5-1 5-0 Dollar General Called the Po Po On MS Do

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5-1 5-0 Dollar General Called the Po Po About MS Do

Today, I made an unplanned trip to Dollar General.  I had not looked at the ad, so I had no idea what was on sale.  But, since I was in the area, I decided to grab a bunch of soda since today was a $5 off $30 coupon day.  Chips were also on sale B2G1 for different brands.  So, I stocked up on chips and soda.

I often stock up on chips and soda at Dollar General because of their frequent sales and the $5 off coupons.  However, all of that changed today.  After today, I may never shop at a Dollar General store!

After I left the store, I noticed the $5 coupon split and applied to every item on the receipt.  However, I also realized that the sale price had not applied to my order.  I went back in and after much back in forth with the cashier and then the manager, who was insistent that it was correct and that nothing could be done.  I asked a number for management to make a complaint.  Angi told me that she didn’t have one.  When I probed, she said she said that it was in the book she had forgotten at home.  She pointed to my receipt and told me that I could call the number on the survey.  Ummm, yeah!

I calmly explained that as the manager, she had the ability to perform an over ride.  She still wouldn’t budge.    Angi, the manager tried several other excuses and then decided to refund me the difference like I’d asked her to do 15 minutes earlier.  This took forever, because she punched every bar code into the machine by hand.  I asked for the cashier, Julie, who was standing, watching, and doing nothing to get fifteen Sprite and fifteen Coca Cola for me to complete a second transaction.  She continued standing and watching instead.

When my refund was finished, I asked if Angi was going to stand there and correct my second transaction of the thirty sodas if it didn’t work correctly, as she had sworn it was going to do.  The manager, Angi, walked off.  Julie, the cashier, asked me what soda I was talking about.  I told her the ones I asked her to have ready for me to pay for when my refund was ready.  Julie claimed she didn’t hear me, even though I said I wanted to do the transaction three times with both of them standing there and again asked her to get the soda for me.  GREAT customer service!

5-1 5-0 Dollar General Called the Po Po About MS Do

The thirty Sprites and Coca Colas totaled $30, but the coupon would not redeem for an additional $5 off.  Then they decided it must be $30.01 or higher for the coupon to work.  They added something to the order, but the coupon still would not work!  They tried several different coupons, nothing worked.  The manager said she couldn’t do anything.  I asked her why not, since a few minutes before she HAD given me the difference.  She stood and glared at me.  Finally, she looked at the receipt and said that the soda was discounted, so according to the coupon’s rules, I couldn’t use it since the soda was discounted.  WHAT?!?  Coupons can’t be used on sale items now.  WOW!!!

Dollar General Coupon  Dollar General Text Coupon

By this time, I had been dealing with this garbage for 30 minutes.  I asked what she was going to do.  She again said there was nothing she could do.  Others were coming in to work for a shift change.  I suggested she ask for one of them to help her or call the other local store, so that I could pay for my sodas at the given sale price AND use the $5 off coupon.  She just glared at me.  I then volunteered that I had previously called the management team about coupon issues with this store and that I would be calling about her refusal to work with me on the issue.  I also said that I was on Facebook and already filing a complaint with Facebook about the issues at the store.  Again, I asked for a number for someone in management.  She continued glaring at me and I said that it wasn’t a good business practice and asked her what she would do if there were an emergency at the store while she was on duty.

Julie, the cashier, took her cash register tray out, another cashier put hers in, and Julie began walking away.  I asked if they were going to finish my transaction.  She popped off that Angi had gone to the back to figure it out.  I was on the left side of the check stand and she was already on the right side of the right check stand, yelling this at me.  I calmly replied that it would have been nice if either of them had spoken to me about this before walking away and leaving me in line at the cash register.  I moved out of the way so that the new cashier could take care of the next customer.  Julie had walked back toward me and very sarcastically asked me what they should have said.  I began with something along the lines of, “I’m sorry that I have to teach you your job in customer service.  However, what you should have both said is, ‘Ma’am we’re going to go to the back and try to figure this out.”  I pointed out that neither Angi nor she did anything other than walk away and leave me standing in line.  She stormed off to the back.

