Wherein I argue semantics at Subway.

[Aethian]

Oh please we have a lot of stories on CS that aren't nesscarly OP's where people talk about others making the coupon mean what they want to mean. People then jump up with the CS'er and say how horrible it was of the coupon user. NOW we have a CS'er who has done this and it's suddenly okay? Hero was a SC. He just put what was on the coupon...it says 2 sixers NOT order a foot and we'll charge it as a sixer.

[Rageaholic]

Yeah, I find myself making these mistakes from time to time. I'll order something to go when I really was going to get it for there. Or I'll order something a certain way to make it easier. IMO, you should have just ordered the two 6 inches instead of trying to make it easer. As you can tell, that backfired. But I wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

[Mr Hero]

Oh please we have a lot of stories on CS that aren't nesscarly OP's where people talk about others making the coupon mean what they want to mean. People then jump up with the CS'er and say how horrible it was of the coupon user. NOW we have a CS'er who has done this and it's suddenly okay? Hero was a SC. He just put what was on the coupon...it says 2 sixers NOT order a foot and we'll charge it as a sixer.

I typed up the terms of the coupon exactly as they show. You can read at your own leisure. Now, I will admit to being an SC if there is anything that states that what I was doing was strictly prohibited. Tell me, what exactly is the difference between a footlong and two 6 inches of the exact same type?

As other posters have stated, my only mistake was ordering it as a footlong. My sandwich aside from being a footlong instead of two 6 inches, was within the coupon's guidelines (i.e. wasn't a premium sub) I'm sorry you feel I was sucky.. I was polite albeit a little blunt when I pointed out that half 1 and half 2 are both 6 inch subs.

[Aethian]

You were a SC in the fact that you put your own spin on a clear coupon. It said 2 sixers NOT 1 foot. Order as the coupon states and you would have been fine but you went against the wording. That places you as a SC in my book.

Lets add an example....coupon states you can get 2 16oz jars of favorite sauce for the price of one. Customer comes up with 1 32oz jar. Customer then complain that they should get it for the price of one 16oz jar because 2 X 16 = 32. But thats not what the coupon states. If that was posted on CS everyone would be rallying that the couponer was in the wrong and a SC. How did you do anything different?

[bara]

Should have stuck to the coupon.

[Mr Hero]

Lets add an example....coupon states you can get 2 16oz jars of favorite sauce for the price of one. Customer comes up with 1 32oz jar. Customer then complain that they should get it for the price of one 16oz jar because 2 X 16 = 32. But thats not what the coupon states. If that was posted on CS everyone would be rallying that the couponer was in the wrong and a SC. How did you do anything different?

Supposing the customer doesn't want to be sucky, but also wishes to use the coupon, what would you suggest be the best way to take care of that?

[Aethian]

Supposing the customer doesn't want to be sucky, but also wishes to use the coupon, what would you suggest be the best way to take care of that?

Follow the wording on the coupon and getting the 2 16oz jars.

[Peppergirl]

Personally, I would have just paid for the footlong, let it go and saved it for another time, considering it a learned lesson.

You may very well have meant to do it to save a hassle, but it didn't work. Next time, save everyone some grief and ask before you order and don't just assume.

[DrFaroohk]

Does seem like a stupid policy, but as someone who's been on the other side of the counter, it's not always in their control.

We used to have 3-pack deals on cigarettes at my store, and people would always buy 2, refuse the 3rd one, then change their minds after the transaction is complete.

Well, technically shouldn't be a problem, no biggie, right? But we were told that we could NOT refund cigarettes under any circumstances. As much as I'd love to be able to help.

Still, there's no reason not to challenge a sucky policy. The key is, did you yell and scream and throw shit and make threats about how you know the boss and you're going to file a "class action lawsuit" all by yourself, or did you just argue a bit to explain your side of it?

[Ginger Tea]

Not been to a subway for a bit and ours being in the UK might have different policies to the states.

Are the prices of a footlong exactly the same as two identical 6"s?

The jar analogy weighs in favour of buying larger products instead of multiple smaller ones as you are paing for one jar not two, but when confronted with a coupon it end's up being a case of take the smaller jar as they are tied into stock.

Tesco's had a 2 for £2 on 2 Litre coke or £1.98 each, basicaly the 2nd one for 2p, say I want four, I can't pick up a sealed four pack and say hey this is meant to be £4 when it gets ringed up as £6 or so

Also with the footlongs it could be two totally different 6" sub's and afaik they don't do a half and half footlong, so the deal might be more aimed at couples or people on a sandwich run (ok customer limit negates that) where they might want two seperate orders, but only pay for one (or half price if you split the bill).

Your I'm trying to save you time/money/environment by using one wrapper, could have been met with a store policy on redo's instead of a cut in half.
Throw a perfectly good footlong away.

