London Drugs Brag/Vent (Vrag? Brent?)

[MercuryBlue]

(Warning: Longish)



Okay, so. I get to work today and I realize to my horror that my pits stink. I'd forgotten to put on deodorant. So I decide I'm gonna take an early lunch and run over to London Drugs to pick up some deodorant because there's some other stuff I want to get there, too.

I had wanted to get the Axe shower gel while it was on for $3.99 but (just my luck) I missed the sale. Hadn't been able to get in sooner because of work stuff (and prepping for my sister's baby shower). It's still on sale at $4.99 (regular price is $5.99), so I decide 'to heck with it' and buy three, since I can still get a fourth shower gel for free with the LD coupon book.

While I'm there, I see a display of men's Dove products and a tearpad in front of it for $2 off WYB2. I'm like, 'Why not?' and toss two shampoos in my cart (planning to stack the new coupon with the other Dove coupons I've got through tearpads and Redplum).

I also grab two sticks of Dove Visibly smooth pit stick because I've got coupons for those as well. I figure, hey, I'm a smarty pants. The Visibly Smooth and the Men's Dove shampoo are different products from different product lines- so I can stack 2 different 'Save $2 wyb2 Dove different Dove products from different product lines' on each Pit Stick/Shampoo combo. THEN I notice the little sign by the deodorant that says I can get a free box of Dove soap if I buy any three Dove deodorants- so I say 'wth' and toss another Dove deodorant in there, thinking I'll apply the '$1 off Dove GoFresh deodorant' coupon to that. It's not a SUPER KILLER deal- but, meh. It's not too bad.

I also grab four sticks of Gillette men's deodorant, and four bottles of body wash because I have those product insert coupons that say 'Buy any Gillette deodorant and get a body wash for free'.

WELL! I take it to the cashier and hand her my super-organized coupons. Not kidding- I spend a lot of time before checkout making sure it's clear which coupons are for what products. As soon as I see the woman working, I know she's going to give me a hard time. This lady- Stephanie is her name! I remembered because I plan on calling and complaining about her- has dealt with me three different times and been an absolute b-word every time. She's threatened to 'refuse to do the transaction' because 'they're too short staffed/busy to deal with couponers like me'. She's told me to 'come in right when the store opens or closes if I want to use coupons', too (which is unreasonable considering I live a half hour out of town. I try to come in as early/late as I can and do smaller transactions, but it's not always possible to be there RIGHT when the store opens....). All three times I've dealt with her, she's muttered to herself the whole time and made me feel super-uncomfortable.

First thing she does is takes all of my coupons and throws them on the counter to make sure they match everything that's being purchased (completely messing up the organization). Then she starts ringing things in. She sees that I have coupons for the Gillette deodorant and tells me I can't use them and I'm like, 'Uh, why?' She says because I'm getting them for free with the purchase of the body wash. I tell her, no, look at the coupon again. The body wash is free with the deodorant, not the other way around. Realizing I'm right, she mutters to herself while applying the coupons.

Then she gets to the Axe shower gel, and says, 'What? Only three coupons?' I point out that the fourth Axe will be free and so, no, I won't/can't apply a coupon to it. She asks if any other part of my order will be free and I explain the Dove soap will be free with the three Dove deodorants, and she sort of snorts.

Despite me telling her how the coupons were meant to be applied, she scans everything in the wrong order, applying the coupon to the free soap (even though it doesn't matter. Coupons at LD aren't 'applied' to certain items, they're just subtracted from the total. They just enter them in order to make sure they're adjusting for overages, etc). At the end, she scans the LD coupon and the cost of the free soap and Axe shower gel are deducted.

She then spends the next FIVE MINUTES (I'm not kidding. The order was rang in, she'd input all the coupons) trying to find something I'd done wrong, or a reason to void the transaction. She keeps saying, "You applied a coupon to the free soap, you weren't supposed to do that because it was free." I said, no, I didn't give you a coupon for Dove soap. I gave you coupons for 'any two Dove products'- and I bought five Dove products (other than the soap). She keeps muttering and talking about being short-staffed and by this point a line is forming behind me.... but I'm ready to just pay and go! She's the one holding up the line because she's convinced I've somehow ripped her off. In the end, she winds up making a snarky comment about how *I* was 'poorly organized' (even though she'd thrown my coupons all around) and that she'd 'let me get away with it this time', though she 'shouldn't have.'

