Jill Cataldo

On Thursday, I went to Dominick's for probably the second time ever, after living in Chicagoland for almost five years. This time I went because I had some catalinas from Jewel and Walgreens that expired a few months ago, and I decided to try using them at Dominick's on one of the rare occasions that I would be near one (the store on Cicero Ave., south of Midway). The cashier rang up all my items, and I handed over the coupons. The first thing she said that was that she couldn't take the Walgreens ones because they were not for a specific item, that they can take coupons from Walgreens for specific items but not for $ off an order. I told her that that was not what the policy I had heard and asked if she could check. She grudgingly did, and came back with the answer that she could take one, and it says that one the back. (Actually, what it says on the back is "one per purchase," so the store is clearly confused on that terminology, based on the reports of many here.) So, I picked the highest value cat ($7) and told her to void off everything except $7 worth; I explained that I was only buying the stuff assuming the coupons would be accepted. She sighed and called the supervisor and said, "Now she wants me to void off stuff." She then decided to just void the whole transaction and said to divide it up in transactions small enough to use one catalina per transaction. Which I did. However, this whole process took a lot of time. It wasted my time and the cashier's time, and I'm sure other customers in line behind me had better things to do. In the end, I bought all the same stuff and used all the same coupons that I would have otherwise, so why does Dominick's insist on doing things in the most inconvenient way possible? If they are hoping that couponers will be the ones to change, I don't think that's going to happen. Couponers are tough cookies, and most will eventually just move on to the Jewel down the road, where the deals are plentiful and corp cares about their customers (including couponers). It also left a bad taste in my mouth that 1 of the 2 apples I got was inedible because it had black spots throughout (looked fine on the outside).

I guess they really just want to go out of business!?

Is anyone shopping Dom's this week? With all their problems lately and that Catalina blitz at Jewel, there really isn't much reason to is there?

Dom's went in the recycling with the rest of the bundle ... with nary a 2nd glance.

Dominicks, who??

All I have to say is I LOVE JEWEL. I love that they are friendly and helpful. I love that they accept my coupons without attitude. I love that they work with couponers, they hear us. They reward us with great new programs. Yes, don't we all love YOUR BUCKS!! So, we may have our issues with Dominicks, but it sure makes me thankful to have JEWEL!!

I had a cashier try to tell me yesterday that I couldn't use my IP because I already had a discount on that item from an e-coupon. I told her I could, but she had to check with someone else who confirmed I was right. She was completely surprised that I could do that and then annoyed when my order came to .54 for my package of Yoplait Delights.

My relationship with Dom's has to stop. I keep giving them chances and for awhile things go ok, then I get a hassle. This kind of relationship isn't healthy, so I'm done. I didn't even look at the flyer for this coming week, I have no interest.

After ready the disclosure statement, it still didn't address that the "purchase requirement" is even after all your coupons. I just got off the phone with Customer Service because my "$25 minimum purchase" came to $32 before coupons. I figured great I'm in the clear. Nope, after deducting my coupons my purchase was only $17 which didn't qualify for the $10 catalina. I will never step foot in Dominicks again!

To Kmart! Where they take (and often DOUBLE) coupons. And how was
Kmart rewarded?

With their best quarterly profit in 3 years! In spite of recent store closings. Hmmm...go figure.

http://www.chicagobreakingbusiness.com/2010/02/sears-profit-more-than-do...

I just read the blog and someone mentioned expired products. I didn't check to see if it was expired but I was in the Buffalo Grove Dominicks and saw a Christmas Tree made out of butter on the shelf. It was less than 8 oz and the shelf price was $4.59 approx... Who is going to buy a Butter Christmas tree in February? Can anyone think of how we can incorporate the christmas tree along with the butter lamb for easter? What about Passover? St Patricks Day- corned beef, cabbage and christmas butter?

Hmmmm. I thought Dominick's was trying to get more of our business. This would probably happen if they did a couple simple things:
1)Make a simple, well-liked coupon policy that all cashiers are informed of.
2)Change the minimum purchase requirement back to the previous policy.
3)Listen to the feedback from shoppers on this site.

Well, at least for the stores where is there competition I cannot see how they are going to stay in business. I know the stores in Crystal Lake, Algonquin, and C'ville are never crowded. There is obviously a problem not just with couponers. I find it amusing that their response wanted to seperate the customer service issues from the coupon policy since the majority of our customer service issues did not arise until we took out our coupons. However, there was information in the blog about spoiled products and staff that are reluctant to help when we are shopping that seemed to be discounted.

I think there are some Dom stores that are doing okay especially those in Chicago where many of their customers walk - captive audience.

I'd love to know more about the coupon by the pound versus claiming the value plus .08. Has anyone mentioned here how Jewel or Meijer does the coupon claiming? If that business decision is what is driving their coupon policy, I think they need to review that decision. Perhaps they are in a long term contract that is cost prohibitive to break?

Regardless, I feel like they solicited our feedback to see how we work coupons and write a policy so that we would NOT be able to shop there. With such a complex process, I'm surprised they are even still taking coupons.

If they want to be like Joseph's who doesn't even take IP coupons, then they need to do something about having a unique product line.

Something is broke with Dom's and it starts at the top. I do find it surprising that the staff have been brainwashed into thinkng that we are doing something wrong. If I was a cashier and saw the deals that we were getting, I'd be trying to figure out how to get a piece of that action especially since they don't make a ton of money!

