Walgreens WALGREENS REGISTER REWARDS M-I-S-L-E-A-D-I-N-G!!! Bakersfield, California

I am part of the management with Walgreens and unfortunately the register rewards program can be confusing. Most people think that walgreens is responsible for these programs because they are advertised in our flyers. While walgreens is a partner in these promotions, it is the makers of the products who are ultimately offering these rewards to you, through the catalina marketing company. On occasion these register rewards do not print either due to a network error, or printer error or some other reason.

All we can do to remedy this is to print out a form which you can mail in with a copy of your receipt to receive the coupon by mail. I have had this happen to me on several occasions and wish there was something that i could do. I have had people tell me to give them money off of their purchase which we are not able to just do. If it was just a walgreens sale we would and should be more than happy to correct the problem. However, when it is a manufacturing coupon issue we cann not due that as it would be coupon fraud on our part to enter something into our registers and if my cashiers were to do that it would also show up as a shortage from their register and they make get into trouble for coming up as short, coupons translate like cash in the registers. we get a check from the manufacturers when we submit the coupons. without them it is a loss for the store and company. I hop this helped to clear it up a little.

To the unhappy customer,

This is Walgreen's Conduct to customer, lure you in with saving money and then decide to take your money to fill their fat pockets.

See, they said that they are concern with customer but in reality, are concern protecting $100 worth of cosmetics, protect their cash cow, not worry about customers, promote bad employees and firing great employees.

Oh yeah and as far as Jessica and that manager, soon as Walgreen's sees this report, they will go to them and say, "good for you and we will promote you."

I would tell everyone out there not to shop at WALGREENS any more, take you money over to CVS. Start telling the media and I would file a complaint with your state's AG. They need to know about this.

It is time to expose the scum that they are.

"Buy 3 items for $10 - Get $4 cash register rewards good on next purchase
Buy 6 items for $20 - Get $12 cash register rewards good on next purchase"

It says there, in plain English, "buy 6 items fo $20". How can you get the rewards if you don't spend $20?

While the manager was probably wrong to bring up the subject of "abuse" in this instance, the fact of the matter is that there ARE people who try to abuse the system. We had to put out an alert on one woman because she took advantage of so many stores that we ended up owing her money - this woman tried to use six coupons (exageration) on a single item.

I had a woman come in having looked up a procedure on the internet so that she bought things in a specific order. She bought several vitamins and other various items. She spent perhaps 50 cents on each ticket and ended up with at least $100 in register rewards, if not more. This is the reason were were always very, very careful about coupons.

If the manager and employee were rude then, yes, you have every right to complain. However, you are wrong to think you were ripped off because your purchase did not fufill the requirements - you didn't spend $20, now did you?

I know this is an old article but I had to respond.

QUOTE:
There was no need to read the fine print.

'Buy 3 items for $10 - Get $4 cash register rewards good on next purchase
Buy 6 items for $20 - Get $12 cash register rewards good on next purchase'

It says there, in plain English, 'buy 6 items fo $20'. How can you get the rewards if you don't spend $20?...

RESPONSE:
As one of the other employee respondents posted. Coupons are treated by the register and the company as equivalent to cash since the manufacturer reimburses Walgreens in FULL for each coupon that is redeemed. Therefore as long as she spent more than $20 BEFORE coupons on those 6 items then YES she should have received her Register Rewards.

I realize you are a former employee but the lack of training on proper coupon policy to employees and managers at many stores not just Walgreens can be very frustrating to us consumers. There is no reason we should be treated as some sort of criminal just because we are trying to save money with coupons and register rewards. It can be so frustrating that one store will treat me like a respected customer and even special order in additional items when I remind them of a particularly good sale coming up. Where as others have actually refused to sell items to me that had store coupons even if I offered to buy it without the coupon, just because I had used the coupon earlier that week to buy it. Giving me some song and dance about needing to keep some on the shelves for other customers even though their shelf was fully stocked and I was only trying to buy a small fraction of what was there.