I would have just bitten the price of a footlong and as the coupon is good till May gone back another time and used the coupon the way it should be.

edit:

We used to have 3-pack deals on cigarettes at my store, and people would always buy 2, refuse the 3rd one, then change their minds after the transaction is complete.
Well, technically shouldn't be a problem, no biggie, right? But we were told that we could NOT refund cigarettes under any circumstances. As much as I'd love to be able to help.

Is that a state law or a shop policy about refunding cig sales?
Also was it get the third free or 3rd for less than a packet?
If I found out there was a multibuy offer on something I use alot of, I would take advantage of it, A few months ago in tesco's after work I bought the Girl with the dragon tattoo book trilogy purely cos it had 3 for £5 or £3 each, thing is they rang up as 2 for £8 or something, what all the other books they had on promo were, they did ages ago have them at the 3 for £5 sticker price, but only ever had book 2 and 3 and I didn't want a shit sandwich and then pay full price for book one or get 2 more books I didnt want just to get the price.
Perhaps they were overstock from the last promo but I luckily saw the misprice and got the differnce refunded, I had not swapped lables from some other book, I know it's been tried before as barcodes and the POS display the price not what the lable says
32" HDTV scanned in as a £2 chicken sub ...

Also I would normally get larger cartons of stuff as they do work out cheaper, but one time they had jaffa cakes 12 pack on a sale price that made it that you could get nearly 5 packs for the price of a 36 pack, who would buy 36 when you can have 48 or 60 for the same price?

So if I smoked and I normally got a pack that was 3x the size of the one on sale and the sale price was 3 for 2 I would get the smaller packs as they were cheaper not the larger pack discounted to match.

[Mr Hero]

Still, there's no reason not to challenge a sucky policy. The key is, did you yell and scream and throw shit and make threats about how you know the boss and you're going to file a "class action lawsuit" all by yourself, or did you just argue a bit to explain your side of it?

All I did was argued my side of this. I didn't raise my voice, didn't name drop (though I very easily could have since I'm semi regular there.) He found a way to make it work. My intent in the story was not to get the store to bend for a speshul snowflake. It was to make their job simpler. I would argue that the intent is why I wasn't a SC.

Going back to the jar example, I get that it would have been better to announce the coupon beforehand. But if I get to the register and realize I have to get two smaller jars, it's not to late to correct that mistake. At Subway, I presented the coupon just before being run up. Therefore, the food was already made and it would be more hassle to make the coupon work.

If the worker was more adamant that I could not use the coupon, I would have relented. We were only there for 2-3 minutes with no one in line behind me.

This topic is making me hungry for their new bbq chicken sammich.

[HYHYBT]

The radio station here every morning has a thing where the 10th caller gets two free six inch subs....you get them both at once, I don't get why they don't just say free footlong.

Because two six inches could be made differently.

The thing that makes this particular "coupon stickler" policy silly is that the ONLY difference between two identical six inch subs and one footlong is that if you order the two six inches, they cut the bread first and make them separately, while if you order a footlong, they make one sandwich and then cut it in half. So there's no rational reason to expect a customer to know it couldn't be made as a footlong and then paid as two six-inches, and there's no rational reason for a cashier who's thinking about what's going on not to ring it up that way.

So long as you're polite and you don't keep insisting after they say they just can't do that, it's not sucky.

[DrFaroohk]

Is that a state law or a shop policy about refunding cig sales?
Also was it get the third free or 3rd for less than a packet?

Well, we thought it was state law. Then it was just company policy. Then they sort of allowed it later on, with some exceptions, but at the time, we could not.

The third pack was discounted by usually a buck or so. At one time it was like 1 dollar off per pack when you bought three, but then that faded away.

The 2 16/ 1 32 ounces was something we dealt with too, but it was on deals like "2 for 1 dollar". That does not mean 50 cents apiece! It might at the grocery store, but not at the c-store.

And when our pricing system was screwy, it was actually cheaper to buy 6 bottles of beer than 1 six pack, and I never said anyone couldn't do it. I dunno, wasn't in writing or anything. It's what the customer wants.

[Android Kaeli]

Yes, you WERE sucky even if you didn't raise your voice, swear, or call the employee any names. Why? Because you assumed you could use a coupon stated for two SIX INCH subs for a FOOTLONG. While in all sense of the matter two six inch subs do make a footlong sub, the coupon states otherwise. You did not tell the employee that you wanted two seperate six inches because you had a coupon, no you ASSUMED you could use it well past the point where you should have said something.

With some companies, using a coupon for something other then it's intended purposes can lead to a lot of trouble. In my store, customers can not use more then one coupon per day. Employees CAN get in a lot of trouble over it and upper management is to the point where they have gone past threatening write-ups and have gone straight to doing what they've threatened to do. I don't know if they've actually done it but I much rather be on the safe side and just not give in to any customer complaints about coupons.

[Mr Hero]

I'm not saying I was sucky, but even if I was, I still think it's an asinine policy.