The clearance swamp hates the military. Or something.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The latest round of customer service surveys came in. Our scores were far and away the worst in the district.

The top complaint was from some woman whose hubby "serves our country." She was in the store last week Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday. I'm not sure.) with her kids buying school supplies like everybody else in town. When she checked out, she presented a coupon good for $10 off a $50 purchase.

In other words, a loyalty coupon, and the loyalty program needs to die in a fire, because all it's doing lately is breeding entitlement.

A loyalty coupon that would not be good until Thursday, but she decided to use it anyway because she would gone visiting hubby and unable to use it while it was actually good.

Not surprisingly, the coupon was refused, so she took the survey, gave us the worst scores she possibly could, and complained about the "very poor customer service" she was given.

Nothing's going to be done about this--in fact, store manager was tut-tutting the comments and saying "Next time she can use the coupon when it's actually good"--but it still counts against our overall score.

[MoonCat]

I think coupons like this shouldn't even be made available until the day of the sale. Seriously. It should be printed in the paper on the day it goes into effect and not before.

People would still attempt to use it after it expires, though.

[thehuckster]

I think coupons like this shouldn't even be made available until the day of the sale. Seriously. It should be printed in the paper on the day it goes into effect and not before.

People would still attempt to use it after it expires, though.

...then you make the paper out of some combustible material that is set to destruct on the expiration date. Maybe even have it explode ala Inspector Gadget assignment briefings.

Of course, as Murphy's Law would have it, it would explode in the cashier's face while the coupon was being disputed.

[emax4]

If the coupon was invalid on the day she's using it, yet she complains about it; that complaint form shouldn't be valid either because the entire issue in question is against store policy. I would have asked the manager, "Why bother making any rules then if we're getting penalized for enforcing them?" That form should have been tossed the moment it was picked up.

Just make an announcement to all customers to ignore the date on the coupon and have them redeem it anytime. Management will take notice, but you got in trouble for doing your job before, so they're going to realize their mistake.

[EricKei]

it would explode in the cashier's face while the coupon was being disputed.

Simple fix for that...Set up a dampening field keeping them from exploding on store grounds -- If we have the tech to make paper that self-destructs on a timer, having a way to prevent it from happening within a limited space should be child's play ^_^

[bainsidhe]

Have a little note on the coupon that a 5% transaction fee will be assessed each time a customer attempts to use the coupon before it's validity date.

[Nayeli_Sabia]

Blah. Just remember, it's more than just the military that "serves the country"

Sorry.... military wife here, going "WTF is this lady's issue?"

[Syriilord]

Have a little note on the coupon that a 5% transaction fee will be assessed each time a customer attempts to use the coupon before it's validity date.

Or after it ¬_¬

[mikoyan29]

If the coupon was invalid on the day she's using it, yet she complains about it; that complaint form shouldn't be valid either because the entire issue in question is against store policy. I would have asked the manager, "Why bother making any rules then if we're getting penalized for enforcing them?" That form should have been tossed the moment it was picked up.

Just make an announcement to all customers to ignore the date on the coupon and have them redeem it anytime. Management will take notice, but you got in trouble for doing your job before, so they're going to realize their mistake.

Because some MBA has decided that customer opinions are important but they haven't quite learned the ability to throw out opinions that are invalid. If there is a comment about using an invalid coupon, that should invalidate that particular survey. But then stuff like it costs $1 to keep a customer but $10 to get one back (or something like that) doesn't help the case until these folks realize there are just some customers that you don't really want back.

As I have often said before, why should I be punished for following the rules?

[Andara Bledin]

I think coupons like this shouldn't even be made available until the day of the sale. Seriously. It should be printed in the paper on the day it goes into effect and not before.

People would still attempt to use it after it expires, though.

We need to write coupons in disappearing/reappearing/redisappearing ink. The item type will be in regular ink, and the start and end dates will also be in regular ink.

But the actual discount (percentage, actual amount, what have you) and the bar code/serial number will only show while the coupon is valid.

^-.-^

[underemployeed]

Because some MBA has decided that customer opinions are important but they haven't quite learned the ability to throw out opinions that are invalid. If there is a comment about using an invalid coupon, that should invalidate that particular survey. But then stuff like it costs $1 to keep a customer but $10 to get one back (or something like that) doesn't help the case until these folks realize there are just some customers that you don't really want back.

As I have often said before, why should I be punished for following the rules?

HOW dare you say every customer isn't important.... they PAY YOUR SALARY, and a happy customer tells a friend, a pissed off one tells everyone they know and meet.
(Ok, that was my attempt at being on the dark side)

To Refute: The SC is often of the sort they are never happy, you could give them their dream scenario and still it wouldn't be right.
I completely agree there are customers that YOU DO NOT WANT, yet management fails to see that as an option. Or like not being able to question a racist customer spewing the N word left and right because one of them @#$@# cut him off and they all need to get the hell out of our country or die.... with a black intern who was 10ft away and obviously a little bit bothered by his speech. Nope, can't call someone you see stealing a thief, or you know is trying to quick change you. Can't dare offend them just give them $19 when they only spent $9 on mercahnise..... then wonder why employees don't care.

[wolfie]

We need to write coupons in disappearing/reappearing/redisappearing ink. The item type will be in regular ink, and the start and end dates will also be in regular ink.

But the actual discount (percentage, actual amount, what have you) and the bar code/serial number will only show while the coupon is valid.

^-.-^

Why go to all that trouble and waste a golden opportunity? Have the coupon give a discount during its window of validity, and outside that window act as a "bill me $x.xx as a donation to specified charity" form. Could even be handled without the magic ink - print the terms on the coupon "Between August 7th and 13th inclusive, present this coupon to save 10% on your purchase. Up to August 6th, and from August 14th onward, present this coupon to have a $20 donation to the Customer Literacy Campaign added to your bill." A bit of programming could have the single barcode be made date-dependent.