Dodgy Dunnes vouchers

Carley353

Hi,

has anyone else had any problems using their Dunnes vouchers? We regularly used the €10 off €50 vouchers they gave you with your receipts.

However, last time we went they refused to honour one of them saying that it had already been scanned. Obviously, we hadn't used it because it was in my wallet the entire ten days since I had got it. We hadn't been in any Dunnes stores when they said it was used, cos we had family visiting so we knew for definite where we had been at that time.

Plus they always take them off you when you redeem them, but the manager refused to accept that as an obvious reason why we couldn't have used it previously.

I'm just wondering if anyone else has had this issue or how would it even be possible for someone else to use a voucher code that we had.....does anyone know?

it was just maddening considering we've been loyal customers there for years and spent a fortune in Dunnes but it's totally put me off going back there now.
:mad:

ED E

At a guess the codes are sequential and somebody has copped to that fact.

Carley353

ED E wrote: »

At a guess the codes are sequential and somebody has copped to that fact.

Yes, but you have to present the physical voucher for them to scan and retain....?

L1011

Receipt printers are not massively expensive if you were so minded.

Truckermal

Why didn't you leave your shopping behind they wouldn't be long sorting it out then.

ED E

Carley353 wrote: »

Yes, but you have to present the physical voucher for them to scan and retain....?

Thats not a problem.

Carley353

Truckermal wrote: »

Why didn't you leave your shopping behind they wouldn't be long sorting it out then.

You would think so wouldn't you, but this manager was so unhelpful and was indifferent to whether I left the shopping or not. He really has no place working in retail.

Carley353

ED E wrote: »

Thats not a problem.

How do you mean........how could someone have got the code from our voucher to use? They don't seem to be in sequence from what I can gather.

From my experience, you always had to have an actual voucher to hand to the cashier to scan, so it would seem like a problem if don't have anything to hand over to them...?

You couldn't exactly just start calling out random 13 digit numbers to the cashier in the hope that you stumble on a correct code!?

Tails142

Take the dunnes voucher to Tesco who also accept them, problem solved. I always get a bad vibe from Dunnes staff, management must be terrible to work for.

Carley353

Tails142 wrote: »

Take the dunnes voucher to Tesco who also accept them, problem solved. I always get a bad vibe from Dunnes staff, management must be terrible to work for.

Wish I had thought of that at the time but he took the voucher off me, saying he needed it 'to investigate' but then did sweet FA about it

I think you might be right about the Dunnes management. Since I've been telling people what happened to me, I've heard some comments that make me wonder. Shame when you're trying to support an irish company but I guess they don't feel they need to value individual customers anymore if these vouchers are getting them an increased market share.

I'll be supporting Tesco, a UK company in future.

Gooser14

Carley353 wrote:

has anyone else had any problems using their Dunnes vouchers? We regularly used the €10 off €50 vouchers they gave you with your receipts.

Never had a problem & I use the vouchers weekly since their introduction.

cunninsu

Hi, just had the very same experience with Dunnes Stores in Ballincollig today. I was told the voucher was already used which is impossible as I had the voucher in my hand and hadn't previously used it. The manager is investigating it. I won't hold my breath. Very bad customer service indeed. I will post it on Facebook in due course. I will give it some time to heard back from them. Ridiculous behaviour. I told the manager that I should have taken it to Tesco and used it there and his reply was well you wouldn't get another voucher then. Sure what good was it to me anyway only a worthless piece of paper. Disgraceful I say.

rubadub

cunninsu wrote: »

I told the manager that I should have taken it to Tesco and used it there and his reply was well you wouldn't get another voucher then.

Frightening to think such a moron could become a manager, I would have got his name and told him I was doing so and emailed it to tesco privately to expose him. He is either a moron or a lying <SNIP> -either way looks terrible.

He is making it sound like you would have been better off sticking with dunnes, spend your 50, get the voucher refused but get another voucher, which will also be potentially be refused! I would have ripped him apart, spelling it out loudly to all within earshot, I imagine the people on tills would get a good giggle.

OU812

Best comeback I ever heard given to a Dunnes Manager: "Could you not get the qualifications to work on the tills?"

