Here's an email I just sent to Target after conversing with my friend Mallory about what happened:
"I just got off the phone with someone from your customer service center, and am still not satisfied with the response I got from my most recent experience at Target. I was given a gift card from a friend for my new born. Spent an hour in your store, with my two year old and new born to browse and purchase things to use the gift card on. There was an error at the cash register, and I waited 20 or more minutes with my children for a manager to finally come and tell me that the card was empty, it was never purchased. Which is fine, she could of left it at that and explain that whomever purchased it needed to go back and figure out what happened. But, instead, she asked for the packaging it came in, left for a few more moments, came back again, and said that they have been having a problem with some Target employees doing a swap.
Basically, the person on the register will purchase the gift card, take your money, and then swap the real gift card, with an empty one..and keep your gift card for themselves. And that this is what most likely happened with this gift card.
and that "I" would have to call and get this fixed, embarrass my friend and call her and tell her she gave me an empty gift card, and she would then have to call and prove she purchased it to get it fixed.
When I called the help center to explain my problem, the person explained that it may or may not have been an issue of theft, that someone could of accidently given us the empty card instead of the filled one. Here's the thing, and why I'm still not satisfied, regardless of the error, it was not an error on OUR part, it was an error on Target's part and I think we should be compensated for this error. Because not only does now my friend have to take the time out of her life to get this fixed after ALREADY thinking she was good to go (and she should of been), she already went to Target with the intent to purchase this gift for me (she also had three very young grandchildren with her when she went) and I would not of went to Target with my newborn and 2 year old had I not of gotten this gift card.. I would of stayed home.
I understand that we have to prove she purchased the card in order to get this fixed, because of Target's error...but when she proves this, as I said above, I think we both should be compensated for our time, and problems we encountered on account of your business. And I hope that the error would be better addressed being that it was implied that this is a common occurrence.
I posted a blog about my experience also, if you would like read about it, you can visit my blog at http://johannaswartz.blogspot.com"
So, HOPEFULLY they respond, and I can post a positive update from them!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Dear Target:
I received a very generous $50 dollar gift card from Target for my son, Augustine's birth.. I LOVE Target, so I was excited to go purchase some new things for the tyke.
Bad idea #1 was of course deciding to take a one month old, and a 2 1/2 year old to Target for a shopping adventure.
Dumb idea #2, was grabbing the ridiculous, musthavebeencreatedbyaspawnwhohatedhismother shopping cart that is similar to what I imagine driving the world's largest Cadillac would be, with the turning radius of a casket down Target's isles.
See image :
I proceeded filling my cart with around 100$ worth of product and headed to the check out............this was after of course a brief nursing session for Augustine in the dressing room, while I fought with my 2 1/2 year old Ivan to stop opening the dressing room door and bolting out. I must brag, I did do pretty good at nursing, and chasing down the two year old, all the while keeping myself unexposed.
*Ehem*
Back to checkout, so I wait in line, with my now nearly rabid two year old (we had been in Target for a little over an hour or so), and my ingenious idea was to bribe him to be good with candy. That's right mom, make the kid sit for an hour, and then proceed to chuck him full of sugar -- I can only imagine the mental thought processes of the poor saps in line behind me as my child is standing up in this boat of a shopping cart, which enabled him enough room to stretch around the register to press buttons as the young man was ringing up my purchases. My form of discipline is to wave a bag of M&Ms and say "Please sit down honey"....while suppressing my inner demon-mom, because we all know once you let her out, it's hard to get her back in. Plus, I really couldn't do much because I was holding my previously crying one month old, and was in front of the ginormous cart, and couldn't get around it to get to get to Ivan even if I wanted to.
So after what seemed like an excruciating additional hour, I handed over my gift card, which was the initiation of this momentary delusional laps of judgement to go to the store in the first place.......
And then it happened...............
The kid swiped the gift card multiple times, trying to get it to work...deep down, I knew this kid would have difficulty getting the card to work, but I figured he'd get it handled. But NO, his register ends up printing a little receipt, and he ends up flipping the "Light of DOOM" in his isle on for the manager to come over. The manager comes over after the mandatory wait for any store with these lights, (by that I mean enough time for everyone behind you to find another line, and for both of your children to be crying, this of course is just an approximation). The manager took my gift card and the receipt..and told me to go ahead and wait outside of the aisle for her, and the kid ringing me up gave me a convenient receipt for my purchases that who ever rings me up next and just scan, and take my money.
So, I try to maneuver out of the isle, and get stuck with the damn cart, because dumb idea #40692, I'm holding my crying one month old and trying to guide it with with one hand. Helpful cashier boy stands and stares while I struggle to get the heck out of the lane.
So.......I finally get out of the isle, and I wait. and wait, and wait.............and wait.
Then the manager calls me over to the office, and this is what initiated me to write my first blog:
Her explanation.
First off, the card was empty, it was never purchased. Which is fine, she could of left it at that and explain that whomever purchased it needed to go back and figure out what happened. But, instead, she asked for the packaging it came in, left for a few more moments, came back again, and said that they have been having a problem with some Target employees doing a swap.
