In the CVS drugstore circular on August 1, the company promised to give customers who signed up for their email list a $4 coupon:
The unreadable fine print in the reduced size picture above only refers to the company’s privacy policy, and that people already on their list are not eligible.
Seemed like an easy way to save $4 to Linda D., a regular Mouse Print* reader. So she signed up at their website. She filled out her name and email address on the page that contained this description (actual size):
So far, so good. Then she got an email from CVS with her coupon:
Excuse me, $4 off a $20 purchase? Where did that come from? There was no mention whatsoever about this coupon requiring a minimum purchase in the circular. Even visiting the CVS website on the page where you fill in your name and email address, there was no disclosure right on that page either [since changed as noted below]. If you were to click to see the sample coupon, you would have seen the $20 minimum purchase requirement, but few would probably have a reason to view the sample coupon.
Most people would only find out they’ve been hoodwinked after they had given CVS their personal information.
Mouse Print* contacted the PR folks at CVS to ask if they didn’t think this promotion was deceptive, and whether they would now provide people who signed up with a no-strings-attached $4 off coupon. They responded, in part:
“On the sign-up page, a sample coupon was displayed setting forth the details of the offer.
While we feel the information was available, CVS/pharmacy appreciates customer feedback and moving forward, we have enhanced the language for this ad to indicate more clearly that this is an offer for a $4 off $20 coupon. This change has already been made online at www.cvs.com/email. We have also made this change to our circular and it will be reflected on the online circular beginning on 8/22 and due to printing lead times, the new ad will begin running in the printed circular the week of 9/5.”
So, basically CVS decided against doing the honorable thing right away — offering those who signed up based on the misleading ad a no-strings-attached $4 coupon. And notice that they made no mention of running a retraction in newspapers across the country, as might be required by various state advertising laws.
Huh???
$4 off $20 is actually a fairly decent offer none the less.
Ive never seen a coupon yet that wasnt an amount or percentage off the purchase of something. I cant just quite grasp what exactly did you expect this coupon to be? Whatever your expectations were I quite honestly have to say they were not very realistic.
In this world of gimmicks and gotchas and all its fine print im sure we can find a clearer issue of deceit and disception than this one.
I saw the coupon offer on the bottom of a previous register receipt. I thought if I bought $20 worth of stuff that I would get $4 off right away. After I purchased the items I handed the $4 off offer from the bottom of the previous receipt thinking I would get $4 dollars off. At that time the clerk said you have to apply online but never said anything about having previously signed up inorder to get the coupon. The whole offer is ridiculous and very misleading.
This is standard procedure for CVS. When they first opened near us I looked at their ads and it looked like a great place to shop with lots of coupons but quickly found out that there were a lot of misleading ads, poor customer service and many of their coupon items would be out of stock. They do offer rain checks but the one time I asked for one they had an employee who didn’t know the procedure for giving one, a long line of people behind me and no other employees to ask. I don’t shop there any more.
@Steven: When I see an ad that says “Get a $4 coupon,” I expect a $4 coupon. Not a “$4 off a $20 purchase” coupon. There is a BIG difference. While I don’t disagree that $4 off of $20 is a good deal, it’s still not what I was offered. And that’s what’s called “bait and switch” in the scam industry.
CVS frequently appends generous coupons like the above to the bottom of their sales slips. But no one has mentioned the fine print disclaimer that your purchases exclude alcohol, (so much for a nice discount on an 18-pack or a couple of jugs of tolerable wine) gift cards, prescriptions (hey, I though RXs were the focal point of all drug stores) and stamps.
To add insult to injury, my local CVS store’s do-it-yourself blood pressure monitor has be out of order for 2 months. It would be interesting to see what the BP’s are on customers who get the bad news and the royal purple auger at the checkout register.
^^ In some states (like PA) it also excludes dairy, since dairy is price controlled here.
All of CVS’ store coupons are like that. Typically it’s $4off20, $5off25 (which they seem to have replaced with $5off30). It’s still a good deal when you need to buy expensive stuff like diapers, and you can stack mfr coupons with the store coupon.