I’ve written about catalinas a few times previously, and I thought this topic was worth its own article. If you’re not sure what a “Catalina coupon” is, check out my articles “Catalinas 101” and “How To Find Catalina Deals”.

Remember when I bought 6 tubes of Grands! biscuits because of a catalina deal, but my coupon didn’t print? Well, I sent Catalina Marketing an email, and they mailed the coupon to me. I spent $3.54 on the biscuits originally, and now that I’ve belatedly received my $4.00 coupon, I am .46 cents ahead!

Has this ever happened to you? You’ve found out about a great catalina deal, planned out your scenario, and are so excited about your savings – until you go through the checkout line and your coupon doesn’t print. Why does this happen, and what can you do about it?

Why Didn’t My Catalina Print?

Like any other electronic device, catalina machines are subject to malfunction. Modern cash registers are actually a regular PC hooked to a cash drawer – when you see your total being rung up on the screen, it’s taking place on a program running inside of Windows. And we all know that computers don’t always work the way they’re supposed to! But it’s not always a complex technical issue – sometimes, the catalina printer is simply out of paper.

And don’t forget human error: Sometimes, even the most savvy coupon-queen will buy the wrong item or quantity. The UPCs which trigger catalinas are very specific – so when possible, read the fine print and check the offer for exclusions. Do you have the right product, flavor, size? Is the promotion still running? For instance:

This is the offer terms listed on my Pillsbury catalina. As an example, the Grands biscuits that I purchased were participating, but Toaster Strudels were not.

What Can I Do About It?

So your catalina didn’t print – now what? You have two options for rectifying the matter: Take it up at store level, or contact Catalina Marketing directly. I highly recommend that you take it up with Catalina Marketing, and here’s why. There are countless catalina promotions running at hundreds of stores across the country, and each promotion is tied to a specific list of product UPCs. In order for your local supermarket to be fully versed on the terms of each offer, they would need to have an extensive database listing all current catalina deals with UPCs and promo dates included.

Perhaps some stores do, but as far as I am aware, none in my area have any such list. In my experience, store staff often have no way of knowing which promotions are current; and if they do, they have no way of verifying the terms of the offer. Up until my last trip, I had never even bothered asking at store level about my catalinas. Last time, I decided that I would, just to see if it would be easier. First, I asked the cashier if the machine had paper, because my catalina had not printed and the lights on the machine were blinking in an odd manner. It did indeed have paper, so I then went to customer service and asked if there was something else wrong with the machine. The manager was aware of the Pillsbury deal, but she told me that she did not think the Grands! Jr. biscuits were participating, even though the offer didn’t specify any exclusions; so I told her I would email Catalina Marketing. I did – and they promptly sent me the coupon which should have printed.

Catalina Marketing are the company behind these coupons, and as such, they have quick access to anything you need to know about an offer. Every time I have contacted them, they have quickly determined what I should have received and mailed it to me directly. I have provided their email form and phone numbers at the bottom of this article – simply have your receipt ready when you contact them, and they will research the issue for you.

If it is vital that you receive your catalina during that shopping trip, you could ask a manager to return your items and re-ring them on another register. I’ve never done this, because in my experiences it would have been a big hassle for everyone.

Verifying Catalina Deals

I mentioned above that you should carefully check the terms of a catalina offer whenever possible – but sometimes, it isn’t. Say your sister calls and says, “Hey, I just got a $1.00 catalina for buying 3 Brand X canned vegetables at Safeway!”. So you stop by Safeway later that afternoon and buy 3 Brand X canned vegetables, but no catalina comes out. That’s your queue to email Catalina Marketing and say, “Hey, my sister got this great catalina for buying 3 Brand X canned vegetables, but I didn’t. Why is that?” You could even contact them before your shopping trip and ask for the terms of the offer. “My sister just told me about an offer for Brand X canned vegetables, can you tell me which varieties are participating?”

How to Contact Catalina Marketing

If you experience issues will a catalina not printing, you can click here to email Catalina Marketing or call them at either 1-877-210-1917 or 1-888-8coupon.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Articles, Catalinas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.