I-Team Goes Undercover To Test Military Discount Promises

FORT WORTH (CBS 11 I-TEAM) - It's not uncommon to see retail stores now-a-days, big and small, honor our active military and veterans for their service by offering them a discount. But after a viewer reached out to the CBS 11 I-Team, worried some of these stores weren't living up to their end of the bargain, we sent a crew undercover to find out more.

The I-Team went undercover at thirteen stores around North Texas and ten of them gave us the military discount, no problems. But there were three stores where fine-print problems popped up, serving as a good example of what you need to know before asking for the discount.

We recruited three veterans to help us with this story. Billy Sexton, Navy veteran, David Young, Air Force veteran, and Wirt "Stoney" Jackson, an Army veteran, are are all current employees with CBS 11 that agreed to help. Their mission included visiting a total of thirteen different North Texas stores and restaurants that currently advertise some sort of military discount or might have in the recent past.

Stores like Home Depot and Lowe's offered up the discount on any items we purchased, promotional or regular priced, as long as we showed them some sort of military ID.

The one Billy Sexton used while shopping isn't even valid anymore; but it was enough to get him the discount.

Undercover Interaction:
Billy Sexton: "Do you give a discount for former active duty?"
Lowe's Clerk: "Yes we do."
Billy Sexton: "Do you need to see my ID card?"
Lowe's Clerk: "Yes, please."

Under Armor and Bass Pro Shop also lived up to their promises, even thanking our veterans for their service.

Undercover Interaction:
Under Armor Clerk: "Yeah, we support you guys 100%."
[Speaking to Wirt "Stoney" Jackson.]

Undercover Interaction:
David Young: "Do you still give the military discount?"
Bass Pro Shop Clerk: "Yes, sir. Absolutely. Thank you for serving."
David Young: "Thank you."

In all we had thirteen success stories that included:

· Home Depot (2 locations)
· Lowe's
· Party City
· Bass Pro Shops
· Nike
· Pep Boys
· Payless Shoe Source
· Boston Market
· Under Armor

"It was nice to know that, you know, people or companies appreciated the sacrifice that veterans made to serve their country; to go out and put their lives on the line for their country," Jackson told us.

But during our shopping trips, our undercover crew ran into some fine print problems at three stores.

Undercover Interaction:

Billy Sexton: "I'm former military. Do you guys give discounts for veterans?"
Foot Locker Clerk: "Yes, sir."

The employees had every intention of giving us a discount; however, because we bought items that were on special, two packages of socks at the price of one (2-for-1), the military discount didn't apply. This kind of policy isn't unheard of at some stores and prevents double-dipping.

We also stopped by a Chick-fil-A, where a manager explained that their particular store didn't participate in the military discount program. At Chick-fil-A there's no corporate policy requiring each store to give a military discount. Instead, the decision is left up to the individual restaurant owners. Some choose to give a discount, others don't, and the amounts may vary.

"The person that waited on us, I don't think knew the policy, but he immediately got a manager," David Young remembered. "And she explained and told us a couple of stores that did offer the discount. They were the ones closer to the Navy base in Fort Worth. And that made sense. They were very cordial about it."

O'Reilly Auto Parts was one of the last stores we visited. Initially, the employee helping us seems unsure of how the discount works.

Undercover Interaction:
Wirt "Stoney" Jackson: "Hey, I heard y'all give military discounts."
O'Reilly Clerk: "Yea, we can give it a try and see if it does anything on this."

While our crew is in the store and near the register, it looks like the employee types something discount-related into the computer. But when he rings us up there seems to be no discount applied.

Undercover Interaction:
O'Reilly Clerk: "It can vary on parts. Maybe like on belts you might get a bigger discount than you do on a starter or alternator."
Wirt "Stoney" Jackson: "Oh, so, it's not like a certain percentage?"
O'Reilly Clerk: "No. No, not a certain percentage."

The clerk suggests visiting O'Reilly's corporate website for more information. But before visiting any of these locations, we made sure to research all of the companies' history with military discounts. On O'Reilly's website they clearly say they give military discounts. But they don't say how much or on which products.

"Based upon those responses, I'm saying to myself, well you're the employer. You know, you work here, you should know these types of things," Jackson said.

CBS 11 I-Team Reporter Mireya Villarreal spoke with an O'Reilly Auto Parts corporate spokesperson, Mark Merz, who tried to clarify their discount program. Turns out, the company does offer a discount. But they don't offer a discount on every product line; and it can literally vary from one brand to the next. The company tells us it will base its discounts on profit. If an item has a larger profit margin, a veteran would likely get a bigger discount. But if that margin is small, or doesn't exist at all, then they might not get anything.

Undercover Interaction:
Wirt "Stoney" Jackson: "Wow. So, it's more like a guessing game?"
O'Reilly Clerk: [Shrugs and makes funny face.] "It's a computer thing I guess."

Jeanette Kopko with the Dallas Better Business Bureau weighed in on our story.

"It is absolutely essential that they make sure they are following the terms of their discount offer," Kopko noted.

Kopko says using the word "discount" is a powerful way to get people in the door, but it also comes with some big responsibilities.

"It should be communicated to all their employees so if someone asks for it, they're seeking that discount, they have no problem getting it or they understand what the limitations and conditions are," Kopko added.

So, bottom line, if you think you're entitled to a military discount, ask for it. But be advised the policy might not be offered at all stores and, if it is, it could be just on full price items.

O'Reilly Auto Parts apologized and said they do plan to retrain the employees at that Dallas store on how the discount works. But they wanted to clarify, even though the worker helping us wasn't clear on the discount and neither was our receipt, we did receive a small discount on a bottle of Tuff Stuff where we paid $4.27. The discount was 5% which equaled out to $.22. However, that same product is now on sale for $3.99.

A spokesperson for Chick-fil-A also wanted to let customers know they'll be hosting a Military Appreciation Night on May 21, 2014 and all their DFW-based stores will be participating.

The table below lists more than 150 companies that offer military discounts: