The Saga Continues.....BEWARE!

Remember back in late March/early April of this year.....the SoftSoap Body Wash at Walgreen's was giving a FREE ITEM Catalina when you bought a bottle of that Body Wash?
Here's the ad from that week.....

I had bought a bottle of SoftSoap Body Wash the Saturday of that sales ad. Surprise of surprises, my Catalina for a Free Bottle DID NOT PRINT!
So, the Asst. Manager gives me the DREADED FORM to send to the Catalina Company, requesting the Coupon I was gypped out of.
Here's my copy of that form I sent in.....

The form says to, "allow 6-8 weeks for delivery". I mailed it on 4/6/09.
Here's my receipt from the purchase....



Approximately 3 weeks ago....June 29th.....I pulled my documentation out for this particular bit of unfinished business. 6-8 Weeks had passed some time ago and still NO FREE SOFTSOAP BODY WASH COUPON.

So I picked up the telephone and called Retail Client Service. I spoke at length with 'Danny' in Customer Service. He couldn't seem to locate any record of my Coupon being sent out.
He said he couldn't send the original Coupon out as it had expired.
How nice....
He had to find an equivalent Coupon to send me. Something that wasn't expired yet.
After a half hour on the phone, he assured me the Free Body Wash Coupon request was in the system and would be going out to me shortly.

Forward to the end of last week....Friday I believe.
Guess what shows up in my mail that day-July 17th?

It's my FREE SOFTSOAP BODY WASH COUPON!!!
Now look closer at the expiration date.....
I don't know if you can make it out but the expiration date is JULY 25th.
Just over ONE WEEK FROM WHEN I RECEIVED IT!

So I got a chance to get out to Walgreens today to use this coupon before it expires. I have exactly TWO Walgreens in my area. If I want to drive an hour away I can get to more but who wants to drive 2 hours(both ways)to spend a coupon worth $3.99?

Guess what is on sale this week at Walgreens????
Go on! You'll NEVER guess!!

SOFTSOAP BODY WASH!
And because it's on sale, guess what BOTH Walgreens are out of?????????

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I'VE BEEN WAITING SINCE APRIL 4TH TO GET MY FREE BODY WASH THAT WALGREENS OWES ME.
THAT'S OVER 3 MONTHS & 2 WEEKS FOLKS!!!
SO MUCH FOR TIMELY DELIVERY OF GOODS....

I AM SO FRUSTRATED AND TIRED OF DEALING WITH THIS. AND NOW I GET TO CALL 'DANNY' AGAIN(OF COURSE I'LL GET SOMEONE ELSE AND WILL HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS ALL TO THEM AND HOPE THEY CAN COMPREHEND IT ALL)AND GET A REPLACEMENT FOR MY REPLACEMENT COUPON.

THIS IS WHAT I GET FOR PLAYING BY THE RULES AND TAKING THE STINKING FORM AND SENDING IT IN.

Now, you know when a Catalina didn't print after this one, I refused to take the form and send it in....it helped that the nimrod gave me the wrong forms for the items I bought that time.lolol

Argh. I could just chew nails here folks.
If I wasn't so close to having a stroke, it would be funny.

Heed my warning, NEVER agree to send the form to the Catalina company!

You have been warned.....

More to follow as this saga unfolds.

Sluggy

Potential MONEYMAKER at Rite Aid until Saturday!

I lead a sad, sad life sometimes.
My idea of fun?
Wandering the Rite-Aid Drug Store aisles, looking for Single Check Rebate shelf tags.
LOLOL
Yes, I just walk around Rite-Aid looking for things to buy to send away for SCR rebates.
But only things that would either be free or a Moneymaker!
So not so dumb after all, huh?

