Yes, it seems that Harris Teeter is cracking down on their coupon policy. I experienced it for myself on Monday. They have always had a per customer/per day policy on doubling 20 coupons, but they have always allowed me to use my daughter's or father's or SIL's phone number in a separate transaction. Don't go haywire on me. I am not one of those that clear the shelves of anything. Unless you want to count that I got the last three boxes of Betty Crocker potatoes as clearing the shelf. Hey, someone has to do it.
On the first day of Super Doubles, I did the GM deal one time and the Pillsbury deal one time on my card at the self-checkout. I then put those things in the car and went back in the store for just a few items. I have found it is just easier for me to do it that way sometimes. I must have attracted attention to myself. No, I had not reached my limit of 20 coupons on my VIC card. At this point who really cares what I am going to purchase or for whom? I have the answer to that question! There is a certain someone at a particular HT that wants to make it her business what I am doing. I got in line at a register to check out. My first transaction was for three items...one Simply OJ and two of the new Philadelphia cream cheeses. I didn't clear the shelf on those either. As a matter of fact, I could have purchased two more and they would have been free just like the first two, but alas I didn't. Here comes MS. KNOW IT ALL over to the register and is asking loudly how many times I have checked out at this register. Well, at that point it was once for the above mentioned three items. I had two more transactions to do. The cashier even told her that I shop for other people. There was no mention of not being able to use other people's VIC cards at that time. I purchased 13 items in one transaction and nine in the other one. I used 19 coupons total. Of the 13 items, five were the Old Orchard juice...22 items total. I spent $20.10 total. No problems other than THE LOUD MOUTH. Really, why does she care? I know she is just getting ready to enforce the rules for the next time she sees me at HT.
Fast forward to Monday...Ms. Pinch and I had planned a trip to our favorite HT to see what we may have missed from last week. We are shopping and everything is going well. I/we should have known that something would happen. Maybe I shouldn't include her in my problem. She had purchased her items and ran over to Walgreens while I finished up in the store. I was doing the GM deal again and the Pillsbury deal and purchasing some other items. I had 17 coupons for those two deals. Let's go to the register to check out...oh no, big problems. Not at the beginning mind you, but you will see. Keep in mind I had been in this store one time during Super Doubles. This is now five days later. I shopped at another HT on Friday with my father for just a few items.
I am at the register and tell the nice cashier I have three transactions. He rings up the first one which is the GM deal. I pay $10.92 and he (the cashier) says let's keep the coupons laying right here in case there is a problem. BIG RED FLAG, I should have known something was up. Oh, by the way, MS. KNOW IT ALL is there also! We proceed to ring up my second transaction...the Pillsbury deal. I pay $13.77 and I had other things with both of these transactions to get to my 20 coupon limit for my card. The cashier keeps those coupons in another stack right beside the ones from the first transaction, just in case there is a problem again! Really that is what he said. He also asked both times if were we using the same VIC card. The answer was yes. We get to the point where we are done and I have paid just like I said above for two transactions. TROUBLE ALERT now in full mode! I tell him I will be using a different number as these next items are for my daughter. Really, again, does it matter who they are for? He tells me I can't use her card if she isn't with me...it is corporate policy. I told him to show it to me. MS. KNOW IT ALL is lurking around the whole time but never comes near the register where I am. He shows me the policy that said "limit 20 coupons per customer/per day" to me that doesn't say my daughter has to be with me. She is another customer that happens to be at work and I happen to be getting whatever I am getting for whoever I am getting it for. She doesn't live with me and has a different address than me. Okay, now let's call the manager up to the register. He isn't going to let me purchase anything else with anyone else's VIC card. I told him he could even call her at work. But NOOOOeVIC coupons back to my card also. Lo and behold, they just can't do that. Okay, call Mr. Manager again...NO he just calls up to the customer service desk and tells the cashier to call the help desk. Well they can't put my 20 coupons back on my card either. Interesting...the longer I stood there the more I thought I will make money because they should refund the price of the items minus the VIC sales, of course. I didn't intend on making money off of HT, don't get me wrong but that is the way it works. It is not my fault that they choose to start enforcing rules all of a sudden. Mr. Manager has to be called again, the cashier just doesn't know what to do. A customer service rep comes out of the office and she said why don't we just ring up the items that she wants and be done with it...using my daughter's card. No Chit Sherlock! What they could have done in the first place and none of this would be happening. I have no problem with rules just a problem when they aren't enforced and all of a sudden they are. I feel that I was profiled by MS. BIG MOUTH from the time I went in the store. Why else would the cashier have just left my coupons to the side in case there was a problem? Not once but twice, remember that! They were just waiting for me to do what I have always done. I am not caught, don't even think that. This is something that I have always done as other people also do.
Okay, back to the finish. The manager is at customer service and I tell him he has my coupons that the store will be reimbursed for so he needs to refund my money which will be the price of the item. He tells me he can't do that. He will refund what I paid cause he will not pay me to shop in that store. Not my problem. For example, if a can of biscuits cost $2 minus a 50¢ coupon doubled to $1.00 then you pay $1.00 for the biscuits. If you decide to bring the biscuits back for whatever reason, then the store should refund your $2 what the biscuits cost. Remember they have the coupon, they will be paid 50¢ plus the handling fee. It is Harris Teeter's fault if they lose money, not mine. He also told me they lose money every time there is a Super Doubles. Again, not my problem, you deal with it Mister. I told him the coupons were just like money, but he said they aren't because he can't deposit them in his checking account. Again, not my problem. Did I feel like I was a criminal? Not at all, I didn't reach across and take money from them and wouldn't. Mr. Manager & I exchanged more conversation. He decided he would refund what I paid and the amount of each coupon.
After coming home, I called corporate and of course HT is enforcing their own coupon policy now. You may or may not be able to shop like you are use to doing with other people's VIC cards at your HT. Supposedly HT is cracking down on their own policy. Oh, I even told Mr. Manager that maybe to benefit himself he should print up a statement and post it to the doors that they were enforcing their policy of 20 coupons per customer during Super Doubles. The really funny thing that Mr. Manager also told me was to make multiple trips in one day to the same store when there are different cashiers working and they wouldn't know I had already been there. Like I didn't know that already. Why enforce your rule and tell a customer how to get around it? OMG I am not that dumb!
Just for giggles the first lady at corporate that I talked to had a really bad attitude. She hung up on me! But that was okay also. It was after I just had to call her a not-so-nice name. I have no problem with HT enforcing their rules but just let me know in a polite way, like at the beginning of my transaction. I was set up (by Ms. Loud Mouth) and if it made someone's day, more power to them! I believe the cashier was in on it too. Why else would he have set my coupons aside in case there was a problem? He knew there was going to be a problem ahead of time. I was the one that didn't know.
The second lady at corporate was very nice. She told me they have had people with as many as 20 VIC cards in one name. She also said Harris Teeter loses money every time they have Super Doubles. Wonder how much longer that will last? If their deals aren't deals anymore for us coupon shoppers, then who will shop there? Are they going to start checking your license when you go in the store?
I can play the game well, but not when the rules get changed in the middle.
My rant is over and I would love to hear comments!
==Sleeping Beauty==
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