Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Coupons & Discounts

I have noticed lately that customers may be getting confused with some of the discounts Kohls offers. Understandable. After all, it seems a new coupon is released every week and some are having trouble keeping up with what's valid and what's expired. So I want to clear a few things up and give you wonderful customers a couple of reminders.

A friendly tip before we get started: Kohls now asks that you have your coupon present/with you when you check out. The company used to honor % off discounts based on the customers word. However, once again, too many people took advantage of this privilege. We've noticed that too many people who came in without their coupon would claim they had 30% when they did not really get that discount. As a result, Kohls would now like proof.

If you forget your coupon, just bring back in your receipt with the coupon and Kohls will do an adjustment or we can put it on hold for you.

30%, 20% and 15% Off Discounts
A.K.A. Scratch Offs or Peel Offs. These coupons are mailed out to Kohls Card holders only. The % discount one receives is completely random and can be 15%, 20% or even 30%. If you do not get one mailed to you (which can sometimes happen), just ask a cashier during the scratch off event if you can try a scratch card. Again, you can ONLY participate and receive the scratch off % if you have and use a Kohls Card.

If you don't have a Kohls Card but would like to get this discount, you can sign up for a card at check out and scratch for your % discount.

This discount is good on anything in the store EXCEPT gift cards and the Kohls Cares for Kids plush toys and books since they are charity.

These coupons are NON-TRANSFERABLE. Please respect this rule. I have had people come in with a neighbor's 30% or a co-workers discount and we would not accept it. That discount was meant for the customer it was mailed to. If you are present when with your coupon and let your friend check out with it in your company, that's fine as long as they use a Kohls Card as well.

Email & Internet Coupons
At any check out counter in Kohls you have the option to sign up for Kohls email. This sends you sales alerts and even extra coupons, mostly a 15% off offer. Just print and bring it in or bring it up on your smart phone at check out. Once you sign up, the first email is a confirmation email (check your spam if you don't see it) to make sure it is the right address. You will receive this email between 24-48 hours after signing up. Once confirmed, you will get your first emailed coupon ($5 off next purchase) within the following 24 hours.

If you 'LIKE' the Kohls page on Facebook, you can also receive extra discounts and offers, as well as participate in gift card give-aways and contests.

BEWARE OF COUPON WEBSITES! Kohls rarely, or never, releases a coupon outside their Facebook page, email offer, or card holder domain. Most other websites have FAKE Kohls coupons and discounts. So please be careful.

Email coupons for $5 off purchase ONLY WORK ONCE. We have had people come in with multiple printouts of the same $ off coupon trying to use it more than once. However, the computers know if the coupon has already been used once it's scanned. So it won't work again.

$10 Gifts & Coupons
These ones are tricky. The $10 gifts received in the mail for a card holders Birthday have changed several time, but the current change allows you to now get your $10 gift back as a store credit if the items purchased with it are returned. Sort of like Kohls cash.

There are $10 coupons with specific offers as well. Like $10 off Men's apparel, casual and dress shoes. Or $10 off Kids clothes and shoes. Or $10 off Women's dress or casual shoes, purses and accessories. Read their inclusions carefully. These are also random mailers and don't appear often. These coupons SPLIT the $10 discount between each item that qualifies under said coupon.

Kohls Cash: Please see my three entries for this from February.

REMINDERS:
1. CHECK THE DATES ON THE COUPON! Just because you received a coupon in the mail, does not mean it is instantly valid to use that same day. They are usually sent out a week in advance. For some reason I have had a lot of customers lately coming in with their coupons several days before they start, and we can't give it to them. Once they expire, they're done.
2. KOHLS NEEDS TO SEE YOUR COUPON. Please see the above tip again at the top of the page.
3. NOT ALL COUPONS REQUIRE YOU TO USE YOUR KOHLS CHARGE CARD. Once more, read your coupons carefully. Scratch Offs and Pick-your-day coupons require use of your Kohls charge. Internet, email, Friends & Family, and shopping passes DO NOT require use of the charge card.