I moved back out of the way and continued waiting for the manager to return from the office with a resolution to the problem.  A few minutes later, a local police officer presented himself at the front doors of the store.  Yep, being the professional that she is, Angi had called the police on me!  I KNEW it too!  I waved at him, smiled, and said, “I bet you’re here because of me” and invited him to come over and speak with me.  He asked me to step outside to talk instead.

I was as cool as a cucumber, as I had nothing to be ashamed of or to hide, and had done nothing wrong.  Once I walked out with him, I tried to explain what was going on, but Julie interrupted me and then Angi walked up and interrupted me as well.  I asked both of them not to interrupt me that I’d be glad to let them talk after I finished.  The officer told me that this was a civil issue and he was just there because he received a call.  He did volunteer something regarding disturbing the peace when the manager started with a whole crock of lies.  I did ask him if it looked like I was disturbing the peace when he walked in the store and he agreed that when he saw me that no, I was NOT disturbing the peace.

I pointed out to the officer that the manager hadn’t ever asked me to leave the store that she called the police while the cashier claimed the manager was trying to fix the issue.  As soon as Angi, the manager who had no sort of phone number for me, started speaking, she handed me a card with the phone number for Customer Service.  I just laughed and called her a liar to her face and explained to the officer why.  He said not a word, either way.

Dollar General Customer Service 800 Number #I told them all that I would be glad to leave as soon as they removed all of the Dollar General merchandise from my car and issued me a refund.  I explained that I have Multiple Sclerosis (MS and was parked in a handicapped parking with my tag hanging) and that I didn’t have the strength (true story) to keep loading and unloading the groceries that weren’t going home with me.  Julie did unload the items, but asked that I watch so I wouldn’t later claim she had taken anything out of my car.  SERIOUSLY!  I don’t know how the cop kept a straight face!  I asked if I could take his picture, too, but he asked me not to and even said please.  J

After Julie, the cashier, retrieved all of my merchandise from the first horrid transaction, Angi told me to get in line for my refund.  I burst out laughing.  She called the cops because she wanted me to leave the store and then told me to go to the end of the line!  I questioned if she was serious about wanting me to go and wait in line.  YES!  OMG, what kind of IMMATURE customer service I was on the WRONG end of today!!!  If you had called the cops about a disruptive customer, would you have then told her to go back in your store and go to the end of the line???  I think that is clear evidence of what a true threat I must have been.  The cop didn’t escort me back inside of anything.

After more than hour, I was finally leaving from my trip that should have taken me about ten to fifteen minutes and cost me around fifty dollars.  Instead it cost me nothing and it cost Dollar General a very loyal customer who left behind around $75 worth of merchandise.

I have messaged ALL of this to Dollar General on Facebook as well as called the Customer Service number.  The poor customer service agent who answered my call certainly got an earful this afternoon.  Unlike those at the local store, she was very apologetic about the situation, and seemed to think that the coupon should have worked with my transaction.  I should receive a call from upper management in the next one to two business days.

By the way, I don’t really think any other customers even realized what was going on.  People continued coming and going, no one stopped to stare.  I did apologize to the officer for having to come out on a call for a store manager not knowing how to do her job.  I also apologized to the cashier who issued my refund.  I’m sure she ended up putting my merchandise back on the shelf.

So, LONG, LONG story short, if you see me advertise Price Match these Dollar General ad items at Walmart for now on, you will know that there was no resolution to the treatment I received today at my local Dollar General here in Waynesville, Missouri.

Comments

  1. I haven’t had any issues with my DG, but, my Family Dollar – oh yeah! lol I usually get them to give me the DM’s number and I call them – it’s a lot better than CS in another state. Sometimes the DM’s number is even on a paper somewhere on the front window.
    I am sorry you had to go thru that.
    I hope you get it resolved, but, I would sure try and reach out to the DM or RM, much closer and will probably get a better resolution!
    Dian

  2. How ridiculous! The cpn shouldn’t have worked at sale price. However, even if you had been totally wrong, they should have handled it better. The fact that they are wrong makes the mgr’s attitude even worse. Customer service and attitude can make or break a store. It sounds like it’ll break this one.
    BTW, clever title of this.

