Ben & Jerry’s is offering some Target-exclusive ice cream flavors — Berry Voluntary and Brownie Chew Gooder — that charitable volunteers can purchase for free with special coupons.
Rebekah drove across town to track down the new ice cream, and was emboldened when she saw window signage indicating the flavors were in the display case. But she dug through it all and tasted nothing but disappointment.
She wrote to Target:
I was very excited to read online that Target is the exclusive retailer of the two new Ben & Jerry’s philanthropic ice creams flavors.I drove out in 90F+ heat to Target today to buy the new flavors and a cooler. I was very disappointed to find the window cling over a combo Ben & Jerry’s/Haagen Daaz display, and neither of the new flavors.
If you’ve tried the new flavors, are the worth driving a long way to get and/or volunteering for?
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It’s 110 degrees here. The ice cream’s siren song always beckons.
Sue them
Yes sue them, then send another tip to the consumerist about the lawsuit and how it damaged them financially and emotionally to not have an advertised product.
I want to know how to get these coupons! I do pet therapy and a few other volunteer things here and there!
Can you tell me why my dog constantly licks his balls?
I will volunteer to eat the ice cream, free of charge of course.
Oh no! Not 90F+ heat!
Yeah, where is she from? Some places call that kind of temp a cool day.
I know right… it’s too bad we haven’t invested the time and energy to develop a device that is able to regulate the temperature in your car to a comfortable level.
I am from the future and I have seen such a device
I have one of those devices. They’re rare most places, though common here in Arizona.
Turns out, though, that even the best of them can only do so much when it’s 115 outside. The car starts out at 130, you open the windows to let the cooler outside air in, crank the AC, and still only make it down to about 95 if you’ve got a serious system.
At least the ice cream it compelled me to buy was delicious.
It’s not so much the temp as it is the humidity. i challenge any high heat low humidity ‘ite to visit Minnesota when it’s 90 and the heat index is 115 due to extreme humidity.
I’m in Vegas. It was 115 here in MAY this year
Vegas was designed to be used at night, when it’s only 101 outside.
you’re doing it wrong.
It’s over 100 at night sometimes, I blame the concrete.
NJ it’s the same way…ugh…I would LOVE to see what a dry heat feels like! Moist heat is teh suxxorz
Yeah, man — but it’s a dry heat!
So is my toaster oven.
Still 90 degree heat? That’s just cruel and unusual. They should get punitive damages for having to endure that.
How to get the coupons
Scoop it Forward:
http://www.volunteermatch.org/scoopitforward
CHARGEBACK!
Apparently being a volunteer EMT doesn’t qualify.
The Berry Voluntary is delicious. My Target also has the Brownie Chew Gooder, but it’s in the smaller size, which you can’t get for free with your volunteer coupon.
My Target had only a couple of the Brownie Chew Gooder, no Berry Voluntary (nor a spot for it) and it wasn’t even in the correct spot. For weeks Target had a spot in the freezer with a sign saying “exclusive flavors” were coming…. one would think it was more than 2 and would be properly stocked.
Looks like it did not go off as planned.
The temperature outside is irrelevant.
When I’m done digging all the tunnels to my favorite places, it will be anyway.
I’m all for the underground life style… and I don’t mean hipster bs… I mean, literally, underground.
We will all be Mole people!
“The light! Our eyes! The light is too much for our huge underdeveloped subterranean eyes!”
Big ups to anyone who can place it.
I was very disappointed to find the window cling over a combo Ben & Jerry’s/Haagen Daaz display, and neither of the new flavors.
I don’t get it, do they want the logo over non Ben and Jerry’s ice cream? OK, the flavors were not there but the point was to let you know which freezer you could find that brand ice cream in.
Sorry to flame and vent but people need to seriously lighten up on what the consider egregious offenses by companies. Just because the logo is up does not mean that they are supposed to have it in stock at that exact moment. maybe they do not get the shipment for another few days, but on Monday night they start doing marketing work and rearranging the store for end cap displays and other such things.