The coupon might not have been scanning due to some of the barcode rubbing off against itself in the wallet.

cnoc

Never had a problem with their €10 vouchers, and have been using them from the beginning.

rubadub

OU812 wrote: »

The coupon might not have been scanning due to some of the barcode rubbing off against itself in the wallet.

Then I expect they would have said that, it appears to have been scanned correctly and said to have been used already. If the barcode is not reading right on items in shops are usually numbers which they can input instead.

lapua20grain

Usually get them off the Mother in law and use them in Tesco would not give Dunnes my money, horrible company to deal with with no customer service.

Carley353

cunninsu wrote: »

Hi, just had the very same experience with Dunnes Stores in Ballincollig today. I was told the voucher was already used which is impossible as I had the voucher in my hand and hadn't previously used it. The manager is investigating it. I won't hold my breath. Very bad customer service indeed. I will post it on Facebook in due course. I will give it some time to heard back from them. Ridiculous behaviour. I told the manager that I should have taken it to Tesco and used it there and his reply was well you wouldn't get another voucher then. Sure what good was it to me anyway only a worthless piece of paper. Disgraceful I say.

Thanks for adding your experience. Obviously what happened to me wasn't a one-off then. There's obviously some way that unused vouchers are being copied or duplicated but they don't want to broadcast that.

BTW, I got completely stonewalled with my emails until I went on Twitter and then all of a sudden their attitude changed. So all they care about is the negative publicity, not the customer's experience. Here's their response;

"...I have continued to look into your experience in Charlestown with the VALUEclub team and appreciate your patience while we did so.
Upon looking into the voucher usage further, we can see that this may have been used by another customer in error.
Unfortunately, this would not have been visible to the store and I apologise that this was not noted sooner for you.
I have addressed the matter with [the manager], along with your comments regarding how you felt this was handled on the day"


I'm still waiting for my €10 back.

They've lost me as a customer either way and I used to spend A LOT there, so their loss.

OU812

Carley353 wrote: »

I'm still waiting for my €10 back.

They've lost me as a customer either way and I used to spend A LOT there, so their loss.

Over a tenner??? You're the one that's going to lose out in the long run.

Whether it's through increased petrol costs or higher prices elsewhere, it's gonna cost you more than a tenner in the long run.

Donutz

OU812 wrote:

Over a tenner??? You're the one that's going to lose out in the long run.

I think Dunnes are gonna lose out more in the long run. If the person spent on average 100 euro a week in Dunnes, they miss out on over 5000 a year. All because of a measly 10 euro voucher that the couldn't be bothered honouring.

Personally I loath Dunnes and the attitude of most of the staff I encounter there. I try to avoid them as much as possible.

rubadub

OU812 wrote: »

it's gonna cost you more than a tenner in the long run.

could you please advise me where I can best save on shopping too?! you seem to have some mystical ability. From what they posted I would have had no idea whatsoever about that poster's location, mileage efficency of their car, what they buy, what vouchers they use etc.

Carley353

rubadub wrote: »

could you please advise me where I can best save on shopping too?! you seem to have some mystical ability. From what they posted I would have had no idea whatsoever about that poster's location, mileage efficency of their car, what they buy, what vouchers they use etc.

Well said rubadub

In actual fact, the local Tesco is closer, has more convenient opening hours and more importantly hasn't ever accused me of trying to pass off fraudulent coupons :P

It's not the amount that matters so much, it's the way we were treated. It's very easy to be blasé about it when it wasn't you that was accused in the wrong.

OU812

Donutz wrote: »

I think Dunnes are gonna lose out more in the long run. If the person spent on average 100 euro a week in Dunnes, they miss out on over 5000 a year. All because of a measly 10 euro voucher that the couldn't be bothered honouring.

Personally I loath Dunnes and the attitude of most of the staff I encounter there. I try to avoid them as much as possible.

Yeah, that €5,000 a year is turnover, not profit. Here’s a difference. Allowing for a very over generous 20% profit (it’s probably much closer to 5%), they’ll lose out on €1,000 from the person. However, they’ll make that many multiples over in walk-ins, impulse purchases, and specials. It’s nothing to them.

In 2017 they had a €3.7 billion turnover. So that €5,000 is just 0.000139% of their turnover.