  3. Just WOW!!!

  4. I am not surprised! I have had similar instances with my Dollar General. Actually, they refused to take my coupons even though their policy states they do take them. After much back and forth with Dollar General management, they agreed to take MY coupons (because I had an email from management) but no one elses???? Say what??? How is that fair and how is that doing what their corporate policy states? I HATE Dollar General and avoid it like the plague! They are the most unfriendly store I have ever been in!

    Good for you for standing up to them!

  5. teresa mccluskey says

    OMG this is horrible I have never in my lifetime seen or heard of customer service this bad! Honestly I love their $5 off $30 coupon! But if they treat people this bad why go there? I would much rather pay the extra at a store I know I would be respected at! And as far as the workers I think they need to be fired and new ones need to be in place (asap) I wonder how many people she treats like this on a daily bases!

  6. I’m just not a fan of dollar general to begin with. I’m so sorry they treated you this way and I’m betting that after you talk with upper management you will be getting some FREE items. When they issue you that gift card for your bad experience, I would go back to the same store with more $5 off…make sure the same person is there and let her know that because of her stupid actions she now will take a hit on her bonus. That is of course if she doesn’t get fired over this!

  7. You already know how I feel about the DG. The ones here don’t know how to do the coupons either. I quit going because it was more of a hassle than it was worth. So sorry you had this experience today. It was totally unacceptable.

  8. Wow! You certainly have a right to be upset. I will keep following also to see if Dollar General Corporate takes action and resolves this. However like you, I won’t sent my fans to Dollar General instead I too will price match ads for them to another store.
    Thanks for sharing. What a day for you. Imagine how many others they treat like that:(

  9. Ok, I have never heard of anyone getting such shitty service and especially when a manager was involved. That one store makes the whole company look ridiculous!

  10. That is crazy. As often as you shop there you would think they would figure out how to redeem the coupons. Walmart will gladly price match, but it is a little more of a drive.

  11. I saw the whole incident. You talked to those associates like they were dogs. You were also explained to numerously why the coupon would not work and you screeched they better fix it or you would not leave until they did. You have some nerve treating associates who not only explained the policy several times like they are beneath you. They verified the policy and then you yelled at them for taking the time to do it. Perhaps you should have listened the first time they told you the coupon was not valid for sale items as I am sure the number you called explained the same thing. I cannot believe a person like you chose to be so hateful to people who were only doing their jobs. I would have been much ruder. And btw, thanks for making all of us wait around and hear your nasty tone. It would be a pleasure to never run into you in that store again. They dont deserve it (as they are always kind and patient with crazies like you) and neither do we. Please shop elsewhere so those of us who understand the policies and can read the coupons can shop peacefully.

    • Dear Witness –
      Everyone has their own perspective and obviously we disagree. I was the one treated like I don’t know how to read or understand written English language. The number I was finally given told me that the manager was incorrect and that the coupon should have been valid. Unfortunately, the mentioned employees were not doing their jobs. BTW – I love the email address you chose to create and hide behind. I’d love to visit YOUR coupon website to see how YOU teach people to read and understand coupons and coupon policies.

    • And I do remember looking around and there was only one family in line behind me. The other line was also open and continuously flowing. If you were the family in line behind me where the mother (or adult woman) was having the 3 or 4 year old child tell the dad (or adult male) to kiss her butt, then well….I don’t have to say any more!

    • If they said the cpn was not valid on sale items, then why would they say it would work if 30 pops were bought?? I’m assuming $1 per bottle is a sale price. Also, if you look at the cpn she posted, there is no such wording on the cpn. The only stipulation is that it must be $30 pre-tax total, which both transactions were. I can read and I do NOT see that on it.
      And BTW, “witness”, for someone complaining about rudeness, your attitude sure isn’t too nice here!

