Hey, Mike's! Cricut and Sizzix Ain't the Same Thing! Rant...!

[PinballFamily]

Got a "20% off your entire purchase" coupon in my email today for Mike's. Good today and tomorrow and good on sale stuff, but of course the usual fine print says...no Yudu, Cricut, etc. No biggie - we're all used to that.

So, I truck over there in the middle of my other errands this morning, grab a few sale cute Sizzix dies and a couple of sale punches. (Nothing I really needed, but still...)

Total comes to $19.68. Coupon only takes off 60 cents instead of about $4! Cashier stands there looking goofy for awhile and starts saying:
"This coupon doesn't work on sale stuff" (it says clearly that it does), then says
"This coupon doesn't work on Sizzix stuff" (it doesn't say that in the small print), then says
"Sizzix stuff and Cricut stuff are made by the same company, so that's why the coupon doesn't work."

I asked her to call a manager over. The manager takes the coupon from the cashier, glances at it, looks at my little pile of stuff and says "Sizzix and Cricut are the same company - that's why this coupon won't work."

I said "They are not." and she said "Yes, they are. They are both die cutting things."

So, I (gently, I promise!) took my coupon out of her hand and said "Never mind." And watched them blink and their jaws drop to the floor as I walked out of the store.

Sigh.

 

[jacksmomma]

They are getting horrible about the coupons! Insane! I can say that Sizzix and Cricut are from the same parent company, but they are not the same thing!

 

[moikturtle]

It irritates me that the employee, and worse, the manager of your Michael's are apparently unfamiliar with the product they are selling. And not just any product, one of the most popular product lines in crafts right now. Sizzix is Ellison, Cricut is Provo Craft. Just because they do they same sort of thing doesn't mean that everything that diecuts is made by the same company. That'd be like saying that Delta is the only one that makes acrylic paint or no one but Bic makes pens. It boggles my mind and it drives me crazy when I go into these craft stores and try to ask questions and they're completely clueless. That's part of why I've found that I prefer the LSSs. I can ask the employees if they've used a product before and nine times out of ten they have (and if they haven't they'll try to ask someone else who has). A lot of times they'll even let me try out a sample. Okay, I'm going to get off my soap box now, haha.

 

[morgansmom2000]

Idiots.

 

[PinballFamily]

Idiots.

I know!

At one point, I flipped over one Sizzix die and showed her "Ellison" as the manufacturer and said "This is not Provo Craft. ProvoCraft makes the Cricut items. This is a different company."

Apparently, she did not choose to be so educated...she just kept repeating "It is the same company. The coupon does not work."

Ah, DIT...can't you come work at our Mike's? We need knowledgable folks to work with!

 

[morgansmom2000]

Honestly, this is why the whole "exclusive" thing at Walmart for the Cricut Lite cartridges truly dumbfounded me. Walmart? The people who work at M's, J's and ACM barely know what these items are, but Walmart? Really? Forget calling and asking about the cartridges. They hear die cut and transfer you to tools.

Aside from the fact that they act like the money is coming directly out of their own pockets, how about a little edu-macation!? Is it too much to ask that they know what they are talking about?

 

[Girldreamer02]

My Mikes a) knows nothing and b) are the rudest bunch of jerks! No one says hello, no one greets you at the register, they talk to each other instead of talking to you while they ring up your stuff. I try not to go there, but sometimes if they have something on sale I need I have to. Otherwise I go to a.c. which isn't that much better, but they are getting better. I think they are wiping out their rude people. Sorry you had to go through this.

 

[DisneyIsTerrific]

Well, I am going to jump in here with a little bit of defense for the cashier since I've been in that spot before with craft products (like fine arts) that I'm totally unfamiliar with. Michaels sells a lot of different types of craft supplies and it's really hard to be knowledgeable about it all. I know my manager tries to hire people who do some type of craft, but it's impossible to have a staff of just "crafty" people. I've been the cashier who was clueless about something at the register before and I'm sure I've had customers think I'm an idiot, but it's part of the learning process and I'm getting more familiar with items in that store everyday. Now, the cashier should have apologized and said she'd have someone check it out. The manager is the one who is an idiot! That manager does not know his store and his products and he should.