problems with our store’s cashiers and CSM’s (cashier managers)–the chain of command doesn’t end with a CSM–call for another (co or main) manager. If all else fails, then call the number above that Melissa gave BUT be sure to save your receipt which has the store number AND managers name on it. If it’s any consolation, the “Home Office” personnel have complained about cashiers/CSM’s in our local stores, too.
We also have Target in our area and have had problems with them, too. My biggest complaint with Target is that they have been like K-Mart with items–they put out an Advertisement, but will not have any of that item in stock. I’ve had two items that I’ve gotten a rain-check for and 2 items they wouldn’t allow a rain-check.
I chock it up to lousy work ethics in people now-a-days and I’m not going to let attitudes keep me from saving money. Many times I go through the self-check out lines if I don’t see a cashier I “know”. I’ve had coupons not work in them either and the cashier will “fix” it. HTH.
Hi, My husband has been a shift manager at a Walmart for about 2 years0. He did not “grow up” in the Walmart system, thus he had to learn everything from the management standpoint. Coupons in one thing they have had many problems with, especially fraudulent ones. Since he knows I coupon a lot and read a lot about coupons, he has called me on a few occasions to ask if I can check on websites if a coupon is fraudulent. His philosophy is if it scans, then take the coupon. However, I have asked him about coupons which say “Manufacturer’s Coupons” but have another store’s logo or name on it. He told me they do not take the coupons at his store because many times manufacturers will put out special coupons associated with that particular retailer to promote products. Since it is another store’s promotion, they don’t take it. I know you are saying “price matching” but it is not price matching since price matching is specifically $XX for an item rather than $X off an item. I tend to agree with him as I did not think of this. He also said a manufacturer has the option not to pay the store if it is not used at the place it says to be used. I have not idea if this is true or not but it makes sense. Each store is trying to keep its losses down. Now, if you find this is not true, please tell me, so I can let him know. He is very coupon friendly as I have used coupons a lot in our shopping. He has also been very good about trying to educate the people who work at the front about coupons including IPs. I agree that making up “stories” is not kosher. But if corporate feels that they should take coupons which say “Manufacturer” but have another store’s logo on it, they should have it in their policy. Oh, another thing, my husband says that some cashiers don’t understand that the store gets reimbursed for the money from the coupons. They just think the store loses the money, and since they do make some kind of bonus based upon how well the store does, they seem to take it personally when someone uses coupons. Again, this goes to educating the cashier and front end managers.
The main reason they have a particular store logo is advertising on the receipt. The manufacturer has nothing to do with that part, stores may pick and choose which caalina programs they participate in, but they are still all approved by the Manufacturer. The stores do not pay for products as they sell, they have already purchased them from the manufacturer. The coupons or catalinas are separate deals between the store/manu. They get reimbursed as long as it is not fraudulent. I know it can be frustrating for managers, my offer still stands to educate them all 🙂 Thanks!
You need to call corporate.I have many years retail experience and this is not exceptable behavior from these employees.I have always been told custumers are no.1. That manager needs to be turned in
I understand the feeling you all feel about Walmart and their coupons.I took a coupon in that was mailed to me and the lady looked it over and over.I said What is your problem here with coupons.She said there are many people who make counterfeit coupons and that is why.Well as far as I’m concerned they are losing business because of not trusting coupons.They need to be more worried about people walking out with big ticket items then a $2.00 off coupon.I do more shopping at Walgreens and Target with coupons because of this.Walmart is only going to lose business because of this so Good luck to them.
Thank you Brenda for a great comment.
I have to say that it is always interesting to me when they say they gets tons of counterfeit coupons. I asked my wife who has been couponing for years how often she sees one. She said she saw one once, last year, that someone showed her and asked what she thought. So in years of couponing, she has seen 1!
