Walgreens Balance Rewards compared to CVS ECB (a problem)

I thought I could use my balance rewards at Walgreens for milk purchases.  I had a bad experience of a rude cashier and uneducated teen assistant manager.  They couldn't tell me why I couldn't use my points to purchase a gallon of 2% milk, a half gallon of organic whole milk and two diet cokes.  They also kept telling me I had no points.  When I showed them the receipt that I had just received from my pharmacy purchase (script) they said I had used all the points.  When I showed them the date and time of the receipt they said I had used all the points somehow in the three minutes from leaving the pharmacy, getting the milk and getting in line for my purchase.  The assistant manager was no help either.  So I wrote to corporate from the parking lot, and when I got home I searched their website, only to find out no dairy.

Unfortunately, they do not allow you to use your rewards on any dairy, or per my discussion with the manager today, no frozen foods, no eggs, and they set limits on how much you can use. I totally understand why it cannot be used for tax and bottle deposits.  However, the limits they set on me today (which was following all the rules) went beyond what the manager was saying, and he couldn't give me any reason.

I found this quite frustrating, as according to their website you can use up to $50 balance rewards.  Today I purchased 4 twelve packs of soda on sale for $10.00 (plus tax and 2.40 in deposits) some beef jerky 3.99 and a total of six Purex priced at $12.00 plus tax.  Total of merchandise was $25.99 plus deposit and tax came to 30.04.  I was told I could use $20.00 in Balance Rewards.  I again asked the cashier I know I have $35.00 worth, why can I not use them?  (DH was with me, and he was silently supportive)  she said right away that she didn't know, but she would call the manager over.

He was pleasant, but couldn't explain why I couldn't use another $5 of my points.  He used the tax/deposit reason which I agreed with....however he couldn't explain why there was a limit on how many I could use on the purchase.   I ended up paying $9.96 out of pocket (which still doesn't add up......)   $5.91 of it was for actual merchandise...........

 At least the free Purex is going towards my SavingsStar purchase $25 and get $5 back.  It will be a money maker if I can purchase the rest of the needed items with Balance Rewards.  Please note that it is registering the sale price, not the presale price as some other deals have done.

I am very disappointed in how Walgreens is running this program.


I have used CVS ECB on dairy. Since the DH and I have four monthly scripts filled at Walgreens and I feel the incentive of having them filled there is crumbling....I'm looking into transferring them to CVS.   For every 10 scripts you get a $5 ECB.  The same deal as Walgreens financially.

As I find I get way more 'deals' at CVS anyway, and I've been having such a problem trying to redeem my balance rewards I will make sure that financially it will be wise to transfer the scripts and then go through with it.