Attention shoppers: That enticing $75 coupon for Trader Joe’s that is circulating on social media will save you zero money at checkout. It’s counterfeit.
“It's not us,” the Monrovia, California-based grocer said in a statement Thursday.
The viral coupon claims to take $75 off any purchase of $80 or more to celebrate Trader Joe’s birthday. The problems is this: Trader Joe’s doesn't offer Internet coupons -- at all.
“We do not offer any special promotions online. No coupons. No discounts. No special gift card offers,” the grocer said. “Trader Joe's has no association with these organizations.”
The coupon includes an apparent customer satisfaction survey that asks users three brief questions. The website that hosts it, yu8sad.us, is registered to a person who lists a Los Angeles address. An email to the registrant, Jullie Wernia, was not immediately returned.
A brief search of yu8sad.us found several other surveys and coupons or gift card offers that include the logos for other national restaurants and grocery chains.
The pages are nearly identical and they all generate the same result: a list of or purported Facebook comments from people who claim to have received the coupon or offer. The same names and comments that appear after the Trader Joe’s survey also appear after a survey emblazoned with a Waffle House logo, for example.
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A commenter who is identified as Jennifer Caesar says, “Yeeess, I got the free coupon from Trader Joe’s.” Caesar also appears at the end of the Waffle House survey, saying, “Yeeess, I got the free coupon from Waffle House.”
Trader Joe’s said it takes bogus coupons seriously.
“When alerted to the existence of misleading promotions of this nature, we actively attempt to get our name removed,” the company said.
Here’s Trader Joe’s full statement to NBC Bay Area:
We do not offer any special promotions online. No coupons. No discounts. No special gift card offers. We apply the same philosophy in the digital world as we do in the physical world - we stay focused on providing the best everyday values, every day.
It has happened that organizations have appropriated the Trader Joe's name for use in association with special coupon, discount or gift card offerings online, which can cause confusion. It's not us. Trader Joe's has no association with these organizations. When alerted to the existence of misleading promotions of this nature, we actively attempt to get our name removed.
At present, the only means we use to communicate with our customers online are via our website (www.traderjoes.com) and our E-Newsletter, which you will only receive if you have elected to hear from us.
