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Report: #457171

Complaint Review: Walgreens - Houston Texas

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  • Reported By: Houston Texas
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  • Walgreens www.walgreens.com Houston, Texas U.S.A.

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Several employees at my store were fired for using a valid Walgreens coupon for a free 16oz bottle of Iceland Pure water that was valid for all of 2008 -- the expiration date on the coupon was given as 12/31/08. Most of my store's employees (managers too) had used it just like any coupon (like all valid Walgreens store coupons, it had a four-digit code that when typed in activates the sale price) over the course of many months.

Suspiciously, on THE DAY BEFORE the coupon's expiration (12/30/08) a woman from loss prevention came in and tried to round up any employees who had bought the water with the coupon. She called them into the office one by one and told them all they had been "stealing" by using this VALID Walgreens store coupon (?!). She also made vague accusations of shoplifting, claiming that the employees were caught "on tape" doing these things, but when her accusations were challenged by the accused, she quickly changed the subject.

Oddly, as grave as the Loss Prevention worker made it sound, out of the entire store the only employees fired over it were the ones who were full-time employees with benefits (with a new year of benefits about to begin in just a day). The other, newer employees (incidentally, without benefits) who were questioned and said that they too had used the coupon were only suspended a couple of days!

Would like to know if any other employees have been fired over this. Since this was a VALID, in-store Walgreens coupon (active a year), used by consumers and employees alike all over the country (Walgreen managers included), it's likely that the Walgreens company has been using this coupon, through Loss Prevention, as a means to fire employees who used it buy the water last year, claiming it as "employee theft".

Anonymous
Houston, Texas
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 05/31/2009 09:47 PM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/walgreens/houston-texas/walgreens-wrongful-termination-employees-fired-over-coupon-for-free-water-houston-texas-457171. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
20Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#20 Consumer Comment

To the comment with fraud on their background.

AUTHOR: Aaron - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, April 15, 2011

A store can not just add that to a background check.  They can however if they choose give this info to future employers that call for a reference.  Though every company I know of keeps this to themselves to avoid lawsuits by former employees.

To the OP and anyone who used this coupon.  I doubt anyone was fired for using the coupon.  I am sure everyone was fired for abusing the coupon code.  Did you all really believe it was ok to get water for free all year long?  Did you offer free water to all your customers?  Of course not.   You all knew it was wrong and continued to do it.

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#19 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Terminated for coupon fraud

AUTHOR: SE123 - (United States of America)

POSTED: Saturday, November 20, 2010

"coupon use Dogdonut - Mukwonago (, U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Monday, June 01, 2009 POSTED: Monday, June 01, 2009 At the store I was at everyone used the register rewards (between $1-$10 off )all of the time. They would print out and many customers did not want them so everyone else (employee/management) used them. There was even extra in the office the manager kept in the desk drawer for us to use. Everyone saved a TON of money by combining multiple coupons and getting their employee discount. This was a much better deal that a free water coupon (of which I maybe saw 3-4 come through at most). I think you were shafted! The loss prevention for our district was too busy dressing like a teenager (age was 50 plus) and walking around the store like she had a broom stick up her a**. What a worthless piece of s*** she was! I say this to you as you will not get much from these bottom feeding cop wanna bees. This was a bad job anyway. You should be happy to be out of there!"

 

Responding to this post. The employees at our store did this too. I was told it was acceptable. Next thing you know Im being interrogated by LP and the store manager about a week until I begin drawing my benefits (i had only worked there over 2 months).

They had no proof. It was 2 $1 coupons and one $5, all of which were found, not taken from customers. They told me that they could track the coupons. After an hour of interrogation, and myself being very ill (double inner ear infections and sinus infections with horrible anxiety disorder), they made me sign a paper admitting to it. I had no idea what I had gotten myself in to by signing it. They put fraud on my background even though i was no prosecuted and cops were not called. They said i'd get a letter from their lawyer making me pay several hundred dollars for the salary of the managers that investigated this "case". They said if I did not pay it, I would be issued a warrant and taken to court. I waited for 4 months and never got it. The fraud was just put on my record in late 2010 when the ordeal occured in early 2009. I live in constant fear now because I have moved. I cannot get a job now because of the fraud on my background check. How long does it stay on the record? Is there anything I can do about it?

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#18 Consumer Comment

EEOC

AUTHOR: zappo - (United States of America)

POSTED: Sunday, January 31, 2010

Here is a suggestion, if you were unfairly treated by Walgreen's.  Maybe check into the EEOC and see if you can file a complaint with them.  Employee have rights too.  The EEOC has guidelines.  If your criteria meets it, you can file a complaint with the EEOC against Walgreens.  Good Luck to YOU!

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#17 UPDATE Employee

Ethics for Employees.