Get over it, the cling was in the right spot and I have no doubt that in the next few days the actual product will be there.
The OP expressed disappointment. That’s all. Where do you see anyone wailing and gnashing their teeth?
Well, they wrote up a letter about it and sent it to Consumerist.
And who from Consumerist posted it?
I drove out in 90F+ heat to Target today to buy the new flavors and a cooler. I was very disappointed
They seem to be upset about it and as the person below said felt the need to write about it to Consumerist.
Wrong answer… If you’re going to put up some cling advertising a flavor – have the flavor in the case. Or at least have a spot where it used to be before it sold out, and let me see the little shelf tag so I know I’m not digging in the wrong spot…
If you don’t have it in stock yet – then don’t put up the cling – pretty simple… toss the cling pack on top of the freezer, wait for the item to come in stock… or, ummm, put the envelope on the door of the storage freezer in the back so people know to put up the cling, or be a manager and hang on to it for when the product comes in…
But doing the least possible, the level which only irritates customers, is unacceptable. Really, there’s no excuse.
I bought the brownie one to try. It is very good, but not something special.
Every time I try a different flavor I am left with a little bit of regret… would rather have Phish Food.
Agreed. Phish Food will always be my favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavor.
+1 to Phish Food!
Brownie Batter totally rocks.
Nothing has ever, in my estimation, lived up to White Russian.
(Allergic to chocolate and don’t like Stuff in my ice cream – Ben and Jerry’s is not a good fit for me. Alas.)
Haagen Dazs should respond with exclusive flavors like Brownie Oil Spill, Paycheck Pineapple and Rocky Recession.
Pull the sticker off and throw it away (assuming your Target doesn’t have a million cameras all over).
Cause Vandalism Solves Everything (TM)
Over here in California we have this new invention called a cellular telephone. You can use this device to call a place and find out if something is in stock before driving out in the 90F + heat.
You would:
- Call Target.
- Listen to automated options.
- Try and find human.
- Wait and be transferred to someone who can check stock.
- Wait while person looks and comes back to phone (if ever).
You would do this to check to see if they had an ice cream they advertised as having?
No, you would not do this.
tl;dr — customer hears about something, doesn’t call in ahead to check first, drives blah blah miles blah blah heat blah blah not any in stock, ensue butthurt, email Consumerist. AND CONSUMERIST POSTS IT
That’s like calling Fry’s ahead of time to make sure they have hard drives……
to make sure they have a specific model hard drive, you mean. Not all Targets carry the same items as the website.
To add insult to injury the ice cream in the same section is Haagen Daaz. Haagen Daaz pint of ice cream is no longer a pint of ice cream.
Chargeback.
My guess is, hundreds fopeople had the same idea as Rebekah – and that Target simply SOLD OUT. Since an entirely-empty shelf (etc) is considered an eyesore in most big stores, the solution? Fill it with extras of the other flavors.
I work at Target. Ben & Jerry’s is a vendor stocked item. They bring the product in with them and stock the shelves themselves and usually leave little to no back stock. So if something sells out all Target can really do is slide other flavors over so there’s not a big gaping empty space on the shelf and then wait until the vendor rep decides to come back again.
“Purchase for free”?
Me fail english?
That’s unpossible!
It’s TARGET… they’re always off the mark, that’s the only thing you can count on with those nitwits… Well, that, and the fact that they have their own kind of special math that makes things look like you’re saving money when you’re actually getting ripped off…
And you thought you’d actually find something in the case that was advertised on the display case… hahahahahahahahahahaha….
Oh noes! A store was out of a products I wanted!!
I mean, really? this is news?
really? Another Target with the wrong something on the shelf story! Come on. Does anybody really care about these “I had to go somewhere and they didn’t something and I had to drive alllllllll the way back home and pout and whine” Boo-Hoo.