Over the past few weeks, quite a few readers have written to say they’re having trouble receiving coupon overage at Jewel-Osco. Jewel’s coupon policy allows shoppers to receive coupon overage and apply it to other items, as long as they don’t have a negative balance at the register:
Cents off Coupons ‐ will be accepted for the full face value on a “cents off” coupon provided the customer has other purchases against which to credit the additional amount. Coupon deductions may not exceed the total amount of purchase ‐ no cash back may be given
However, since Jewel’s register upgrade last year, the registers have not been doing this automatically. Instead, the registers are automatically adjusting down the value of the coupon to match the cost of the item. (The same thing has been happening when you use two coupons on a Buy One Get One Free sale — the register accepts the first, then appears to accept the second, but rings the second coupon’s value at zero.)
I inquired about these issues with Jewel-Osco’s coroporate recently, and this morning I received a response:
I checked into your question about applying overages, and this is something we rely on our associates to do. If a customer finds an overage has not been applied, they should return to the store with their receipt to have it corrected.
I realize this answer isn’t going to satisfy everyone, particularly in light of the other register issues going on and the reports from readers who are being told that they aren’t entitled to coupon overage even when presenting the store associates with Jewel-Osco’s own policy:
“I was suppose to receive 51 cents overage and when I explained the coupon policy, she asked the customer service cashier, who stated that was not true. I left with no overage and they made me feel like a liar.”
“Had a $2 coupon that adjusted to the clearance price of $1.74. The cashier said that they had to adjust the coupon for the price that it was being sold at! I quoted policy stating that they give overage, but she said there is nothing she could do. Should I contact corporate?”
A customer on Jewel-Osco’s Facebook page are asking why employees can’t be refreshed on the store’s coupon policy too:
And, in this post, a cashier is actually explaining to shoppers that she doesn’t agree with Jewel’s policy on allowing two coupons on a Buy One Get One Free sale:
When cashiers don’t fully understand the policy, or are publicly stating that they don’t agree with it, unfortunately, the register issues are bound to continue. I wrote back to Jewel and explained that based on my blog and email, these issues are becoming increasingly widespread. Jewel corporate responded, “It really is something that has to be handled by our individual store associates. If the customer has an issue with the cashier, they can speak with the store director or, if he/she is not available, the manager on duty.”
frugalsheila says
According to Jewel, “If a customer finds an overage has not been applied, they should return to the store with their receipt to have it corrected.”
How are we supposed to do that if the cashier has collected the coupon and put it in their drawer with the rest of the coupons? Why would the CS rep believe me? I can just picture it now. “Yesterday I was in the store and the register only took off $1.50 when the coupon was for $2.00.” Yeah right. How could I prove it?
And how am I supposed to cross reference the coupons with the receipt when the coupons are collected?
Boo, Jewel. How about you just fix your registers!
Pollysmom says
Nothing like passing the buck and making it OUR fault that THEIR registers aren’t programmed correctly!!!
VJB says
when I bought dog food that was b1g1 free. I used 2 $1 coupons. Of course the second coupon rang up as $0.00. I didn’t realize the mistake until I got home. I returned to the store a few days later and asked customer service to credit me the coupon. After going over the policy on B1G1 and being able 2 use 2 mq She said “well there`s no way for me to tell what the amount of the coupon was since it was a few days ago.” I pointed out that I used a coupon on every item I purchased all ranging from $1 to $3. I was asking for $1 if I wanted to be dishonest I would be trying for the $3 but if she wanted I could show her one of the coupons I had left. Finally she gave me the $1 but only because she did not want to deal with me anymore.
It seems that when the staff is shown the policy they get offended that we are pointing out their mistake. Only 2 or 3 cashiers I knew would actually want to learn what the policy was inorder to service their customers better (I gave them major kudos on the FB site by name). But most of the time the response you get is “We’ll do it this time…”. As if they are bending/breaking a policy.
