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I wonder why he wrote that he doesn't buy electronics in their store? I personally would have left that tidbit out.
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@changed my name: I think it makes it sound more convincing, since he's not just bragging about shopping at Target \"for everything.\"
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\"thanked me for attempting to use proper channels first\"
Or to put it other way...
Thank you so much for using our Kafkaesque bureaucratic process intended to weed out 99% of customers to whom we owe coupons. Your futile attempts at using our \"proper channels\" lets us know that it's still working according to the way we created, implemented, and run the process.It is our deepest hope that the next time we owe you something, the prior use of our process will have taught you a valuable lesson to give up sooner.
Thank you.
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@GMFish: Well put. Target customer service is a big joke. They make no effort to make the customer happy. All one gets as an answer is \"the policy is the policy and we will not make exceptions\". In other words \"screw you. we have your money and don't care squat about you\".
@Saltillopunk: There is a reason policy is in place. For every 1 person that actually has a legitimate claim, there are another 1000 who would screw the system if policy weren't in place. While it is up to the support agent to figure out who is legit and who isn't, without policy the store wouldn't exist. People would be \"claiming\" to have coupons and this reason or that reason to get stuff for free and the company would be shut down in a matter of days.
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Companies make mistakes every day. That is not the measure of how well a company treats their customers. It's how they attempt to correct their mistakes that matters.
I'd say that Target still failed.
I'd love an update. What item did they purchase for 10% off and how much did they save v. how many hours they spent chasing the coupon. Even including the $25 gift card, they were hardly properly compensated for how they were treated.
Target should have just given them an item from their registry for free.
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@TinaBringMeTheAx: I got married last September, and just got my 10% discount this week. Of course the registry is expired - the coupon clearly says our registry expired ages ago, but we now have a coupon we can('t) use. Go Target!
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@TinaBringMeTheAx: EXACTLY my thoughts on the matter. It would seem to me that this was a token apology, not a sincere \"Oops we totally fcuked up on this one, man; how can we make this up to you guys\" apology. I'd have been pretty hot over THAT kind of apology myself.
\"So wait a minute, we waited A WHOLE FREAKING YEAR, for you guys to do the right thing, had to contact customer service time and TIME AGAIN, watch as you DELETED our entire registry, jump through hoop after flaming hoop to get you to do what you sort of contractually promised to do… and I get $25 in the form of a gift card for our troubles? Really? Really? Have you heard of Wal-Mart, mutherfucker? Have you heard of \"the competition?\" Because I have and I think they're my new favorite place.\"
I mean really, that's all the CEO can offer? who's going to tell him he is not authorized to do what he should to right a customer's situation?
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Seriously?? All that for 10%???
@DevoAlmighty: My thoughts, exactly, particularly since Target.com always has a 10% off coupon floating around online: [dealcoupon.com] .
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@DevoAlmighty: 10% equals close to the combined local/state sales taxes on goods where I live... (but property taxes are very low).
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@DevoAlmighty: A matter of principle? How about \" I won't shop at Target\" as a means to manifest my matter of principle. It takes less effort than say, crying and writing an email.
\"All that for 10%?\" you ask.
Absolutely correct. Just 10%. Not much at all.
But \"just 10%\" is not why the OP should have given up, \"just 10%\" is why Target should have immediately and unquestioningly re-issued the coupon.
If they had a lot of items still left to buy that they needed, 10% off is better than nuthin.
I'd say it's also the principal of the matter, that they desreved what they were owed.
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How was that waiting until their first anniversary? I'm confused, but it's 9am and I'm JUST getting to my first cup of coffee. They were engaged in August '08, but didn't actually marry until July '09. So it's only been 3 months--
Of course, it never should of taken 3 months to resolve. It seems that Target's Club Wedd is CHOCK FULL of bugs. Maybe, for registry purposes, they should provide some kind of tracking code on the 10% off coupon, or a validation pin so they can be assured that the person they sent it to used it. They seem not to want to reissue one because if their system says it was sent, there's no way to see if they actually used it and they could be a bunch of liars looking for another 10% off.
Target, you need to straighten your shit out.
@Verucalise(countingcalories):
Looks like you're right - normally Laura's pretty good about getting the details right.
@wrjohnston91283: We can't blame her... all this upstate NY cold, being 8am in the morning when she posted it... I was just getting OUT of bed at 8am and she's up, writing stories for us loyal readers to stumble upon. Thanks Laura!
