Forgot Your Coupon? No Problem!
SHOOT! exclaimed my wife as she slammed her hand down on the dashboard of our van. We were on our way to shop for new athletic shorts and a swimsuit for our son, and she had forgotten the flyer for Shopko on the kitchen table that contained a coupon for $10 off a $50 purchase. We were already 15 minutes away from home, and decided against turning around to retrieve the forgotten coupon.
When we got to the store, my wife immediately marched to the customer service counter, explained to the person behind the desk our situation, and asked if there was anyway to get the discount without having to go all the way home to get the coupon. The only suggestion the service agent gave was to continue with our shopping, and then return at our convenience and they could manually return everything, then redo the entire transaction with the coupon.
Hardly convenient for anyone.
Disappointed, we went about our shopping. When we finally went through the checkout lane, our total came to just over $56. Always persistent, my wife again explained our situation to the cashier.
No problem, I can just take it off for you, She replied, to our surprise.
It did take a manager override to complete the transaction, but we were able to get our $10 discount without having the coupon physically in our possession. This isn’t the first time my wife has convinced a retail store to give her a discount without having a coupon with her:
Bed, Bath, and Beyond: At least once a month we get a 10% off coupon in the mail from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The store is on the complete opposite end of our city, so we only go there when we have other errands to run on that side of town. My wife uses this coupon to resupply her K-cups
for her Keurig
coffee maker. A similar scenario played out on one occasion in which she forgot her coupon, but the cashier was happy to give her 10% off the item.
Kohls: We get an endless supply of discount ads from Kohls. We headed to the store to do some shopping after hitting discount gold with a 30% off coupon. Once in the store, we realized that we had forgotten the coupon at home. But once again, my wife was able to convince them to give her the 30% off her purchase.
Next time you’re shopping and realize you forgot your coupon, speak up and tell someone. They might honor it anyway!
Have you ever forgotten a coupon, but still convinced the store to give you the discount? How did you do it?
Brought to you courtesy of Brock
Image courtesy of Stuart Miles / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children, Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.
I’m surprised that the customer service person at Shopko didn’t have copies of the coupon flyer. That’s pretty unprofessional. I’m glad that the checker came to the rescue. You are right that if you know of a coupon sale, you can typically get the discount by bringing it up.
@Bryce – yeah, that surprised me too…or that they didn’t have a pile of the ads at the front entrance like most stores. I was happy that we didn’t have to come back to get the $10 off….I’m not sure I would have done it. 🙂
I’ve found it’s best to wait until the last minute to ask. They don’t want to turn away a customer and lose a sale 🙂 Just try to make sure you’re not holding up the line for others if you can avoid it!
This also works like 90% of the time at restaurants too btw. Also, I’ve had a great success rate using expired coupons, just ask for the exception and it is usually granted.
@MoneyAhoy – That’s true…we did exactly that at a clothing store over the weekend. My wife shopped around and found a shirt she wanted. We had a 20% off coupon, but she couldn’t find it. We were standing at the register, holding up the line. The cashier just gave it to us to move things along, and to keep the sale. 🙂 Thanks for the comment!