Rant?-Doing a Return when using coupons

[big-red-dog#2]

At SDM bought
(2) Febreze noticeable used 2x $3 coupons ($6 in total)
(1) Bic mens Razors used 1x $1 coupon ( $1 in total)
(2) Physicians Formula used 2x $3 coupons ($6 in total)
and approx $60 of other things.

Got home and smellys bothered my daughters allergies, razors were the wrong kind, PF wrong shade (cosmetician error) & wrong color mascara. Wanted to exchange mascara but SDM didn't have the color I needed so I opted to return it and go to different SDM. None of my products had been opened, I had original receipt, not even 24 hrs had passed.

To return them was no a problem. What to do about the coupons was. I was honest and told the cashier I had used coupons for all the above products. The cashier, who was a very nice girl, wanted to process the return giving me back the price of my items minus the coupon discount. She was going to scan them in and then take $13 off of my total amount that was to be returned.
SOOOO I said that was fine but I would like my coupons back then. This is where I was told that they could not do that because my coupons had been sent out already. I explained to my sweet cashier that this would not be acceptable as the coupons do have a value, I would be out $13 in coupons, SDM would get $13 in free money( $13 from companies for the coupons. ) I was very frustrated at this point. And I had to get my 4 yr old son a Kinder egg to keep him busy while this discussion was taking place.
Because the cashier an I were not sure what to do (this was new to me too)I asked to speak to management and then was told that getting the coupons back would be hard to do as they need them to match up and process the previous day sales. (Which I understand also)Was also told by Mgr. that they had to take the value of my coupons off the returns because I did not pay full price when I bought them. I understand this and have no problem with it. This is where I explain the $13 thing again and asked for a $13 GC to make up for the coupon loss so that it would at least balance out. No to that too (not quite sure why as WM will GC wo/ receipt for returns, as does Zellers etc)
After discussion, the coupon pile came out and GUESS WHAT--MY COUPONS WERE IN IT, not yet processed.... It took both ladies 10 minutes to figure out what coupons to give back to me but I eventually ended up getting my refund and my coupons.It was nice to hear both ladies at SDM say thank you to me for not yelling and being very pleasant about the whole thing.

Has this type of thing ever happened to anyone else? What do you do? Any policies on returns with coupons?


Update. Verification in this color...This is not a case of tying to get something for nothing. It was about having trying to make this a fair exchange/refund. I really am wondering how returns work when coupons are used.

[Dinglehopper]

Well one time I got home and noticed that the cashier didn't ring in my $2 coupon for the Crest Sensitive. He took it, filled in the value on the coupon but didn't put it into the computer. I was going to go back and return the Crest... I'd have gotten the full price back (I didn't want it paying full price) but figured there'd be no way to get my coupon at that point.... so I never bothered.

[Justine]

I am often afraid to return stuff that I used coupons for because I don't know how they would process it. So I never have. Plus, you don't get the coupons back.

In your case, since it hadn't even been 24 hours since you made the purchase, they should of of course gone through the till of coupons, I doubt they would of sent them out. And good thing they did do this for you. Did you end up exchanging the PF stuff?

[big-red-dog#2]

Yeah, another store. Great deal at 40% off and $3 coupon.

[InvisibleSoul]

Actually, in my opinion, I don't think it's really reasonable to expect to be able to get your coupons back. In this case, it happened to be that they were easy to find... but it could have just as easily have already been taken away to be processed. What if it were a large store instead of a smaller SDM? Would you expect them to have to go through all of the coupons they had received to find the ones that you had used?

On the other hand, especially if it's just a couple couponed items amongst many other non-couponed purchases, I wouldn't expect to have any problem returning the product and getting a full cash refund. But if it were all couponed items, or a single couponed item... hard to say.

I honestly don't know what would be the best way to handle it.

[kickenchickin]

Delete

[big-red-dog#2]

i dont think its reasonable to speak to a manager to escalate something like this----understand that the coupon you used may be already processed..in your case i guess it wasn't sent, but how do you really expect to get your coupon or value back everytime you return something?? doesn't seem right to me...and definitely more of a hassle at the store end. it's not like the store gets the value of the coupon back right away either--it takes time to process.

