Target confiscated Nick’s coupon for 10% off items left on his wedding registry after randomly deciding that the coupon was too generous.
While Target’s competitors make it clear that their coupons are one-use affairs, Target’s coupon expressly orders their cashier: “return card to guest.” According to one Target manager, this means “one use only.” Go figure.
In case you needed another reason to avoid Target’s wedding registry, read Nick’s sad story:
Dear Consumerist,
My wife and I registered at Target for our wedding registry. We shop there often and were very happy with the selection of items we would be able to register for. Our experience went pretty well, until we tried to buy the items that were still left on the registry. We’re hoping you’ll be able to make a difference like you did with the whole gift receipt issue.
When we signed up for our registry, at the bottom of one of the pages, was a note about getting a coupon for 10% off everything left on the registry. The exact words were: “For up to 90 days after your wedding, save 10% on all items remaining on your registry. Look for a special coupon in the mail”. Excellent, we thought, we’ll be able to buy everything on our registry, but we won’t have to buy it all at once. I figured that Target would have some restrictions, so I made a mental note to check the card carefully once it came in the mail.
Fast forward 5 months, we’re now married and ready to buy what’s left on our registry. The coupon comes in the mail and it says “Take 10% off any items remaining on your Club Wedd Registry. See back for details”. We check the back side for details and note the date that it expires (actually 85 days from the day of our wedding, not 90), and two sentences that seemed to explain the policy best. “Limit one 10% coupon per Club Wedd registrant.” and “Cashier: Scan the coupon, scan the registry bar code and return card to guest.” (Side note: we also registered at Bed Bath and Beyond, whose 10% coupon loosely read “THIS IS A ONE-TIME USE COUPON!” Maybe not quite so strong…but close) After reading those two sentences (and taking into account how strongly BBB worded their coupon) we decided that it must mean we can use that coupon any number of times until the expiration date and we would get 10% off on the items that were remaining on our wedding registry. Why else would they return the coupon to us if we couldn’t use it more than once?
So coupon in hand, we went to the nearest Super Target (since the Target in town is old and doesn’t have as much selection) to see what items from our list they had in stock. We found quite a few of the things we had registered for, but didn’t buy everything because we needed to bring a bigger vehicle for some of the items and money was a little tight since we had just gotten back from our honeymoon. It wasn’t a big deal though, we would be able to come back later with a bigger vehicle and get the rest. We go to the register with the items we had room for, received our 10% off and got our coupon back from the cashier. Perfect!
The very next day, a certain high demand video game system that we had registered for happened to be in stock at our local Target, so over lunch we went in to buy it. The cashier rung us up and scanned the coupon and got a nasty error sound with a message that said the coupon is not valid or has been used. Of course it’s been used, we’ve got 90 days to use it to get the stuff from our registry! The manager comes over to see what the problem is and tells us that she has only ever used the wedding registry coupons as one use. What!? We tell her none of the information we got said that, plus why would they return the card to us if it was only good for one use? She wondered the same thing, and after consulting with someone over a walkie talkie, decided to give us the discount and told us if we wanted the 10% off of anything else we had to get it right then. Well great, we each had 5 minutes left before we had to get back to work, so we just took the discount and left without buying anything else from our registry.
I’ve tried calling the Club Wedd toll free number, but they’ve been no help and when I was able to escalate my call they simply told me that the coupon was one time use only and they could not reactivate the coupon. We’ve been extremely happy with Target up until this point, but now we just feel we’ve been lied to. In the information they gave us there was no indication that we could only use this coupon once. We directly affected at least $1300 in sales from items on our registry, not to mention everything else our guests bought because they happened to be in the store. All we want is to get 10% off the items left on our registry, whether that be through another one time use coupon, or a coupon that is reusable, like the information led us to believe. We’ve already told several other couples and they thought the coupons were reusable as well. Maybe Target should also change the wording so other couples don’t have the same problems we did.
Thank you,
Nick
The fine print is clear: this is a reusable coupon that provides 10% off items stuck on the registry. Target is a massive corporation, with plenty of cash to throw at soulless corporate lawyers. If they wanted a one-use coupon like their corporate compadres, they should have printed one. But they didn’t!
Fire off an Executive Email Carpet Bomb, and if that doesn’t restore the discount you are owed, ask a small claims court to enforce Target’s poorly written contract.
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The thing about Target is that you (the customer) will be accused of being -wrong- right from the start. At no point will Target ever admit to making an error or a bad judgment call.
I took them up on the ‘buy 4 items’ and get a $5 giftcard promo last weekend and when I did not get my giftcard I drug them back and showed them the signs and that I met the criteria on the sings – even when pointed out right in front of them they said it was ‘customer mis- interpretation’ – I did get my gift card!
is it possible that you would be able to use the coupon again, however you just can’t use it on a wii? there are certain items which are not allowed to be discounted, per the manufacturer, regardless of the retailer. i would try using it on another item before you assume it is one-time use.
I used to work at Target, and although I never had to ring up one of these coupons I would guess that it operates like the 10% off Target Visa coupons where you can use it as many times as you want in the course of one day. So you can use it multiple times but only for one day. I agree that it should state that like the other 10% off coupons which say for one day of shopping but you shouldn’t assume that it would work a few days later without asking someone first. My first rule when buying things in any store with coupons or discounts is exercise extreme caution and expect nothing from them. That way you have less to be disappointed with.
