Reward Zone Gamer's Club

[k41]

I wanted to use my $100 Cert (from the infamous 5/$100 pre-order promo) so I had to have a total over that.  I returned a strategy guide with the intent of rebuying it.  The CSR looked at me like I was crazy when I told her not to take it away since I was going to rebuy it   

I had 3 coupons (50% off guides from Unlocked, $20 off a game that is on sale this week from Dec @Gamer mag, and the B2G1 up to $39.99 coupon from the Unlocked set).  I had 6 items: my "returned" guide, the game that is onsale that has $20 off coupon, 3 games all onsale this week, and a $25 Kindle card.  The Kindle card was needed since I calculated my pre-tax total to be just under $100 (around $99.XX) so I needed something to make my total over in order to use the $100 RZ Cert.

After getting my guide "back", I handed the lady the guide coupon first since these gaming coupons say to scan them first then the item it is for.  She ended up scanning the guide first then the guide coupon.  I then gave her the $20 off coupon and then the corresponding game.  Then the B2G1 coupon and the 3 games.  and lastly the Kindle card.

Unofrtanetly she did not scan them in this order like I suggested to her since those are the instructions on the coupons.  She said the computer does everything.

She scans my RZ Cert and then tells me the total which sounds too high.  I decide to deal with the problems later since there are many people on line and usually nothing is resolved in store since most employees donot understand the issues.

I pay off the rest with my card and walk out.  I check my receipt and this is the scan order:

1. Strat guide (50% off is taken off)
2. 50% off guide coupon 
3. Game0 that has $20 off coupon (only weekly sale discount is taken)
4. GameA (weekly sale discount is taken)
5. GameB (weekly sake discount is taken; sale price is taken off resulting in $0 cost due to B2G1 coupon)
6. B2G1 coupon
7. $20 off coupon for Game0
8. GameC (weekly sale discount taken)
9. Kindle card
10. RZ card

So since the CSR did not scan the items/coupons in the order I had suggested (which is what the coupons instruct to do), the $20 off coupon did not "apply" to Game0.  This is likely due to Game0 being bundled with GameA and GameB and the BsG1 coupon appling to them.  GameC was suppose to be the third game for the B2G1 coupon.  The RZ Cert was distributed among all the purchased items.  All said and done, I "lost" out on $20+ ($20 not taken off the game as well as the tax that is incrued with $20).

[k41]

Also all 4 games were onsale for $39.99 or less; since the $20 off coupon was not scanned before the corresponding game and that that game was one of the first 3 games to be scanned, the game "qualified" for the B2G1.  I'm not surprised that the registers are not programmed to find the "best" or cheapest total but this all would likely have been avoided had the CSR just scanned everything in the order I gave to her.

[Bigbob317]

No it wouldn't have. Order does not matter with something like this. The only way to have your desired result would be if you did two separate transactions.

[k41]

I think order DOES matter. What if someone had say 4 games $39.99 each (all different too). If they used the B2G1 coupon, the first three games that are scanned would be grouped together for the coupon. Now the only time this would matter is if someone wanted to return a game. There are many complications if a game is part of a "package deal" so obviously one would want the 4th game (last to be scanned) as the game they are unsure of.

[Bigbob317]

I'm talking about in your case with the other @Gamer coupon. Order did not matter.

[k41]

No way of verifiying your claim anyway.  I still wish the lady had listened to my suggestion.  If it is a programming issue where one coupon takes priorty of the other, then Best Buy really needs to start doing tests of their POS involving coupons.

Hopefully Mike gets back to me soon (I know he's busy with all this 5/$100 stuff - some people didn't follow the terms properly or the local employees are not ringing up preorders the right way)

[Periwinkle]

Best Buy isn't the only place you'd have to do multiple transaction to achieve the desired result. Coupons and offers take precedence over each other regardless of how they're scanned. The $20 off didn't work since the buy 2 get 1 coupon is a 'better deal'.

I tend to avoid these problems by actually splitting up the transactions in the way i'd like them. It's not a CSR/system error, it's just the way any kind of coupon is programmed. This way BB can avoid someone trying to use both coupons while buying 3 games.

If you dislike it so much, feel free to call them up for faster service. But now you know it's almost always going to happen. Unless an actual error occurs, letting you use both coupons in one transaction.

[CrystalWoW Valued Expert]

All of the promos say cannot be combined with other offers.

[Mike-BBY Community Connector · Accepted solution]

Hi k41,

Thank you for writing in.  I have replied to the private message you sent me, but I wanted to close the loop here.  

The directions on the coupons do state that the coupon should be scanned first, followed by the corresponding item, and then everything else.  So that is the process each couponed item should follow.  However, there are some instances where the system will disregard order, such as purchasing two games and get a third free.  If the games given are all $39.99 including the get one free item, and later a $29.99 game is scanned, the $29.99 game becomes the free item.  I'm not saying that this is what the problem was here.

In any event, I forward your experience to our process team to see if this is something that can be better executed in the future.  Thank you for sharing your experience with us.

Regards,

Mike

[Jimmienomam]

You were trying to combine 2 coupons on 1 set of items.

Ie the b2g1 coupon will NOT (or at least not supposed to stack) with any other coupon. 1 coupon per item. Using a B2G1 coupon applies to all 3 of the games (this isn't how it is done at grocery stores) and as such the $20 off cannot be used in conjunction with it.

While there will be times and ways to get these to stack, that is not the policy and as such fighting it on these forums probably won't go too far.