I asked to speak to a manager not to "escalate" something but to get answers and verification. I have been both a cashier and manager in the past and know that cashiers do not know all policies, this young girl did not know you can get SDM points on GC purchases. Because I did not know how to handle this either I asked to speak to someone who did-the Manager. Not once did anyone get angry, upset or were voices raised. Nor did I hold up any other customers for this. There were 3 people in the store at the time (small town). I will not make a scene in a store, especially with my son there. You never know the impression you will make so I try not to leave a negative one.

[Carlyfalls]

I don`t see why anyone would be upset about this question. I would want the full value of the coupons back, or the actual coupons back too.

Why should the store get the product back, and the money from the manufacturer for the coupon

That being said, I try VERY hard to make sure I am buying the right products, so I don`t have to deal with the messiness of returning things I used coupons on.

[InvisibleSoul]

I don't think there's any perfect way to handle this.

Suppose you get store credit back for the value of the coupons. This could easily be abused if that was the case. One could buy a whole bunch of products with high value coupons, return it all to get store credit, and then use the store credit to buy the items that they actually wanted in the first place...

[carlyincanada]

I think you handled it very well & have the right to your coupons back or GC for the value of them... glad it worked out for you!

[Patty Smyth]

I would have asked for the coupons back too. I think it's safe to say that after 24 hours they would still be there. Not sure about policies but I seriously don't think they have someone sending back coupons full time to the company. Maybe once or twice a week at most.

Maybe stores need to establish clearer policies on this too. I think that's a big problem that we have as couponers. We always seem to run into policy problems. Sometimes stores are so busy with the day to day stuff when somthing like this comes up noone is prepared and I think people get defensive when they don't know what to do.

[monkeymommy]

That is the same problem I had on monday....if its just an exchange you were doing they should have refunded all of the money and just did a repurchase of the products at regular price without coupons. You are still saving money and instead of them making an extra buck with the coupons and your "extra" money everything is evened out. They still get their money back for the coupons. The cashier I had first didn't get it...so I explained and it all made sense!

[Zonny]

But to actually find the coupons that were yours? I guess it's possible with a retailer like SDM, since they don't generally have more than four cash registers. Still would be a major PITA though, and they'd have to go on your word which those coupons were actually the ones you used. If it were a busy grocery store, you would have probably had to kiss them goodbye. I'm glad you got them back though!

SDM is awful about returns with no receipt, or even exchanges, they just won't do it, won't even give a gift card without a big fight. Back when I was expecting, I got some bottles as a gift that I was not going to use, so I brought them to SDM to just get a store credit. I had to fight tooth and nail to get anything from them. They were Life Brand, not like I could have picked them up at Walmart or something. I finally did get a gift card credit, but they warned me that they would not do it again. Another time I had diapers that my son had outgrown, package was intact, and they refused to take them back because I had no receipt. I ended up going to Walmart or Superstore for a store credit, and had absolutely no problem there.

Z

[CentrallyCalm]

Absolutely you get your coupons back. I had a circumstance this past winter where I had redeemed several $10 coupons and bought products (neither the cashier nor myself had read the coupon in the way that it was worded correctly) and I got a serious amount of products for next to nothing (over $200 worth). I posted my excitement on SC and another member asked what the coupon said, because they had seen it and understood it to mean something else. I called the store... and sure enough, we had misinterpreted the coupon. I took it all back and the girl behind the counter went in the office and got my stack of coupons... I didn't even realize that they would be coming back to me. She said for sure they do! (Glad I had a cashier that realized that policy). Which makes sense, but I was just so embarrassed about misinterpretting the coupon, I wanted to just get in and out of the store.

Good job standing firm on getting them back and remaining calm about it!

The store I was at was Pharma Plus-Rexall.

[Litesandsirens911]

I bought a Venus set at RCSS last week which I THOUGHT was maked at 11.88 because there were many on the shelf and the top sign had this price indicated, sao I assumed it was for these, so i handed the clerk my 4.00 off venus coupon, rang thru the purchase along with all my groceries, and paid.when I looked at my receipt, it had rung up at 16.88..so while I put groceries in my car, I asked my husband to go in and check the price and if not return it for a credit...well he did, and once we got home, he handed me almost 20.00....I asked him how that can be because it was only 12.88 (with the 4.00 coupon instead of 16.88)...and he said they credited the whole value because they had taken my $4.00 coupon off already and they'd be refunded thru the company...

So that's my experience.