Crazy Coupon J'aime

[Duet]

I watched the show last night, and saw her buying 77 bottles of mustard. I'm not sure that I will need 77 bottles of mustard in my lifetime, much less at on time. It just seemed like the whole extreme couponing is almost like hoarding, there is no way they could need that much of a product. Maybe those people will be on the A and E show "Hoarding, buried alive", next.

I thought the same thing!! I think it takes us a year to go through 1 bottle of mustard. And looking at all that she has stock piled in her home I was thinking why doesn't she just use what she already has. She really should donate some of her excess to a food pantry.

 

[jacksmomma]

The allegations are that she used manufactures' coupons for more expensive items to purchase less expensive items made by the same manufacturer. For instance the Windex window cleaner is about $3/bottle (even less when on sale). But she didn't use a coupon for the spray bottles of window cleaner, she supposedly used a higher value coupon ($5 off) that was intended to be used to purchase their outdoor power washing unit.

There are codes on the coupon that don't match the coupons directly to the item but rather, match it to the manufacturer. In some stores, the computer only looks to make sure that you purchased *any item* from the manufacturer with a UPC that matches up to those codes. What the bloggers are accusing J'aime of doing is intentionally taking advantage of this glitch in the store's computer system to defraud the manufacturer (not the store) out of the value of the coupon. It's an illegal practice and she apparently has been called on doing this in the past.

I hope her *flaunting* of her crime on TV gets her investigated and charged. I could not remember the couponers names, but after all the makeup talk, I remember her. She was rude!

 

[KayMouse]

I had watched the episode, and I was, like most of you, amazed at all of the things they bought in excess! It's not okay to have that much stuff "just because it's free". I hadn't noticed her coupon-usage as closely as you guys, but looking at all the evidence, I hope the do prosecute her and find her guilty (how could they NOT!?) because people like her are going to be the reason why people like me, who use coupons the RIGHT way, are no longer able to get good deals! Urgh!

 

[DawnM]

You would think the camera folks would have helped her with that a bit.

Dawn

Agreed. Her make up was heavy but maybe her skin isn't very good. Bad skin does not film well.

 

[SFWife]

I found it really odd that she caked on make up and wore tight boots so that she could "look rich." She didn't look rich to me. And it is a stinkin' grocery store, who cares what you look like!

But take my opinion for what it is worth....I don't care about money nearly as much as I care about class. You can wear your old paint shirt and carry yourself with class or you can wear a $300 dress and not carry yourself well at all.

Dawn

Agreed. I don't dress up for anyone if I can avoid it, and I rarely wear makeup, but certainly not for the cashiers at my local walmart. I have enough to worry about keeping kids in line at the store and not annoying too many people as we take up the whole aisle with kids in tow.

That said, who really wants to go grocery shopping and walk all that distance in high heeled boots? Her feet must have been screaming by the time they were done filming.

As for the stores, the manager was watching, but from the place he was standing, there's no way he would have noticed if the coupons were really applicable or not, and given that they'd already had to do manual overrides just to ring the transaction, was likely not paying attention when the register beeped, given how many times it likely did just due to the limit on the transaction amount. I do feel, though, that if he were presented with all this information, she would find herself no longer able to shop at his store.

 

[MomiTo2SwtGuys]

I watched the show last night, and saw her buying 77 bottles of mustard. I'm not sure that I will need 77 bottles of mustard in my lifetime, much less at on time. It just seemed like the whole extreme couponing is almost like hoarding, there is no way they could need that much of a product. Maybe those people will be on the A and E show "Hoarding, buried alive", next.

I know that I will never buy that much mustard in my lifetime because I can't stand mustard...... Ewww.

 

[disneywatcher]

In all honesty to me she looked like an over stressed poodle! I know it's not very nice to think that way of a person but her hair was all ratty looking, her make up was caked on and her clothes were too tight for her!

I saw the manager of the store looking on and he had this look on his face like "If I see this woman in my store again I'm calling the authorities."
There is a huge diffrence between trying to save money and hoarding stuff you might not need or use. If you wont use it within the next 3 months then why buy it? Better yet why become fraudulent in the process and work towards making coupons non existant? I get the feeling if women like her keep doing this kind of thing that's just what will happen.

