Michaels Art & Crafts... is it really a coupon or not?

[oatesfan]

Michaels.... How DO they stay in business? They have the worst customer service I've ever experienced in any store. The Beaverton store is full of difficult, unhappy workers who seem to enjoy passing their bad mood all around.

You can sign up for Joann's online and they always email you 40% discount coupons for online shopping and often give free or cheap shipping.

[DeeDee800]

I have never had a problem at Michaels with coupons except the time I went to have a frame made up with a 50% off coupon. The clerk told me that it worked up to $350 without the coupon. Needless to say I didn't purchase it. I ended up buying a frame just like the one I wanted at a flea market for $12.00. Now thats a deal!

[somedude]

Well of course we're going to be in a bad mood. We have to deal with rude customers all the time. When people complain to me about the prices and coupon issues, I'll either hand the person over to the manager and let the manager deal with it while I wash me hands clean of the whole catastrophe, or I'll give the person the phone number to corporate headquarters and I'll give them the name of the VP of Store Operations.

[jtkansas]

More on bad customer service...

I was at Michaels in Wichita this weekend. Picked up a few framing materials. The only reason I went was to use the 40% newspaper coupon but I forgot it at home. After waiting in line for 20 minutes I realized I was coupon-less and asked the cashier for the discount. She had 3-4 unused coupons on her register but wouldn't budge. I was my fault but was the $7 discount worth ticking off the customer?

So I went back to the store today with the coupon this time but was met with a brick wall. Turns out that the cashier rung up the supplies as custom framing! 40% doesn't apply to custom framing so I'm completely out of luck.

Again, was it really worth $7 to lose a customer let alone at the beginning of the holiday decorating season?

I'll do anything I can to avoid Michaels now. What a waste of time and how irritating.

[grannysarms]

A few days ago I left my coupon at home and asked if they had one. The clerk said they arn't allowed to give the coupons anymore. I just don't like their attitude. I am glad I hadn't picked out much to buy, or I would have just put it back and left the store. Walmart has craft supplys and I will buy there from now on.

[ArdoronEbay]

I AM SO WITH ALL OF YOU!! Michaels' in not a place I want to shop anymore for exactly that ("coupon" reason) ! It is bait and switch and it's ridiculous that they get away with it! I too will write in to complain so I hope we all make a difference! Thanks for affirming my complaint too ~ makes me feel like I'm not the only person in the world who knows this isn't right!? Thanks everyone - now do something about it ! )

[grannysarms]

I went to Michaels recently and they gave me a coupon.Must be getting a lot of complaints from customers.

[chatman229]

Wow! This hurts! I am an assistant Manager for a Michaels in Canada. We have GREAT staff, a GREAT Manager and SUPER customers!! We don't seem to have any of the problems listed here. It is true that we do sometimes have customers that want to buy items (using their coupons) that are on sale but we DO NOT ever have items "on sale" that are not listed in the flyers. Also we have over 38,000 items in our stores and rarely more than a few hundred on sale......is there nothing in the other items that interest you? I probably work for the only company that seems to have customers that want us to have NOTHING on sale (so they can use their coupons).
I should suggest to my Dist Manager that we stop printing the coupons in the flyers.....maybe that would be better.
As for long line ups....that should not happen often. We have a 1+1 rule. As soon as more than 1 person is waiting in line another cashier should be called to open. With this policy you should rarely wait long.
Please don't lump all 900 Michaels stores together....like any business some are run better than others!

[Crazy~Feet]

Originally Posted by chatman229

Wow! This hurts! I am an assistant Manager for a Michaels in Canada. We have GREAT staff, a GREAT Manager and SUPER customers!! We don't seem to have any of the problems listed here. It is true that we do sometimes have customers that want to buy items (using their coupons) that are on sale but we DO NOT ever have items "on sale" that are not listed in the flyers. Also we have over 38,000 items in our stores and rarely more than a few hundred on sale......is there nothing in the other items that interest you? I probably work for the only company that seems to have customers that want us to have NOTHING on sale (so they can use their coupons).
I should suggest to my Dist Manager that we stop printing the coupons in the flyers.....maybe that would be better.
As for long line ups....that should not happen often. We have a 1+1 rule. As soon as more than 1 person is waiting in line another cashier should be called to open. With this policy you should rarely wait long.
Please don't lump all 900 Michaels stores together....like any business some are run better than others!

Which is for the most part the problem with coupons vs. mgt. in general, in many stores in many places.
Perhaps you ought to suggest to your district mgr. that corporate set a policy and have every store, everywhere, enforce this exact same policy. This would certainly clear up at least a few problems for one chain of stores among many with coupon-issues (coughWalMartcoughcough) .

