Time for me to vent on Kroger long vent

[RachaelA]

Follow up with someone higher up.

Kroger's prices on a lot of stuff are cheaper then I've seen at any of the grocery stores here in NE Ohio. I just picked up some stuff when we were at the lake this weekend because the deals were so good.

 

[Ashley Kees]

But the thing with coupon fraud is that it is not just limited to IP coupons. I was in Meijer one day and watched this guy buying a ton of cleaning products with coupons I had never seen before. We he would ring up a few of the products at a time and after he ran the coupon at the self checker he was supposed to insert it. What he did was insert until it registered and then pull it back out and switch hands with it. He only inserted about a couple of coupons and took the rest and pocketed them. I contacted the clerk so she could be aware. It is awful that some have to try and ruin things for others but some are just crooks and looking to cheat the system anyway they can.

OP - Our Kroger is good here but I would keep contacting Kroger corporate until you get a response. That is bull what the store manager told you and I am willing to bet when he does take the other IP coupons he is getting the full value and not what he calls "fair value"

If I saw someone reusing their coupons I would have made a BIG scene in a BIG way! But I'm what I call "assertive" and what DH calls "ballsy" so perhaps contacting the manager was more graceful. Crap like that is the reason honest big-time couponers catch so much flak!

I am so sorry you had a bad time. I live in Southeast Indiana, and shop 2 different Kroger stores frequently. (I do about 90% of all my shopping at Kroger)

I think you may just have run across a bad manager. No way is this Kroger's policy....I use internet coupons all of the time and have never had anyone bat an eye. I would call every single person I could on the chain of command until someone spoke with me. (Yeah, I know, maybe a bit much, but they were soooo wrong in the way they treated you)


I hope someone contacts you very soon and, at the very least, offers you a huge apology.

Keep us posted.

I totally agree with this, *but* I do think it is perfectly acceptable for a store to choose not to take IPs at all. I was in Target about a year ago buying diapers (with a regular coupon) and this woman was loading up two buggies with Luvs. She sees me and hands me a stack of 25 pages of printed-out $5 off Luvs IPs. She had at least 50 herself. I knew she was going to have trouble, so I hung around to watch . As soon as the stack of IPs came out a manager was called over. She threw a F.I.T. when they told her no way would they accept a stack of high-dollar IPs. I mean, a screaming fit. It was embarrasing even for me, and I was standing in the girls clothes section. It took about 10 minutes to get her to stop yelling and be escorted off the premises. Sure enough, the next week there were signs on all the registers saying "Due to recent issues, we will no longer be accepting Internet Printable coupons".

It is perfectly acceptable for a store to choose not to take IPs or even to not accept any coupons. But telling you *they* will decide *how much* they will give you on a coupon is just wrong!!!

 

[Piecey]

Did you CALL customer service?

I had an issue with Krogers not honoring a rain check they'd written me. The lady who wouldn't honor it said it was "impossible the price is right" because the item "had never been that cheap" and she had spoken to the head of that department who confirmed.
I would have agreed with her if I hadn't bought one of the item (and kept my salescheck) and gotten a raincheck to come back for more (Huggies Wipes) because of the great price. I even took a picture of the tag because I thought I might have issues.
I asked to speak to a manager and she ignored me. So I asked for the managers name and called their customer service line.
Within 10 minutes their district manager called me and within another 20 minutes the store manager called me.

Apparently the tag was hung by mistake but they honored my rain check and apologized profusely....

 

[CarolA]

I can not understand why they would not take THEIR OWN coupon! I would write for sure...and to tell you that you are lucky he didnt call police! That person SHOULD NOT be a mang. anywhere...

Talk about over reaction... Let's call the police. I mean they aren't doing anything important so they have time to deal with this issue!

(Reminds me of the recent 911 call over the Mickey D's drive in dispute!)

 

[Deb & Bill]

My Krogers is very good. Staff, products for sale, everything.

They will not take any computer printed coupons, though, because of all the reasons everyone has already stated.

They do send me coupons in the mail, that are tailored to my purchases, so it makes sense to continue to shop there. Plus triples 29 cents and under, doubles for 30-50 cents.

