Did BB recently change how they apply MFG coupons? No more stacking with PMs?

[michaeljoo]

This question comes from some recent posts by me and Evil on the Django, Lawless, Killing Them Softly, coupons.com thread but I wanted to address this question in its own thread since it might important consequences for stacking PMs and MFG coupons at BB.

Originally Posted by michaeljoo

I was going to PM the KTS SB to Frys but just before I left to go pick it up I realized that it was already $9.99 at BB.com.

In store it rings up as $11.99, but you can PM it to the website. The final total came out to be about $9.50 or so, which was more than it should have been. I asked why the total was so high and the reps helping me out didn't know but indicated it might have been that BB recently changed some of their policies last week and maybe a consequence was that you couldn't combine PMs and coupons anymore. I didn't hear anything about that but just bought it anyway. For some reason the cost came out to be $8.99 pre-tax and the rep gave me my coupon back.

After I looked at the receipt, I think I figured out what happened. I think the rep entered the mfg coupon incorrectly, as a store coupon or some kind of discount instead of as a mfg coupon/form of payment. Normally, mfg coupons show up at the bottom as a payment method, and don't change the price of the item itemized on the receipt, but my receipt showed the $3 off as a discount that reduced the price of the item itself.

So, I think the rep entered it as a discount, which would conflict with the earlier PM and the system only allowed 1, not both, as it should. After I figured out what happened, I had the coupon applied post purchase.

Originally Posted by Evil

I noticed a few weeks ago that cashiers had started entering mfg coupons using the store coupon option. They have to subtract the coupon from the price of the item themselves (with some sadly having to resort to pen and paper) and then enter than new price into the system. And of course, manager approval is required just like with a price match.

I don't know if price matches and store coupons conflict but the mfg coupon option that they always used before seems to be gone as far as I can tell. And the manager approval requirement naturally slows down what was once a fast process. Remember when price matches didn't even require any approval? Ahh, the good ole days.

Originally Posted by michaeljoo

Uh oh, if this is true that will be a problem.

After I looked at my receipt I realized that was what the rep did, enter the mfg coupon as a store coupon/discount by essentially subtracting the value of the coupon from the cost if the item instead of applying the coupon as a form of payment at the end.

I thought that this was an error on her part and it explained in my mind why the mfg coupon wasn't accepted in the transaction. I just chalked it up to an error on her part (and was relieved that I figured out what happened and that it was just a mistake).

However, if this in fact is the new store policy (and what happened was not just an error), that mfg coupons are now going to be entered as store coupons/discounts, then this will be a problem because as you mentioned, price matches and store coupons/discounts would conflict since they would both be considered store promos.

Mfg coupons did not conflict with PMs before because they were considered forms of payment (like cash or credit cards) and you could stack them.

If this is how BB will be processing mfg coupons from now on, then that may mean the end of being able to combine PMs and mfg coupons. That is bad news indeed. I wonder if they formally changed the policy on their website, which listed vendor coupons as forms of payment.

Can any BB employees comment on this?

Can anybody confirm if this change in the way MFG coupons are applied is true? In particular, are there any BB employees here that can comment?

As of now, the website still has the same "Payment Methods" policy which includes "Vendor coupons" among the forms of payment accepted at BB stores.

If this is true, that would really be too bad.

I have made BB my go to place to get movies whenever I can for a number of reasons. Usually I only buy movies elsewhere if:

-There is a non-BB exclusive that I would rather have.
-It's a place BB won't PM, or won't PM the full deal for (things like the FC sales, DMC, BN sales with member discount and coupons, FYE used stuff, etc...)

If this is in fact the new policy about PMs and MFG coupons I would probably shift any PM + MFG purchases to Target, although that option is more limited since they don't PM the same range of retailers as BB, in particular Frys.com (and the occasional Ratuken.com).