Whereas the person’s €10 is a much greater percentage of their value. Even if they use a closer store, they’ll end up paying more in the long run as the weeks mount up.

Even at one coupon a week (personally use four a week), you’re looking at an additional €500 a year because their shopping which cost them €40 with the coupon is now €50 (or close to it) everywhere else.

rubadub

OU812 wrote: »

because their shopping which cost them €40 with the coupon is now €50 (or close to it) everywhere else.

depends on what you buy, as I said you seem to have some mystical power to see stuff, like petrol prices and what they buy.

I avoid dunnes as I find it more expensive. I assume this is since they have factored in the fact that a lot of people are using these vouchers, so personally I see far less discounts. I am not one to use shopping lists, I will buy what is on offer and find far less in dunnes -of course others may benefit, I fully accept that and do not presume to know how others shop, use vouchers etc. The dunnes ones are often available in sunday papers, I buy these and use in tesco.

Carley353

It may be just turnover but they still need customers coming back regularly to keep their profit margins up and they're losing some by treating customers shoddily. When they know it's an internal problem on their side with their coupons, yet they're accusing customers of dishonesty? That is not on.

I had actually spent €7k in Dunnes in the previous 12 mths, which is now going to grocery stores that don't treat their customers with contempt.

OU812, You could also use the argument - is it worth it for Dunnes to lose a regular customer's turnover over a €5 or €10 coupon?

The crux of the matter is the fact that Dunnes Stores are knowingly refusing genuine customers' coupons and that's just shady.

Mongfinder General

Truckermal wrote: »

Why didn't you leave your shopping behind they wouldn't be long sorting it out then.

My mother did this. They asked her for the receipt that accompanied the voucher. She just basically told the cashier to fcuk off and left the shop. Annoying as she’d probably spent 30 mins shopping

Mongfinder General

OU812 wrote: »

Over a tenner??? You're the one that's going to lose out in the long run.

Whether it's through increased petrol costs or higher prices elsewhere, it's gonna cost you more than a tenner in the long run.

Cheaper than Lidl and Aldi? Don’t think so.

Ginger83

OU812 wrote: »

Yeah, that €5,000 a year is turnover, not profit. Here’s a difference. Allowing for a very over generous 20% profit (it’s probably much closer to 5%), they’ll lose out on €1,000 from the person. However, they’ll make that many multiples over in walk-ins, impulse purchases, and specials. It’s nothing to them.

In 2017 they had a €3.7 billion turnover. So that €5,000 is just 0.000139% of their turnover.

Whereas the person’s €10 is a much greater percentage of their value. Even if they use a closer store, they’ll end up paying more in the long run as the weeks mount up.

Even at one coupon a week (personally use four a week), you’re looking at an additional €500 a year because their shopping which cost them €40 with the coupon is now €50 (or close to it) everywhere else.

multiplied by how many customers by 10/20/30/40/50 yrs.

OU812

I don’t think people understand. Dunnes don’t lose anything. They want to break out of the coupon model and regret introducing them at such a high and regular level.

They leverage their suppliers for discounts and free stock and price increases that sway across the goods in store. 1c to 7c are the most common price increases across the most popular goods. They move the increases across the board of the popular goods on sale and they recoup the “discount”.

They tried getting rid of them before and everyone buggered off to Aldi that week. So they enabled them again and now they’re stuck with them.

But if they’d held out, people would have returned because they’re still cheaper than SuperValue and Tesco and the German pair don’t stock all the brands.

OU812

Mongfinder General wrote: »

Cheaper than Lidl and Aldi? Don’t think so.

They’re nowhere near as inexpensive as they used to be and despite their growth still suffer from the majority of their customers completing their shop in one of the other stores due to them not holdin all the brands.

If you want a cheap wetsuit though, you won’t do better.

cunninsu

I do have the manager's name as he wore a name badge but I will give him the opportunity to investigate the matter. I said yes you will investigate but I will never hear from you again. He assured me he would phone me tomorrow. We'll see. Until then I will do nothing. Feel like sharing the news all the more now but I will hold my counsel 'til then.

CeilingFly

OU812 wrote: »

Over a tenner??? You're the one that's going to lose out in the long run.

