Maybe it is just me but I'm pretty frustrated with holiday shopping this year! Several times I've tried to order something with a discount code just to be told it does not apply to my order even though the fine print doesn't have an exclusion for the item. Shopping in the store is no better - I bought 2 items on a table with a sign saying ALL of those items are $3 only to have them ring up for $13. And just now ordering online I actually had a coupon code work just for it to be removed at the final screen before submitting my order. Good thing I noticed it at the last second but I'm sure people could easily miss it!.
Anyone else find stores being sneaky about deals this holiday season?
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I've had it happen and I say something or sometimes just say nevermind I don't want it. I avoid michaels now bc I had this problem all the time there.
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Yeah, I've actually noticed this too--lots of misleading discounts! One recent example: I was at World Market and tried to buy two pinecone gnomes (sounds dumb, I know, but they were cute!). The sign below said "Woodland Critters" 20% off. They looked like woodland critters to me and the sign placing confirmed it in my mind, but once I got up to check out they weren't on sale.
I always ask them to double check (which is annoying, I know) and I don't buy them if they're not on sale. My husband gets so embarrassed.
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@babypugs: I feel like if stores are good they will honor it. I know at Target, if you take a picture of what you took relative to where the sign is and what it says, etc, most of the time they'll just give you the discount.
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@snowjewelz: Yes, I've usually had that experience--but not this year! Odd.
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Our local grocery store is like this and it drives me crazy! It's a very small chain (3 stores) so they don't honor the whole "if it rings up wrong it's free" policy that you get at stop and shop or the other big ones. You always have to watch that things ring up right or you will be overcharged- and I'm always shopping with a 2 year old so I miss things a lot. Super annoying- but it's walking distance to my house so I keep going back.
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Yes, just happened to me at Gap. She rung me up and the deal of the day was 60% off sweaters. She had been helping me figure out what was on sale and pick something out so she knew I was shopping the sale. By the time she placed the order it was $80. I looked at the receipt and said, why wasn't that marked down and she said because it wasn't included. After I told her I didn't want the item then she said, oh wait, maybe I had to enter a special code for that to ring up. Sure enough, the correct total was $40!
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Macy's has been the worst for me this year. We have a macy's card and get a ton of coupons. Its great in store but online only certain codes work on certain items and you cant put in more than 1 code. Their shipping is ridiculous "free shipping if you spend $99" - most of the year. I've had 2 items get cancelled on me after I place the order and one shipment was missing an item that I had to call and get replaced.
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I feel like Kohl's is notorious for this! I tried to buy 2 car seats, they were not on the "excluded" fine print but my coupon STILL would not work saying my basket did not meet the criteria, i'll be buying them somewhere else (i wanted the ebates for them!)
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@Chillybear: Macy's is on my naughty list this year! I was trying to buy a present for my dad and even though it wasn't included in the excluded items, I still couldn't use my coupon. Then this morning I was buying something else - it was supposed to be $12 and at the final check out screen it said something like $25. WTF!?!?
@Maysprout: I think those craft stores are tough. We got a ton of fliers from JoAnn's this year so I went there expecting to find something on sale for really cheap and it was not even on sale. Isn't that false advertising? I don't know how they get away with it.
@snowjewelz: I wish I had thought of that before. I didn't notice until I looked at the receipt in the car and had two crabby kids so I decided to just return later instead. -
I have seen where the store applies the coupon and then take it out at the last screen because it thinks you don't qualify. I think that is super shady! I don't have a problem with it if they give you an error when you try to apply the coupon. At least, they're upfront about it, even if the T&C don't seem to exclude things.
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@LuLu Mom: If you look at carseats on Kohls.com it always says right under the price that "this item is not eligible for promotional offers and coupons." Which totally sucks, I was all ready to stack some discounts and get a good deal on a carseat too.
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@kiddosc: Yeah online it says that, the thing in the mail with the coupon code didn't list it as an exclusion, that's where I got mad! I'll just order from Amazon!
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@skipra: was that last online thing from diapers.com from any chance? They're the worst offender of misleading coupons that I've experienced!
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@LuLu Mom: I noticed that with Kohls, too! But it still ended up being a better deal through Kohls with no coupon than Amazon even though they were priced the same, since they give the Kohls cash after.
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I got a coupon for 20% off from Amazon for fashion in the mail which I thought was odd bc it's Amazon. When I tried to use it, nothing worked. I talked with their customer service and they said it had to be shipped and sold by Amazon which is hard to find. Most items are sold by the retailer and then shipped by Amazon. There's not even an option to sort based on what Amazon sells and ships. For example, if I wanted a red sweater, I would have to type it in the bar and click on each item to see if Amazon was the seller. I really wanted nursing items so I did click on each item and after 30 minutes gave up.
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@skipra: Ive had trouble with their discount racks or getting stuff out of bins. It'll be like 50% off all Halloween decorations and one thing will be discounted and one thing won't be even though they're on the same rack and Halloween. i get things are marked wrong but it's happened multiple times at multiple stores so now they're on my naughty list, it's too time consuming to shop then realize all the prices are something else.
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