Dear Food Lion,
I'm writing for 2 reasons, with hopes to get both resolved in a timely manner.
I am a work at home mom with a household of 7. I budget extremely well and utilize coupons, so that we can afford to basicly live on 1 income even more comfortably than we did on 2.
I also teach others how to use coupons and live well on a budget. I run a website that receives over 2500 unique visitors per day, seeking coupons and also tips on how to save with them.
Recently, on a shopping trip to my local Food Lion, I was greatly insulted with no conceivable basis. I handed the cashier my coupons and without more than a glance at the coupons (not even to see the Manufacturer name, amount,etc.) he handed them back to me and said "These are Fraudulent Coupons".
Now, had he actually had any type of basis for this opinion, I'm sure that cashier training would have required him to seek a manager or other authority, or to tell me that he needed to verify something or what have you. This did not happen at all. He blatantly, with no foundation, said "These Coupons Are Fraudulent".
Being an extreme couponer for over 15 years now, I'm very well aware that there are fraudulent coupons floating around. I spend 8-12 hrs per day online teaching others how to use coupons, sharing reliable coupon sources online (Brand websites, coupons.com, redplum.com, smartsource.com & social media)and warning them of fraudulent coupons as they are reported by Manufacturers (as with the recent Doritos or any Internet Printables for P&G Brand products).
To have a cashier accuse me of coupon fraud within less than a second of being handed my coupons, is uncalled for, to say the very least.
After he handed them back to me, I laughed at the absurdity of his accusation and requested a manager. The Assistant Manager came over and continued with his ignorance about coupons. I gave her my business card and referenced my HUGE binder filled with coupons and she finally, reluctantly, said "we will allow you to use them this one time" as if THEY WERE fraudulent? Noone looked up anything or even looked at the coupons to see what they were for. It was just their opinion.
This is HORRIBLE Customer Service. As much money as Brand Manufacturers put into announcing coupons available for print in social media, as well as on TV, as does FOOD LION itself, this is just a huge case of ignorance as to the coupon resources available to consumers.
This store needs serious traning on coupon acceptance and the Food Lion policy, as well as procedure rules, should they encounter a fraudulent coupon, without insulting a customer and accusing them of fraud.
Please forward to me a copy of the Official Food Lion Store Coupon Acceptance Policy. I would like to have a printed copy with me in case I ever encounter such ignorance with your employees again.
I have greatly reduced my shopping at Food Lion and am now shopping instead at Harris Teeter, Ingles and our Super Walmart, based on this experience. My coupons and my money are very welcome in these grocery stores. The insult and totally uncalled for disrepect of a long time customer in your store is not something that will be easily forgotten.
Thank you,
Wendy Little
www.FrugalFabulousFinds.com
Facebook.com/FrugalFabulousFinds
Twitter.com/FrugalFabulous
Dear Wendy, This is a very good letter. I feel the same way, when a cashier does not even know his job, or customer service. The chain has forgotten about training there employees on good customer service, which should be there number one thing to do. I say to all the couponers out there we should start banning there stores, we have one in our local town , who also treats the customer with disrepect when it comes to coupons, there name is Budweys Markets. They have lost my business, I will shop at other stores as I will not put myself thru that tratment again. I will look forward to your response letter from your store. Thanks so much for posting this...It will help all of us shsmart shoppers in the future...!!!
ReplyDeleteThe same thing happened to me at Wags today, and I just walked out. They are nazi's at my neighborhood store. I should write a letter but I suspect Wags doesn't care.
ReplyDeleteI love your letter. I for one write numerous letters as soon as i have a bad experience with a store or restaurant and I always get action right away. I commend you.
ReplyDeleteWow Wendy, that sucks to have happened to you, but unfortunatley I've run into this more and more often...I even have to EXPLAIN to managers how they AREN'T fruadulent coupons...how there is NO possible way I could have copied them (free product coupons I got mailed to me from Kraft First Taste program) and then been given an eye roll from the manager and been told they're doing ME a favor by taking them....
ReplyDeleteWell you know what I'm doing THEM a favor by spending my money with them, if they don't take my coupons, I'll just find another store that will and that store can have my money!