@Rob: I think this is correct. The card is the first scan and is attached to the coupon, which is the second scan. The cashier is supposed to detach to the coupon and keep that and return the card to the customer in case they’re REALLY sentimental and want to keep the wedding card from Target.
Did anyone else notice that the fine print says to use the code online, but then another part says that the discount is not applicable to purchases on Target.com? Or am I just misreading that?
Also, maybe they just went below the 10 item limit; it says that you’ve go to have at least 10 items in your registry.
“Target confiscated Nick’s coupon for 10% off items left on his wedding registry after randomly deciding that the coupon was too generous.”
Um, Carey, did you even read the letter? That isn’t even remotely what happened…no one confiscated anything…nor did anyone not give them a discount because it was “too generous”. The Target manager agreed with them and still gave him the discount despite the fact that the card didn’t work.
@BankOfFees: At least read the letter first.
I don’t see how people can take Target’s side on this or criticise the customer for whining about not getting a discount. They offered, he took it, and they changed the terms on him. That’s unfair.
And to people whining about how a video game console isn’t a suitable wedding gift; wow, what the hell? I’m getting married next month. My fiancee and I have lived together almost three years; we have our big TV, Xbox 360 (and Wii), a great new bed, cooking utensils and appliances. There is nothing we need to set up house because we did that ourselves.
We don’t require gifts, but traditionally people do give them. We’ve come straight out and asked for people to give us the cash they’d otherwise use to buy something and we’ll spend it on whatever the hell we want.
@Rob: @eelmonger: Agreed, this is clearly the case.
The card says “congratulations” on it, and Target (rightfully) understands that is is tacky to take back a wedding card you sent someone. Does it have an ad and a coupon in in? Sure it does, they sell stuff, they are in business to sell stuff. But it’s still a wedding card and they are letting you keep the card.
@Sqrfrk: what’s always boggled my mind is if the person who popularized the POS acronym for registers knew its other usage.
if so, s/he is a genius. if not, a moron. either way, that person is my hero.
Bed Bath & Beyond does something similar but it’s company policy to give you 10% off any item that is still on your gift registry after you’re married. Oh and the offer is good for a year to boot.
I put sex toys on my wedding registry. Those glass dongs are expensive but pretty cool.
@pixiegirl1:
We got the 10% off xbox’s wifi adaptor and some video game for my husband, I totally forget what though….
We lived together for five years before getting married. We didn’t need the standard cooking appliances and towels.
We did debate on the 10% off PS3 with all the target GCs we had, but decided they would be better spent for regular, non-registry needs.
I think you should put things on your registry that you want. If you want a game system, by all means put it there. (In fact, I’ve recommended that myself to couples I know who are gamers.)
@photogevey: Yeah, that seems to be more of a problem to me than whether or not the coupon can be used multiple times. The latter seems to me to be ambiguity (they should have specified on the coupon that it is valid for a single use), but the former definitely seems to be contradictory. If the 10% savings doesn’t apply at target.com, for what would you use the online code?
If he wanted to save money, he wouldn’t have gotten married in the first place.
@photogevey,zlionsfan
The coupon can’t be used online, hence why the card says to instead use the specific, additional code located underneath the coupon when ordering online.
Just more proof that the card and the coupon are seperate affairs, and “return card” means just that. Maybe unclear as written, but target do seem to be in the right.
Why use a 10% B&B coupon when they give 20% all the time to people?
@photogevey:
Actually this is giving me a clue as to why it didn’t work after the first time. After the initial purchase, maybe there were no longer ten items left on the registry. So the next time the coupon is scanned, it’s invalid, because it can only be used when there at least ten items left in the registry. Very arcane technical disqualification but not totally illogical. They want you to buy all the remaining items in one shopping trip.
Of course the theory goes out the window if there were still more than ten items left after the first coupon use.
Sounds like the OP just ASSUMED, and when Target pulled the rug out from under his assumption, he got pissed off.
Was it too much trouble to verify that it was actually a multi-use card?
My wife and I just used our wedding reg discount card yesterday. They didn’t return the card to us at all after its use, which is fine, since we purchased everything left on the registry anyways. The other thing that was odd is that when we printed out our registry to go locate the items in the store, there was a bunch, and I mean a BUNCH, of baby items on the list. We are not expecting, nor are we planing to be expecting. I have no idea how that stuff got on our registry. On top of that, the two duplicate items we returned that day took the customer service rep forever to refund. For some reason the gift registry system was giving them issues that day they told us. Maybe Target should re-think their gift registry system.
@MonkeySeeMonkeyDo: I’m recently engaged and have been helping my fiancee gather information about and whatnot, and more than one of the sites we’ve been to have actually said it’s common these days to put a videogame system on your registry.
Now if only my fiancee was into videogames, I’d finally get that XBox 360.
I only shop there because there herbs are better than WalMarts.
They sell herb at Target? Good match for the WII.
Why are people so judgmental about what other people choose to put on their registry. Especially since many have found the WII so hard to come by that it would really help to have all of your friends and family on the lookout for the console. They were available in abundance last summer, btw, and I wish I had purchased more than one.
Glad to hear that the manager agreed with you and gave you the discount in spite of the register’s protest. Perhaps the manager at Super Target will do the same.