And that's why I didn't tell them "I have a 50% off coupon." I just tell them I have a coupon, and act surprised when I find out it is 50% off. If I was questioned like you were, I would have said "The online code I received was for 50% off, so I assumed the store coupon was the same."

In regards to Ship-to-Home pre-orders, I ordered Star Wars and Simpsons World from the customer service desk. They can process the Ship to Home order, and then you go up front to the regular registers to pay (and use the coupon). This way, I could use coupons in the media area, and then use more at the front registers, making my trip more worthwhile. I never even bothered to print the 30% off coupon. I used nothing but 50% coupons all weekend. I wanted to maximize my savings. If they woulda shut me down, I would have just moved on to the next store...

Really. Well what amazes me is guys (not just you) expecting clerks to just accept additional coupons no one in their right mind would. It's one thing to 'try' to see if they will take 2+ coupons - it's quite another thing to complain about that the clerk did you wrong when they say no. If B&N wanted to give everyone a 50 percent off coupon (or multiple coupons) they would have done so. If they wanted to run a 'take 50 percent off of two discounted items and get the third one free' they would have just done that and foregone the coupons altogether and the line would have been out the door. So stop the nonsense.

They have every right to refuse you when the coupon says "may be redeemed once at any Barnes and Noble store". That's why we always say it's a huge YMMV. If you can use it more than once great but there's no reason to be upset if you can't.

I didn't mean to say that I was upset over not being allowed to use the 50% off coupon more than once that day. I said it was an unpleasant experience because I had to wait in line, she grilled me about the coupon, and then it took a while to complete the transaction (typing stuff into 1 computer and then moving to the register). I wasn't mean in any way to the employee when I asked if I could use a second copy of the same 50% off coupon on a second purchase and she said no because I know it says one per customer. Some employees at some stores will allow the same coupon on separate orders, others freak out and act like they want to call the cops on you just for asking. This employee was the latter. When she said no, I just said OK I wanted to be sure since I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask. I didn't know you could buy media stuff up front.

My main worry is that they'll cancel the preorder, and then I will be upset. If they don't, then it's OK. I will have gotten 1 thing at 50% off which is better than nothing but pales in comparison to many other people's stories using the 50% off coupon multiple times at multiple stores on multiple days combined by B2G1F. My B&N stores are at least 10 miles apart, so I can't (or shall I say won't) easily drive all over the place to get a single item at 50% off. Anyway, I'll say no more about this unless I get an order cancellation.

You've got to be kidding me. I take it you don't get out too often. You just described shopping.

I asked the CSR about this the other day when I was placing my order in store and they said I would get back store credit. That didn't bother me too much since I'll probably spend on whenever they have their Criterion sale again. So you'll probably get back bn store credit if you used cash and the order gets cancelled.

Am I the only one going through coupon withdrawal right now??? I feel like I should be printing some out, and planning my next purchases...
I did find two unused coupons in my car this morning. I could have sworn I used every single one. I think a tear rolled down my cheek when I saw them... Not only are the 50% ones dead, but the $5 off $20 DVD and $5 off $10 CD have strolled into the sunset, probably never to be seen again...

Okay thanks. I think I'll leave The Red Shoes unopened just in case 127 Hours gets canceled. It's my only pre-order that counted as the free item, so I don't want to get screwed paying full price for one.

Kenbenobi, what ever happened with that canceled order? Was customer service able to fix the issue?

Not only am I suffering from coupon withdrawal, I'm also suffering buyer's remorse. "Did I really need to spend that much" and "why didn't I use more coupons" thoughts are competing for attention in my brain.

I'm not sure. She didn't see it canceled in her system, and I don't see it canceled when I check the online status. So perhaps it wasn't really canceled. Or, their system just hasn't been updated yet. I guess I'll find out by tomorrow, seeing as it is still showing as scheduled to ship tomorrow.

Oh yes, those questions have been going through my mind as well... I should have bought every single Doctor Who title I don't already own, plus The Walking Dead, The Pacific, and a ton more BD's... I'm especially kicking myself about Walking Dead, since I am bound to buy it for more money than a 50% off coupon would have been...

Here's what happened to me the first time I used the member 50% off coupon, on Sunday. The cashier looked at it for a minute, literally. He told me he couldn't figure out what to do with it since it didn't list what % off the coupons value was, so he tried to call a manager but said they were busy. I suggested that most coupons work by scanning them and letting the computer do the work. So what does he do, he says lets try 30% and somehow enters a % discount, so my $22 items cost me $14, which honestly doesn't seem right as a 40% discount either, 10% member was applied too.