QUOTE:
I had a woman come in having looked up a procedure on the internet so that she bought things in a specific order. She bought several vitamins and other various items. She spent perhaps 50 cents on each ticket and ended up with at least $100 in register rewards, if not more. This is the reason were were always very, very careful about coupons...

RESPONSE:
Again as long as she was using the appropriate coupons and/or register rewards for each transaction it makes no difference if she paid 50-cents in cash or even less. As I state before. The stores are reimbursed in FULL by the manufacturer for each coupon a customer uses. In addition each Register Rewards program at Walgreens is negotiated with the participating manufacturers and again the MANUFACTURER reimburses Walgreens for each Register Reward that is used. So Walgreens has not I repeat NOT lost any profit by accepting these coupons and rewards.

In all actuality Walgreens benefits from the savvy coupon shopper as we spend more "money" in their stores than the average shopper. Before I started using coupons and following register reward programs I probably purchased around $500 of product per year Walgreens. Now I easily purchase over $2,000. and am able to donate what I don't need to local causes.

If anyone is "losing" on these deals it is the manufacturers who have to reimburse all the stores for the coupons that are being used. But come on if they didn't want people to use the coupons the manufacturer didn't have to put them in the Sunday Papers or post them on there company websites for printing.

I had to laugh when I read this report. I had a similar problem at my local Walgreen's today. I bought an item, used a manufacturers coupon and didn't get the Register Reward I was entitled to. The excuse used by both the cashier and the manager was "I think if you use a coupon, it won't give you the reward." Why? Walgreen's gets the money back on the coupon from the manufacturer. If that were indeed the case, then something is very wrong. My using a coupon should not affect me getting a Register Reward at all. I've used them before and never had a problem.

I made a complaint via email and want them to call me back on it. We'll see if it happens. I've not had very good luck with contacting Walgreen's Customer Service via email in the past.

It was only $1.00 but it's the principle of the thing. Don't advertise something unless the system works. If there are restrictions, you as a company have an obligation to advertise the restrictions. No where on the Register Rewards information does it say anything about restrictions on using manufacturers coupons.

We'll see what happens...

I ended up calling the Walgreen's customer service number when I didn't get a call from them as requested. Basically it comes down to the fact that the company that controls the coupon machine decides what the rules are. And yes, if you use a manufacturers coupon, you won't get your register rewards. The person I spoke to was apologetic but basically, it's out of their control. I made it very clear that even though it was out of their control, it reflects badly on the Walgreen's name, which they agreed with. I definitely won't make that mistake again, any store other than Walgreen's will get my business when I have a coupon. So Walgreen's, even though the company that control the coupon machines is ultimately responsible, you're the ones that will lose the business. Lesson learned.

I thought that these register rewards could be used as 'walgreen currency' regardless of expiration date, number of items, etc. I had register rewards from a month ago and went in today to use them. B/c of the expiration date, I was unable to do so. If it were CVS I could have, b/c they don't care if the expiration date has passed. I love CVS. And sorry to say walgreens I will never shop at your store anymore, no matter what deals you have. b/c you know what? CVS will match it! HAHA

I've never had a problem with my CVS card. My reward money is always posted, no matter what. Walgreen just opened a store in my town, but I doubt it will last long. You just cannot expect to treat customers in this manner and hope to survive.

As a former manager for Walgreen's we absolutely HATED This program. Even when the customer did everything correctly they would not print about 35% of the time. The manager who said that nothing could be done if the machine would not print out the coupon is wrong. Simply re-ring the purchase, enter the total as cash and it will always print this way. You then need to void (total 34 enter) the sale. This was done at all the stores I was at as it is so problematic. Loss prevention can go F themselves if they have a problem with the voids. They could not figure their way out of a paper bag much less provide good customer service to customers.

I just wanted to point out a few things in the Register Rewards program.  I am a current employee at Walgreens, and take advantage of the RR program.  Just yesterday I bought three products from one brand, used three coupons from the same brand, and got a few other items (w/out coupons) all for under $1 and got $6 back in RR's.  There are many little things that make it difficult for customers who don't pay attention.  You CAN use manufacturer coupons on RR items and still get the RR back afterward.  In your case, if you were supposed to buy $20 worth of product, here's what I would do...