  12. Christina says

    The coupon states that it cannot be used with any other DG sales, In order for you to get your $5 off, you need to at least buy one item at regular price that rings up over $5. It gets irritating when people get upset because they don’t take the time to read the fine print. I will agree, that this should have been explained to you when you brought it to the manager’s attention, but, we need to practice patience and politeness when it comes to a situation like this. As you see, a lack of good communication got exactly nothing accomplished, just a bad day for all!

    • I appreciate the calm tone of your comment. Thank you. I attached a screenshot of the coupon that I received from Dollar General on my smartphone. There is nothing that states what you are saying. If there were some kind of flyer or other personnel info about this, I would have gladly gone along with it, but that information was given to me either. If you are a Dollar General employee, I would love to visit with you and your name, store, etc. will not become involved.

  13. They showed you that line on the receipt coupon you presented like 15 times. You ylled in her face “no a sale is not a discount!!”

    • According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com), the same one I used when I taught fifth grade for fifteen years:
      The definition of sale is:
      a selling of goods at bargain prices

      The definition of discount is:
      a reduction made from the gross amount or value of something – as in the swimwear in yesterday’s sale at 50% off.

      • Samantha says

        And how do you think they come up with sale prices? They take a percentage off from the original price. Also known as a what??? a DISCOUNT!!!

  14. The soda was discounted. You can lie and say you werent shown that on the coupon and try and degrade others all you want. You handled that poorly. Perhaps in your rage you didnt see me. Oh well. Just pointing out how wrong you were and how awful and slanderous this post is.

  15. Wow, it appears the witness had nothing better to do then stand behind in the line for over 30 min to see the whole ordeal go down even though there was another till. ” the are always calm and patient with crazies like you”. So clearly they have had other experiences like this which is unacceptable. If your a customer this shouldn’t be happening that often for you to see, clearly showing service is poor to get to that point. More likely your an employee who should NOT be acting this way on a public forum. I highly doubt DG wants staff like YOU representing them.

  16. Lol I wasn’t even in line because both registers had lines due to this woman. Yes, payday weekend brings out crazies around here. These associates are always, just like they were yesterday, calm and polite. They explained the policy numerous times while Ms. Do continued screaming and belittling them trying to strong arm them into breaking policy. Whats worse is she continued to hold the line up barking orders to the one associate to go get her soda so she could make the second purchase. Seriously I am surprised she didnt pull a whip out. The associates were still smiling and polite about the whole manner. Quite frankly I was about to call the cops myself on this lady because she was so awful. And yes, it is hard to look away when my friendly neighborhood store is being disrupted like that.

  17. I had a store near me create their own rules around using coupons once. It’s so frustrating and I never shopped there again. Calling the police is ridiculous! I can’t believe they would go to that extreme.

  18. Kelly r. says

    Wait. You made them go get your items for a second purchase? After making a scene? And was surprised they asked you to watch them get things out of your car (which you could have made into a liability issue had anything happened). They did not have to do those things. And you expect us to believe they were giving you poor customer service? And are shocked they called the cops to protect themselves? Wow.

    • Dear Witness –
      Nice TRY! Too bad I have tools that tell me that Kelly r. and Witness are likely the same person leaving different comments. Please give up, as no one is interested in your side of the story.

      • Kelly r. says

        Likely and certainly do not mean the same. We are in a military town. Lots of people around here. I wasn’t present nor do I shop at dollar general. I based my comment off your side of the story. I can see now in your tone now who he offending party was though. I will be sure never to stop here again and will discourage others also since your obviously trying to cause innocent people grief over one measly coupon that company said you couldnt use. Takes away the point of you being a truthful source. Happy couponing ladies :o)

  19. Seems to me that this all could have been solved if they had given you the number up front IMHO

    • Without a doubt! Pretty sad that this has been one of my favorite places to shop until yesterday. In this struggling economy, you would think companies would make more of an effort to improve customer service.