AUTHOR: Wagmgr - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, January 29, 2010

A few questions for anyone who thinks the employees who used the coupons were treated unfairly:

Question 1:  Was the coupon for the free water readily available to anyone who wanted it?

Answer 1: No, the coupon was only available inside a booklet that retailed for about $20-$25.

Question 2: Does the company stand to lose money by employees using the coupon over and over again?

Answer 2: Yes, if the employees would have paid full retail, but instead the money came out of Walgreens' pocket, then of course the company stands to lose money by employees using the coupons.

Question 3: If it looks like a a regular coupon, how are we supposed to know?

Answer 3:  Again, were the coupons available to you?  Did you have to re-use ones already redeemed by customers, or did you manually enter in the code?  If you do not have access to the coupons, YOU SHOULD NOT BE USING THEM.

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#16 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Iceland Water "coupon"

AUTHOR: goldenry41 - (United States of America)

POSTED: Thursday, January 28, 2010

The following happened in July of 2009:

Bottom line, in my store in Camas, me and my manager were fired for using this "iceland pure water" coupon for a free water. It is true that almost the entire store was using the coupon I might add, including pharmacy. I was employed at the store for 5 years an my manager, (who gave everyone else permission to use it) was there for 8 years, but we are no longer because of this coupon. We thought, because it was an in-store coupon, that it was no different than our other "in-store" coupons like in our weekly circular ads. This means that coupon limits can be ignored (by discretion of management) and the coupon is available for customers and employees alike. At least that's the way the coupon is meant to look.

The idiots from loss prevention came into the store and questioned only a few people for using the coupon, but fired only my manager and I. You guessed it, he was the highest payed assistant MGT. and I was the highest payed service clerk, fully enrolled in benefits and working full time. The loss prevention people, and my spineless store manager told us this constitutes theft, and fired only us-not everyone that used it. We also just lost our unemployment benefits that was awarded to us, but was taken away by Walgreens appeal...because of course, they can afford lawyers to talk for them. Now we have to pay back thousands upon thousands of dollars with interest. hmm..sounds like Walgreens made a lot of money off loyal employees in Camas Wa just like in Texas and many other places I'm sure.

Walgreen's is a joke. They do not truly care for their employees, as a matter of fact they victimize them. I will always do what I can to raise awareness about the company they truly are, but I'm sure they will be just fine because after all Walgreens is the pharmacy "america trusts."

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#15 UPDATE Employee

coupon mis use or so they say for employees

AUTHOR: sball - (United States of America)

POSTED: Saturday, January 16, 2010

very interesting I have Lp in my store now investigating a very similar scenario.  And all employees being fired are those with many years and benefits.  This post was very helpful thanks.

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#14 UPDATE Employee

Free Water Coupon was Limited.

AUTHOR: Wagmgr - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, July 29, 2009

As others have stated, this coupon was only to be used by those who purchased the coupon book located in Walgreens' stores. Anyone who uses the coupon code without having bought the coupon book is essentially committing fraud and is stealing from Walgreens. The coupon could legally only be used once, and was to be given to a manager at the end of the night to prevent future use.

As for another poster who said they used register rewards/manufacturer coupons left by customers, this is another case of fraud. I would be surprised if the Store Manager still retained their position if this fraudulent behavior was known to his/her District Manager.

The moral of the story----only use coupons that are yours, and turn them in once used.

Cheers,
-Chris in Portland

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#13 UPDATE Employee

Not The Whole Truth

AUTHOR: Star0709 - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, July 22, 2009

I work for Walgreens in Houston Texas and I know about this coupon very well. In fact in order to get the coupon you had to buy the 25 dollar coupon book that you usually see in the front of stores. There is always one open and on display and I remember a manager coming across the coupon and trying to use it. I as a cashier explained that you could not because you did not buy the book and at the end of the night any free item walgreens coupons are to be turned in and stapled to the cash report in the morning. This is not a coupon to be reused this is a coupon to draw new customers in. I remember hearing about a store that went through 4 cases of water with no profit to show for it. Most stores only received 10 copies of the book so yes you did steal product. Yes the code worked but you did not use it honestly and I as a manager now would have written you up and called loss prevention myself. I might have pleaded your case as far as staying with the company IF you were also hard working and did not steal more than 2. Even that pushes my limits. You were in the wrong.

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#12 UPDATE EX-employee responds

follow up to robert in Irvine

AUTHOR: Dogdonut - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Robert in Irvine:

1. Register Rewards were for between $1-$10 off your next purchase with NO restrictions. There was no fraud involved as per another post suggests. Many employees of other Walgreen's came in and had these coupons from their store and also used them as their stores did like we did as we would ask if they needed some and they already had some from their store.

2. We did frequently give these to customers to use, especially our regular customers.

3. If a particular coupon did not print (and we did not have one in back) we would ring the item up again and tender as cash paid. The coupon would print and the customer would be happy except for the time they had to waste while we did this. We then 34 enter to void the sale out.
My understanding was that corporate knew about the non printing issues but no fix was ever done. Guidance was asked for but none from DM etc ever came.

