Couponing Chaos Trifecta--HEB 8/23/2011

OH. MY. GOODNESS.  Ok, so this trip was made under some unusual conditions that I hope to never-again repeat.   Reese's 2nd day of school was today.  Raeleigh and I had out first day of Parent's Day Out at Journey and we were ALL e-x-h-a-u-s-t-e-d!!
So that is strike one in the coupoing chaos trifecta.
We made the trip together as a family--not our usual Jason-only trip. 
Strike two in the trifecta...
And three?  What is three you ask?  We went to HEB to coupon and deal shop on the last day of the ad cycle.  Meaning, all the deals listed in the current ad end are changing at closing tonight.  Never, ever, ever, never, ever do this!  At least not if you plan to budget and coupon shop. 
I will tell you why:
HEB was completely out of many of their combo locos and meal deals.  When I say out--I mean OUT.  In some instances there were no yellow in-store coupons remaining, if you could locate the items, and in other cases the items were completely sold out. 
Empty shelves--no product. 
I am not sure why this is.  It could have been that the shelves were not restocked so that workers could rezone the store for the new ad coming out tomorrow.  It could be that all of Waco is back to school this week and parents are buying these items for back-to-school lunches and snacks. Or it could be that the rest of Waco has some secret knowledge about some pending apocalypse that I am not privet to....Regardless of the reason, my trip was crippled by these issues.
I could not find cantaloupe
The store was out of almost ALL their waffles and the combo loco where you buy the HCF 24 count waffles and get the frozen fruit cups was completely MIA--no product and no coupon--ANYWHERE.
There was a combo loco for BBQ sauce and shells and cheese with the purchase of tyson chicken nuggets--yet again no coupon and the BBQ sauce and shells and cheese were MIA.  They had the combo loco partially set up on an end cap.  When I say partially set up I mean the chicken nuggets were there and that was it.
There were no nature valley granola bar thins in stock.
There were no Bob Evans side dishes in stock.
The combo loco for buy cheerios get HEB brand cereal free was out--they were offering rain checks.
The sargento cheeses were not stocked.
I could not locate HEB ready to bake sugar cookies (I had to purchase choc chip instead)
There was no in-store coupon for the advertised deal on free family sized doritos with purchase of gatorade.
and the list goes on.
I was livid and in coupon rage.  My trip was completely ruined by the stores inability to follow thru with their offered deals until the sale end date.
I understand that they have to re-set the store for the new ad coming out tomorrow--but why should I be penalized for that?  I will never shop again on an ad end date.
I did have a great cashier who did not give me trouble about manually entering coupons that the system did not immediately recognize.  And yes, as I have said before some of the coupons that did not scan immediately were HEB's own in-store offers.  CRAZZZZZZZZZZY!!!!
Any way...I still managed to save a total of $56.82 even with all the mix ups on deals. 
We bought a total of 131 items.
On brand savings: $7.80
On sale savings: .50
Free/coupon savings: $48.59
total spent $276.83

Comments

Kristen said…
I went to Heb on Wooded Acres this morning and the cashier told me that when Internet printed coupons don't scan they are not allowed to accept them. This particular coupon from coupon.com would not scan or was not accepted when keyed in manually so they were not allowed to override it. Have you had that experience?

Kristen
Stolle said…
Hi Kristen. Yes, I had that problem last shoping trip at HEB in hewitt. I printed a copy of corporate coupon policy and took it with me this time. It does not state that in their policy but it does state that they can change policy at any time if needed. If I were you I would argue the point. If you bought the item, you have a right to use the coupon. If they dont want to scant it...pull the item out of your bags and prove to them you purchased it. If that doesnt work ask for a manager and if they still give you grief whip out the smart phone and start recording. If they are not following policy get proof. I posted about this on my blog about 2 weeks ago. Scroll back and read about that happened to me. Good Luck!!!
Stolle said…
From a friend of mine about her experience at HEB (they need to get their act together): Ok so I know I'm a little late with this post BUT I wanted to add my experience to your HEB trip. Chad and I went last Friday about 4 to get some of the deals you went after. The shelves were so bare a complete stranger and I had a conversation about it. We couldn't find half of the deals we wanted and the ones we did find were almost out and we felt like we were on a scavenger hunt trying to loca...te them. Not cool. Then when we decided we weren't going to do any better we went to check out. The clerk was UNBELIEVABLY rude and on top of that came across one of THEIR coupons that wouldn't scan. After looking thru my cart for about 5 minutes I just said forget it i will just pay for it and I left. When I left the store the bagged apologized for the checkers rudness. Girl I was so frustrated! I have never had so much trouble from HEB!
Stolle said…
ok..so I was soo upset after reading my friend's comment that I just sent this link to corporate HEB. They need to be sure the stores follow thru with their advertized deals and coupons
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