I found this great Moneymaker opportunity on Saturday. Was in a Rite-Aid and saw that this item has a Single Check Rebate for $14.00

It's a Doctor's Brand Night Guard for bruxism(teeth grinding). Now I don't grind my teeth in my sleep....I have other ways to relieve stress when I am awake(eating!lol).
But.....
This item is regularly $24.99. (It's the regular 'classic' one, not the deluxe model). This Rite-Aid had the 'classic' style marked 50% off at $12.49!
I bought one & submitted online for the SCR for it and YES!....it went through.
So I bought it for $13.24(tax, you know), got the $14.00 rebate.
I made .76¢.

Now before you laugh your head off at me for going to this trouble to buy something to make .76¢, remember that I can now take said Night Guard and sell that puppy on eBay!
Research shows that I can get at least $8 or so for it there.
And if I had bought it as part of a $25 order, I could have received $5 off that order.
If you need to get to $25 to use that $5 off coupon for Rite-Aid AND these are on clearance at your store, it's a great thing to buy to boost your total.

But you need to hurry, because the July SCR period ends on Saturday! If you are going to get one, get it before then.

I bought 2 btw.....1 for me, 1 for B-I-L. Made $1.48 overage and will sell both of eBay and make another $16 there.

Happy Hunting!
Sluggy

Counting Food Budget Receipts

One last quickie post for the evening.
I sat down tonight and went through my Food/Toiletries Receipts for the month of July so far. With 2/3 of the month gone, I have spent $379.84 in July.

I have Cats expiring this week too;$10 for Weis, a $5RR & a Free Soft Scrub Body Wash Cat for WAGS & a combined total of $53 in Cats for Kmart(earned during double coupons buying Unilever, etc. and Kraft Mac & Cheese). The Weis and WAGS Cats will be spent on food/toiletries but I might get some clothes &/or school supplies with the KMart Cats for #2 son or bedding for #1 son's dorm room.

My goal for food spending was to keep it under $500 this month. I am shocked to see that I actually have a shot at meeting that goal!! My best month up until now was June's $700 spending total.
I'll cross my fingers that when Weis' new sales ad comes out on Thursday, there are NO GOOD DEALS! ;-)
No temptations, please.....

If I can spend my Cats and RRs and NOT spend more than that I'll make the July goal. This will take some planning AND willpower.
Uh oh.
I'm in trouble now....lolol

Stay tuned....
Sluggy

Yard Sale...the final word

One last post about the Yard Sale last Saturday. I found a partial roll of quarters in a drawer in the kitchen island. I knew I hadn't taken all the quarters out for the sale. Hubby insisted there were no quarters in the drawer where he put the wads of cash during the sale, for safekeeping.
Found the quarters today....so the Grand Total jumps from $628.50 to $634.25.

That is all.

Sluggy

CVS & Price Chopper Quickies on Saturday

After a few hours of recuperating from my Yard Sale Trauma, I was itching to get out of the house. Well, it started because I had a $7 OYNO Cat from Price Chopper(from buying $20 Kraft/Unilever/General Mills Deal a couple of weeks ago)the that was expiring that night.
So I just HAD TO go out.
Yah.....that's my story.....

I hadn't been to CVS in Eight Whole Days!(is that sad or what?) so I went to my favorite one.
This one has the overlapping sales. They start honoring the coming week's sale on Saturday as they put the signage out early Sat. But they also honor the current sales ad prices, so you can do both sale weeks at once. Granted if there is a popular item on sale, since it's the end of the current sales week, they will be OUT of that item. But you can get first crack at the upcoming sales ad hot items.

CVS Transaction #1

2 Pencils @ $1.99=$3.98
2 Filler Paper @ $2.00=$4.00
4 Min-Notebooks(2 different sizes) @.99¢=$3.96
2 Paper-Mate Pen Packs @ .99¢=$1.98
1 Gillette Fusion Razor @ $7.99=$7.99
SubTotal $21.91

Coupons Used
1 Gillette Fusion Razor $3.00
CVS ECBs $12, $1.50, $1=$14.50
CVS $4/$20 Coupon=$4.00
Total $21.50

$21.91-$21.50=$.41+.03¢tax=$.44OOP
Received $4(Gillette Fusion)ECB.
NO ECBs for the School Supplies.
EEK!