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Things happen and I think this is a fair solution. A 25 dollar gift card and %10 off is not extreme but the OP got the %10 they were trying to get in the first place which is the point of customer service and the gift card is for the time it took wrangling with people. I may have gone higher on the gift card if I was target, but that is just semantics.
Wow! Twenty-five whole dollars! That will put a big dent in their profit this quarter. Really bending over backwards, I'd say. For $100 they could have gotten lots of good publicity on this site. After the way their CS reps allegedly blew off the OP, $25 just makes them look like pikers.
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I agree too. $25 gift card says we just don't care, but maybe by giving this too you, you might forget all the hassle you went through to get what was promised to you months ago.
Don't spend all that money at once either. Just think of the magical things you can by with that gift card! Paper towels, vitamins, copy paper. The only limit is your imagination.
\"Bruce, who also stated he would not reissue the discount, and then as she started to cry he simply hung up on her\" :colbert: Really. Nice touch (I hope)
Anyway glad you got your discount, pretty underwhelmed with Target over this. Fighting a refund I can sometimes see, fighting a @#$kin coupon? C'mon nah.
@celeb8: She's not crying because she isn't getting \"her way\", she's probably so completely frustrated with the whole situation that it just brought her to tears. I've been there.
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@Verucalise(countingcalories): I think s/he's looking down on the CSR who hung up on her, not the bride.
Oh I wouldn't say looking down, so much... but yeah was talking about tear-soaked misery over the 10%
ooooh I see yeah was looking down on target yes that too... just hoping that they were saying she was crying as a tactic to get their discount, and not actually losing so much perspective that this was worth tears over a 10% off coupon
I know a lot of people are commenting \"10% off? That's it? Not worth it.\"
But, they are a newly married couple, probably trying to plan their financial future with houses, kids, and all that sentimental and grown up talk that ruins relationships. So why not give this couple a break and COMMEND them on WANTING to save money.
For the crap I read all day long from people saying \"WHO PAYS THAT MUCH for THAT?\" You would think everyone would be giving this couple a round of applause for being persistent and getting the discount they deserved, saving them money. And who knows? Maybe they have $300 of purchases left. That means they saved $55 with the gift card.
I, for one, couldn't be happier they possibly saved a few dollars. Congrats Alexander and Gwendolyn.
@Verucalise(countingcalories):
When shopping, a 10% discount is nothing to me. I certainly wouldn't have wasted that much time to get just 10% off. So many retailers offer much more than that.
But if the couple had their eye on a certain item that is never eligible for discounts at any store, and the Target 10% works, then I can see why they fought.
Those fancy mixers - those are probably never discounted. So a 10% + $25 card is a good savings.
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@strawberryjam: It must be nice to have so much disposable income that you're happy to piss away a 10% discount. You're also missing that this was a 10% discount that they were offered as an incentive to register at Club Wedd.
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@mythago: When I registered for my wedding I knew I would be getting a coupon for 10% off. I only registered with places that offered these things because that 10% makes all the difference. After all was said and done, we didn't have half the amount of dishes we needed, no one had gotten us the pots and pans, and we didn't have any towels. I sound like a brat, I know, but I am thankful for everything we received. It's just that we were still missing vital things and that 10% off went a long way.
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I once complained when a pay phone took my twenty cents (yes that long ago) and did not connect my call. Then, a week later, Bell Atlantic sent me an apology letter with two dimes taped to it. I am a man of principle.
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For all the people who wonder if Alexander and Gwendolyn's efforts were worth $25 plus 10% off items on their list not received, how much of a percentage off anything do you receive from all the time spent reading Consumerist articles and then blaming or ridiculing others for doing things you wouldn't do?
In reality, the initial steps taken were what they were supposed to do. At some point there is a tipping point of cost/benefit but by this time they already had some time committed in their pursuit of the discount. Once committed, each succeeding step is small in comparison to all the steps they had already taken.
At some point, it becomes about principle, to have someone acknowledge that they made a mistake and attempt to make it right. It sounds like Target tried to make it right as minimally as possible without apologizing.
I sense that Gregg appreciated they used the proper channels first but did not admit the proper channels where meant to be difficult, confusing, and ultimately futile. I suspect Gregg will now internally praise all the people involved for following Target's proper procedures and be content knowing that a high percentage of people give up before they eventually contact him.