Whether it's through increased petrol costs or higher prices elsewhere, it's gonna cost you more than a tenner in the long run.

If they switch to aldi they'll find tye savings even after voucher calculation, to be substantial and quality of food on a par (with the new fancy dunnes) or better.

At the end of the dsy, dunnes make a similar overall profitas tesco / super valu. Not such thing as a free lunch.

Quackster

There's enough stuff in Dunnes on a par price-wise with the other supermarkets that you can get the full benefit of up to 20% saving using the vouchers. But you can't do all your shopping in Dunnes and still expect to save as they get you on certain specific things that are more expensive.

One recent example that sticks in my mind, 454g own-brand butter has been hiked by 50c to €2.69 in Dunnes but is still €2.19 elsewhere.

I'm lucky in having all the major supermarkets within ten minutes of me so I spread my shopping across a few of them over each ten day cycle depending on what's on offer in each. I was shopping in Dunnes once a week but in recent times it's once every ten days as the basket of goods I buy that's not cheaper elsewhere has diminished so would struggle to spend €50 in Dunnes every week.

OU812

CeilingFly wrote: »

If they switch to aldi they'll find tye savings even after voucher calculation, to be substantial and quality of food on a par (with the new fancy dunnes) or better.

There's very few people do their complete weekly shop in Aldi or Lidl, which means they've to go to one of the others, which at the very least costs time. There's no savings to be made there.

Carley353

OU812 wrote: »

I don’t think people understand. Dunnes don’t lose anything. They want to break out of the coupon model and regret introducing them at such a high and regular level.

They leverage their suppliers for discounts and free stock and price increases that sway across the goods in store. 1c to 7c are the most common price increases across the most popular goods. They move the increases across the board of the popular goods on sale and they recoup the “discount”.

They tried getting rid of them before and everyone buggered off to Aldi that week. So they enabled them again and now they’re stuck with them.

But if they’d held out, people would have returned because they’re still cheaper than SuperValue and Tesco and the German pair don’t stock all the brands.

OU812, You seem quite knowledgeable & supportive of Dunnes in general, do you work for or have connections to them? Just curious.

OU812

Carley353 wrote: »

OU812, You seem quite knowledgeable & supportive of Dunnes in general, do you work for or have connections to them? Just curious.

Absolutely no connection with Dunnes whatsoever (apart from shopping there), However, I have an intimate knowledge of the Grocery market & coupon industry.

dudara

Carley353 wrote: »

OU812, You seem quite knowledgeable & supportive of Dunnes in general, do you work for or have connections to them? Just curious.

@Carley353 - where a poster works is irrelevant. You may not realise it, but this kind of question is often perceived as confrontational, even if it is not meant to be.

dudara

zell12

OU812 wrote: »

I don’t think people understand. Dunnes don’t lose anything. They want to break out of the coupon model and regret introducing them at such a high and regular level.
They leverage their suppliers for discounts and free stock and price increases that sway across the goods in store. 1c to 7c are the most common price increases across the most popular goods. They move the increases across the board of the popular goods on sale and they recoup the “discount”.
They tried getting rid of them before and everyone buggered off to Aldi that week. So they enabled them again and now they’re stuck with them.
But if they’d held out, people would have returned because they’re still cheaper than SuperValue and Tesco and the German pair don’t stock all the brands.

I agree. Dunnes are holding market share but at what cost?
Aldi&Lidl are the market price setters now, I cannot see Dunnes ever competing with them. Further, I'd add that Dunnes is horribly expensive even with that coupon.

CeilingFly

OU812 wrote: »

There's very few people do their complete weekly shop in Aldi or Lidl, which means they've to go to one of the others, which at the very least costs time. There's no savings to be made there.

I'd disagree with that - very easy to do most of your shopping in aldi or lidl, particularly aldi once you are not caught up on "brands".

I pop into Tesco on an odd occasion and that would be more due to a specific offer than any specific requirement.

And that's probably the reason Dunnes have no option but to continue the system - Aldi have moved decidedly upmarket but keeping good prices. Dunnes have done the same, but have increased prices, but the €10 voucher gets people to come back and if it ends they'll see an immediate drop in sales and footfall.