So she calls the Manager.
This is how I learned that even though you can go to this CVS the day BEFORE a sale starts and still get the SALE PRICES, you Don't get the ECBS for those items.
Not the best way to learn a lesson IMHO.lolol

So I told the Manager if I couldn't get my ECBS today that I'd like to return everything but the razor & I'd come back on Sunday and buy the items again. I was just trying to play by the rules, now that I knew what the rules at this store were. I wasn't threatening or pissed off(more embarassed really), just matter-of-fact like.
I guess he didn't want the extra paperwork that a return generates or he didn't want his Sunday spoiled by me darkening his door again the next day, because he went over to the other register and after about 10 minutes he produced my ECBs for the stuff.
Oh, from the steam coming out of his ears I could tell he was telling me off in his head.lolol

And I learned something else another time when I had a problem with the ECBs printing.
When they 'force' the ECBs....at least this time and the last time they didn't print, the cashier uses a number to print them that isn't your Customer Care Number. So for these school supplies, there will be no record of me redeeming these ECB offers yet. So I could go back to CVS this week while they are still on sale(and a store still has some in stock)and I could get another set of them and have another set of ECBs print for my card.
Not that I would ever do that, mind you. ;-))
Just a little tidbit of info....

So Updated ECBs...$4Gillette, $14 School Supplies(he rounded the .99 on some up so it was even dollars, no cents)=$18

So I still had to buy some Tylenol Arthritis(I love this stuff!) & I had a $3 off $15 Coupon.


CVS Transaction #2

3 Tylenol Arthritis @$3.99=$11.97
3 Mini First Aid Kits @$.99=$2.97
1 Nutter Butter Cookies @ $1.00=$1.00
SubTotal $15.94

Coupons Used
3 $2/1 Tylenol=$6.00
3 $1/1 J&J Item(adjusted down to .99)=$2.97
CVS $2.50 off a $10 Pain Reliever Purchase=$2.50
CVS $3/$15 Coupon=$3
Total $14.47

$15.94-$14.47=$1.47OOP
Received $9(Tylenol)ECBs

GRAND TOTALS
Value of Items $52.25
Coupons & Sales $50.34
OOP $1.91(includes .03¢ tax)
Savings of 96.35%
ECBs Used $14.50
ECBs Received $4(Gillette),$14(School Supplies),$9(Tylenol)=$27

A quick note****The J&J Travel 1st Aid Kits qualify as part of the Buy $10 in Band-Aid/J&J Red Cross/Neosporin Items, Get $5 ECBs deal this week at CVS. So if I spend $7.03 more on J&J this week, I get $5 ECBs.

Then it was on to Price Chopper to see how far I could make $7 go.
Ok, I confess I spent an additional $3.60.
Shoot me.
Sit down for this.....I took NO COUPONS into the store with me.
Gasp.
I know!


Price Chopper Transaction

1 bunch Bananas on sale $.39lb.=$.79
1 head of Cabbage on sale $.59lb.=$2.47 Not pictured, already used
1 Half Gal. Organic Orange Juice PC Brand=$2.59
3 Containers PC Brand Ice Cream on sale $2.00=$6.00
1 Reduced Pear Cups(for hubby's lunch) half price/torn packaging=$1.25 Not pictured
SubTotal $13.10
No Tax

Coupons Used
(Scanned my card and got PC Qs at the coupon machine)
1 $1 wyb 3 PC brand Ice Cream from machine=$1.00
1 .50¢ off PC OJ Coupon from machine=$.50
2 .50¢ off Dairy Stickers on the OJ Carton=$1.00
1 $7 OYNO Cat.
Total $9.50

$13.10-$9.50=$3.60

Totals
Value of Items $15.47
Coupons & Sales $11.87
OOP $3.60(includes tax)
Savings of 76.75%

Sluggy