5/14 First Time PRICE-MATCHING - Clean & Clear

So. Where should I begin?

Five or so days ago I had tried to go to Walmart to price match; I went to the customer service desk to see how it would go. I was flatly told that they don't do price-matches on buy one get one free sales, even though I told them how their price match policy states yes, they do. Still denied. Called corporate number, told me I was right, they took my information and said the manager of the store would be contacting me. I didn't hear a word to flash forward to today. I had one Clean & Clear coupon left and I wanted to use it!

So today I went to a few Walgreens on my way to the husband's work to bring him lunch. No Walgreens had any on the shelves. I decided to stop by Walmart. After driving around foreeever trying to find a parking spot, I finally got one semi-close to the doors. Now, normally I'd have no qualms about parking far away, but it is raining a lot and I didn't have my umbrella with me.

Anyhoo, went to customer service and asked the (different) workers there my question on price matching. They were going to tell me "No," but I showed them the corporate policy [on my iPad...] so they called over a CSM. She confirmed yes they do price-match as long as there is a price; they were discussing this a few days ago (hmm, did my call have anything to do with it?).

So I go grab my four bottles and get into the line where the CSM('s) usually hang out (one of those express lanes, but I wasn't in "the" express lane, I was in the line next to it).

Long story short...I was there in line for about 20 minutes while they tried to get THE manager on the phone/walkie-talkie to see if it was true that they now accepted b1g1 free price-matches (turns out they JUST had a meeting where they told cashiers they do NOT accept them...). At one point I had 4 other Walmart employees clustered about the register XD I feel glad that I didn't hear any rude comments behind me, and I kept apologizing especially to the lady directly behind me -- as did the cashier in line. She [the cashier] actually thanked me as well because no one knew this new policy was in effect.

However, they still didn't ring it up correctly...But I only paid $2 extra on top of the $5.99 I should have paid for all four bottles (I had one b1g1 free coupon, I wanted to price match two sets of the Clean & Clear body wash and then use the coupon on the two I was actually buying.) so...Whatever! I wanted to simultaneously facepalm and headdesk myself. If nothing else, this will spark something happening about educating the cashiers on the new coupon/ad-matching policies.

I know and understand that some people have been able to use the b1g1 free coupon in conjunction with the b1g1 free sale thereby only paying tax for two bottles. I did it myself with my first coupon at one Walgreens. However since I only had two coupons left after that I decided to use it on four bottles - buying one and getting three free, which now gives me a total of 10 bottles of Clean & Clear bodywash.

I tried to tell the cashier she was doing it wrong (the CSM had just told her how to do it their way of correctly -- ring two up at $2.99 and two at $3.00, and then write in $5.99 on the b1g1 free coupon I was using -- but they all walked away before the transaction was completed. Again...Whatever. I finally got a few of the pink scented ones!)

THIS IS THE RECEIPT:
2 bodywash @ $2.99 each
2 bodywash @ $4.97 each
-$2.99 coupon
-$4.97 coupon
TOTAL: $9.07 or $7.96 + tax

(originally posted to A Full Cup)

Price-Match FAIL at Walmart

Since it did actually appear that the three closest Walgreens were actually out of the Clean & Clear bodywash, I decided to finally try an ad-match/price-match at Walmart today. Given the fact that everyone and their mom seemed to be able to ad-match there, I thought it would go at the very least, good. I decided to make things as easy as possibly, so before I even approached a register I went to the customer service desk, to inquire the best way for the ad-matching to go. I even had the four bottles of Clean & Clear bodywash with me that I wanted to purchase -- I wasn't getting anything else.

I also had the ad with me, where it states "Buy one Clean & Clear bodywash for $5.99 and get the second one free". The reason I went to customer service was because Walmart actually sells one bottle at $4.97, which is why I went to ask them how best to approach the scenario in the first place.

The lady at customer service flat out denied me. She said "We don't price match on buy one, get one free offers." I told her, yes, the corporate policy states you do IF a price is listed. I even showed her Walmart's corporate policy, and she still refused. She tried to say "We will do the buy one get one 50% off even though we're not supposed to, but we don't do the bogo offers." So yes even though I had the policy with me, I still got denied. So I left and tried to speak to the manager via phone, and I was on wait for about 10 minutes. So, I called the corporate number. The very nice man I talked to said yes indeed Walmart should have price-matched since the ad did state a price. He said he'd be forwarding all the information on to the manager of the store.

So in the end, I got a rain check from Walgreens for four bottles of Clean & Clear for buy one get one free, since I have the one buy one get one free manufacturer coupon left as well as one more free package of Carefree panty liners.. However, if the Walmart manager is understanding and allows me to use it at his store, I may go back and then get the four Pomegranate bodywashes (I did get several of the other two scents from Walgreens in prior transactions).

A quote directly from Walmart's corporate ad-matching policy:

We gladly match the price in the following types of ads:*

• Buy one, get one free ads with a specified price
  • Example: Buy one for $2.49, get one free (BOGO)
    
• Competitors' ads that feature a specific item for a specified price.
  
• Preferred shopping card prices for specific items that are in a printed ad.
  
• For fresh produce and meat items when the price is offered in the same unit type (lb. for lb.; each for each)

Another thing that left a bad taste in my mouth about Walmart:

While I was waiting in line at customer service, I overheard a person on an employee's radio say "The people working outside need some water, it is too hot!" to which the employee replied to one of her other co-workers behind the counter: "They only get water if it is 90 degrees outside," and rolled her eyes and didn't reply to the other person on the radio. When I got outside to my car I checked my thermostat -- it was 83 degrees. How lame, and mean, to not care about your co-workers over a 7 degree difference? Now that I think about it, I should have bought some water bottles and brought it out to the people working outside. In a perfect world, yeah?