 

[WeLoveLilo05]

Well I guess since Kroger is number 1 in Northwest Ohio I guess they don't give a hoot on how they treat their customers. So far I have talked in my family members and some friend to help me join the boycott on not shopping there. It is only 24 customer that has joined my boycott but it is a start. They have a policy at my store for no internet coupons, well they do allow but it is not face value they give you what they determine is a fair value. Well my mom told me that she printed of a Comfort coupon (Kroger brand) off the Kroger web site for my son overnight diapers. So I went and printed one also. Well they would only give me 50 cent for a 3.00 dollar coupon, I got a store manager over and says yep that is a fair value and I am lucky to get that since I got these by internet fraud and lucky he doesn't call the police on us!! I did ask the manager also where is it posted on this rule on internet coupons and he said it is his rule and if I don't like it I can shop elsewhere. So we left the diapers and all other purchases about a 100 dollars worth of groceries and walked out. I emailed customer service and called and left a message and no response from both. So I guess since they are number 1 they don't care. Any other suggestions on what else I can do?

I had a problem like this when I lived in North Jersey. I went to Shop Rite with my printed coupons (from the betty crocker websites, etc). I went to use them and they cashier would not allow it and pointed to a sign. I asked to speak to a manager, manager said absolutely not, no printed coupons and would not let me a get a word in, was VERY rude. When he left the cashier told me that this was a "privately owned" Shop Rite. Then I began to think at how different this Shop Rite was from the other one in the next town (everything old, run down, no returns on ANYTHING, diapers were stamped no returns/exchanges, etc). But I honestly have no IDEA how they could even do this. It is a chain supermarket, isn't it illegal to use the name Shop Rite? And they still had shop rite brand items...it was just very confusing to me. I am still confused haha, and have never shopped there since.

 

[Ashley Kees]

I had a problem like this when I lived in North Jersey. I went to Shop Rite with my printed coupons (from the betty crocker websites, etc). I went to use them and they cashier would not allow it and pointed to a sign. I asked to speak to a manager, manager said absolutely not, no printed coupons and would not let me a get a word in, was VERY rude. When he left the cashier told me that this was a "privately owned" Shop Rite. Then I began to think at how different this Shop Rite was from the other one in the next town (everything old, run down, no returns on ANYTHING, diapers were stamped no returns/exchanges, etc). But I honestly have no IDEA how they could even do this. It is a chain supermarket, isn't it illegal to use the name Shop Rite? And they still had shop rite brand items...it was just very confusing to me. I am still confused haha, and have never shopped there since.

ShopRite is a retail-owned coop, not a general corporation. It's more like a franchise. The store managers aren't necessarily employees, they may very well be store owners as well. Each store's policies are set by the individual owner, not by "corporate". The "corporate office" is bascially a holding facility that is mainly a food brokerage (hence the store brands) and has general guidelines for the use of the brand name, and probably has a central legal department. There are 45ish owners of Shoprite stores in the country, and each owner makes his or her store's rules. They have purchased the rights to use the Shoprite name, to sell Shoprite brand generics, etc.

If your store manager was also the owner, or has complete authority under the store owner, then his word would be final. There is no higher up, you're basically talking to the CEO at that point.

 

[Dismom55]

I live in SW Ohio and In my opinion I think both the Kroger and Walmart issues must have been more with the managers of those stores and I would go to corporate with the particular issues. The Walmart store near us allows both Boy and Girl groups to sell their items and I use internet coupons all the time and have never been turned down at any of the stores I take them to. I could only understand them not giving full value if they were not receiving full value, but we all know they are.

I agree with a written complaint. When we have a complaint the first thing I do when I get home is log on the computer and send it to corporate. I get an immediate reaction or at least one in a reasonable time. That is except for Kmart, now there is a place I will NEVER go to again, at least NOT the one near us and it had better be a great sale price to get me go to another outside of our town.

Good luck with your boycot, better yet, I wish you well with getting a reply from corporate!

 

[Reece7r]

Just wondering...Which Kroger was this? I live in the Toledo area and shop at several locations and have never run into this "policy".

 

[DVCBELLE]

I live in SW Ohio and never have any issue with coupons at Krogers.

I personally would have told him to go ahead and call the police since I had done nothing illegal. I would love to have seen his reaction to that!

 

[kydisneyfans]

Follow up with someone higher up.

Kroger's prices on a lot of stuff are cheaper then I've seen at any of the grocery stores here in NE Ohio. I just picked up some stuff when we were at the lake this weekend because the deals were so good.

Ironic that you say that. We used to live in NE Ohio and now shop Kroger and Meijer all the time. My parents pack a cooler and stop at both stores when they visit us in KY. They say that the savings easily pays for their gasoline for the visit. When they run out of groceries again, they pack the cooler and head back for another visit.

As for the coupon issue, I work with many Kroger managers with my full time job and have found 95% of them to be great to work with. Find out the District Manager's name from the store and give them a call. Kroger can't take care of a problem that they don't know about.