4. I do not "hate" anyone. When I have loss prevention people come in, bark orders at us and interrupt us while we were serving customers, bring merchandise to the photo/COS to buy and then not buy it and leaving it for us to put away, yelling because there is no seal on an obscure roof hatch when we can barley get our work done and generally waste our time I/we got a bit upset.

5. I feel that the store manager was only "spreading the wealth" regarding letting us use these register rewards and even having extra in the office for us to use. This is one of the few good things I could say about this manager.

6. Everyone, and I am not exaggerating, hated loss prevention for these and other reasons. I have personally seen them set people up by dropping a $20 bill on the floor and watching to see if an employee would pick it up and turn it in. I have heard them discussing how to get rid of this or that employee. These are facts! I can not respect people like this. IE-bottom feeding failed cop wanna bees.

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#11 Consumer Comment

No Wonder..

AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Dougdonut it's no wonder you and the other employees hate Loss Prevention.

From what you said here you kept coupons that were printed as a result of someone else's purchase. Regardless of if they wanted htem or not. If those coupons had any restrictions such as they were meant for that person only, then the only one's comitting fraud were you and the other employees/managers.

Now, if there were no restrictions your greed still outweighed customer service. Because there are many reports on here how the "Register Rewards" never print. Which is interesting since you ended up with a drawer full. So perhaps you(and the other employees) should have opened up that drawer and give the coupons to those people in those cases. But I guess that is too easy and logical if you are trying to provide good customer service.

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#10 Consumer Comment

No Wonder..

AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Dougdonut it's no wonder you and the other employees hate Loss Prevention.

From what you said here you kept coupons that were printed as a result of someone else's purchase. Regardless of if they wanted htem or not. If those coupons had any restrictions such as they were meant for that person only, then the only one's comitting fraud were you and the other employees/managers.

Now, if there were no restrictions your greed still outweighed customer service. Because there are many reports on here how the "Register Rewards" never print. Which is interesting since you ended up with a drawer full. So perhaps you(and the other employees) should have opened up that drawer and give the coupons to those people in those cases. But I guess that is too easy and logical if you are trying to provide good customer service.

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#9 Consumer Comment

No Wonder..

AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Dougdonut it's no wonder you and the other employees hate Loss Prevention.

From what you said here you kept coupons that were printed as a result of someone else's purchase. Regardless of if they wanted htem or not. If those coupons had any restrictions such as they were meant for that person only, then the only one's comitting fraud were you and the other employees/managers.

Now, if there were no restrictions your greed still outweighed customer service. Because there are many reports on here how the "Register Rewards" never print. Which is interesting since you ended up with a drawer full. So perhaps you(and the other employees) should have opened up that drawer and give the coupons to those people in those cases. But I guess that is too easy and logical if you are trying to provide good customer service.

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#8 Consumer Comment

No Wonder..

AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Dougdonut it's no wonder you and the other employees hate Loss Prevention.

From what you said here you kept coupons that were printed as a result of someone else's purchase. Regardless of if they wanted htem or not. If those coupons had any restrictions such as they were meant for that person only, then the only one's comitting fraud were you and the other employees/managers.

Now, if there were no restrictions your greed still outweighed customer service. Because there are many reports on here how the "Register Rewards" never print. Which is interesting since you ended up with a drawer full. So perhaps you(and the other employees) should have opened up that drawer and give the coupons to those people in those cases. But I guess that is too easy and logical if you are trying to provide good customer service.

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#7 Consumer Comment

Wow

AUTHOR: Ashley - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, June 02, 2009

""At the store I was at everyone used the register rewards (between $1-$10 off )all of the time. They would print out and many customers did not want them so everyone else (employee/management) used them. There was even extra in the office the manager kept in the desk drawer for us to use. Everyone saved a TON of money by combining multiple coupons and getting their employee discount. This was a much better deal that a free water coupon (of which I maybe saw 3-4 come through at most). I think you were shafted! The loss prevention for our district was too busy dressing like a teenager (age was 50 plus) and walking around the store like she had a broom stick up her a*s. What a worthless piece of s**t she was! I say this to you as you will not get much from these bottom feeding cop wanna bees. This was a bad job anyway. You should be happy to be out of there!""


I'm surprised you weren't terminated for all of this. You were committing coupon fraud. If the supplier of your coupons, or the manufacturer found out what you were doing you could have gotten in some serious trouble.

I"ve worked somewhere that had these catalina printers for coupons, and we were instructed to throw them away if the customer did not want them. It was a violation of the contract we had with the coupon company if we kept them since we did not purchase the items.

Good job on committing fraud! I wish you luck at your next criminal endeavor.