Hope this helps folks. Please comment if you have any questions or to ask me to cover something I may have missed/forgotten to write. Happy shopping! Until next time. :)

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Parenting: You're Doing it Wrong

Sooooo...something interesting and horrible happened last week when I went to work in the afternoon. And it pushed me to write about a few memories involving children and parents of those children. The first story is what happened last week. Everything else is from the past 5 years, or at least the most memorable ones, of parents who just shouldn't be parents.

Last week:
I was helping customers do returns as one of our security staff kept coming to the front desk and paging the owner of a van. They recited the license number. No one came up to claim the vehicle. I asked if someone hit their car or something, and security simply shook their head and said the owner of the van left a young toddler ALONE in it. He was screaming and crying. Apparently the police were outside with the child after getting him out. My thought was that if the parent or person responsible for the child hadn't come up yet, perhaps they were shopping somewhere else along the strip. Which either way is just downright wrong and neglectful. I don't care if you just need to run in for 5 minutes to grab something. You do not leave a young child alone in the car! Needless to say, I saw the police leave almost 40 minutes after I was told the news. Didn't get to see who they talked to, but that's absolutely unacceptable.

Some Time Ago:
 I remember going to the back one day to get a drink from the water fountain/bubbler (whatever you call it). Naturally, the bathrooms are located there too. In between the area that divides the men's and women's bathrooms, was a stroller with an infant girl. Not a parent or even another person in sight. Shocked, I stayed by her smiling side until...her grandmother came out of the bathroom. Didn't say a word. Just waved at me, took the stroller and walked on. What if I wasn't there?! Someone else could have easily taken that baby and walked off. This is the kind of crap that puts children at risk of being snatched!  

One of my fellow associates told me about how she witnessed a mother shopping, and kept moving to racks further and further away from her cart, not taking it with her. The cart also held her infant child. She was eventually half way across the department, leaving her child unattended. The associate finally went up to her and told her she needs to keep her child with her at all times. The woman's response: "Oh, but she's fine. I can still see from here." Not the point.....

Another associate told me about how another mother left her 2 or 3 children alone in our store while she went to other shops along the strip. She was gone for over an hour. WE ARE NOT A DAYCARE. Take your kids with you or find a babysitter.

I have more, but these are some of the most ridiculous stories I've encountered. But just in case, let me remind some of you parents out there of a few things.

1. Kohls, or any department store, is NOT a free daycare or daycare provider of any kind. Associates are not paid to watch your kids. THEY ARE YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!

2. Do NOT leave them alone or unattended in the store, or especially IN A CAR. The police could get involved.

3. If your child starts to throw a fit/screaming/unstoppable crying, please leave and take them outside if they cannot be calmed within a minute. You can always come back when they've settled. We can always put things on hold for you too.


4. Why do you bring your tired 2 year old out shopping at 10:30 pm when we close at 11 pm (during certain sales)? Take your kid home! It's late, they're tired, you can come back in the morning. Or find someone who can watch them at home for an hour. That's like the parents who brought infants into a theater for a midnight showing of a horror movie! Well, maybe not as bad, but still.



 I would like to know if you have any stories involving neglectful parents or just poor parenting while shopping anywhere. I know people don't want others telling them how to raise their kids, but some parents just really need advice. So share some parenting advice for shopping if you have any as well.
Until next time folks :)

Monday, February 25, 2013

Returns Involving Kohls Cash

Dun dun duuuuun!

The 3rd and final part to the Kohls Cash trilogy. Whew. Alright, I will try to explain this in writing like I have to my customers in person. Just bare with me, there are several scenarios to consider.

Returning! My forte.

Returns involving Kohls Cash that has NOT been redeemed or spent yet:

If you return merchandise during the EARNING period that would result in you going below a $50 spending point, your Kohls Cash will simply just be deducted or voided, depending on how much was spent. There is no option to keep it.

Once the redemption period has started, this is what could happen if you return merchandise from the receipt you EARNED it on. 

Say you spent $70 worth of merchandise. No tax. You return items that equal, let's say $28. 70 - 28 = 42. After the return you have only spent $42. And you earned $10 Kohls Cash. This type of return gives you a choice. You have UNEARNED the Kohls Cash. You can either get the full $28 refunded back to you and forfeit the coupon, or you can keep the $10 coupon, and take a $10 reduction on your refund. Meaning you would only get $18 credited to whatever account/tender you used. So either way, that $10 will be taken back, because it was UNEARNED. It just depends on what you want. Personally, I would suggest getting your full refund, and losing the Kohls Cash.