Basically, the person on the register will purchase the gift card, take your money, and then swap the real gift card, with an empty one..and keep your gift card for themselves.
So I was dumbfounded. I asked her what am I suppose to do.....and she explained that "I" would have to call whomever purchased it, and tell them that they would have to find their original receipt, call Target, and try to get their money back for the gift card. If they can't find the receipt, depending on how they paid for it, they could, or couldn't get their money back. And she gave me a number to call.
So there I was..standing in Target, unshowered, leaking on one side, holding a crying one month old on the other, wishing I had a shock collar for my 2 1/2 year old who was maniacally eating M&Ms' while standing on his seat and having an enthusiastic hello for every person who passed us....
and this young girl passed me, with the coolest hair cut I've ever seen, and the cutest quirky outfit, couldn't of been older than 20 years old, and I thought to myself........ I used to be that girl.
and now I'm home, writing this blog and would like to officially thankyou Target, for admitting you have noted internal theft problems with your staff and theft from your customers by them, and that your official response to it is a hearty, we don't give a damn.
So if you're going to buy a gift card, make sure you actually recieve a filled gift card!
Bad idea #1 was of course deciding to take a one month old, and a 2 1/2 year old to Target for a shopping adventure.
Dumb idea #2, was grabbing the ridiculous, musthavebeencreatedbyaspawnwhohatedhismother shopping cart that is similar to what I imagine driving the world's largest Cadillac would be, with the turning radius of a casket down Target's isles.
See image :
I proceeded filling my cart with around 100$ worth of product and headed to the check out............this was after of course a brief nursing session for Augustine in the dressing room, while I fought with my 2 1/2 year old Ivan to stop opening the dressing room door and bolting out. I must brag, I did do pretty good at nursing, and chasing down the two year old, all the while keeping myself unexposed.
*Ehem*
Back to checkout, so I wait in line, with my now nearly rabid two year old (we had been in Target for a little over an hour or so), and my ingenious idea was to bribe him to be good with candy. That's right mom, make the kid sit for an hour, and then proceed to chuck him full of sugar -- I can only imagine the mental thought processes of the poor saps in line behind me as my child is standing up in this boat of a shopping cart, which enabled him enough room to stretch around the register to press buttons as the young man was ringing up my purchases. My form of discipline is to wave a bag of M&Ms and say "Please sit down honey"....while suppressing my inner demon-mom, because we all know once you let her out, it's hard to get her back in. Plus, I really couldn't do much because I was holding my previously crying one month old, and was in front of the ginormous cart, and couldn't get around it to get to get to Ivan even if I wanted to.
So after what seemed like an excruciating additional hour, I handed over my gift card, which was the initiation of this momentary delusional laps of judgement to go to the store in the first place.......
And then it happened...............
The kid swiped the gift card multiple times, trying to get it to work...deep down, I knew this kid would have difficulty getting the card to work, but I figured he'd get it handled. But NO, his register ends up printing a little receipt, and he ends up flipping the "Light of DOOM" in his isle on for the manager to come over. The manager comes over after the mandatory wait for any store with these lights, (by that I mean enough time for everyone behind you to find another line, and for both of your children to be crying, this of course is just an approximation). The manager took my gift card and the receipt..and told me to go ahead and wait outside of the aisle for her, and the kid ringing me up gave me a convenient receipt for my purchases that who ever rings me up next and just scan, and take my money.
So, I try to maneuver out of the isle, and get stuck with the damn cart, because dumb idea #40692, I'm holding my crying one month old and trying to guide it with with one hand. Helpful cashier boy stands and stares while I struggle to get the heck out of the lane.
So.......I finally get out of the isle, and I wait. and wait, and wait.............and wait.
Then the manager calls me over to the office, and this is what initiated me to write my first blog:
Her explanation.
First off, the card was empty, it was never purchased. Which is fine, she could of left it at that and explain that whomever purchased it needed to go back and figure out what happened. But, instead, she asked for the packaging it came in, left for a few more moments, came back again, and said that they have been having a problem with some Target employees doing a swap.
Basically, the person on the register will purchase the gift card, take your money, and then swap the real gift card, with an empty one..and keep your gift card for themselves.
So I was dumbfounded. I asked her what am I suppose to do.....and she explained that "I" would have to call whomever purchased it, and tell them that they would have to find their original receipt, call Target, and try to get their money back for the gift card. If they can't find the receipt, depending on how they paid for it, they could, or couldn't get their money back. And she gave me a number to call.
So there I was..standing in Target, unshowered, leaking on one side, holding a crying one month old on the other, wishing I had a shock collar for my 2 1/2 year old who was maniacally eating M&Ms' while standing on his seat and having an enthusiastic hello for every person who passed us....
and this young girl passed me, with the coolest hair cut I've ever seen, and the cutest quirky outfit, couldn't of been older than 20 years old, and I thought to myself........ I used to be that girl.
and now I'm home, writing this blog and would like to officially thankyou Target, for admitting you have noted internal theft problems with your staff and theft from your customers by them, and that your official response to it is a hearty, we don't give a damn.
So if you're going to buy a gift card, make sure you actually recieve a filled gift card!
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