I just about lost it on her. I wasn't 'getting away' with anything! She wasn't doing me any favors. If anything, it was HER disorganization that caused HER confusion in the first place. At this point I took a long, hard look at her nametag and bit my tongue. Paid for my order, took my receipt, and left.
ANYWAYS, here’s what I got. Again- not ‘super duper rockin’ deals!’ but not too bad:

4x Axe Shower Gel @ 4.99, regular 5.99= 19.96
-3x $1.00 cpns (tearpad)
-1x $4.99 free product (LD sale)
=$14.97 ($3.74 each)

4x Gillette Deodorant @ 3.99= 15.96
-3x $1.00 cpns (Couponzone manufacturer)
-2x $2wyb2 cpns (Product insert)
=$8.96 ($2.24 each)

4x Gillette Body Wash @ 5.99= 23.96
-4 ‘free body wash with purchase of deodorant’ coupons (product insert)
=FREE

2x Dove Shampoo@ 5.99= 11.98
2x Dove A/P @ 4.49= 8.98
-2x $2wyb2 different Dove products, different product lines (tearpad) cpns
-2x $2wyb2 different Dove products, different product lines (redplum) cpns
-2x $1 off Dove Visibly Smooth deodorant (tearpad) cpns
-1x $2wyb2 different Dove men’s products (tearpad)
=$5.98 shampoos (2.99 each), $2.98 deodorants (1.49 each)

1x Dove A/P @ 4.49
-1x $1wyb1 Dove GoFresh Deodorant (redplum)
=$3.49

1xDove Soap @ 4.49
-1x $4.49 free product (LD sale)
= FREE

Total Price: $89.82 (+10.98 HST)
Coupons: $56.44
OOP: $33.38 (+9.64 HST)

Not too shabby, overall…. In the end, I ‘got my way’- but I’m still mega-steamed about that cashier. Someone is definitely going to hear about her attitude, that’s for sure.

EDIT: Realized I forgot to include 2 coupons in my list.

[guccigoo22]

I feel your frustration! Many cashiers appreciate the mega organisation you tried to have with your coupons, but this woman almost purposely messed it up, so she could be upset about it after!

Good on you for being polite, and patient!

[wpgafwife]

What a great product haul. I'm sorry you had a cashier take away some of the positivity from the experience though I can't wait until I can be organized enough to start stacking. I haven't been brave enough to try that yet.

Thanks for sharing!

[Alee142010]

Awesome haul! I'm sorry you had to deal with a cashier like that... I've have almost the exact same experience.. It sure leaves you (me) shaky once you leave the store..
I hope your amazing shopping trips of the future will include a nice new CS cashier at LD!!

[kanda]

Wow....! I've never been a cashier before but I have been in the service industry and let me tell you all how difficult it can be to serve people. In any capacity it can be difficult. You deal with a lot of crap and make very little money. That being said, I have never ever (even when I first started working as a teenager) treated a customer this poorly.

Even if you came up with a stack of coupons facing all different directions, covered in garbage should she act like this. Who does this? Who even makes a comment like that (calling you disorganized).

I really hope that she receives the training she obviously needs. Or maybe she needs a career change?

[fahlinluv]

I had a "fantastic" experience at London Drugs last night too... I feel ur pain!!

[kanda]

(By the way, I have been tempted to make a complaint about a cashier supervisor at WM for making faces at another customer in regards to my shop, but when I went in yesterday this same woman handed me $0.60 in overages. The look on her face made up for it. HA!)

[luvfreestuff]

Awesome haul. You should definitely complain about her (I would). LD allows stacking for a reason and I am sure they are well aware we are getting "free" stuff because of it but they get reimbursed from our coupons.

I always try to be super organized before I even step foot in the door but I live 10 minutes from my nearest LD. The other day my regular cashier was on break so I had someone different. He was so disorganized with my coupons and had they all shuffled on the counter out of the nice paperclips I had them in.... I thought I was going to have a panic attack.

[TudorChick]

wow,i got tired and angry after reading that so i imagine your frustration...

we can't really stack where i live,so i have never really encountered problems yet.i do get dirty looks at rexall when i try to combine their flyer with my coupons...walmart gets mad at me for getting stuff for free,but that's about it.

[TheSaltyDog]

.

[KellyC]

I have NO clue how you stackers keep organized and figure out all of these crazy coupon combinations! I swear I started sweating just reading about it!

[MercuryBlue]

I have NO clue how you stackers keep organized and figure out all of these crazy coupon combinations! I swear I started sweating just reading about it!

Two words: Tiger's Blood.

[TheSaltyDog]

.

[MercuryBlue]

Yeah, I'm a numbers girl and I was like . And then I was like . And then, I was like....

We're in talks about making a movie about it. Jennifer Aniston wants to play me, so you KNOW it's gonna be a box-office smash.

[Carlyfalls]

Sorry you feel you had a bad experience. Just for the record, I don't think its unfair for large coupon transactions to be requested to take place in slow times. I work at London Drugs, and I know when huge coupon orders are taking place that it does slow down service to all the other customers. That being said, no one deserves to be treated poorly.