I guess until Higher ups understand they need to not only train themselves and their employees how to understand coupons and also keep up with the coupon technology that keeps improving...we the savvy consumer will just continue to be called theives and given dirty looks...
I work at Food Lion. Our policy states that we can not take coupons printed from the internet for free items. BOGO is still ok though, just none for a totally free item. My store alone has gotten over $200 in fake coupons. (we know they are fake because the manufacturer will send them back to us).
ReplyDeleteThose are the only ones we will not take. I apologize for your experience in the store and I hope this all gets settled.
Thanks anonymous from Food Lion :) I just wrote a post about Fraudulent Coupons ( http://frugalfabulousfinds.blogspot.com/2010/07/wise-consumers-use-coupons-save-money.html ) it is such a shame to have people ruining it for all. I'm the first to understand a stores position needing to verify a coupon or whatever. I was outraged with this experience because the cashier and asst. mgr did not even look at the coupons - had no idea what they were for..they just saw they were printed I guess, and enforced their "opinion" from there, instead of the store policy. Food Lion issues us printable coupons weekly, so it is just outrageous to have a store be so ignorant about printable coupons. Anyways, I'm done ranting for today, LOL, and thanks for your post!
ReplyDeleteThanks KosherPickle !! Something about words...whether they are written or typed, always helps to get them out of my head ! Writing in whatever form it takes, is a great stress reliever :D Thanks for the comment ~!
ReplyDeleteI'm curious KosherPickle - do you every recognize good service? I understand the need to let companies know when you are not satisfied with their service, but what about when they exceed expectations? Do you call that out?
ReplyDeleteI work for Food Lion. The policy states we are not allowed to accept free internet coupons. What kind of coupons did you have?
ReplyDeleteI work for Food Lion. The policy states we are not allowed to accept free internet coupons. What kind of coupons did you have?
ReplyDeleteOdarious,
ReplyDeleteThey were just regular cents off coupons for various different items. The point is that they cashier nor the assistant mgr even looked at the coupons - they had no idea what they were for. Without a glance, the second they were handed to the cashier he handed them back to me and said "These are Fraudulent Coupons" . I'm well aware of fraudulent coupons (see my recent post) and help educate others about that also.
No store employee should ever accuse a customer of something and insult them like this, especially with no basis or ground to stand on to backup the accusation.
I would think stores would educate their employees as to what a fraudulent coupon is, how to identify them and a procedure to follow if you suspect a coupon is fraudulent. I'm sure that policy would not include accusing the customer before you even consult management. Very poor customer service and people skills in general!
Food Lion is basically the only grocery store I have access to and I had a similar experience. The cashier said she could not take internet coupons because Food Lion had lost a lot of money with them. So from then on, I have been very reluctant to use internet coupons anywhere. I tend to only use the ones in the Sunday inserts. It doesn't help that my printer is only black and white, so they probably don't look legitimate.
ReplyDeleteOne Food Lion took my internet printed coupons 2 days ago. Another would not take them yesterday! Twittering about it. Why do they allow you to print manufacturer's coupons from THEIR OWN WEBSITE if they will not take them? Ugh!
ReplyDeletePlease understand that printed coupons easily look like "copied" coupons, which as I hope you all know, being the avid coupon clippers you are, is illegal. Any grocery store employee who turns down a printed coupon is probably protecting their job. They can be fired as prosecuted against if they accept coupons which are frauds. Unfortunately there has been a recent issue with the Food Lion Capri Sun coupons which just expired on the 13th. The coupon clearly states on it that it is only good for ONE coupon PER PERSON PER HOUSEHOLD. Again, unfortunately it is easy to bi-pass the one coupon rule by clicking on how many coupons you want when your printer option pops up. Our store had to stop many customers from coming in and wiping out our shelves with these coupons. Every store in our town was out of stock on the Capri Suns because the coupon made the purchase only.07 cents. People took advantage and were purchasing 20 or more at a time not allowing the opportunity for other customers to participate with their coupons. Food Lion does loose money with the printed coupons when they are turned into our corporate office to determine if they are reliable coupons or not. Yes coupons are convenient, helpful and save us all a bunch of money, but trust me when I tell you that if a cashier is turning down taking your printed coupons, it might be because she values her job more than you saving .50 on your purchase.
ReplyDelete