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#6 Consumer Comment

Wow

AUTHOR: Ashley - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, June 02, 2009

""At the store I was at everyone used the register rewards (between $1-$10 off )all of the time. They would print out and many customers did not want them so everyone else (employee/management) used them. There was even extra in the office the manager kept in the desk drawer for us to use. Everyone saved a TON of money by combining multiple coupons and getting their employee discount. This was a much better deal that a free water coupon (of which I maybe saw 3-4 come through at most). I think you were shafted! The loss prevention for our district was too busy dressing like a teenager (age was 50 plus) and walking around the store like she had a broom stick up her a*s. What a worthless piece of s**t she was! I say this to you as you will not get much from these bottom feeding cop wanna bees. This was a bad job anyway. You should be happy to be out of there!""


I'm surprised you weren't terminated for all of this. You were committing coupon fraud. If the supplier of your coupons, or the manufacturer found out what you were doing you could have gotten in some serious trouble.

I"ve worked somewhere that had these catalina printers for coupons, and we were instructed to throw them away if the customer did not want them. It was a violation of the contract we had with the coupon company if we kept them since we did not purchase the items.

Good job on committing fraud! I wish you luck at your next criminal endeavor.

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#5 Consumer Comment

Wow

AUTHOR: Ashley - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, June 02, 2009

""At the store I was at everyone used the register rewards (between $1-$10 off )all of the time. They would print out and many customers did not want them so everyone else (employee/management) used them. There was even extra in the office the manager kept in the desk drawer for us to use. Everyone saved a TON of money by combining multiple coupons and getting their employee discount. This was a much better deal that a free water coupon (of which I maybe saw 3-4 come through at most). I think you were shafted! The loss prevention for our district was too busy dressing like a teenager (age was 50 plus) and walking around the store like she had a broom stick up her a*s. What a worthless piece of s**t she was! I say this to you as you will not get much from these bottom feeding cop wanna bees. This was a bad job anyway. You should be happy to be out of there!""


I'm surprised you weren't terminated for all of this. You were committing coupon fraud. If the supplier of your coupons, or the manufacturer found out what you were doing you could have gotten in some serious trouble.

I"ve worked somewhere that had these catalina printers for coupons, and we were instructed to throw them away if the customer did not want them. It was a violation of the contract we had with the coupon company if we kept them since we did not purchase the items.

Good job on committing fraud! I wish you luck at your next criminal endeavor.

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#4 UPDATE EX-employee responds

coupon use

AUTHOR: Dogdonut - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, June 01, 2009

At the store I was at everyone used the register rewards (between $1-$10 off )all of the time. They would print out and many customers did not want them so everyone else (employee/management) used them. There was even extra in the office the manager kept in the desk drawer for us to use. Everyone saved a TON of money by combining multiple coupons and getting their employee discount. This was a much better deal that a free water coupon (of which I maybe saw 3-4 come through at most). I think you were shafted! The loss prevention for our district was too busy dressing like a teenager (age was 50 plus) and walking around the store like she had a broom stick up her a*s. What a worthless piece of s**t she was! I say this to you as you will not get much from these bottom feeding cop wanna bees. This was a bad job anyway. You should be happy to be out of there!

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#3 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Loss Prevention are bottom feeding cop wanna-bees!

AUTHOR: Dogdonut - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, June 01, 2009

ExWAGemployee:
The Loss Prevention h*o for our district has a lot in common with a tampon! They are both stuck up c***. You will be lied to by these lawyer/cop wannabes and when you demand proof of a accusation they can or wont produce it. You are guilty until proven innocent. I demanded that they watch the tape of my supposed theft all the way through. When they finally did they could see the disabled man making his way out of the store several minutes after I walked out with merchandise I supposedly was stealing. I had been helping him to the car with his purchases. I can't believe these retarded turds and the time they waste on groundless activities!

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#2 Consumer Comment

Wow...

AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, June 01, 2009

This plan you think they came up with is great. More employers should create coupons for the sole purpose of firing employees who they don't want to continue to give benefits to.

More likely what happend was that these employees used the coupon out of the "terms" thinking that they wouldn't get fired over a measly bottle of water. Because if the coupon said something like "Limit 1 per customer" and they got 2, then that could be considered theft. If they ever used the "code" without the coupon that again could be seen as a violation so they could get fired. The ones fired were the full time employees where it is generally seen that they should "know better", so they are usually given less leaway.

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#1 Consumer Comment

Missing info?

AUTHOR: Lana - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, June 01, 2009

When did you use the coupon? its 2009. What are the stores policy on employees and coupons? and last, how many of these store coupons did the employees use? I have a feeling SOME of the workers probably took advantage of the free coupon, and probably used other free coupons in a abusive manner.IE.. used 50 free coupons etc.. I find it hard to believe a large good company like Walgreens is cheating employees, getting rid of them over benifits.

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