For those of you who saw the Twitter feed and are curious…
My wonderful neighbor Michele watched three of the kiddos this afternoon so Luke and I could go on a lunch date (free Red Robin plus a $5 tip, and free ColdStone – both for being in their birthday clubs). ANYWAY…
After the date, Jaden and I decided to make a quick Meijer stop. Really, I wanted to be quick. It took probably 20 minutes to shop, and I only stood in the self-checkout line for a couple of minutes before it was my turn.
I did two transactions. The first one was fine. The cashier had to verify my coupons, but it worked out fine.
But for some reason, the second transaction froze their computer. And they couldn’t figure out why or what to do about it. They scrutinized my coupons and treated me like I was doing something wrong. They kept asking me, “Where did you get this coupon?” about the Internet printables. (“I don’t know – the black market?” What did she think I was going to say?) Then the lady in the striped shirt (must be higher up than the average employee?) told me she would not accept more than one Meijer Mealbox coupon per item per transaction. For instance, I was buying four boxes of Nabisco 100-Calorie Packs and using a Mealbox coupon for each. She told me she would only accept ONE of the four coupons.
For those of you who don’t coupon…The Mealbox coupons used to say, “One coupon per transaction.” But they changed the wording probably six months ago. It does NOT say that on the coupon anymore, and I pointed that out. She pretty much didn’t care, and claimed that because it says, “Not to be combined with any other Meijer discount coupons” that I could only use one per type of item. Well, hello, if her line of reasoning was logical, then I could only use ONE Mealbox coupon per transaction, not one per type of item.
I pointed out to her that the wording means that you cannot use two Meijer discount coupons per item, but you CAN stack a manufacturer’s coupon with a Meijer coupon. She still refused to honor the coupons.
Then she tried to void the items that she wouldn’t take the coupons for, and that didn’t work out well, so she just voided the entire transaction and RE-scanned everything (besides the stuff she wouldn’t take coupons for, but including my cold stuff that was no longer cold).
By the time it was all said and done, it took over an hour at the checkout, and I left in tears. It was utterly frustrating and maddening. Not only did I have a baby with me (thank God he slept most of that time!), but I had a babysitter who was waiting for me at home! I was an hour late getting home because of this.
All in all, the experience was horrible, and I felt the Meijer employees were very unhelpful, insincere, and not apologetic. I’ve never experienced that before at Meijer, and I sure hope I never do again.
Edit: I called corporate customer service when I got home and the woman was extremely nice and apologetic. Also, when I tweeted it, the Meijer twitter person direct messaged me, and I will follow up with him. I want to handle this with grace, but I also don’t want to get lost in corporate red tape. I want them to educate their employees on coupon policies. I told the people at the store and corporate that coupon integrity is very important to me, and I realize that coupon fraud is a problem. BUT I was careful in choosing the correct coupons and should be allowed to use them! (Ironic that it’s the Meijer coupons that Meijer wouldn’t accept, isn’t it?)
The end.
Wow, Lacey! An amazing story! I am glad I wasn’t behind you, I would have paid for you whole order and told you to have a nice day – besides, I kinda like you! Hope the next shopping trip is MUCH better. Maybe corporate will give you a free shopping spree. That’s my kind of answer to a super long hassle. Thank you, Jaden, for being good to mommy.
that’s “your” whole order
loveyouanyways
umm thats ridiculous … esp as you can use one coupon per item for it just not over … and the stripes are the managers … but take the coupons to the service desk and they generally take care of them and give you cash … but i am sorry about that and that does sound horrible … if it wasnt a meijer coupon i might understand cuz there are a lot of fake ones out there but most are legit …
I took a nap, too. I didn’t have a problem waiting for you! I hope Meijer listens too you and gives you something good for the hassle!
I have had issues at Target with them not taking Target printables. They say it’s because of coupon fraud, but it’s so frustrating, when it’s their own coupons they won’t take!
I was there the other day with some, and the girl called a manager over. She said, “Yeah, that’s fine” and then said to me “We’re really not supposed to take these anymore, because people print off a ton, but I trust you.” The thing is, they could limit how many you print off, if they were worried about it, like other coupon sites do. So why not just do that?
Agh! So aggravating!!!
Aw, sorry Lacey! That would have made me so angry as well. Hope that never ever happens again and that Meijer apologizes to you!
I’ve had the same issue with Meijer. There are only certain Meijers that I will go to now because I get nothing but trouble at the other ones. The Muskegon and Grand Haven Meijer are great, but the Jenison and Grandville are the worst. They treat you like a crook because you are able to get things really cheap or free.
Lacey, I made cookies yesterday, and they turned out like yours! That’s the FIRST time I’ve gotten cookies to look like that, I was so excited! The only thing I did differently was that I didn’t melt the butter at ALL. (oh, and I cooked them in Florida…does that make a difference?) Do you think not melting the butter is what did it? I’m not sure. I also used real butter, but didn’t quite have enough so I used a little margarine as well, so not sure if that matters at all either.
Anyway, that’s it, just was super excited about making cookies that weren’t all flat!
Thanks, everybody! I still haven’t heard back from Meijer, so we’ll see if anything comes of it.
Erin – Great job on the cookies! Believe it or not, Luke was just rejoicing because I made a batch that was FLAT for once!
I definitely do NOT melt the butter (that adds to the flatness), and I always use margarine (’cause I’m cheap!).