Complaining (nicely) is effective!

Last week I was happy to find coupons in my mailbox for $10 off any $20 purchase and $10 off any $50  purchase at GNC. We were running low on a few things so the timing of this was perfect.

I read the fine print carefully and it didn't say anything about not being valid with any other coupons and, in fact, said something about applying other coupons if applicable. At the store we loaded up about $75 worth of product and headed to the register, expecting to get $20 total off our purchase.

At the register, the salesclerk said she didn't think she could do both coupons on the same transaction and we said that was fine, we would break it up into two transactions. We even grabbed a little something extra to make sure that one sale was $25 and the other was $53. The sales clerk was struggling a bit so she called her manager over. He proceeds to tell us, nicely, that GNC has a new policy that allows only 1 coupon per customer. And that if he wasn't there tomorrow, we could use the other one tomorrow so I'm not sure what to make of that one?? Apparently it's one coupon per person ever?

I told them that was fine, just sell us the $25 box of Quest bars and use the $10 coupon. We paid and left and I was flabbergasted that GNC thought this was a good policy.

If they had let us use both coupons, we would have had two transactions of 4 items. One for $15 and one for about $43. A total of almost $60 in sales.

Instead, we bought one thing for $15. Scratching my head. As a former retail employee and as a current business owner, that made no sense so when I got home, I emailed GNC.

I nicely explained how their new policy had affected their sales today and how I thought they should know it seemed silly.

Less than 24 hours later I received an apology and I'm getting a $15 off anything coupon in the mail.

The key here is to be NICE at all times. The employees at the store may not understand the policy or they may be enforcing it wrong, but making them mad won't help your case. Just go along and do the best you can and then email headquarters. The holiday shopping insanity is coming upon us and the person behind that cash register is just as aggravated at the holiday shopping ridiculousness as you are. Most of them aren't trying to be jerks. They are trying to do their job the best they can. If they are being a jerk, it may be because you are being a jerk. Maybe.

PS If you don't have a GNC nearby, you can purchase Quest bars online at Amazon. The Cookie's and Creme are amazing!

**The above is an affiliate link. If you choose to shop through that link, you get the exact same wonderful prices as you would if you went to amazon yourself, I just get a little thank you bonus from Amazon for directing you there.