by Laurie1976
Recently went to a Shopper’s Drug Mart in Kingston and purchased a mascara that I thought was on sale for $6.99. Â I decided it would be a better deal to get the “buy one get one free” mascara.
I got home and noticed that I had been charged $11.89 for the package of mascara. Â When I called the cosmetics department they said that the sale price did not apply to the buy one get one mascara (same brand, same product).
I returned to the store and talked with a manager and explained that they could not do this! Â Essentially they were charging me nearly $5.00 extra for a mascara that was supposed to be free! Â He agreed and told me to tell the individual at the cash that I could have the item for $6.99.
I told the cashier that the manager (gave his name) said that I could have the item for $6.99 and that I had been charged the wrong price. Â The idiot cashier proceeded to call someone over the loud speaker to come to the front. Â Once this employee arrived she told him to go and check the price. Â I told her that I had already told her the price and that she was wasting my time.
The employee returned and said “11.89.” Â She then turned to me and said “It’s 11.89.” Â I was getting angry at this point and told her that I had told her it was $6.99 and that I wanted the manager. Â He came over and told her the price was $6.99 and she finally, after much exhaustion and time-wasting, let me have it for the correct price.
However, I noticed that several other people must have fallen for this and paid full price, as nearly all of the double “bogo” mascara’s were gone. Â Looks like Shopper’s made a profit off of selling free mascara.
Theresa says...
Good grief!! Sounds like you shop at the store I go to. There is a cashier there that cannot hide her dislike for me. She has argued certain coupons with me…called the manager, only to find out that I was right all along. I dread it when I see her working now…stupid I know, but she so obviously hates it when I come in. My husband says he would use a coupon everytime he saw her working just to make her crazy!! LOL
I have noticed that you have to really check your receipts with shoppers, I have been scammed numerous times on items that were supposed to be on sale.
Christina8717 says...
This happened to me too. There was Revlon eyeshadow on sale and certain packs came with a BONUS mascara. Obviously that’s a better deal so I chose that one. It scanned at $5 more than the sale price. The cashier said it’s because there’s a mascara with it. Yes, the BONUS mascara, why do I have to pay extra for something that’s supposed to be free with the eyeshadow? I said nevermind, it was ridiculous.
Katty says...
I never leave the store until I’ve verified the receipt or while the cashier is scanning (if I have time to look). I’ve bought something that was BOGO free at Shoppers with a save.ca coupon (the item was also on sale) and didn’t have any problems. You probably just had an idiotic cashier that didn’t know any better.
Lilly Mae says...
I have totally stopped shopping at Shoppers because of this kind of experience more than one……..Their prices keep going up and up and up and customer sevice contiunes to plummet….Give me a PharmaPlus Rexall anytime………Also, if I bring in a coupon for a free product, they tell me they have to charge the tax on the product so it is not really “FREE”. Wal-Mart has done the same thing to me (depending on the cashier) yet when I take the same coupon to a grocery store, it is COMPLETELY free……Go figure!!!!
ka7qur says...
i guess it depends on what shoppers you go to. there’s a nice cashier at eaton centre who doesn’t charge me tax on any coupon product that is free for me. however, at my SDM, they take tax on it. And sometimes they don’t even take the coupon, saying the product is not in the picture shown on the coupon. i didn’t have a very good day that day…
Jillei says...
If they follow the canadian scanning code of practice you should have gotten the item for free because it was under 10.00 and it was scanned incorrectly. Check out this link. I know they obide by this at canadian tire - my boyfriend got something free before
http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/eic/site/cb-bc.nsf/eng/01262.html
ld says...
I don’t know how many of you have worked in these kinds of stores but a lot of companies send out bonus packs which have different bar codes on them which are different codes then the original non bonus product. Cashiers can see that they are the same product but it’s not our fault that they have different bar codes in our computer system. Don’t call cashiers stupid they’re just doing they’re just doing their job and we constantly have a lot of customers who claim a product was put somewhere (or left by a previous customer in the wrong spot) who try to argue that the cashier is stupid because that’s where the customer happened to find the product that they should get that price. So be reasonable be patient and if you’re nice to us we’ll be nice to you.
evil.kitten says...
Cashier’s are so lazy these days and believe customers are trying to rip them off.. Riiight
I would’ve done the same thing as you Laurie. But i usually check my recipts on my way out or in the car before I leave.. i woudl ahve gone back in there and raised all kinds of hell on them.
Shoppers has mislabelled items before and nearly got away with it if I hadnt checked my dads recipts.. He gets sooo incredibly angry when cashiers call him a liar or refuse to check the prices again..
Several times he’s just had his things refunded [and taken his business else where] or if before he’s boughten them he would just leave the cashier and the items leaving her/him to fix the mess.
STFU says...
Know what you should do? You should shove that mascara up your bitch ass, and don’t stop pushing until you barf up mascara coloured shit.
Cashier Caro says...
And I’ve dealt with plenty of customers who do try to rip stores off. There are so many schemes out there. I wish everyone in the world could have a job as a cashier or in retail even for a week just to realize how awful and stupidly retardly strict it can be to be the lowly person on the bottom of the pyramid.
