This is a guest post from MyLitter:
I get a LOT of email everyday and I try and answer all of it. Most of the time it is readers having problems at their stores and asking what to do.
This is a reader email question from Sunday:
Hello Tiffany,
So i know that Walmart has changed their coupon policy. Was told tonight that they no longer price match and use coupons. It has to be one or the other. Manager was very rude and said they would only do it this time. When told that we had the printed policy he said “he hasnt read it yet” but refused to even look at it but yet said because of the changes he couldn’t do it again. So i am confused, If he never read the policy why is he saying that We cant do this? And is he right?
This was my answer because I was a really mad at the manager:
Oh my heck!!!
What an ass! No, nothing has changed in the policy!
Call 1-800-walmart and tell them the name of your store and the problem that you had. Ask them to call your manager and set him straight and call you BACK when they have taken care of the problem.
Tiffany
Ok, so normally I don’t write a reader back that way but I was just tired of managers clearly not knowing what their own coupon policies are.
Walmart has not changed their policy in 18 months. Managers have had 18 months to get a copy and read it. They have had some procedure update for employees but no change in the policy.
Why do managers and cashiers tell you “there has been a policy change?”
BECAUSE THEY DON’T KNOW THE POLICY. They don’t want to look like they have no idea what they are talking about and so they make up policy changes and they make up “rules” and it usually ends with…. come on, you have heard it before…
“O.K. Just this ONE time”
When it should be, “Sorry I don’t know my own policy. Next time you come in I will have read it and will start following it.”
What can you do?
READ and PRINT the coupon policy for the store you are shopping at and BRING THE POLICY WITH YOU every time you shop there. Need to find the policies, you can go HERE and print them.
If you are still having problems, call corporate. This way you get confirmation that you are correct and you can ask them what you should do. They might tell you it is up to the manager. If that is the case and they are not friendly I would not shop there. If you are correct, then I would ask them to call the manager of that store and have corporate explain their coupon policy to them. ASK FOR A FOLLOW UP CALL!
Need the corporate phone number? Just Google “—– corporate phone number” and you will find it. I call Walmart often and so it is 1-800-walmart.
If you are armed with information and confidence you will have a better shopping experience.
I had this same issue a couple weeks ago. But my manager was at least nice about it. But regardless, I left without buying a thing because they refused to price match and do coupons. The problem with the policy on this is that even if you have the policy in your hands, it doesn’t actually specifically state one way or the other whether you can price match AND use a coupon too. Anyway, I did call corporate and they were very very nice and they called the store manager as well. The store manager also called me back and again…super nice and apologized and made sure to get her managers up to speed.
l live in Las Vegas and have this same exact problem. Not only is it one way or the other, but calling corporate and even insisting for a call back gets me nowhere. A week later I went back to the Walmart and also to a Neighborhood Walmart and was stuck with nothing. They make you choose whether to use coupons OR to price match. I’ve also been accused of copying my coupons.com coupons because when held up to the light they can see the other side .. smh . Its printed on copy paper, do they expect a hologram on the other side ?! I’ve reduced my shopping at Walmart tremendously because of the abuse I’ve received from cashiers, csm’s and even managers. In the past year, not one of my issues has been resolved. Not to mention, I’m still having trouble with coupon overage. Knowing its IN the policy and says it, not one manager is aware of the fact. They sat there and tried to reduce the coupon. It’s getting out of hand.
I agree that it is getting out of hand. I had an issue with another grocer using a coupon from the Lindt truffle’ facebook page for a free bag of truffles. The cashier told me my coupon was a copy of a copy and they can’t take it. I told them no it was not and as you could see, it was printed on a laser printer so it was crisp and clear and all info and barcodes were there. The cashier refused so I asked for a manager. I told the manger I was trying to use the coupon and I got it directly off the Lindt’s facebook page and it WAS NOT a copy. She was very polite but she seemed she didn’t know what to say and just said, well we dont take any internet coupons at all, sorry. I knew it was a lie because their policy states that they do. I ended up sending an email to corporate and the store manager called me and said that they cannot accept any ‘free’ coupons. I said I realize this after reading the full policy but the issue was that the manager said they accept no internet coupons which is not true plus they accused me a fraud. The manager just apologized again and said the managers will be informed of the policy. I was so upset being accused of fraud and then being lied to.
I called corporate awhile back when I had a coupon that created overage and the store wouldn’t look at my policy were very rude and told me they have to adjust coupons down. Corporate told me they could have a manager call me but that the coupon policy wasn’t a corporate policy per se and it was up to the store manager as to what they did or did not do with coupons. (What??) I clarified and said so you are telling me that there is a coupon policy but each store gets to make their own rules. I got nowhere and finally just told them not to bother having a manager call me if they could make up whatever rules they want and do not have to follow the policy.
Only issue i’ve been having at my local store is the fat little rude *s* that has made it very clear it bother’s him that I save $$! Because when he has to come override he has a bad attitude! He’s refused to price match a few things before that clearly were in the ads! Called corporate on him 4 times & YET he still has a job!!
Now the other store by me (20 minutes away) has a weird or what I call apparently their own policy! I’ve gone at 12:30 am before & the girl tell me they can’t take coupons OR price match after Midnight? lol hmm!! I’ve also had an issue using more then 1 coupon at a time( they say they can only take 1 coupon per purchase) So apparently some stores have some weird policies! Ive also had another store tell me they DO NOT TAKE compet. coupons! Confused about that since I swore it was in their policy! They said if it says $1.00 off 2 they can not take it because it has to have the actual price for whatever it is! What stores put their prices on a coupon? lol Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Actually on they are right when it comes to comp. coupons. It has to have the price on it. Basically it’s a price match type of thing. Not sure why they say they take comp coupons when they really only price match.