1.  Have the cashier ring up the RR item/s and press subtotal so that you can make sure the items are definitely over the stated amt needed. 

2.  THEN she can ring up any other items,

3.  and last your coupons. 

**If you were supposed to buy $20 worth of product, don't expect it to let you slide with $19.99. 

**Also, RR's are picky so...  If you buy a P&G item that is not one of the items with a sign underneath stating the RR deal, most likely you are not going to receive the RR.

** Finally, do not use a P&G brand RR if expecting to receive one from the same distributor. IT WILL NOT WORK.  Even if it was from another deal at another time, a RR will not spit out of the Catalina if you used one from the same brand. 

These things are all rules set by manufacturers and Catalina Co, and not by Walgreens.

Also, there are always employees/managers who have bad days, and those who are just unkind as there are in EVERY store.  Don't blame the company.  Walgreens takes every precaution possible to ensure that customer service is the number one priority.  I know this for a fact. I try to help customers in finding deals through the Catalina, or if they didn't realize that they only picked one of a BOGO Free deal.  Almost everyone in the store I work at does.  It is very rash and irrational to tell someone not to shop at a certain company due to one bad employee out of millions.  It does happen, however, that you can follow all the rules, but the Catalina just has problems with certain items.  Just tell the manager calmly that you realize all of the rules, point out the sign, and remind them that Manufacturer coupons do NOT have any effect in the printing of the RR's, and they will give you a form to fill out and mail to Catalina.  Then you will get your coupon.  Yes, it is a pain, but sometimes it is just out of our hands.

If you people wont to use coupons then you need to learn the rules from the Manufactures. If Walgreens offers a $5.00 register reward (witch is a manufactures copon) on a P&G item and you wont to use a P&G coupon that you cut out of Sundays paper,you will not get that register reward.That is the rule from the manufacture and not Walgreens!!! If a register reward tag states,spend $20.00 and get a $5.00 register reward,then you have to spend $20.00 out of your pocket.Now if you use manufactures coupons and you total drops below $20.00 then you will not get that register reward.Thats the manufactures rule and not Walgreens!!! The manufacture wonts you to spend $20.00 out of pocket and nothing less.But keep in mind if it is a P&G offer and you use P&G coupons and your total is still over $20.00,you still will get that register reward.You can not ues a manufacture coupon and get a manufacture from the same manufacture.Look at the bottom of your register reward and it will tell what manufature gave you the register reward.   

So do your homework and reserch befor you bash a company due to your own stupid self!!!!!!

By the way, i dont work for Walgreens,im a proud customer  

...I encountered such cases myself among customers, felt sympathetic to these customers and I can understand your frustration.  I am glad to be an EX employee.  There are several issues at Walgreen which they need to convey...IN WRITING.

 

 

Wow aren't you just a happen person! I beg to differ. Just Saturday, I went to Walgreens and had a manufacturers coupon for $4 off a razor. The Wags ad stated get $5.00 RR when you buy the razor. Retail price was $9.89. The very nice cashier told me that if I used the coupon, I would not get the RR. I was completely confused as this has never been the case before. I asked her if she could try it and we will see and it took the $4 coupon and gave me the $5.00 RR. This was AFTER the cashier had told me her manager told her it wouldn't print. Wags refuses to make their coupon policy public so I have no idea if this is or is not the corporate policy. What I do know is that it seems to vary by store and by cashier. I don't feel that I'm breaking any coupon laws by using a coupon to buy a product and then getting an additional coupon to use on my next purchase of a different product. It's a reward for buying the item, nowhere does it say you must purchase the item at full price. If I have a coupon, why wouldn't I use it? If the ad clearly stated "You must purchase all RR items at regular price to receive the RR", we would all know that is the policy. If that is indeed Wags policy, and they would publish it in writing, I would have no problem adhering to their rules. Otherwise, I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong by being a smart consumer.