A Minneapolis man wrote to Whistleblower last week to express frustration with a national retailer's coupons. "You can't find anything that isn't excluded in the small print," he said.

Several months ago a Robbinsdale man had a similar complaint. He received a "complimentary" cruise certificate for listening to a 90-minute timeshare seminar at a hotel.

The certificate was good for a year, but after removing the excluded dates he was left with a two-week window in December and only on certain ships from certain ports. To get the ball rolling, he had to send a check for $99 and refrain from calling the business.

Have you been excited to receive a coupon only to find it virtually unredeemable? Comment at www.startribune.com/whistleblower.

JANE FRIEDMANN