Ok im confused! I haven’t seen a Comp coupon with a price! I’ve only seen Comp coupons with the dollar amount off! My Walmart has always took them & they do it as a price match!
I’ve had this exact same statement made by the manager of my local, very rural Walmart. It doesn’t make any sense. If that were the case, why would anyone price match at Walmart when they could go across the street to the competing store and use a coupon on the advertised price without having to price match? He also told me that they no longer accept coupons for free items because the cashiers let them go through for whatever price they scan in at, as opposed to adjusting it to the actual price of the item. I know they don’t accept printables for free items, but this was news to me. I wish my local Walmart wasn’t so opposed to coupons, but I guess ultimately it’s their loss.
The Fenton, MO Walmart has had to make a change to the policy, they now require the ad to ad match. OK fine that doesn’t bother me. I did have a Csm tell me that to match the hamburger helper in Save a lots ad I had to have the paper ad, I told him I didn’t get one in the mail like the others. He then says do they have them in store? I told him yes. He told me to get one from in store. I looked at the cashier and laughed, I told her I don’t really follow that logic, if I were to go in Save a lot to get the ad to ad match at Walmart I would just get it there. I pulled up the ad on my phone and showed the cashier I wasn’t lying. She matched it for me no problem. The register won’t scan the old bar codes at all now, so don’t bring one in and try.
I was told at the Porter Wal Mart today that they no longer price match Big Lots &/or any dollar store ads. Is this true or more lazy checker problems?
Hard to tell, but Big lots is within their right as it is a clearance store. They should match Dollar General though, the others not really.
Oh the Porter Wal-Mart! I do 99% of my shopping there, but with the new changes they have made, I will not shop there any more. Every manager has a different story on what stores they price match. I was told only stores with in a 5 mile radius. Well that only includes Kroger! But then they said I had to have the ad for any other stores I want to price match (fine with me), and ads printed off the internet are not accepted. So if I’m gonna go to the stores to get the papers I might as well shop there. Ugh!! Makes me so mad, get your information straight and make sure everyone knows it!
It look like I may have to make a trip to Porter!
haha come to the one in houston off 529 near highway 6 near target and go to the cig lane where there is usually an older Hispanic lady with short hair and see how much fun that is. Every time i go to this store i have a problem unless i go to a young cashier usually a male one time with the older hispanic lady she wouldnt price match and use coupon then for another coupon that would have been a MM had to ask (i’m guessing a store manager not to sure) if she could do it b/c it would be over the item amount and she told her no then she told me that she was told no and it was b/c they dont want to give thee overage back to the customer even if it was just going towards the total purchase and wouldnt actually be giving me cash in my hand
Are you issuing me a challenge? Is that a double dog dare? I might have to take you up on that.
I have to say being an employee at Walmart, we are always told to take care of our customers and are glad to do so when we KNOW it’s legit…I pride myself on knowing what is on sale so I don’t have to question such a GREAT deal…HOWEVER with that being said, we do have several of those repeat offenders that do not price match correctly and abuse the system giving false information and price matches not even valid…then you have those same ones that purchase using coupons, pay next to nothing and then return the items for a refund of the full price of the item and not what they actually paid for it…it’s these people who will ruin it for all of us…where have you seen toilet paper for over $14 priced down to $5…so totally frustrated with some of these scam artists….
TC I totally agree with you, but the Price matching and Couponing are two TOTALLY separate things and there is a huge issue at Walmart with employees and managers making them into one policy. I think that is the frustration. I am still advocating and pushing for Walmart to limit the ad matching to 5 items without the ads. Thanks for the POV!
and on another note…when we see our customers with their sales ads, even though Walmart doesn’t require them to price match, or even signs they have all their info together written down, to us it looks more legit and we don’t feel like Walmart is being taken advantage of…this person really did their homework on this stuff and not just price matching to their own needs or wants for the week…the stores do watch this info based on coding we have to do to enter the adjusted price…we don’t want to get in trouble or questioned either…
My trip 2 weeks ago to WM was actually a very nice trip even though the cashier was afraid of my IPC’s. The CSM approved them all and told me, yes I said told me, thank you for being patient with us. This week the same CSM was called by the new cashier and she was even kinda training him on the spot what to look for on IPC’s. Approved all my q’s and I went on merry way. She even told the cashier she would train him more on coupons after his lane was cleared. She did say that they can longer use the hand held to scan q’s and if it doesn’t scan it can’t be used.
Our walmart in north idaho said they had a complete system update last week. they no longer will accept printed coupons with bot hthe normal barcose and the GS1 barcode. The system just will no longer take them. They also said they will not price match without an ad. no problem. we dont cheat them, so why not bring the ad anyway? and they are trying to do away with coupons altogether. no longer matching safeway just for u prices. they are definitley getting way more stingy just within the last week. they did have a policy change without it being updated online yet. the manager told me they did and the managers all had a meeting about it that day (last thursday)
The change had to be for that store only. There is no Walmart corporate policy change that they have let Managers know about. The Safeway J4U pricing is understandable as the huge majority of those are after manufacturer coupon prices.