Imagine going to a grocery store and using some coupons on your order. If one of the coupons gave you a free product, what would you do if you later decided that you didn’t want that product? Would you try to return it to the store for a full refund (remember, it was free), or would you keep it or give it away since you didn’t pay anything for it?

In this story, one woman goes to a store to return something she bought, but the item she “bought” was free due to a coupon she used. She can’t seem to grasp the concept that she didn’t pay anything at all for this product and proceeds to argue with the employee and the employee’s supervisor about it.

It sounds pretty frustrating for everyone involved, but it should’ve been a simple concept to grasp.

Let’s read all about it.

Wants Her Money Back For Something She Got For Free

Years ago I was a customer service supervisor at a grocery store handling returns and such.

This story takes place around Christmas time where we had some seasonal coupons for some discounts and some snacks that came free with the coupon, specifically a box of chocolate truffles.

The truffles were also for sale even without the coupon.

Customer, definitely a Karen, did not like the truffles she received from the day before and wanted to return them. Conversation went something like this.

OP was unable to give the customer a refund.

Customer: I would like to get my money back for these truffles. Here is the receipt.

Me: No problem, let me just check your receipt.

As I scan the receipt I see that the coupon was used at the end of the transaction for the free box of truffles.

Me: I’m sorry miss, I can’t give you money back because this product was free with the coupon you used.

Is the customer even listening?

Customer: But I paid for them.

Me: Without that coupon you would have but I’m seeing on the receipt that you did use a coupon and it takes off the price.

I show her the spot on the receipt that shows the coupon was applied.

Customer: But I got these from you and I paid for them.

This is going to take awhile.

Me: I’m not denying you got them from us, I’m just saying that was a free with coupon product. You paid zero for it.

Customer: No you definitely charged me.

At this point I ask if it is okay if we re-tally her total with a calculator going line by line.

My manager is right next to me as I asked the customer.

The customer still doesn’t get it.

She agrees and I make sure to say out loud when the truffles got scanned and when the coupon got scanned to show her the total.

She goes irate saying I did it wrong even though I got the same total as her receipt and wants to speak with the manager.

My manager had my back and told her the same thing, customer leaves ticked off.

An hour later she calls the store to complain and my manager was the one to pick up. Told her again on the phone we did everything correctly and hung up on her.

Never Miss a Story

Sign up to get our BEST stories of the week straight to your inbox.

Does the customer not understand how coupons work? You can’t get a refund for something you didn’t pay for!

Let’s see how Reddit responded to this story.

Exactly!

This person is baffled.

Yes, it’s imaginary money.

This is what I’d like to know!

If she doesn’t like the chocolate, just give it to someone else or throw it away. If she didn’t pay anything for it, she can’t return it. I mean, what did she want the store to do?

Some customer requests really don’t make any sense at all.

I think OP handled the situation well under the circumstances. It had to be really frustrating.