[Linda_B]

I shopped at Michaels in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada for the first time around Christmas(2006) and not only used my coupon with no problem, but my Dad was with me and he was buying a few little things and I asked if they had an extra coupon for him and she simply handed him a piece of paper for him to write his name and address or something and reason for why he had no coupon like because he didn't get the flyer or whatever and she gave him the 40% off discount as well. No line up, no problem. It is true that I noticed that a lot of things were on sale but that is clearly stated on the coupon so I knew what to expect. I found lots of things that were good prices and lots of things that were high prices...so like in any store I buy what I can afford and leave what I can't. We don't have a lot of competition here for craft stores and I plan on going back tomorrow and between just us...I have two coupons and I plan on going to two different checkout and using both of them the same day...

[Throwin64]

Originally Posted by stumblori

My mom tried to use the coupon there this weekend, and the lady at the register plum forgot to ring the coupon up! She said she'd have to cancel the transaction and start the whole order over again. She had been waiting forever in the line so by that time she didn't even want to bother. I hate going to Michaels - every time I go in, there's either a long line, there's no one at the registers, etc. etc. I like Joann's even though it's further from where I live. Does anyone have a good story about Michaels?

That happened to my wife too, only she was 8.5 months pregnant and it was the second Saturday in December. She was finishing up the nursery and had gotten a bunch of paints and stencils, all low priced items but about 30 or so in all. There were 2 registers open and long lines at both. After nearly 20 minutes in line, we get to the register, and the clerk (who looked about 95) slowly peered at each item, rang it up and bagged it, one at a time. Steven Hawking could have processed our order faster. While this was going on, we happened to look out front, and there are 3 or 4 employees talking and smoking outside, seemingly oblivious to what was happening. Ol' Ethel finally finished, and my wife handed her her coupons (there were 3). The clerk peered at them , then told us she couldn't accept them because they hadn't been presented [b]in advance![b] Well, the time to be most wary with my beloved is when she gets very quiet and calm. She tried to reason with the clerk, her voice getting softer and softer as I got more and more worried. The clerk would not budge. "I'd like to speak with the manager?" "She's on her break." "Is that her outside?" "I believe so." My wife walks to the doors, and asks if the manager is present, getting a yes. She then tells the manager she needs a problem at the register resolved. The manager, believe it or not, tells her, "I'm on my break and I'll get to it when I return."

Big mistake. My wife comes back inside, pulls out her cell phone, and calls seeveral 411 services until she gets a customer service number. All this time, the line isn't moving, just getting longer and longer as the other cashier is nearing a conniption fit and Ol' Ethel is just standing there, watching benignly and chewing her cud. After another 7 or 8 minutes she gets a live body at customer service, tells them her story and says she's not moving until she gets her discount. The person on the phone asked for the manager, to which Jenn replied, "She can't be bothered with this. She is outside haveing a smoke." Well, that must have done something, because less than 3 minutes later the manager comes over after answering a phone call, and she gives us the discount on the spot. The problem for her at this pooint was she had just ticked off an 8.5 month pregnant woman with sore feet and an aching back. My wife got the names of everyone involved, and literally spent the next three hours at home blistering every Michaels email addy she could find.

One week later, a Priority Mail envelope arrives for her containing a $100 gift certificate, written apologies from several corporate bigwigs and business card of the district manager with instructions to call her if she ever has any more problems. So in late January we go back to use the gift certificate, and who's out front smoking whenwe arrived? You guessed it. We got our items and go to the single working register. What a shock when we see who is peering at each item, ringing it up and then bagging them one by one. 25 minutes in line this time. Needless to say, we have no plans to ever go there again (though my wife did send another blistering email to the DM - she didn't feel like talking to her).

I guess the whole point of this screed is to say we both fully believe that poor customer service is both ingrained AND tacitly condoned by Michaels management (they certainly don't take any steps to correct the problem), and will never shop there again.

Take care,
Throwin

[SCRAPADDICT]

I have been reading some of the thread on Michaels and most of you are right. Everytime I go there and try to use their coupons I get grief for one reason or the other. We have 3 Michaels in the Tampa area that I visit sometimes. Their customer server is miserable and completely lacking. If you call the managers, they are even worst than the employees. I guess is the trickle down theory. At Michaels, the customer is always wrong and they are always right.

I love Joanne's and they are always happy there and try to please you no matter what.

The only reason I go to M's sometimes is because they have a different selection than Joanne's on some of their scrapbooking stuff. BUT almost everytime I go, they make me sorry I did.

BY the way, Joanne honors Michael's cupons with no problems. They even honor them if you are using a Joanne coupon on the same visit. Michael's doesn't they tell me only one coupon per visit!

[harley22]

I have had the same problem with Michaels which is why I tend to stick with A.C. Moore...their coupons indeed work. You can register online and they will send the coupons to you. I rarely go to Michaels anymore.

[katlnhats]

Hi,
I've never had a problem with Michaels or JoAnnes either, for that matter, but Throwin' - your wife is awesome!

Kat

[kdm2273]

Our Michael's here is pretty good. Thank goodness because even though we seem to have the economy to support about 1000 restaurants, we can't get good stores! It's the only Art & Craft store that we have and our Wal-mart doesn't have much in that department anymore.