Free Luminair? Another Target experience

I read a lot about the Luminaire start up kit being marked down to $4.99 at Target and using the $5 MQ that was in the Sunday flier to make it at least free, if not getting a $.01 overage.

Here's what I got and the coupons I was able to use at the register:
2 Luminaire @ $4.99 each - $3 MQ
4 packs of batteries @ $1.00 each - 4 @ $1 MQ (free after coupons)
1 package Goodnites @ $10.49 - $1.50
2 Snowcone Hot Chocolate mix @ $4.00 each
4 Cheezit @ $2.50 each - 2 @ $1/2
2 Fudge Shoppe cookies @ $2.33 each
1 Velvet color poster @ $1.00
1 Wall Calendar @ $1.00

Total OOP: $41.57 (At some point during my travels to the different departments in the store, I misplaced my Keebler coupons, so I would have bought different items and paid less).
And I earned a $5 GC for the purchase of 5 Keebler products.

Now for the fun part. The cashier tried scanning the $5 Luminaire coupon. It wouldn't go through so she called for backup (a/k/a a manager). I got the same story as the last time, I couldn't use a coupon for more than the price of an item. After some argument on my part about how they get reimbursed for the amount of the coupon, I was told that it was Target's policy to not accept coupons for over the amount and that they couldn't adjust a MQ down, they could only adjust down a Target coupon. When I realized that the manager was not going to budge on the issue, I told them to check me out and I would take care of it at Customer Service.

When I got to Customer Service, the girl told me that the she had already been called about the situation and that the manager was coming. I didn't have my copy of the coupon policy with me, so I asked for the corporate number and called while I was standing at the CS desk. I talked with a REALLY nice guy. In the meantime, a CS manager came up and was trying to explain to me that I couldn't use the coupon because when she scanned the coupon it came up to a negative amount. The guy from corporate tried talking to her and explaining to her how to override the coupon so I could use it. The CS manager was not very nice and argued with the corporate guy. She even told him that they needed to change the way the computers were programmed because she was told that they couldn't accept coupons over the amount and she wasn't going to do it. Unfortunately, their conversation got disconnected before he could tell her how to adjust the coupon.

In the end I was able to use the coupon, by returning both kits, having them both re-scanned, she keyed in my $3 coupon, used the $5 coupon and I paid the difference. It was a confusing and complicated issue that could have been resolved by the cashier hitting the K1 button to begin with.

The best part was, the different cashiers and managers kept telling me that they couldn't take coupons that would make an item free because they couldn't sell me anything for free. Luckily they weren't smart enough to see that I got 4 packs of batteries for free!