By Quentin Fottrell
- Jill Cataldo
Coupon-clipping seems like a wholesome pastime. But the latest season of TLC’s “Extreme Couponing” resulted in allegations of fraud and reignited a feud between J’aime Kirlew and Jill Cataldo — two of the country’s biggest coupon-clipping moms.
The Coupon Information Corporation, a non-profit industry watchdog, expressed its “continued disappointment” with “Extreme Couponing” over a recent episode allegedly showing a 16-year-old in Burbank, Ca. using fake coupons to get 408 rolls of toilet paper for free. With the cameras rolling, the store went along with the transaction and the boy wheeled seven carts of toilet paper out of the store. However, after conducting an investigation, the CIC says the store denied payment for the counterfeit coupons and contacted the show, but the minor’s mother repaid them for the pilfered paper. The CIC wants the show to retain an independent industry expert “to insure the integrity of future episodes” and follow the rules pertaining to couponing. (Dustin Smith, a spokesman for TLC, declined to comment on the issue.)
Some couponers feel the incident gives them a bad reputation. Jill Cataldo, a blogger and couponer based in Chicago, Il., says the coupon controversy proves that stores as well as consumers need to abide by manufacturers’ rules. Counterfeit coupons are easy to come by online, she says, “there’s no difference from people using fake coupons and play money.” The alleged misuse of coupons depicted on TLC has dogged the reputation of couponers since J’aime Kirlew appeared in first episode of “Extreme Couponing,” Cataldo says.
Kirlew says Cataldo has sour grapes because she wasn’t invited to participate in the show. “I’m at the height of frustration with her,” Kirlew says. “I don’t know who she thinks she is. Is she bitter because TLC didn’t choose her to be on the show?” In an interview with SmartMoney.com, Kirlew acknowledged matching barcodes — as long as they worked — rather than products, but says she never used counterfeit coupons. Cataldo says she would never appear in the current version of the show; she spoke to the production company before TLC was involved and says it was originally pitched to her as an instructional show rather: “It makes people believe that if they’re not saving 80% to 90% on their shopping they’re not doing well.”
Kirlew – who has herself stockpiled 450 rolls of toilet paper and 250 paper towels at her Montgomery Village, Md., home – says “Extreme Couponing” shows people how to save. “I just had 41 people at my workshop so don’t tell me I’m doing something wrong,” she says. “I’m on fire.”
(Read Kirlew’s original interview, “Confessions of an Extreme Couponer,” before her first appearance on “Extreme Couponing” here.)
I rocked it at CVS this week too. I spent $15.19, saved $41.43 ($17.72 CVS Savings & $23.71 in ecb’s & pocuons), and got back $16.50 in ecb’s. I bought six pringles, toothpaste, skintimate shaving gel, Dawn dishsoap, two packages of Huggies, two Johnson & Johnson products, and two Glade air fresheners. I love CVS!! ~ KP
As far as the comment about the CVS stuff….just the other day I went to CVS got 6 deodorants, used 3 BOGO q’s and paid .81 and got back $6 in EB…so you telling me being paid $5.19 isnt worth it. But I do get what you’re saying though….
Well terri – I have $5 ECBs from a promo, and $4 off 20 to go with that, and coupons for free items and coupons that can be used on products that will pay out more ECBs. And I am expecting a $5 CVS gift card from a promo and $5 more in ECBs are being credited to me courtesy of a promo. So…Glad you think this is a comedy. I will get approximately $30 to $40 worth of product and pay less than $10 out of pocket. And get ECBs back.
The thing with ECBs is – lather, rinse, repeat. It keeps going.
Sorry you are having difficulty understanding that. Glad you had your little laugh for the day.
Extreme couponing doesnt show CVS. I guess the company doesnt want the disruption of this dishonest crew, and besides, its so easy to do it, no one would think it particularly spectacular.
These extreme couponers are not saving as much as they think. When you add in additional computers that some purchase to print coupons or all the newspaper subscriptions that they have just for the sake of getting coupons and coupons that are purchased online, they just aren’t saving that much. Plus, most of the coupons are for junk food, anyway. Tack on the extra costs of healthcare from eating junk and you are in no way saving money.
Then, there is the CVS crowd and their ECB’s. They are the most comical of them all. I love how they say “I spent $10 and got back a $5 credit for my next purchase. So, all of this really only cost me $5.” Then, you see them say “I got this for free because I used my $5 credit.” They think they got $15 worth of merchandise for $5 when in reality they got $15 worth of merchandise for $10 and if they had gone to a store with real prices and not the overinflated CVS prices they would have been able to purchase all of it for $8. Their minds can’t see that they’ve used that credit twice to justify each of those purchases and overpaid for it to start with. It’s the same type of mentality that causes people to buy things they don’t need on sale and then rave about how much money they save with their thrifty shopping.
TLC should take the CIC up on the independent expert working with them to redesign the show. It creates false expectations based on fraud. Im guessing that the kid bought the coupons on Ebay. Counterfeit coupons, counterfeit money – it is stealing. The adults in his life – and on the show – should have known better. Every veteran couponer who saw that show spotted those coupons as fakes. Its not uncommon to have a few free item coupons for the same product – but he had over thirty. There is no way you come by those legitimately.
As for Jaime, coding has been a subject of discussion in couponing circles for years. Ethical couponers dont do it. Just because it beeps doesnt mean the store will get paid. She is full of it.
The show needs to come clean and issue a statement. Or cancel. The liabilities are huge. Meantime, there is an uptick in counterfeit couponing by me, and stores are getting really frustrated with it. In a depression, couponing is a way of life for many of us, and we can ill afford to lose the benefits, stolen by these high profile “its on tv so its ok” thieves.