  20. Reality is for a situation to get this out of control the staff might have been nice and polite BUT obviously they need more training on how to deal with all types of customers. Because if this is what happens to what “witness” describes as difficult customer it’s a shame. ( I don’t think DG would agree with customers being called crazy”) as far asI remember the customer is always right no matter if staff or other customers agree. It’s not our company and DG who states their own mission is ” to serve others”. I see this as a failure in serving. Especially if you say witness the Manager allowed other customers to be disrupted. Not really ” hassle free shopping” that DG states. No matter if you agree with MS DO or not the manager could have handled it better. Having worked customer services my entire life i can say I have NEVER had to call the police on a customer. why because of these simple tips. Lesson one the corporate number should be available at all tills and all agents should know it and should be given out without hesitation. The second lesson the manager needs to learn is NO customer cares about Policy and there is always an exception to the rule. Because in the end was the DG staff going to loose money out of their own pocket? Nope! But has DG received bad “press” and potentially loose a customer YES!

  21. Ok so here is the deal!!!! yes the coupon should have worked with the sale items i use to ring them up all the time.. One question DO was your total before taxes 30.00 if it was not then no the coupon would not work no matter what items it was you were buying… So with that being said your total before taxes has to be 30.00 or more!!! the manager should have known that

    • Thanks for responding BJ. Yes, both transactions were $30 before the coupon. $30 sodas at $1.45/regular price, $1/sale price, so either way it was $30.

      I’ve shopped there regularly ever since the $5 off coupons have been published and haven’t really had much problem, little stuff here and there, but not much. I have especially stocked up on soda like this for about six months, maybe longer.

  22. That is absolutely ridiculous that you had to go through that, and for both of those ladies to be so unprofessional! I wouldn’t blame you one bit if you didn’t return to another DG.

  23. I have never in my life had issues with a dollar store with coupons, there is a reason the coupon didn’t work. she explain it. I’m more dumbfounded that you asked a cashier to put together a order for you, like that is her job, if you want it you are supposed to go get it. Cashiers are not your personal shoppers. I have had no issues with you, but all this over $5 is ridiculous! sometime you just have to let it go.

    • Wow! You are incredibly lucky that you’ve never had a problem with coupons at a dollar store. Almost EVERYONE I know, including nearly 600+ bloggers have had problems.

      Yes, all of this over $5 is ridiculous! The manager does have the ability to correct the problem, but chose to behave so immaturely. If you were innocent of a crime, but the police were called on you, I don’t think you could or would let it go either.

    • BTW – I took a looked at the info and as I suspected, you’re neighbors with Witness aka Kelly r.

  24. Dianne K says

    I’ve run into something similar at my Dollar General. The cashier refused to take an IP, I asked her to get the manager…she said “I AM the manager.” So I whipped out a copy of their coupon policy, and she told me that’s not what corporate told her. I thanked her and left without making any purchase and went to another Dollar General and had no problem.

    The more I thought about it the more angry I got, so I emailed customer service on their website. Guess what…a week later I get a phone call and explained my problem, and it was the manager of the store who refused the coupon, and she told me that it must not have been her. I said she TOLD me she was the manager and she refused it.

    Before that at the same store, I used a $5 off $25 coupon and I glanced at my receipt, and asked if it took the $5 off, and she said “yes, it did.” I couldn’t see where it was so I asked her to show me and she glared at me and said “now I have to refund everything and re-ring it!!” The same thing happened the next time and she had to do it again. It took 3 times before she got it right. By now the line behind me was huge and she appeared to be the only one working that day. She smiled and said “Please don’t ever come back to my store.”

    I have NEVER seen such lousy service in my life! I’m glad she didn’t call the cops on me though lol.

    • OMG!!!! I can’t believe!! I wish you had called the corporate # about her. I’m so sorry that you had to endure such poor behavior as well.

