Image courtesy of StuartMiles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
My wife and I drove to Kohls on Black Friday to look for some long sleeved shirts for our son. He needed a winter wardrobe refresh (darn teenagers grow like weeds) and the shirts were advertised at 75% off. We made sure we had the coupon we got in the mail for an additional 15% off, as well as a $20 Kohls Cash coupon we had received a few weeks ago from buying a new Keurig coffee maker.
On our drive to Kohls, my wife noticed that the Kohls Cash had expired.
My wife shook her head in disbelief. This isn’t the fist time something like this has happened. Maybe it’s happened to you as well. You get a coupon that will save you a good amount of money and you save it for just the right opportunity to maximize it’s value only to find that you’ve waited too long.
As we looked at the shirts for my son, my wife gasped again in disappointment at letting the coupon expire. As we waited our turn in the long snaking line to the checkout counter that existed despite it being close to noon, my wife again expressed how she felt about the expired coupon.
“That’s $20 we just flushed down the toilet!” she exclaimed.
When we reached the front of the line, she suddenly pulled out her purse, and yanked out the expired coupon stating she was going to try to use it anyway. The cashier rang up the shirts, and scanned in the 15% coupon. My wife handed her the Kohls Cash certificate explaining that she knew it had expired, but wondering if by chance they would accept it anyway. I had my doubts, as I suspected they conveniently had their Kohls Cash certificates expire before Black Friday to prevent customers from getting further discounts.
The cashier took the coupon and said, “Well, we can scan it and see what happens.”
“Beep” went the cash register.
“Looks like it accepted it!” said the cashier.
We had successfully used a $20 Kohls cash certificate that had expired 10 days earlier. Searching the internet, one can easily find people claiming to have been able to successfully use expired Kohls cash by either convincing the cashier or a manager to manually enter the discount at the register, or getting customer service to reissue a non-expired coupon. But I also can find evidence that Kohls had changed their policy in regards to expired Kohls cash earlier this year. The company’s website officially indicates that Kohls cash MUST be used by the expiration date.
Kohls isn’t the first store to accept expired coupons. It was well known that Bed Bath and Beyond, which sends out 20% off a single item coupons regularly, would take expired coupons. Even after they placed clearly marked signs indicated they were halting this process, you can still find stores that will take expired coupons.
I don’t know if this was a temporary fluke in the system, (this wouldn’t be the first oddity in their payment system) or if it’s simply that easy to use expired Kohls cash. What I do know is that if you have Kohls cash that has expired, it’s worth taking to the store and at trying to use it.
Have you ever tried to use expired Kohls Cash? Did it work for you?
I need to use mine! Yes I have had similar things happen. I went to rite aid and wanted to buy shampoo, but realized the coupon was for a styling product with that same brand. I asked the cashier and she ended up using the same coupon I gave her for conditioner and just beeped it twice. Sometimes you just have to asks nicely.
Sometimes you just have to ask period….the worst they can say is no!
I usually give Kohl’s cash to my mom. She shops there all the time and I try to avoid it if possible. It’s less than 5 minutes from my house, but I don’t shop that often.
We shop at Kohls only when there’s a sale AND we have a discount for some percentage off (preferably the 30% of variety). They’re one of those stores that jack up the price just so it can look like a great sale. Never pay full price for anything at Kohls!
My wife is always very on top of the Kohl’s cash, so I can say with complete honesty that I would have no experience on this at all 🙂
LOL, that’s awesome……unfortunately all our coupons get lost in the abyss that is “the coupon drawer.” When we go through it we commonly find several things we could have, and should have used.
Did not know this at all! We had discarded several of our Kohl’s cash because we didn’t even try. Now we know, if you don’t ask the answer is always no. Thanks!
That’s right Jen….never hurts to try!
Wow that’s incredible! I would never have even thought to try. That must have been quite the deal on Black Friday! On Thanksgiving night I surfed around Kohls’ website and saw that a suit I had bought just a couple weeks prior was $40 cheaper. That’s not counting the 15% off or the Kohls cash I would receive. So I got that and a few other things and made out like a bandit. The nice thing was I kind of know what brands I want from Kohls so I didn’t even have to go to the store. I’m certainly not complaining about consumerism entering Thanksgiving….I really won on that transaction.
shopping online for the win!!!
I have used expired Khol’s cash before. I was feeling the same way as Vonnie for letting the potential savings slip through my fingers, but when I asked the cashier, she scanned it and it was accepted too. I have found many other store will honor their coupons even after expatriation dates. I had the same luck in Sports Authority.
Good to know about Sports Authority….we have one of those nearby as well!