The end of Target's customer service?

Buyer beware! So as I have previously mentioned I am new to this whole clipping/printing coupons game and saving money as a job not a fluke ;) I printed out 20 Lipton tea $1/1 coupons I have heard so much about bethriftylikeus , money saving mom
, to say the least, and set out for he nearest Target. Coming from CO I have been spoiled with the abundance of Super Targets where I usually got everything from groceries to everything else you can think of all at once. Here in CA they seem to be all but illegal for how rare they are and how difficult it seems to get them built. After I came across all the great savings, however I decided to check them out and see what I could find. I have 2 remaining targets to try, but the first one was VERY uncooperative.


I went in the store with Lipton tea and lays crisps coupons, along with a free bread sticks with purchase of any cafe item of $1 or more. I gathered up 20 Lipton to go packs (4 in a pack) a set of baby socks (in case I had to buy something to get them to give me the time of day) and went to the counter. No dice! The cashier informed me that they were not the same item and thus could not be used. Regardless of the fact that the item does not indicate any restrictions to the "$1 off Lipton tea" coupon she maintained that since the image used was that of a box of tea bags, that that was what it was referring to. She also tried to convince me that the coupons were designed so that an item worth more than the discount would be cheaper. She was patronizing towards my desire t get the entire item for free. 20 minutes and 2 supervisors later they were STILL arguing with me that despite the fact that the coupon shows no restrictions, that the image was what was being discounted. He even asked me, somewhat in a somewhat belittling manner, "Based on your argument then, you could also use this coupon for BOTTLES of Lipton tea" (which I discovered coming back and reading these blogs that indeed you CAN use it for bottles) and shook his head. Reminds me of the customer service I used to get in Walmart, a place I only ever went for the things that their prices beat everyone else's. Virtually every time I went in there I would have to argue to get them to honor a sign or mislabeled item, usually I would lose the battle and I would be berated during the incident while one of the members went to confirm that I was in fact wrong (of course they wouldn't believe me). Not so with my old Target, I have on occasion found something that was labeled differently than their computer came up with and while they did still go to check the location it was found in, they STILL cleared my purchase for my stated price. In the end I was forced to leave empty handed, except for my socks as the manager refused to honor the coupon.

If you happen to be in the Laguna Niguel area, don't go to the Target there as they will NOT honor the Lipton Tea coupon! I plan to call other Target's in the area as well as their main operations to clarify this situation and find out if I was just the first one caught and we have all been benefiting from a loophole that doesn't really exist or if the store in question is in the wrong. I will report back when I find out.

story continued here