As I said above, my husband works at a Walmart. Last year someone brought in coupons for FREE Pepsi or Coke. I forgot which one. They were fraudulent. Literally, someone purchased something like 30-40 12-packs. They did not know the coupon was fraud because it scanned like any other coupon. In fact, many of the cashiers were using the same coupon too. My husband became suspicious when someone brought it up to him (please know he does not work the front end and relies on the front end managers to handle things). He called me and I looked it up on the internet since they can’t access all the sites in the store. The coupons were fraud. Same with some kind of chips coupons later. There are lots of fraudulent coupons out there. I belong to a mommies board here. There are ladies who are domestic goddesses when it comes to coupons. They mention friends who would send them PDFs of fraudulent coupons because they didn’t know they were fraud. Personally, I have only seen the PDF ones once. As far as the soda coupons, my husband’s store had to eat the losses on those sodas. Besides the person who purchased a whole bunch at once, there were many others in there using them, so no telling how many more losses they had. Also, a lot of fraudulent coupons tend to be ones with high dollar amount off or for free items. I get a lot of coupons directly from manufacturers for free items. Nowadays manufacturers tend to distribute coupons for free items that way instead of using internet delivery.
Yes! Those and the Doritos ones that were going around. It sucks when people ruin it for everyone else. No I would be suspicious if it were for a high priced FREE item. I am guessing your husband has to put up with a lot of crap!
I just got done emailing WALMART .If I was all you I would do the same.They need to know what is going on.After reading other people are having problems at Walmart besides me I’m going to call Walmart every time I have a bad experience their.Im tired of being treated like I’m a thief for using a two dollar off coupon that is legit.This is bad business on their part.
I went to WM this morning and tried to use a catalina for $1 off a pack of gum; it had a Target logo on it but clearly said “manufacturer’s coupon”. I showed this to the cashier and just shook his head adamantly. Although he seemed to be a friendly enough person, when it came to this he was pretty gruff. I think maybe it’s because they don’t understand and so get defensive. Anyway, I just said “ok” because I wasn’t go thru a lot of trouble over a pack of gum – didn’t have time to deal w/customer service, was on my way to church. Anyway, he could tell I wasn’t buying it, that they couldn’t accept it, and he said that the last time he took one of those he got called over and “talked to” by a manager. But I really don’t have enough interest/time to put into this, so will use my catalinas elsewhere. I began couponing last year and have already cut down on my trips to WallyWorld as it is. Eventually they will have to get with the program though!:)
I heart this website and follow it daily. Went on a “coupon hunt” at WM today and one coupon didn’t scan. I got a little notice on my receipt, but it didn’t say which item it was and they kept the coupon. I have a hunch it was the $1.00 off Reach Floss, since it was 3 cents over the price. I’ll check it next time I have a coupon for more than the price. Overall I’m saving quite a bit by following this website, even tho prices and products aren’t always the same. I’ve had a couple bad checkout experiences, but I refuse to stay mad at WM because other stores are Worse! I’m close to WM and most of the time it’s good shopping there. Thanks for the work and time you spend on this site. I’m sure it’s helpful to a lot of people.
I sincerely have not been in a walmart in almost a year, except to rush in, purchase my “All You” magazine (which I now have a subscription to, so I dont even do that!) and leave. Because of this website, and Walmart’s new ‘coupon policy’ I am going to attempt to go tomorrow. For me, it’s a one shot deal at this point. Not that Walmart really cares if they lose me and my piddly amount of money I spend in a year, but if it goes badly tomorrow, I will just chalk one up to experience and continue shopping at my target/walgreens/cvs and not go back to walmart again.
I have been the dealing with the same problem at our Wal-mart. Just when they tell me that it’s ok, the following day another manager is rude and refuses to accept internet coupons or anything else for that matter, unless it’s clipped from the Sunday paper. No matter how many times I call corporate (who keeps assuring me that I’m right and they’ll “solve” the problem), they continue to tell me I’m wrong and are SO RUDE! One day I even suggested we call corporate together while in the store and I was told I needed to leave because they were right and I was wrong…with my printed policy and screenshots from their site as well. It’s so frustrating that I’m no longer interested in shopping there. I’d rather drive the extra 10 minutes to Target.
I also quit shopping at Wal mart due to the poor acceptance of coupons. Just the other day I had the $2 Swiss Miss coupon and the store refused to take it because their price for Swiss Miss was $1 and the coupon was for $2. I take almost all of my business to Target where they gladly accept coupons!
I don’t spend alot of time matching -up coupons for Wal-Mart because it always ends up being a problem. I have much better luck at Publix and Kroger for using alot of coupons .
