We saw this on Associated Press last week but did think it was relevant for our area. Well, unfortunately it has arrived and here is the proof from Reader R… who made this purchases in Mobile, Alabama store on Saturday.

As you can see from the receipt Reader R… used a $4/2 coupon for salsa, which was on sale for $3.44 each. Reader R should have paid $1.44 each ($2.88 total) but instead Reader R… paid $1.72 each ($3.44 total). A total of 4 jars were purchased, two $4/2 coupons were used, this is a $1.12 ERROR!

There were some other coupon errors as well, several Wish Bone coupons were not applied, and other manufacture coupons were scanned but not credited.  This may seem not worth the bother for such a small amount, but from what we can tell this has been going on for a while and Target has been notified of this.

Keep in mind that all stores get reimbursed from the manufacture the full coupon amount from the purchase and stores also negotiated sales and store coupon reimbursement with the manufacture as well. So Target is not only making money on every coupon redeemed ($.08 over the value) they are REALLY making money on not giving the full coupon credit to the consumer.  We wonder if they are counting on the fact that most consumers would not return to the store with their receipts? We will tell you that Reader R… is on the way to the store today and we would be as well.

Here is the article:

Target Accused Of Not Giving Full Value On Coupons

Amy Gunderson, of Oakdale, said she started noticing that Target stores weren’t redeeming her coupons to the full amount.

Amy Gunderson has four good reasons to clip coupons — her kids.

“I have two in college this year, and I’m going back, and I’ll have another one starting college next year, and one two years after that,” Gunderson said.

The Oakdale mom started clipping coupons last year. She wasn’t alone. According to Inmar, a transaction processing firm, coupon use jumped 27 percent in 2009.

Back in June, Gunderson started noticing something strange when she shopped at Target. She wasn’t getting the full value listed on some of her coupons.

“At first I thought, ‘What the heck?’ So you know, I went a couple more times, and I had great cashiers. They fixed it for me. They hadn’t seen it before either, so they didn’t know what they were looking at,” she said.

She shopped around and found she had the same problem at other Target stores but not at other retailers.

Gunderson complained in person and on the phone and even started talking to other coupon clippers she met online. She found out she wasn’t the only one getting shorted at Target.

“It’s happened across the country,” she said. “Across Minnesota, different stores. It’s not just local. It’s not just at the Targets here.”

It wasn’t an easy decision for Gunderson to talk about Target coupon problems. She didn’t want to get the retailer in trouble.

“If one time, someone would have said, ‘We’re aware that there is a problem, and we’re trying to fix it, I would have been, ‘You know what? That’s fine. I will keep an eye on it until it’s fixed,’” she said.

That never happened.

“It’s just frustrating to go up to customer service, and they’re all very nice, no one’s ever rude,” she said. However, “it’s always the first time they’ve heard of it.”

On Monday, Gunderson had a coupon for $4 off if she bought 10 Weight Watchers Smart Ones meals. A WCCO-TV crew went along with her to the North St. Paul Target to redeem that coupon. Her receipt shows — Target only took $1.99 off her bill, not $4.

“It all adds up, and they’ll get the full four dollars,” she said.

Gunderson’s advice to Target shoppers: Look closely or risk not getting the full value.

“If you’re not paying attention,” she said, “you’re not getting the value of the coupon you’re submitting.”

Target said it didn’t know about the coupon problem until WCCO called them. Reached by phone on Monday afternoon, Target spokesperson Jenn Glass said, “We are working on a fix. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused our guests. They can certainly return to a store with receipts if they didn’t receive the complete coupon amount.”

When asked if Target received the extra coupon money that customers weren’t getting, Glass said she could not comment.

Check your receipts and know the value of your coupons before you leave the store!

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This entry was posted by Frances on Monday, August 30th, 2010 at 9:44 am and is filed under Grocery Store Deals, Target. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.