If you spent $100, no tax(meaning you earned $20 in Kohls Cash), and returned $30 worth, it will only deduct $10 from the coupon, leaving you with $10 available, because you still spent over $50.

Finally, there is NO option to take store credit in order to keep the Kohls cash. This policy went into effect May of 2012. We had too many scammers abusing the system by buying merchandise to earn Kohls Cash, and return it all and keeping the Kohls Cash and their refund as store credit. Basically, they were getting free store credit and costing the company a lot of money. And they ruined that luxury for everyone else who was honest.

Returns involving Kohls Cash that has been redeemed:

If you return merchandise that was used to EARN Kohls Cash, and you spent the Kohls Cash already, the return may result in a deduction on your refund, depending on whether or not you went below a $50 spending point. Let's say you do. Say you spent your $10 Kohls Cash earned from that $70 receipt and did a $28 return. Since you UNEARNED your Kohls Cash and spent the coupon, Kohls has to deduct the $10 from your refund since they can't take the coupon back. That $10 was put towards another purchase. So you will only get $18 back from this receipt.

EXCHANGES! They can be your friend or a headache. If you do not want to lose your Kohls Cash or do not really want to accept a deduction, you can always exchange. But it has to be EVEN! One item for one item, NOT multiple items for one item. It must be the exact same original ticket price, NOT sale price. I would avoid clearance if you can, since once an item goes clearance, that is its original ticket price. Example: You bought a shirt that was originally ticketed $36.00. You must find one item that is also ticketed originally at $36.00. A penny above or below that price will not count as an even exchange. The computers won't accept it and there is no way to override that. So be careful.

Returns involving Kohls Cash spent on the receipt being used for the return:

This is a return in which you used your Kohls Cash on this purchase. Say you spent $30 and the whole thing was paid with Kohls Cash. Do you get nothing? No! You get that $30 back as a store credit! Tada! Whenever you return merchandise that involves the use of Kohls Cash in the initial purchase, you will receive your Kohls Cash back as a store credit/in-store gift card. If you spent your Kohls Cash and still paid for the rest with a credit card, the computer will determine how your refund will come back to you.
1. Say you put $10 on a credit card and used $20 Kohls Cash to pay for the whole thing. Now you returned everything. $20 will be store credit, $10 goes straight back to your credit card.
2. Say you spent $60. $40 on your card (as cash, etc) and $20 Kohls Cash. You return $30. The computer determines how you will get it back. It could be $20 store credit and $10 back on your card, or the whole $30 may go back to your card (or whatever tender you used besides the Kohls Cash). I can't guarantee the outcome, but you will get your full refund back.

Sorry for all the math, but that is how it goes. I really hope this trilogy on Kohls Cash helps you all and makes your shopping experience easier and better.

Any further questions or concerns regarding RETURNS INVOLVING KOHLS CASH, please comment. I'll answer to the best of my abilities. 

Tell me which topic I should cover next!
Returns in general (policy, receipted, non-receipted, lookup)
Defective Merchandise
Exchanges (more depth, maybe some stories)
% off coupons
Adjustments in general
Other

Redeeming Kohls Cash

Part 2 of the Kohls Cash trilogy. Redemption!

I'm going to break it down to what you can do with your Kohls Cash, and what you cannot do. But first I must emphasize this. Kohls Cash is a COUPON. NOT an actual tender.

What you CANNOT do:

1. You CANNOT use Kohls Cash to buy a gift card. Gift Cards need to be purchased with a legal tender. Not a coupon.

I had a woman come up once and wanted to buy 3 gift cards. Each with $25 to be put on them. After I rang them up and told her the total, she put $80 worth of Kohls Cash on the counter. I told her we couldn't do that since gift cards can't be purchased with a coupon. Plus, it states that on the back of the Kohls Cash. I had to void the transaction and discard the cards since they had been scanned.