      • Dianne K says

        Thanks. I couldn’t find the number for corporate. I thought they would get the email I sent. But it seems that when you give them the store number, they just give it to the store manager to handle. She aslo said it took her a week, because she hadn’t checked her email.

        Same thing happened at a Rite Aid….if you complain, they just have the store call you to work it out. Duhhhhh…I called because the store couldn’t help!

  25. I wonder how DG trains it’s staff regarding customer service. No worries…there are plenty of other places to spend money.

  26. Dude! That is straight up crazy right there! Seriously that is nuts. I hope head office gives you some good customer service and tries to make up for this.

  27. If a coupon doesn’t work for me I look at it and say oh well. I’m not going to raise my blood pressure over a few dollars. yes it would have been nice if it worked, but it’s not the end of the world.

  28. Wow that is so crazy. I don’t know how you kept your cool. I would have been beyond angry beyond.
    I’ve had issues with Pathmark, Shoprite & Walgreens over coupons and it’s so ridiculous and annoying that after I shop I have my mom check out with the coupons while I go outside and wait in the car because I get so angry at being accused of copying printable coupons and being told that people often misuse them so they have to check mine and how they hate coupons and my favorite was “I wouldn’t want to be behind you.”. Awwwwww man. I can’t even deal with it anymore so my poor mom has to do it lol. It is absolutely ridiculous how cashiers have no clue what they are doing when coupons have only been around for like 50 + years and have been very popular the pass few years, they still can’t figure it out. Don’t get me started lol. But you inspire me to be cool and relaxed from now on. It’s just some of the rude comments from cashier’s are hard to listen to. And I’m not an extreme couponer. I can only use 4 like coupons. It’s not like I come in there with 100 like coupons or something. 4 measly coupons jeez. Maybe I should write a post on my experiences since I have so much to say LOL.

  29. No_Time_For_Whining says

    Let me start this off by saying that I consider Angi a friend. I will also say that she is a former co-worker of mine. Angi has the patience of a saint and I have seen her deal with some pretty hard headed customers. Angi has just started in her position at your local DG and she must have been picked for a reason. I can think of a few: her attitude, the pride she takes in her work, her ability to stay focused and her deep desire to take care of her customers. That being said, she is not your doormat. See the problem with people like you, and by people like you I mean the foot-stompers and the people who like to cause a scene and try and bully workers in order to get what they want is bullshit! Taking care of the customer is what sales associates and managers do. Breaking rules and bending over so that you can take advantage is not! As someone who has worked retail, I will tell you that I will help you out, but the minute that you start treating me like I’m some second class citizen because your coupon won’t work, or because you choose to throw a tanturm, I’m tuning you out. It’s bad enough that many retailers choose to pay their associates minimum wage and then customers like you act like this. Totally unnacceptable! Threaten to call the district manager. Threaten to call corporate. Threaten them, that they’re going to lose a loyal customer. We all know that after your little tears have dried, you’ll be there again. Maybe a week later, perhaps a month. Maybe if customers acted better, they would see better customer service.

    Enjoy your couponing.

    • All I will say is that there were NO tears and I have no intention of returning to deal with YOUR friend. I do enjoy my couponing but don’t enjoy the garbage that I had to deal with.

  30. Well there goes my thought that I might give DG a try some day ! Sheesh

    Jeanine

  31. I was at Dollar General in York, NE today and was not able to use the $2/$10 text coupon that expires today because the cashier said it was already expired. He did try to enter the code for the coupon and said it wasn’t going to work. I was under the impression that today (6/7) was the last day to use the coupon. I haven’t used coupons at this store because I had a problem with the same cashier in the past. I guess I will be sticking to Walmart more. Dollar General is pretty much the only store within walking distance of my home so it is really disappointing for me to not be able to use my coupons there.

    • UGH! I am so sorry! I also have the text coupon. There is another DG nearby. I may run in over there and try to use mine later today. I’ll let you know what happens with it.

      On a side note – I received my $5 off text coupon earlier today. I just laughed! Like I have ANY DESIRE to deal with those people again!

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