Cash-mere Mist Adventures

I guess I now know why it's called Ulta 3 - it took me ultimately three tries to get my Christmas shopping done there.

The task sounded simple - buy Mom perfume for Christmas. She was kind enough to tear out a magazine page with the ad. Now it was up to me to somehow get it 'on sale' or 'at a discount'. Rather than see what a major department store offered, I headed over to Ulta with my coupon for $5 off. I handed the ad to an employee who immediately produced th perfume and confirmed I would also get a free robe with purchase. Fuzzy!

At the checkout I was told the coupon was not good on fragrances. What? Free robe is not good enough - can I have those slippers to go with it? No, that's another gift set for $35. I don't think so. Won't any coupon work? Only these, says the girl, holding up a coupon I have never seen before offering even more off the item I am trying to purchase. Why didn't I get one of those? Oh, that's only for customers who spend over a certain amount. Miffed, I take a pink robe and fragrance anyway.

Drive all the way home to - you guessed it! A coupon that arrived in the mail that day. I need to have a little chat with the local postmaster as to why my coupons are always so late. Reading the fine print reveals it is 'not good on prior purchases'. So that means I need to return what I have.

Return the items in one store and have to 'wait for the manager' for authorization. What? Perhaps I'm not the only irate customer this season. I'd ask her to repurchase it right then with the coupon, but I don't feel like pushing my luck.

I wait another day and try another store. Score! They accept the 20% off your purchase coupon and give out a robe. Whew! Saving $10 is hard work. Got ripped off by about 40 cents as the two towns have different tax rates (7.75 is just ridiculous. These suburbs can't wait push into the double digits and be like Chicago and its other wanna-bes.)

Moral: Wait for your coupon.