 

[hulagirl87]

wow! I watched the show and she really annoyed me and now reading what she did it makes me like her even less! I would never think of being able to use a coupon for something other than what it states Like in one of the articles I read it said that she used a Fiber one cereal coupon on Cheerios. how is that possible? I know that at my supermarket if the coupon does not match the system will beep and then the cashier will double check the coupon, and then check to see if you purchased that item. Maybe every store is different, or like others are saying, maybe they just let it go for the sake of the show. Either way, she's a rotten person for doing this. Sure, we could all be extreme couponers if we did it like she did. Making our own rules and applying coupons to whatever we felt like.... I hope that there are some repercussions for her actions

 

[wvjules]

I find it funny that in the jill's blog thingy the video has the "Hoarders" promo on it.

 

[beansmom]

I have the show DVRed, but did not watch that close, I am at work and I am curious! What did she do that was wrong? Was she using illegal coupons?

I did not see the original airing but did records last night's rerun...and they edited out all of the objectionable coupons she was shown using previously. The only thing they really showed was the mustard...the cereal, lunch meat, yogurt segments are gone.

TLC editing for interest or CYA?

 

[FlashJim]

Great thread! I found out about EC here and DVRed it. I didn't remember who you were talking about until the makeup comment. I remember distinctly asking, "did she use a coupon for that haircut?" (God, I sound like a chick)

Interesting show though. I was wondering how they did it until reading the links in this thread. Thanks!

Jim

 

[maggiew]

wow! I watched the show and she really annoyed me and now reading what she did it makes me like her even less! I would never think of being able to use a coupon for something other than what it states Like in one of the articles I read it said that she used a Fiber one cereal coupon on Cheerios. how is that possible? I know that at my supermarket if the coupon does not match the system will beep and then the cashier will double check the coupon, and then check to see if you purchased that item. Maybe every store is different, or like others are saying, maybe they just let it go for the sake of the show. Either way, she's a rotten person for doing this. Sure, we could all be extreme couponers if we did it like she did. Making our own rules and applying coupons to whatever we felt like.... I hope that there are some repercussions for her actions

Some coupons are coded to work on a manufacturer's family of products rather than just a specific product. The picture and the wording might indicate a specific product, but if you look at the UPC code, it will work for a variety of products from that manufacturer without beeping.

They are supposedly doing upgrades on the registers to prevent this sort of thing. It seems like this store did not receive the upgrade yet??

Maggie

 

[maggiew]

Great thread! I found out about EC here and DVRed it. I didn't remember who you were talking about until the makeup comment. I remember distinctly asking, "did she use a coupon for that haircut?" (God, I sound like a chick)

Interesting show though. I was wondering how they did it until reading the links in this thread. Thanks!

Jim

Not all of the extreme couponers resort to this tactic of misusing coupons. You can still extreme coupon while following the law. It is just harder.

Maggie

 

[Kae]

I find it funny that in the jill's blog thingy the video has the "Hoarders" promo on it.

I know!! so funny. And that is where these folks should go next. when you have to put TP under your kids beds.

Kae

 

[DawnM]

Well, I was trying to be nicer, but I agree with you! I just didn't want to say it!

Dawn

In all honesty to me she looked like an over stressed poodle! I know it's not very nice to think that way of a person but her hair was all ratty looking, her make up was caked on and her clothes were too tight for her!

I saw the manager of the store looking on and he had this look on his face like "If I see this woman in my store again I'm calling the authorities."
There is a huge diffrence between trying to save money and hoarding stuff you might not need or use. If you wont use it within the next 3 months then why buy it? Better yet why become fraudulent in the process and work towards making coupons non existant? I get the feeling if women like her keep doing this kind of thing that's just what will happen.

 

[I Believe In Magic]

Wow!! I watched one episode of this a few months ago and couldn't believe why anyone needed 75 bottles of hand soap or 300 boxes of cereal!! Nuts!!

 

[Carlyzmom]

Great thread! I found out about EC here and DVRed it. I didn't remember who you were talking about until the makeup comment. I remember distinctly asking, "did she use a coupon for that haircut?" (God, I sound like a chick)

Interesting show though. I was wondering how they did it until reading the links in this thread. Thanks!

Jim

 

[LoveMyBeautifulGift]

Interesting...I watched and had a discussion w/ my family where I explained to them how unreal the show was (they wanted to know why I never got those kinds of deals, lol) bc most stores will definitely be reading the coupons/enforcing limits/etc...and around here we never get doubling or overage...this just supports my argument that the stores were allowing it just bc the cameras were there.

 

[Shmily1]

Just to clarify, the person that got the 300 boxes of cereal, donated all of them. Also, not all people that do extreme couponing are frauds. This just happened to be one that was shown on tv out of the many that have been taped for these shows. Most people that do this are very careful to only use the correct coupons with the items they get.

Like they say, one bad apple is spoiling it for everyone.