josuff247

I'll try to make this quick.
I had a coupon for $10 off my next purchase because I was a reward zone member and they changed the plan to be free, and I already paid. Anyway, of course there are a bunch of restrictions on the coupons however one of them was not that it required a minimum purchase. I wanted to use this coupon to buy a 9.99 PC game. They would not let me use the coupon, saying I must spend at least 10 dollars and tax doesn't count. I went on to tell them that I dont expect change, and to please point out any place that says I must spen 10 dollars or more. The store condecendingly told me "How is it possible to subtract 10 from 9.99". I explained how when I go food shopping if my coupon exceed the price, the item is free and since you have no restriction saying otherwise this item shoud be free. Long story short he gave it to me but told me in the future know you cant do this. I said fine and left. They really piss me off because no matter what, any time I try to do anything other than a normal purchase(coupon, price match) the always try to find a way out. If you provide a coupon, or offer a price match policy, dont give the customer such a hard time.

Sweet Baby James

I'm surprised that your coupon didn't have a minimum. I have to spend $10 to be able to use a $5 RZ coupon. In the fine print, it says "Redeemable toward the purchase of any eligible product or service with a total purchase of $10 or more. Certificate is ineligible for online purchases."

dvdlover631

Best Buy sucks, they truly do....Circuit City has been kicking their ass lately and I am so sick of going to Worst Buy to price match....

Brian Shannon

Although I truly do hate Best Buy, the RZ coupons have always been like this. Just grab some tic-tacs by the register and add that to the purchase.

fujishig

I have to agree with Brian... of all the crap Best Buy pulls, I actually don't understand the complaint here. It seems reasonable enough to me...

joeblow69

Sorry, but it sounds to me like you were just trying to be difficult. I'd have just thrown in a candy bar or something to make it over $10.

pinata242

I don't get why BB cares. If they take a $10 coupon for a $9.99 item, they come out ahead. Not to mention the whole point of the RZ program is to get us in store anyway, why do they go out of their way to make it a hassle? It isn't like the 2% rebate we're getting is even worth it any more.

amd555

the system would red flag the transaction, and the eemployye might get in trouble for pricing up the item to be $10.

pinata242

Who said anything about the employee doing anything like that? I'm just wondering why the system cares. Just apply a $10 credit and if the transaction balance is < $0, call it even.

josuff247

It was not the typical rewards zone coupn. It was special one they sent. There was fine print on the coupon, but nothing about a minimum purchase. I was not being difficult, they were. If you are going to offer something, honor it. They had nothing to lose here, and technically they make money(i know, who cares about a penny). Plus it is an easy enough situation to apply "the customer is always right" rule.

Agreed this incident is not so bad, but it is just frustrating because virtually anytime I try to price match or something like that, they give me a hard time.
Its like they offer things to stay competitive, but don't want to follow through. It only turns people away. AT this point I fit the bill of the Devil customer, but in the past I have bought TVs, Computers, books and other non loss leader items.

movieguru

Bestbuy usually sells those promotional CD?DVD Rom's for a penny. The discs where you can sign up for AOL, MSN, etc. Just throw one of those on there and your order would be $10. Or add a candybar or 20 oz soda for a dollar or so and problem solved.

Gizmo

Been like this since day 1. Whats greta about it is that it even takes away the tax. So that $20 RZ is actually $21.44 (In SoCal atleast)

Maxflier

I don't see the issue here either.
When you use one of those coupons at BB, it changes the price of the item to whatever it would be after the coupon and i would assume that it isn't possible for their system to have something with a negative price, hence why they expect your purchase to exceed the amount of the coupon.

fitlissa76

On coupon clipping forums we call these people coupon cops. They don't know how to read a coupon properly. If there is a minimum requirement a coupon will always say so. Please call corporate & tell them your experience so they can get in touch with the district manager to train employees on how to properly read coupons. All they have to do is key it in as a $9.99 coupon instead of $10. At most you may have to pay tax on the item, that's up to a store. Most coupons don't cover tax even if the item is free, unless the store's computers are set up to deduct all charges. Some are some aren't.

Sean O'Hara

If you have a problem like this, take it to the manager instead of complaining to the employee. The employee only knows what he's been told about the store policy, and you're asking him to violate it and potentially get in trouble. Either he misunderstands what the policy is, in which case he needs a supervisor to correct him, or you're misreading the coupon, in which case its better to get a boss to decide whether to violate store policy instead of risking getting a wage-slave into trouble.

Shannon Nutt

The best buy coupons all clearly state:

So you clearly need to buy something or a combination of something priced $10 or higher. You should have just picked up a Pepsi with your purchase.

Sweet Baby James

See post #10. He said that it was a different coupon than the typical RZ one.

X

Every checker I've had at Best Buy except one who I now avoid (he's like a lawyer reading the fine print) lets these things through. I recently used a $5 RZ coupon on an $8 purchase. I had to get something fast because it was expiring that day. No problem. So I don't see that the register did anything to stop it.

Just the other day I used one of their 30% off computer accessory coupons on a $40 DVD burner. I think that item isn't classified as a computer accessory, rather a peripheral, but I figured why not give it a try? I forgot the coupon was only supposed to be used for over $100 purchases. The register stopped that one so the checker called over a manager who keyed in an override. I thought that was nice but only later when I remembered the "over $100" part did I know how nice that was.

josuff247

I should have pointed out that, this discussion was with the manager. And I should also point out that I was never rude. I was boiling inside, but handled it professionally.

As far as the coupon goes, there was definately nothing about a minimum. I know best buy always trys to find a loop hole, so I made sure before I made the purchase.

And honestly, had I thought of it, I would have bought candy or a soda just to save the hassle (although, that still would not change the fact that they were wrong).

joeblow69

This was making you boil inside? I suggest you just stop shopping at stores where you are convinced that they are doing everything they can to screw you. You're just going to give yourself an ulcer. Either that, or try to mellow out a bit before you go!

josuff247

Yes, I agree it's not much to "boil" about, but it is kind of like the straw that broke the camels back.

tonyc3742

When I've used this type of coupon, as long as it hasn't said "minimum purchase required", it's been treated as "up to 10.00 off". Sometimes I'd rather get something for 9.00, free, than have to pay anything out of pocket.
BB definitely does seem like they are trying to nickel and dime us to death.

CaptStormy

Consider yourself lucky that you got a 10 coupon. I joined in Dec 05 and did not get one.

Sekots

When I worked at Best Buy as a cashier people would have this problem all the time and most of the time if the customer was cool when I told them I would just bump up the price to $10.01. But if that customer was an ass to me, I'm not gonna help them out. Most of the time I would bump up the price, but I was there a year and not once did I get in trouble for it.

fitlissa76

Yeah, I don't do RZ, but do occasionally get BB coupons in the mail. On the rare occasion, maybe once a year, I'll get a coupon like this with no specified amount on it. I'm a major coupon clipper, so I read everything & know that, although rare, it does happen from time to time that there are no minimum purchase specifications.