Here’s the problem with releasing a coupon on the internet: without disclaimers or digital limits on the coupon itself, it can be infinitely reproduced, used over and over, and used by people it wasn’t intended for. That’s what reportedly happened when T-Mobile offered a restriction-free coupon for $7 worth of stuff at PetSmart as part of its T-Mobile Tuesdays promotion that was a little too unrestricted.

The biggest problem with T-Mobile Tuesdays as a promotion is its overwhelming popularity: customers so far have overwhelmed the the company’s own servers, and overwhelmed the ability of Dominos to make enough pizzas. The problem with PetSmart’s promotion was somehow even worse.

The coupon for T-Mobile customers, Coupons in the News explains, was a PDF uploaded on PetSmart’s site. T-Mobile’s app took customers there, but here was the problem: you didn’t have to be a T-Mobile customer to see the file. Or download it. Or print it out.

Worse, since unique barcodes weren’t generated for each customer, and the coupon could theoretically be used infinite times. Instead of using one coupon per account, customers reported seeing non-customers going through the line over and over, using “$7 off a purchase of $7 or more” coupons to score free pet supplies as long as they cost less than $7.

As often happens with unrestricted coupons like this, deals forums noticed. While T-Mobile is a growing carrier, we’re going to guess that all of the people shown standing in line at a Petsmart store in this photo are not T-Mobile customers.

We contacted PetSmart for its take on the situation, and no one there has barned back at us yet. We will update this post if they do.

PetSmart In-Store Coupon: Any $7+ Purchase [Slickdeals]
Coupon Offers Get Out of Control, And This Company Doesn’t Care [Coupons in the News]

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.