The bottom line for me is that most of the prices at Walmart are cheaper than anywhere else with or without coupons. I usually only shop at Publix and Walmart. Once in a while I shop at Walgreens and CVS for deals only. Target is out for me because they never have the products they advertise, and some Sundays, when my hubby gets my papers, I’ll have a few deals for him to buy(and maybe get a catalina) at Winn Dixie. A few examples of the price differences between Walmart and Publix….Lays potato chips…$2.50 at Walmart, Publix $3.99(full retail), Coke,$.99 at Walmart $1.85 at Publix(full retail), Pepperidge Farm cookies,Walmart $2.50, Publix $3.39(full retail). The reason I picked these products to use as an example is because Publix has these products on BOGO a lot. So, even at BOGO, the difference in price is not that much. Chips at BOGO are 2/$4,00 and everyday prices at Walmart ar 2/$5.00. Publix is always retail price and Walmart is discounted. Sooooo, I shop the sales at Publix and buy my meat there and some veggies (not chicken, Perdue at Walmart is cheaper). Walmart does vary there prices, like Coke will be $1.00 one week and Pepsi will be $1.00 the next, so I buy Pepsi(ok, I like pepsi, Hubby likes Coke) . And above all, If the prices for the products I buy are too high, I can live without them till they are reasonably priced. Other comparisons are, Delmonte veggies, Birdseye frozen veggies, Scrubbing Bubbles, and Campbells soup.
I don’t want to have 20 bags of chips or 30 bottles of Coke. I have no room for that, and they get stale or outdate.
I kinda got off topic lol, I was trying to say that if a drippy cashier is having a bad day and does not want to take your coupon,SO WHAT, I just don’t buy the item or buy it anyway knowing I am getting the discounted price. I rest my case!
I feel your pain! My friend had to go through a similar experience just this week! The cashier ended up getting in her face, and after the manager was called, he really had no concrete answers! On Monday I used some Walgreens coupons with no problem, and tonight I had to argue about the same thing that was allowed just a few days ago! I told the woman that I had no problem following the rules–just tell me what they are exactly! No one seems to know!
There are a lot of great comments on this post that clearly illustrate how poorly customers are being treated by Wal Mart. It is discouraging me from shopping there just reading them, especially when I know I can go to Kroger and not deal with half of this mess.
Perhaps, Paul, linking this post with the comments to an email to corporate would back up how y’all feel about your coupon experience the other day. I feel you were treated poorly. I suggest next time pullin out your camera phone and video them, saying, “Would you mind explaining your “policy” to me so I understand better?” THen post it to YouTube and then send it to corporate, or the attorney generals, or whoever. That manager was way out of line.
I would have just gone to another line and tried there. That seems to work more than not. Sad though that some will take them and some are so offended by them you would think the money came out of their paychecks! LOL!
Normally Walmart can be a challenge for me trying to watch to make sure the cashier is scanning every coupon and making sure the amount actually deducts while appeasing a busy 3 year old. I wanted to share a good experience I had a couple days ago. I had a friendly cashier, who quickly scanned my purchase and every coupon pushing through one that did not deduct and who something I’ve never seen before at Walmart. She actually printed a little receipt and checked to make sure the amount of coupons matched the purchase, not because I asked but because she actually cared if it was deducted properly. As I was entering my debt info she went a step further and had a quick polite conversation with my daughter. It made my night, and I called her manager today and corporate. I’m hoping they actually reward her because obviously this is not normal Walmart customer service, and they need to have more cashiers like her around.
I had a similar incident happen to me at The Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market here in Oklahoma. I was trying to use a $1.00 coupon off any tide and I was buying the travel size. The cashier rang up everything and then I handed him my coupons (and mind you a line has formed behind me now) all the coupons scan except the tide coupon because it is a $1.00 off any size tide and the travel tide is $.97. The cashier proceeds to tell me that he can’t take the coupon because I am not buying the same one as in the picture and I said it states any size. To make a long story short the cashier refused to take the coupon and the customer service manager refused to take it and the assistant manager refused to take it. I was so mad!!! They had just treated me as though I was a criminal in front of other customers also. So I decided I couldn’t let it go so I emailed the corporate office of Wal-Mart and the very same day the manager of the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market called me to apologize and tell me that he would retrain his staff. I hate to say that I haven’t been back, but it is hard for me to go back once I have been treated as though I was a criminal. But I am interested to know if they have retrained the staff. On a funnier note the manager told me that he uses coupons and wanted to know which coupon I was talking about. He also stated that they don’t have to prove to the manufacturer that you bought exactly what the coupon stated. So that really confused me!