2. You CANNOT use Kohls Cash to pay off your Kohls Charge Card. Surprisingly, I haven't had anyone try this, but I thought I'd put it out there.

3. You CANNOT use Kohls Cash to buy any of the Kohls Cares for Kids merchandise. Which is those plush toys and books at the front of the store. The reason? Those are charity items! You can't use a coupon on charity items.

4. You CANNOT use EXPIRED Kohls Cash. The company put this in effect last Fall, 2012. You can only use the Kohls Cash coupons within the dates printed on the front. If you want to use it, but can't make it in, you can use it online. I'll get to that feature later in this post. So if you hear someone tell you that you can use expired Kohls Cash, they're very misinformed. If you are even one day over the printed date, it will not be accepted. But again, try not to fret if you didn't get to spend it. There are always new earning periods. Seems like one or two every month. And again, it's just a coupon. Not real money that you're losing.

5. You CANNOT use Kohls Cash on prior purchases during or before the earning period.

6. Finally, you CANNOT redeem your coupon for actual cash. Again, it states this on the back of the coupon, but I must put it out there.

What you CAN do:

1. You CAN use your Kohls cash on everything else in the store! Whether it's on sale, clearance, regular priced, etc. You can use it on electronics like vacuums, you can use it on luggage, clothing, jewelry, cookware, fragrances, shoes, frames, wall art, handbags, anything that wasn't excluded above. (recap: gift cards and charity KCK items)

2. You CAN use your Kohls Cash online! That's right. After you go through the billing information and proceed to your order summary before you put the purchase through, you come to a screen (both online and on the in-store kiosks) where you can add gift cards, Kohls Cash and promotion codes for discounts. Go to the Kohls Cash section and type in the numbers below the bar code on the back of your coupon. Then type the 4 digit pin on the right of that number to validate the Kohls Cash and submit.

You don't have to spend all your Kohls Cash at once to use it. Say you have $30 worth of Kohls Cash. But you only want to buy about $20 worth of merchandise. That's just fine. The cashier will simply run your coupon through the check reader and it will print your remaining balance. In this example, you have $10 left available.

You don't have to spend the Kohls Cash. Again, it's just a coupon. And like any coupon from any department store, it has an expiration date. You don't have to spend your coupon if you don't want to. It's not like you're losing actual money. Plus, if you're not sure you'll be keeping all your merchandise that you bought to EARN it, I would suggest waiting. The returns are where it gets a little tricky, but it does make sense.

Oh no! You had Kohls Cash, but you already checked out! If you forgot your Kohls Cash at home and wanted to use it on a purchase during the redemption period, or you had it and forgot to use it during check out, have no fear. Just go to Customer Service and they can adjust it for you. But keep these two things in mind.
1. If you had a % off, the computer will deduct your Kohls Cash from the purchase first, then reapply the % off of the new total. So if you had a 30%, and had a $10 coupon to apply, you will get $7 dollars credited to your account. Please, don't panic.The $10 dollars gets taken off first, then the 30% is applied to the new total.
2. Adjustments are recommended to be done at the same store as the receipt. If you take your Kohls Cash and receipt to a different store than the one you got the merchandise from originally, have some patience. The person at customer service has to key in your entire receipt as a return, then repurchase.

In the next post, Return Policies with Kohls Cash. Probably the most frustrating part for my customers, but a lot of them understand once it's explained. So once more, I'll do my best.

Any questions on REDEEMING Kohls Cash, please post. I'll answer to the best of my abilities. :) Until next time folks.


Earning Kohls Cash

Ah, yes. Kohls Cash. This will be a bit tricky but I think I have this down. So please pay attention and read carefully. I'll be explaining this in separate posts.

 For every $50 spent, you EARN $10 in Kohls Cash.

1. This DOES NOT include taxes on your purchase. So if you spent $52.60 on a purchase during one of these sales, but did not receive Kohls Cash, check your receipt. You might have had over $4 in taxes, making it under $50.