A few hours later I use the same 50% off member coupon at a different location expecting problems, however this time the cashier knew what they were doing so my $19 item cost me about $8.50.

Overall I think this wasn't the brightest coupon idea in the world, the only good part was the 50%. The unstated value seems like a way to avoid giving the 50% off, which partly backfired for them anyway since the internet exists now. So, I'll see if any good borders coupons show up and possibly return my first item.

The discounts don't stack like that. They do one discount at a time, so a 30% discount plus the 10% member discount would actually be a 37% discount. So a $21.99 title would indeed be $13.85 with both discounts. With the 50% code, it would have been $9.90. So he screwed you out of $3.95+tax by not scanning the coupon. Well, it could have been worse.

Wait until the B&N higher-ups see the figures on what % of the coupons remitted were 50% off!

And then they look to see what members used those coupons, and see that some jerk used TWENTY 50% off coupons...

I had an annoying experience this weekend. I happened to be visiting a friend of mine in Milwaukee and we stopped by a B&N there. I checked out at the main register with a book and tried to use my coupon. She scanned my member card first then looked at the coupon and made some grunting noise. She this won't scan, dug a coupon out of the garbage, scanned it and said "looks like you're getting 15% off". Then she tore up mine and threw it away.
I only used the two 50% coupons once each at the store in my area.
There was quite a line behind me so I didn't put up much of a stink. I'll shoot an email to b&n.com and return the item tomorrow.

I made one more trip since I was in the area and got two more b2g1 orders:

Hamlet
Exorcist
Scot Pilgrim
Robinson Crusoe on Mars
Machete
Jack Goes Boating

All blu for ~$63

Too funny. I used a non-member 50% off on Saturday and my wife went buy on Sunday with the same coupon. The lady said 'this won't scan' and pulled one up that she had sitting by her and scanned that for 15% off. My wife asked if she could try her actual coupon again because it could be higher (as 15% off was near the bottom the available discounts) and the lady said, 'you couldn't possibly know if its higher or not.' So she didn't get the item. Strange.... its like bringing a lottery ticket into a gas station and the guy says he can't read it so he pulls a loser out of the trash and scans that and says 'sorry you lost.'

Or maybe its nothing like that at all. It was something we didn't need anyway, just wanted it because it was 50% off. These coupons are like the Kohl's 30% that come in the mail...........when they come, its just like a bill. I'm perfectly happy and content, then I get one of those and go to Kohl's and suddenly I need all this stuff. Since I lack will power, I'm very vulnerable to marketing.

That's only if they are smart enough to check the total revenue discounted by coupon use and then what that was as a percent of applicable sales and do a postmortem on that. I think it's a coin flip on whether that occurs because if they did, those $5 coupons would have been gone a long time ago. It's likely that some lower-level analyst knows or suspects, but whether his boss wants to deliver the bad news to upper management ... particularly when he may have had a role in this stupidity to begin with ... is questionable.

I just got a cancellation email for Weeds S6 now. Grrrr... This is actually from the same order as Let Me In, which received the cancel email yesterday. So now 2 of the 3 items in that order have received a cancel notice... Only my Simpsons World has shipped, but obviously that wasn't a pre-order. I still have 6 more Ship To Home pre-order items ordered besides the two which may or may not have been canceled...

EDIT: So I called, AGAIN. This time they gave me a reference number. I guess I'll find out tomorrow whether or not Let Me In ships. Weeds doesn't come out for 3 weeks, so lord knows what could happen by then. Videodrome is the 3rd title in the order. Obviously not a pre-order, but it isn't in stock right now, so it might as well be.

Which store? I went to 3 of the 4 in the area... As for emailing bn.com, you won't receive a response. They truly won't care...

Perhaps it will even out. There are people that truly overpay for their DVD's by getting them at B&N. It's like they don't know BB exists! I watched someone buy 3 box sets yesterday, and WITH the B2G1F sale it was over $100 (he didn't have a coupon). I saw the sets he was buying, and know he could get them for $20 or less without searching too hard. He overpaid by a good $50. Many of the people who shop for media at B&N on a regular basis do. I know there are a lot of us smart shoppers in here, but I truly believe we are the minority. Some people don't shop around. Perhaps they're rich, perhaps they're lazy, or perhaps they're just plain stupid.

I was thinking those Kohls coupons are similar too, only with them you and the cashier know what the value is since it says what it is. Its a surprise in the mail, but after you peel back the sticker you know what you're getting and can choose to use it or not. With this last batch of bn coupons nobody knows the value. The customer is not supposed to know it and the cashier doesn't know it either, til they ring it up, or if they can ring it up successfully. There's lots of room for errors in that system.

The one on 76th st. Near that strip mall where CD Plus used to be.