However with margins in the fashion and home area very strong, the footfall to grocery is probably driving additional sales in this area, hence it probably won't end

Carley353

dudara wrote: »

@Carley353 - where a poster works is irrelevant. You may not realise it, but this kind of question is often perceived as confrontational, even if it is not meant to be.

dudara

I don't think the poster took it that way as it wasn't posed in a confrontational way. I was genuinely interested as it's obvious from reading their comments that they have a deeper knowledge than most on the subject.

Carley353

OU812 wrote: »

Absolutely no connection with Dunnes whatsoever (apart from shopping there), However, I have an intimate knowledge of the Grocery market & coupon industry.

Yes, I see that. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that a customer will be spending more by not using the coupons.

I no longer head to Dunnes to comply with their 10-day expiry dates, and spend more than I need to in order to 'get money off'.

If you only shop when you need to and buy only what you need, you won't be sucked into the whole marketing ploy of visiting the store more often and spending more than you need.

And chances are there's probably more people who have had their coupons refused that haven't posted on here. If you were falsely accused of presenting an already used coupon (which isn't even possible when they retain them when used) would you trot back obligingly to that same store and give your hard earned cash?

dudara

Carley353 wrote: »

I don't think the poster took it that way as it wasn't posed in a confrontational way. I was genuinely interested as it's obvious from reading their comments that they have a deeper knowledge than most on the subject.

Other posters may interpret it that way, and it has indeed resulted in some Reported Posts. Just a note for future.

Quackster

Carley353 wrote: »

Yes, I see that. However, it doesn't necessarily mean that a customer will be spending more by not using the coupons.

Not necessarily for everyone but I certainly would be spending more without the coupons because I make sure to only buy in Dunnes stuff that isn't any cheaper elsewhere.

cunninsu

To date no contact from the manager in Dunnes in Ballincollig despite his reassurance that I would be contacted yesterday having investigated the matter of the voucher. I should really know better than to believe he would actually contact me. To give him the benefit of the doubt I will wait a couple of days longer before I post the Doggy Dunnes Stores Vouchers across Facebook. I am upset really that my honesty and integrity were questioned when he told me that the voucher was already used when I know for definite that it was not.

Carley353

cunninsu wrote: »

To date no contact from the manager in Dunnes in Ballincollig despite his reassurance that I would be contacted yesterday having investigated the matter of the voucher. I should really know better than to believe he would actually contact me. To give him the benefit of the doubt I will wait a couple of days longer before I post the Doggy Dunnes Stores Vouchers across Facebook. I am upset really that my honesty and integrity were questioned when he told me that the voucher was already used when I know for definite that it was not.

That's exactly what they did with me as well. It is infuriating when you're absolutely adamant you hadn't used the voucher before. But because it's not happening to the masses Dunnes are keeping very quiet on how the hell this is being done. Probably cos it could highlight some flaw in their software or security or something else that they don't want to draw attention to.

cunninsu

Hi Carley353, I got a private message on facebook from Dunnes apologising and looking into the matter. Let's see what comes out of it.

Carley353

Here's hoping. Will be interesting to see if you get any explanation on how it's happening cos they obviously know it's going on, but are trying to keep a lid on it.

STB.

Am I missing something here.

How could the voucher be already used if the cashier takes them off the customer ?

And despite what the admin has posted here I thought that the person who asked a fair question about whether one responder had any links to a supermarket chain was a valid one. The posts by said poster were very defensive of one particular chain and scream whataboutery.

Finally, regardless of perceived savings or not, the issue in this case is that the shopper was treated like a fraud because the chain don't have adequate security on these vouchers.

The customer, the customer, the customer.

Xterminator

How could the voucher be already used if the cashier takes them off the customer ?

self service tills?

L1011

STB. wrote: »

And despite what the admin has posted here I thought that the person who asked a fair question about whether one responder had any links to a supermarket chain was a valid one. The posts by said poster were very defensive of one particular chain and scream whataboutery.

It is prohibited across the entirety of boards.ie to speculate as to a posters real identity including employment

Quackster

Xterminator wrote: »

self service tills?

You can't use a voucher at a self-service till without staff assistance and they then take the voucher, the same as at a manned till.