2. Kohls Cash is calculated AFTER any and all % off and dollar off discounts.

3. The purchase of Gift Cards DO NOT COUNT towards earning Kohls Cash.

4. YOU CAN COMBINE RECEIPTS. As long as you come in during the earning period of Kohls Cash, and the receipts are dated during the same time as the current earning period (the purchases don't have to be from the same store location) you can combine receipts to earn Kohls Cash.
Example: One receipt says you purchased $37.89 from one day, and $29.99 another.
Present your receipts to a cashier or customer service rep, and they can activate another Kohls Cash for you. But you NEED to have two receipts present to combine.

5. You can earn Kohls Cash from online purchases. If you spend enough on an online purchase, whether it's in a store ordering off the kiosk or from your home computer, you can earn Kohls Cash. Putting your email address in with your billing info allows Kohls to send you your Kohls Cash via email. Just print it out and you're good to go.

6. Remember when I said you could combine receipts. You can do that with a mix of in store and online purchases. Again, you need to have both receipts present so that a cashier has proof of your purchase. Just bring in your order summary printed from the kiosk or from home off your email, in with your other receipts. Remember, they have to be from the earning period.

That should be enough for this section. Next I will tackle redeeming your Kohls Cash. After that, return policies involving Kohls Cash.

If you have any questions on EARNING Kohls Cash that I didn't cover, please comment. I'll do my best to answer. :) Until next time folks.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Clearance Merchandise

Greetings! Aloha! and Shalom!....etc...

A quick overview of why I am starting this blog. I currently work for Kohls. I do love the company and to be honest, about half my wardrobe is from there. But I wanted to start this blog to share some experiences from an employees point of view, share some of my favorite pieces we have, as well as give some advice on coupons, policies, and sales. Don't worry, this is info available to the public and it's what I tell my customers on a day to day basis. After being with Kohls for over 5 years I run into a lot of the same questions. So little by little, I will try to explain some things a little more clearly. Hope this helps. After all, I do like serving my customers.

Hmm, what should I start with? Oh, how about this.

CLEARANCE

Signing and Stickers: Please beware! Just because you pulled something off an 80% rack does not mean it's 80% off. CHECK THE STICKER. Both customers and sadly some employees will just stick clearance items on any clearance rack. It's one of my pet peeves. So that item you picked up may be only 60% or 70%. I know this seems like common sense to some if not most of you, but people come up all the time claiming a clearance item should be cheaper because of where it was found. Kohls will not mark it down further just because a customer found it on the wrong rack. Sorry. But some customers try this ploy on purpose. So whatever the sticker says the price is, that's the marked down price.

Sizing: I can't say this enough, and it's especially true for clearance. NEVER TRUST THE HANGER. I do apologize for this inconvenience, but once again customers and a few employees will not always hang an item on a correctly sized hanger. Example: you find a shirt you like, try it on and it's a bit too small. You go back, find a hanger labeled one size up with the same item, purchase and take it home. Only to find out later that it's still too small. Turns out, the tag says a different size than the hanger. Please check the label inside the merchandise for the correct size. Again, common sense, but I see it happen.

Different Store = Different Price: Not all stores sell their clearance at the same price. Example: A dress you bought at one store location for $22 may be $18 at another. The reason is that each district has it's own set prices for clearance based on previous sales. Simple economics. If a product sells well at one store, the product will be sold at the higher price of clearance. If it doesn't sell well, it's sold for less. If you need to exchange a clearance item and it's not the same sticker price, it will not be an even exchange. It will be a return and a repurchase. Kohls will not honor clearance prices from another store! Please keep that in mind.

Extra Discounts: Yes! You may use your coupons on clearance items! Whether it's a 15%, 20% or 30%, and Kohls Cash.

Returns: Yes! You can return clearance merchandise. I would suggest you have a receipt or the credit card you purchased it with. If you return a clearance item without a receipt and it's not on a credit card of any kind (meaning you used cash, store credit, gift card or just Kohls Cash to purchase it) then you will receive store credit for the lowest sale price in the last 13 weeks, regardless of what the clearance sticker says. In other words, you more than likely won't get back what you or someone else paid for it without proof of purchase. 

If you have any questions pertaining to this topic that I did not cover, please comment. I'll answer as best I can. That's all for now. Hope this helps you all and makes your Kohls experience a little easier and more enjoyable. Until next time folks!