I want my coupons back!

[thehuckster]

Here's another CVS story from the dark ages I was working there from 2000-2002. This woman was as much deranged as she was rude, idiotic, and clueless. On top of it, I was in a really bad mood that day.

After scanning all of her items, she had a few coupons. As I scanned and put them in our coupon drop box, she went ballistic.

SC: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Me: "Huh?"
SC: "You didn't give me back my coupons!"
Me: "Uuh, you can't get them back. They're all limit one per customer."
SC: "No they aren't!"
Me: "Yes they are. We need to keep the coupons."
SC: "They never do this at any other CVS I've been to!"

Really? You now have liar visible on your forehead.

Me: "It's against store policy. We have to redeem these coupons with corporate and the manufacturer."
SC: "You don't know anything. Get me the manager!"

I will say right now that I never envied the store managers at CVS. They have to put up with a lot of crap from customers who simply won't take no for an answer.

After I page the manager to the front, there's that awful awkward time between that point and when the manager comes. You have to avoid eye contact, and you just hope the manager comes as quickly as possible, since the customer is so friggen impatient and pissed already.

Sup: "What's wrong?"
Me: "I scan--"
SC: "I WANT MY COUPONS BACK! HE WON'T GIVE THEM BACK TO ME!"
Sup: "Did you redeem them for this purchase?"
SC: "Yes, of course I did! He's making up these rules like limit one per customer, and he thinks the store has to redeem them."
Sup: "He's correct. You can't--"
SC: "YOU SHOW ME WHERE!"

At this point the supervisor uses her key to open the coupon box and picks up the one on the top of the pile.

Sup: "This is your coupon, right?"
SC: "YES."
Sup: "Okay, it says right here that it's limit one per customer, and you must forfeit your coupon upon purchase."
SC: "But... well... the other stores do it!"
Sup: "If that's true, then they're breaking policy, and they're not supposed to."
SC: "Fine! Well, I'm not coming here again!"
Sup: "Would you like to continue your purchase?"
SC: "Of course not!"
Sup: "Okay, here is your coupon back, you have a nice day."

The SC left in a huff, and I thanked the supervisor for dealing with her. She just gave me this look like she was the craziest customer she's ever had, and I told her she doesn't know what crazy is. This was actually quite tame compared to some others I've dealt with.

[Slayer]

Wth? I didn't think people thought they were supposed to keep the coupons o_O. Geesh.

Actually, the only place I know that let's you keep them is McDonald's, lol.

[Shalom]

Coupons for discounts off the copay on expensive medications are sometimes given back to the customer, as they are valid for a specified number of fills, which don't necessarily have to be at the same pharmacy.

Other than that specific case, nah, I don' theenk so... Those coupons are in lieu of cash. She might just as well have asked for her cash back after the purchase . . . wait, you mean you have to keep my money? But all the other stores give it back after the purchase! Um, no.

[PatchO'Black]

Reminds me a bit of a case from my fast-food days. Customer came in to redeem a bunch of coupons for free food items (well, BoGo type deals). I let him know that it was one to a customer. He gets all huffy, and tries the old "See this? It says I get one free! Can't you read English?" argument. I tell him, "Yes. I can read English. In particular, this part that says 'One coupon per customer' and this part that says "cannot be combined with other coupons and/or deals". Customer gives the Angry Look(tm), and leaves.

[ShadowBall]

Oh yes, heaven forbid they don't get their coupons back so they can take them to another store and use them a second or third time! I'm guessing once they were scanned, the computer might say the coupon had already been redeemed, so cue the customer screeching that they're being ripped off, they want their 15-cent discount, get me a manager, discrimination, lawsuits, SUE, customer service, and general bitchy blarghety whining.

I have never been to a store that gave the coupons back to the customers. It seems pointless because once the coupon has been redeemed, it becomes useless.

[Food Lady]

What boggles my mind is arguments over 50 cents off. It's like, If I give you 50 cents, will you GO AWAY?

[emax4]

I'm wondering if she ever tried it with, "I pay you with cash, and I get to keep the cash I gave you.."

[MoonCat]

This one is a first for me. Never heard of that. Obviously not aware of the fact that the store has to send those back to the manufacturer. Or doesn't care. And I don't believe other stores let her have the coupons back. Probably lying just to try to get you to cave.

I'm amazed at how many people think saying, "I'll never shop here again" will get them what they want. I know it does sometimes, but most of the time?

[notlovinit]

Actually, the only place I know that let's you keep them is McDonald's, lol.

Whaaaat? I've never let a customer keep their coupon. Except for those keychain things that you can use more than once, or the ones that get texted to you.. obviously the customer can keep those. But the paper coupons, I always make the customers fork those over.
Some customers go out of their way to try and keep them though. There have been many times where a customer says they have a coupon when they are ordering and then the order taker promos it and then when they get to the window to pay they only hand me their money and I have to specifically ask for their coupon. Jerks.
I know they do it so that if I'm not paying attention then they can get away without giving it to me.
This is why I am a firm believer on not promo-ing the item until they actually give me the coupon and I make sure it's not expired and actually FOR the item they think it is for. But that is a whole other rant.

[brucetiki]

Actually, the only place I know that let's you keep them is McDonald's, lol.

KFC used to do it over here as well. Having said that, I always let the employee initiate the return of the coupon and never asked for the coupon back.

[radiocerk]

At my store, we let people keep the store coupons, but we keep the manufacturer coupons. Not much point in keeping the store coupons when we have flyers all over the store, always.

[Becks]

When I lived in GB, the local Domino's usually would let me keep my coupons.

[Cole's Law]

Kohl's let me keep a store coupon once, but I was honestly surprised by it.

[Lovecats]

Kohl's let me keep a store coupon once, but I was honestly surprised by it.

Kohl's has their pick-a-day cpns and also some that go for 2 or 3 days so they would give them back so you could use them again. The pick-a-day ones usually I have them just keep as I usually don't shop there twice in the same day.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Had that once with a petrol voucher. The customer bleated, "But Blue Stripy lets me keep my petrol voucher after using it!"

In case you didn't notice, this is NOT Blue Stripy.