Pharma Plus Worker says...
ok so i read pretty much all these comments and i have to say is that, (not because i work for PPD) shoppers drugmarts are the most terrible drug stores to shop at. everytime i go in there the cashiers are rude to me and are no help half the time, and when i ask for items that should be there i get told they discontiuned, and it turns out their just sold out. and for your mascara ordeal, i can say i have never had a problem with my cosm. deals like this before. we clearly put whats on sale and help you if it should come up wrong. im a cashier at PPD and owr customer severice is by far more better the SDM
Anita says...
I can’t stand when customers belittle cashiers. Honestly! Often times customers clearly think they are right 100% of the time. When they are proven wrong they throw the product back at the cashier and say never mind then the sign is misleading etc etc etc and we should change it. NO how about you stop for a minute and pay attention to what the sign REALLY says. Why should we waste our time pointing out something that is obvious only for you to get snippy and rude because you’re embarrassed that YOU were wrong.
Oh, and while I’m at it. Just because you have a bad experience with ONE cashier doesn’t mean the entire chain of stores across the board is “A HORRIBLE PLACE TO SHOP”.
Geeze, if I happen to think you’re being a bitch to me does that mean your entire family is a bitch? NO.
Stop and think about how you are treating the cashier before you go off on a tangent. If you don’t agree with something they are arguing with ask them why they are saying that. If you are still not satisified then ask for a supervisor or manager. Stop taking your crap out on the cashiers. We have rules they need to abide by. We don’t just decide to make them as we serve customers.
Let me tell you this, you’ll get further by being polite then by arguing. Our time is as valuable as your time!
Tersh says...
Having just quit at one SDM and still working as a cashier at a different SDM, I have a few things to say…
Firstly, who your manager is and how they train their employees matters VERY MUCH. The SDM I just gave my two weeks` notice to had extremely bad management and cashiers got conflicting methods of standard operating procedure daily. Merchandisers were only treated a little better because they didn`t have as much opportunity to tell the customers that they didn`t know how to help them without calling the manager (or assistant manager) because they`d been inadequately trained.
This isn`t to say that all SDM`s are this way. I`m still working at the other Shoppers Drug Mart because the management style at the other is completely different. There are ALWAYS enough staff at hand, which means customers aren`t made to stand aside for an hour or more waiting for the one merchandiser they have there at the moment to help them, and the cashiers are advised ahead of time by their superiors about what promotions are being offered and told where the current flyer is if they need to check sale prices for a customer. The cashiers are also given their 3-month reviews with CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM, so they are better able to aid customers if a problem arises. And if a cashier isn`t doing something right in front of a supervisor, it`s pointed out ASAP.
Unfortunately, some managers believe that the way to train a cashier is to tell them if they don`t figure out what they`re doing wrong on their own, they will be fired. This creates a very stressful situation for a cashier. Of course they`re going to be paranoid about calling their manager to make sure what they`re doing is okay if they have their job threatened daily and aren`t being told how to do their job better.
Another thing I should mention is that ALL SDM`s are separately owned, which means they are all unique. Each of them has different stock, different sales, and different management style. You certainly can`t lump them all together.
A lot of points the other posters have put up here are very true as well. Sometimes a sale item won`t ring in at sale price because of any number of reasons (such as the person using the program to alter the prices on the store computer screwed up). Whenever a customer comes to my lineup and tells me that they were overcharged, I personally look through the flyer to see if the item was supposed to be on sale and if I am unable to find it in the flyer, I then call a merchandiser and ask them to get me the tag for the item. If the tag shows that the customer was indeed right and they were overcharged, I do a refund for them and then do a price-override scan while apologising to the customer on behalf of the store that they had to come back. I also ask them if they`d like to speak to the manager to leave a comment or suggestion so that we can better serve them in the future. But that`s just because of my common sense and having the luck of having a good manager at one of the SDM`s I`ve worked at and still work at. It is also true that cashiers have very little power over even the smallest things (like giving a refund if it`s over 15 dollars or it`s been more than 30 days since the item was purchased). We are also not allowed to leave our till, and it`s not because we`re too lazy to come out. It`s because we`ve been told we can`t leave due to the risk of other `customers` stealing merchandise or even receipts so they they can try to scam the store out of money.
Long story short, us cashiers have it kind of rough. It`s not an excuse for us to be rude to customers, that`s definitely not what I`m trying to say. But not all cashiers are terrible and not all SDM`s are terrible either.
Rose says...
The cashier is not an idiot. They are verifying the information you have given them is correct. Any customer could walk up and say that the manager said they could have something for a certain price. We, the cashiers, have a job. We have to be sure we are not undercharging the customers. In this case, the manager probably should’ve overseen the transaction or done it himself. I have had customers swear up and down they were told something, but in reality they had misconstrued the information or had made it up all together. I am not wasting your time by being sure before I do something. The cashier uses the people on the floor to check prices in order to save time. We could be helping other customers while the price is checked. As well, this way we are not leaving the til unattended.
It sounds to me that the problem you were having was in regards to the company who made the mascara you bought at a Shoppers. If that is the price they’ve asked for that product, or the price that is scanning when the cashier swipes it, that is not the fault of Shoppers. Have some patience for the employees who are trying to help you.
John says...
@Lilly Mae…
Just a clarification. In order for you to get a product ‘free’ with a coupon, the coupon must state that it will pay the tax as well. I was getting $3.00 Purex coupons last summer and waiting until the product went on sale for $2.99. When I used the coupon it was discounted to $2.99 but I still had to pay .39 cents tax because the coupon did not pay the tax.