I just don’t understand why Jewel would not want their staff to be informed of their policy so they could provide a better customer expierence especially during this economy. I live in an area that just had a Jewel close. So now Woodman’s is the same distance as the 2nd nearest Jewel. So where did I go shopping… Woodman’s. Why would they not take every possible step they can to capture every potential customer. Word travels fast online in all the coupon blogs. When people have issues such as the ones that were initially reported here I tend to sit it out. So what do I miss out on by sitting out the deal… the deal, aggravation, wasted time. What does Jewel miss out on… me buying that deal item, most likely I’d have picked staple items such as milk, eggs, bread and anything else that I get called for to pick up while I am at the store. That one item would have got me through the doors and as those deals are intended to do so that I pick up a few extra items while I am there. But again if I hear that people are having problems running the deal I don’t bother going. I don’t think it’s my loss and Jewel should start looking at these register issues as their loss.
Yukipr says
I totally agree with having ALL cashiers retrained on their own policy. Remember last year’s deal on Gillette where you could get 8 for free… I ended up getting them for free, but after arguing for 5 minutes with a service desk employee that reminded me 3 times that she “knew” the coupon policy, when she truly did not (she had to go to ask 2 more employees about it). She even threw the coupon policy I carry with me on the counter.
Neverless to say, that after Jill exposed this problems I went back to my receipts and the same week I had the Orville Popcorn coupon, it scanned for 38 cents. I have been avoiding Jewel for the last 2 weeks.
llamalluv says
It’s not just the B1G1 sale with 2 coupons issue. The cashiers do not know ANY of the coupon policies. If they have to do anything other than just scan the coupons, they are totally helpless and clueless, and then get angry with the customers. They don’t even bother to pull out a copy of the coupon policy and check it. If I had acted as clueless as that at any of my jobs after more than a week or two, I would have been shown the door. Some of these clueless cashiers sport pins boasting 10, 15, or even 20 YEARS of service.
I was in the Jewel in Lagrange Park in January (I don’t know the exact date, as I no longer have the receipt) and bought two of the Beech-Nut Fruities on the Go (squeeze pouches) for $0.99 each. I had two $1.00 off Beech-Nut products, and Fruities pouches were pictured right on the coupons. The cashier refused to scan even one of my coupons, stating that I could not use a coupon for over the product amount. I did not have my copy of the Jewel coupon policy to refute her, and my kid was crying from boredom, so I didn’t press the issue.
I had another incident a week or two later over a B4G1 coupon and two $1.00 off 2 coupons. The cashier and the bagging clerk both insisted I had to purchase 9 items to use all three coupons, despite my pulling out the Jewel coupon policy and reading it to them, and having them read it. It was finally resolved when the manager came over, read the policy and explained to them that yes, I was correct; the coupon policy allows for a B1G1 coupon AND a cents off coupon on the “Buy 1” and that does apply to “Buy Any #, Get Any #”.
And it’s not just me. If I hadn’t witnessed other customers ahead of me in line get grief over their coupons I might think I just have a personality that invites cashiers to argue with me. But I’ve seen other shoppers get hassled over coupons, then when they are out of earshot the cashier tries to get me to agree that the prior customer “got away with something”, as though using coupons is stealing? And that’s when I pull out my big stack of coupons, set them on the check stand, and smile.
And now I’m going to stop because I’m starting to sound like the Springs1 of coupons.
seachicago says
I hardly ever shopped there, until I started reading this blog a couple years ago, and saw what good deals you could get! But I’ve practically given up recently. Jewel needs to admit that they’ve changed their coupon policy: if their registers don’t support the policy the way it is currently written and their employees won’t enforce it, then it doesn’t matter how generous the written policy is; I think what they’re doing is fraudulent. It’s the old bait and switch, and I don’t want to reward them for bad behavior by giving them my money!
Carrie77 says
I’ll tell you … my shopping is pretty much exclusively Aldi, Costco, and Dominick’s now. I have a Jewel within five minutes of my house (in McHenry), but I go out of my way to go to those three stores – and the Dominick’s on 14 is simply fantastic. The cashiers at Jewel (at least at my Jewel) are rude and completely ignorant of coupon policy. Dominick’s, with Deal Match, with give me almost every deal that I could find at Jewel. And with gas around $4/gallon, it’s not worth it to drive around to a bunch of different stores now. I do go out of my way to go to Dominick’s on 14, but at least they know what they’re doing, their registers pretty much always scan correctly now (there used to be a lot of problems and I still always check my receipt before I leave, but I haven’t had any issues in at least two months or so), they have really tasty meat … with the exception of my precious Coke Zero, since Dominick’s has outrageous prices on pop, I buy pretty much all my “name-brand” items there now.