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we got married on 10/10/2009, and just this past week the card for 10% off arrived in the mail.
Imagine the great publicity Target would have received if they had sent them the 10% off coupon and the most expensive item still on the registry. I'm betting it still would have cost Target less than $200 and it would have been the best $200 spent on marketing this year.
Stories like this almost make me want to go back to Wal-Mart.
Seriously, why is this guy so whiny about a 10% discount? I hope he is joking with the bit about his wife \"started to cry\". What the hell? It goes to show this society had become one of whiners and of the \"everyone owes me something\" mentality. No wonder our grandparents shake their heads at us.
@TinaBringMeTheAx: Life is full of disappointment. These two should suck it up and quit their crying. Just sayin'.
@angryneo:
\"It goes to show this society had become one of whiners and of the 'everyone owes me something' mentality.\"
Um, that's because they WERE OWED SOMETHING. Target made a promise to send a 10% discount for all items on the registry not gifted to the couple. If a company made a promise like that to me and didn't keep it, I'd pursue it too. It's not so much the money (although I'm sure that played in as a factor). It's the principle.
Just to point out an error, the story says their first anniversary had passed, but the way I read it, they were engaged in 2008 and got married this year. Am I right?
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Kitchendaid SEWING MACHINE, you mean.
Same thing happened with us and our Target registry. We never received the card, and went by customer service. When we called the Club Wed customer service, they had to change the 'event date' for the system to issue us a new card.
After we finished with the phone call, the customer service girl asked us if we wanted an LRT to add anything to our registry....we took it and went grocery shopping! We put TONS of stuff on our registry so that it would be eligible for the 10% off when the card came in. Seriously, if someone looked at our registry, they would have seen anything from cat litter to milk and cereal.
Note - we didn't just blindly put stuff on there, it was all stuff we would have bought anyway - though maybe not in one grocery trip.
When the 10% off card came in, we literally filled up 4 shopping carts of stuff and got our 10% off. When we walked up to the cashier, he turned off his light so that no one else would get in line until we were done. It probably took us 10 minutes to check out, too :-)
What is it with weddings and mixers? I mean I use an emulsion blender to make smoothies but that is just something I picked up.
On a related note emulsion blenders make bad ass smoothies.
@sonneillon: Mixers aren't blenders. You can't mix dough with a blender and you can't make smoothies with a mixer.
@pecan 3.14159265: @angryneo: @catastrophegirl:
You guys are all missing the point of my post. I want to know about why mixers accompany weddings not about the things you can do with mixers and blenders.
@sonneillon: hahahahahahaha yeah, that happens.
Maybe because new couples are often starting off and need stuff for the house? From what I know, these babies can cost 250+. Thats a good candidate for a gift.
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@pecan 3.14159265: for most of those appliances that's true. but i have a braun multi mix that has a stick blender, a food processor, mixer attachments and a dough hook.
it's no kitchenaid, but it gets used at least three times a week. i love it to bits.
should you ever have the urge to mix dough and blend something with the same appliance, i can highly recommend it
@sonneillon: @pecan 3.14159265: You obviously never tried. You can do both with either. Give it a try.
Nickel & Dime companies for coupons you'll never use= more of those great penny off sales at target.
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I didn't know that we were supposed to get a coupon! Bed Bath and Beyond sent us one and I thought it was nice, but I had no idea Target was supposed to do the same thing. Nice one, Target!
I am getting married in March and I was wondering, since the topic is registries - which stores 'get it right'? Who would you recommend?
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We had to ask for our coupon too. But we certainly didn't want it *this* badly! Wouldn't you get a better discount if you opened a Target card?
@jbviau: I have that card, and its rewards mechanic is perverse, at least for me as a singleton. I could imagine that a childless couple could have the same problem with it.
For every 1000 points (which is something like $1000 -- I am not going to look it up right now), you get a 10% off coupon in the mail. So what happens is, I stock up on things one buys from Target, like socks and underwear. Two weeks later I have a coupon in hand, which is only good for two or three weeks. But, see, I don't need socks and underwear because I just bought a bunch, and if I think of something to use the coupon for, I can easily find it for way less than 90% of Target's prices. So I never use the coupons, and effectively I have a high-interest, no-rewards card.
It seems like it'd work basically the same way for newlyweds.
@jbviau: Just checked re: the card, and it seems to come with a one-time 10% discount too.