My biggest concern is that when Doms fails (notice when not if), will we see stores like Meijer and Jewel change how they handle coupons? There was a recent article in the paper about how Jewel was laying off 120+ managers at the stores as a cost cutting measure...

I would like to see Jill dump the Dom's deals - seems like a wasted effort on her part when the majority of us are not going to take advantage of it no matter how good of a deal we see. If there is a good deal in the printed paper, I'll take it Walmart to price match. I vote to see Butera in the blog. They have been running some awesome deals of late and seemed coupon friendly enough my most recent trip last Friday. There is a store I had not gone to in years! The most recent ad caught my eye with cheap milk and butter so I found another blog that listed more deals with the matches and my list became longer and longer.

For now, I'll just wait for the going out of business sale...

Haven't been a fan of Dom's since they closed their McHenry store. They left expired dairy on the shelves to sell, jacked up their prices and turned off the heat. Reluctantly, I tried Crystal Lake when they had that huge Cat deal last spring but the pricing was soooo confusing, I needed a margarita by the time I finished. Jill, I applaud your business sense in seeing the need to create sound competition, but you can't help a company that will not help itself. They have in fact gone out of their way to make it difficult to shop in their stores. I'm w/ the rest of your bloggers: Dominick's who?

I noticed the changes at Dom's today, and they're not for the better.

I had a few items (had to use my $10 q I got last week) and q's of course. She rang everything through and then checked every IP I had to see if it was the 50% or more. She had to take the item, find it on the screen and then do the math in her head. It took FOREVER. By now we had a nice long line going. She refused one of my q's for yogurt (didn't understand why, but by now I wasn't going to argue over .50) so I told her to take it off. The register wouldn't let her, so we had to unbag EVERYTHING and re-ring it. She then told me that they just had a big meeting about coupons because so many people are using them now and that they really have to be careful about what they accept or they can get in trouble. She also told me that if I had any coupons that would make items free, she couldn't accept them.

What a way to win over customers Dominick's!

I picture karma as Jill owning a share of Dom's (I guess Safeway) stock just so she can let all the other shareholders know how corporate is killing business.

The dictionary's definition of masochism? Pleasure in being humiliated! You know where I'm going with this... not to DOM'S!

Where is it written that you may only use one catalina per day? Did I miss something or has this happened to anyone else? Seems they make the rules up as they go. BOYCOTT!!

I find it sadly amusing that in one breath they say "we value the opinions of couponers and of a blog that reaches tons of couponers- we're listening" and in the next breath they seem to almost intentionally alienate those same customers. It's bad enough we haven't seen positive changes to reflect that they're hearing our concerns but to make backwards changes is just proof that they have no consistent corporate policy for customer retention.

My mom used a Wags cat at Dom's the other day and was told one per transaction (fine, she expected that)- and the cashier told her that that was "for now- but we're going to be changing all of our coupon policies b/c we're not making any money on these stupid things" My mom decided not to argue the fact that they would be reimbursed for the coupon, and that it was in fact their coupon policy that was helping to keep shoppers from stepping foot in their doors, etc. I actually feel kinda bad for the cashiers and lower level managers though- they have clearly been told that their jobs may be in jeopardy if the company doesn't start doing better and yet it's the higher ups at corporate making these decisions to alienate their consumers.

In a day and age where consumers have so many choices (as evidenced in their own reports) and are in general being very money conscious it is a very poor corporate strategy to alienate such a large consumer base by continually altering your coupon policies for the worse. All we asked for is a simple and consistent coupon policy that is enforced by employees who understand the policies and understand basic customer service. Apparently that was too much to ask for.

I agree that the super coupons are rarely more than a decent sale price(more exciting if there is a man q to stack). So to make them more complicated to use just so isn't worth it. I started to look at the corp report and the first thing that struck me was the map that showed store locations. When you see Illinois as their only holding in the midwest it starts to make a little more sense. They are so far removed from our market and our values. It is loud and clear in every one of these a**backwards decisions. If you check their couponing policy for their east coast stores it is just as muddled(they double for that market).

Went to Dom's on friday and tried to use two coupons; one was for a $.99 item and had a $.60 off coupon. Cashier would not except because of a new policy not accepting on more then 50% of the cost of the item. Also had an Ensure coupon for "up to $1.85" but because the item was $1.69 I would get it free. He said Dom's new policy also says no "free" items. I walked out.
This was the Dom's in Oswego. At Jewel yesterday the cashier made a comment about their corportate re-writing the coupon policy to "derail all you couponers getting things for nothing"
Any truth to this??

WTF Does this mean I can't go into the store anymore? That hurts because I really love peeing in aisle 4!

Since I posted about boycotting Dominick's I feel I have to address it. I mean boycott as in the following:

I wouldn't buy anything from Dominick's with or without a coupon. Even if it was "free". The reason for this is simple. By shopping at Dominick's I feel it condones their behavior, and their policies. I condone neither. Dominick's is aware of the behavior of their employees, who treat us, as their customers like criminals, when in fact we are redeeming legitimate coupons in conjunction with an advertised sale. By continuing to shop there, in my mind it says "that's ok, as long as I can get a good deal or two, I'll continue to let you treat me that way". It's like a bad relationship.

While I am not proposing an organized, sign carrying, chant singing boycott, what I am saying is that I will allow my absence and the absence of my shopping dollars speak for themselves.

Just thought I would share that.

they heard the details about how we get the deals, and now they are going to fix that, too. Good for them :)