Dollar General – Failed Gift Card Deal & CSR is NO help!

I don’t know if you remember the gift card deal that was in the Dollar General ad the last week of September. I never posted it on my website as I could never get it to work … and even emailing and calling customer service ended up being time wasted.

The deal for the gift card was:
1/ Activate the coupon by clipping it in your DG digital coupon account
2/ Purchase one of the shown gift cards and put your phone number in the pin pad at the register
3/ Receive a $5 off $5.01 coupon

I purchased a $15 McDonald’s gift card and used my digital account. It looked like my coupon was there for $5 off $5.01, and I tried to buy a multipack of Kleenex ($5.50), but the coupon did not come off. I asked the cashier to void the order because I expected to use the coupon.

I emailed Dollar General at DigitalCare@dollargeneral.com and they emailed me back to ask the phone number on the account. I emailed back and did not hear from them again, so I called.

The customer service representative that I talked to said that the coupon is on my account and that I have to purchase a gift card for the $5 to come off. That is NOT what the ad said, that is not what the deal was. I asked for a supervisor and was told that no one was available.

So after all this time, is $5 really worth all the aggravation? Maybe to some it is not … but for me, it is not ONLY about my $5 … but EVERYONE else who tried the deal and got the same results. How many people bought a gift card ONLY because of the promotion? How much money was spent at ALL the Dollar Generals on these specific gift cards ONLY because of a promotion that they will not honor? THAT is why it is worth my time. I may be able to go to my Dollar General and talk them into $5 off of something … but while that fixes MY issue, it does not fix ALL the other shoppers’ missing the correct $5 coupon.

It just seems that big HUGE corporations are raking in profits while we, the shoppers, can’t even get a simple deal to work. What is the recourse? Customer service is not even of any help. Customer service insists that to use my coupon, that I need to use it on ANOTHER gift card.

Here is the ad – it does NOT say that!

It says, “$5 off you’re next purchase of $5.01 or more”.

I’m going to email again and forward a picture of the Dollar General ad showing this deal and tell them what customer service told me. Then, I will probably follow up with another call so that they can the ad in my email. I don’t have a lot of hope for this to turn out well as it seems that you cannot actually reach someone at Dollar General who can fix anything, but I am still going to try.

I am getting very weary of Dollar General deals that make you jump through hoops. My time and sanity is worth more than a few bucks. So, my suggestion to you … don’t take advantage of a deal that gives you something AFTER the purchase until you see it verified by someone else. You cannot return a gift card at Dollar General, so there isn’t much I can do on this unless I can get someone to fix it. But, when you have a deal that has a coupon that should print at the bottom of your receipt – if it doesn’t print, return your items immediately.

I really hate to make extra work for the wonderful employees at my local store, but it’s not their fault or your fault … don’t buy anything unless the deal works or the price is what you expect it to be. I want to stress this … as I personally, just say, “oh well” a lot of times. Me saying, “oh well” is because I am testing deals to see if they work, and if they do work, I would post them. But I have wasted so much on deals that just don’t work … and I just don’t want to do it anymore. These big businesses just keep raking in the money … while we are spending more than we had planned.

With all that said, I hope today is great day for all of you! Feel empowered, don’t back down, and don’t be intimidated. Your money, your hard-earned money is YOURS! If your digital coupons do not come off … don’t think twice about saying you want to return an item … or all of your order.

And, if you need to, call Dollar General customer service 1-800-678-9258 or for digital deal customer service 1-888-518-3446. I have found that saying “customer service follow up” when asked by the automated operator is the easiest way to get someone on the line. I had to repeat it a second time.

If anyone has additional suggestions, please let me know. I would like to know if anyone else reached out to customer service for this deal and if they got better results than me. Thanks!

Happy shopping!