Woolworths' Ooshie shortage – and the phone call your insurer hopes you won't make

Woolworths' Disney Ooshies promotion – one pack for every $30 spent, running until 25 August – has become the top reason people bring a Woolworths problem to Ajust. Complaints have roughly doubled every week for the last 3 weeks. This week, Ooshies outranked online-order errors, pricing and food quality combined.

Here's a taste of what we're seeing:

• Sent to another store, then refused. Shoppers in Minto, Kawana and Highton were told to redeem at a neighbouring store and were turned away when they got there. “Minto said the area manager said to do it,” Darren told us. “So rightfully Ingleburn should give me the Ooshies.”
• IOUs that aren't honoured. Ruth was told she couldn't come back later “because there is no proof when you made the purchase. I told them I have my receipt here. Replied doesn't matter.”
• Online orders shipped short. James was entitled to six Ooshies. His delivery contained none.

The dollars are small, but the disappointment isn't. Janine did a $200 shop “to get the Ooshies for my Granddaughter as I don't shop there” and left with none.

What you can do:

• Keep the receipt. Ask staff to write the number of packs owed on it and initial it.
• Told to redeem elsewhere? Get the store name and the staff member's name.
• Escalate in writing to Woolworths as a complaint.