This is a story about how I got 2 free bottles of Clean & Clear Body Wash. It was anything but easy.
I have not shopped at Walgreens in years. It is not nearby, and I do not go out of my way to get there. I have passed up several great sales and coupon deals because I did not want to drive all the way to the store. However, last week they had a sale that I did not want to miss.
Let me back-track. A few weeks ago I got a coupon for Buy One Clean & Clear Body Wash, Get One Free. I thought that was really cool. Then when I got a few coupons for $1 and $2 off the Clean & Clear Body Wash, I thought that was even cooler! I learned that at any store you can only use one Manufacturer coupon per item. So if I was using my BOGO coupon, I could only use one of the other coupons for $1 or $2 off. Walmart sells these body washes for $4.97 each. So instead of $9.94 for two, I could get two for only $2.97. I thought that was a good deal, but decided to wait and see if any stores got them on sale. I decided that if no one got them on sale by the time the coupons were going to expire, then I might use the coupons on the full price items, since it will still be a big discount.
Well, last week Walgreens had those body washes for Buy One, Get One Free! I learned from the couponing blogs that I follow that if you use a BOGO coupon with a BOGO sale at Walgreens, both items become FREE! And free is way better than what I was going to pay for them!
I also quickly learned that most Walgreens all over America quickly sold out of said body washes. All week I called up the 3 Walgreens in the 30 minute radius to me. But they were all sold out every time I called. They kept telling me to call back to see if they get them in on their trucks. So as the week was nearing an end, I was getting sad that I wouldn't get my free body washes. I could have gotten a raincheck from Walgreens, which will have them honor the sale for whenever they get the items back in...But the BOGO coupon expired today. So if the stores didn't get them in by today, the raincheck would only postpone the sale, but not the coupon.
All of the blogs kept mentioning the same thing about not being able to find these at Walgreens. Some people mentioned that their Walmarts were honoring the BOGO sale & BOGO coupon, allowing them to get the free body washes there. But for every successful Walmart match that I read, I read even more unsuccessful Walmart matches.
Friday morning I decided to call my local Walmart to ask if they would honor both BOGOs. The girl I spoke with said that should not be a problem. I was very blunt to the fact that I want the end result to be that I get two body washes for free...Besides paying for the sales tax. Again, she assured me that they would honor it. I took down her name, so I could use it if I ran into an issue at the register.
So after work on Friday I went to Walmart to try to get the two washes. Unfortunately, when I got there I discovered that they only had 1 bottle left on the shelf. I asked several employees to find out if they had anymore in the back. There were three different possible colors, I made sure they knew I didn't care which color they had; that I would take any, I just needed one more bottle. So after about a half an hour wait, they said they didn't have anymore. I assumed I couldn't get them to give me just the one bottle for free, so I gave up and left.
I called all of the Walgreens again that had told me that morning to try back and see what was on their trucks. Unfortunately, none of them had got them in. Two of them didn't even have an ETA of when they would get more in, the third store said they wouldn't get more until Tuesday.
I called a further away Walmart to ask if they had any in-stock. But the lady couldn't understand what I was asking about, and was not helpful. I didn't want to drive all the way there in case they didn't have any. So I decided that meant I was not meant to get these body washes.
Then Saturday morning I decided to take a gamble and drive to the further Walmart. They had 3 left on the shelf! So I grabbed two and went to the register, fully prepared for them to give me a hard time. I had also brought with me a print-out of their Coupon Policy & their Price-Match Policy. Both stating they would honor BOGOs, and never saying that you could not do both BOGOs in one transactions.
So the cashier honored Walgreen's Price Match of Buy one at $5.99, get one free. Then when I showed her the coupon she said she didn't think I could use both. I showed her their policies, and she called over several people for help. No one knew what to do. I said that I called ahead of time to make sure that it would be OK and I was told that it would be fine. (I left out that I had called a different location). Finally someone else came by, couldn't understand what I was trying to do, took my coupon and left for about 20 minutes. I stood there trying to be super-polite. And while she was gone so long, I finally said that if they want to tell me I can't do it then they should just tell me and give me my coupon back.
She finally came back with the Assistant Manager who was SO confused. He kept saying "look at this coupon, it says you can only use one coupon per purchase." I said, "no problem, I only have one coupon." Then he said, "well you can only do one Price Match per purchase." Again I said, "no problem, I am only asking for one Price Match." Then he was like, "wait then what are you trying to do?" So I explained for the millionth time that I wanted to Price Match the BOGO, and then use the BOGO coupon. He finally looked at me and said, "Wait, but in that scenario that would mean you would be getting both for free." I said, "That is exactly what I am trying to do. I have never hidden that fact. And I was told that I was allowed to do that." He said that was impossible. I explained to him that not only will they be getting reimbursed with the coupon, but they will actually be making money since Walgreens sells them for a higher price than they do. I asked to speak to his manager because I knew for a fact that many other Walmarts were allowing it since Walgreens allows it. He said all I could do was call 1-800-Walmart.
So I got my coupon back, and left in tears. I did not get upset in a spoiled-brat way because I didn't get my way. It was more of just that they were so rude and unhelpful, that it overwhelmed and upset me. Like I said, I had been putting off going to Walmart to try to do the match-ups because I highly anticipated the fact that it would not go smoothly and probably not work. But the experience was still overwhelming and upsetting.
I did call up 1-800-Walmart to complain about my horrible experience. All they did was tell me that someone would call me in a few days to discuss it. So we will see what comes of that.
On a whim, I decided to call the Walgreens that was about 10 minutes away from where I was, to ask if they got anymore in. I was 99.9% positive that they did not, because that was the location that told me they would not get anymore in until Tuesday. To my surprise, the girl said they had got a few in. I asked her to put two on the side for me and told her I would be right there.
Sooooo...That brings me to my first Couponing Trip at Walgreens.
I walked in, saw two body washes on the check-out counter, which I presumed to be mine. I checked the shelves out of curiosity and saw that they were all out! So I went to the register and said that I had just called for the washes. The cashier rang up the two for $5.99 for one and $0.00 for the other. I handed her my BOGO coupon, she scanned it, and off came the $5.99. It COULD NOT have been easier!
I am now in love with Walgreens over how easy it was. She did not say a single word about how I was getting two for free. I was in shock that it went so smoothly, that it went so easily, and that it went so fast!
It was like after days of driving around and calling around looking for these damn body washes, it was FINALLY paying off. I FINALLY got my two free body washes.
I am ecstatic that I finally got them.
I just haven't figured out if it was worth all of the frustration. Haha
So in actuality, all I had to pay was the sales tax of $0.52. But in reality, I don't know how much it really cost in blood, sweat, tears, aggravation, and gas money.
But in the end, I got them, so I guess it all worked out.
I want to try to forget how hard it was to get them, and try to just look at that I physically only paid $0.26 per bottle.
Retail Cost:
- 2 Bottles Clean & Clear Body Wash: $5.99 (Total: $11.98)
Retail SubTotal: $11.98
My Cost:
- 2 Bottles Clean & Clear Body Wash: $11.98 - $5.99BOGO = $5.99 - $5.99BOGO Coupon = $0.00
Retail SubTotal: $0.00
$11.98 - $0.00 = Savings of $11.98!!
