Persistance Pays Off in the Form of a $50 Gift Card

While checking out at a local department store my husband received a coupon for $5 off his next in store purchase. Just as my hubby made his way through the checkout I decided to purchase one last thing and waited in line at the shoe department. It took FOREVER for the two women in front of me to pay, but I patiently waited my turn without getting agitated.

The delay actually worked to my advantage, because if the line had moved any faster I would’ve checked out prior to my husband being able to hand over the newly printed coupon. However, when I reached the register the cashier said the coupon wouldn’t scan and didn’t seem all that interested in helping me.

At the time we were minutes away from driving six hours to the beach and I really wasn’t in the mood to stand around and argue so I left the store with the receipt and coupon in hand. A day or so after I arrived at the beach I sent an email off the department store explaining the issue I encountered and asking if there was any way to receive a $5 credit on my purchase.

The next day I received a response to my email letting me know that the issue had to be rectified with my local department store. In other words the corporation as a whole couldn’t help me. The email explained that the store manager would be contacted about the issue and would reach out with a response within a few days.

Well a few weeks passed and I never heard back from anyone about the problem. Not my idea of great hospitality management. If the store responded to my inquiry explaining that they couldn’t help me I would’ve understood, but in essence it seemed as though they were ignoring me all together.

Miffed by the whole situation I sent a second email off to the corporation explaining that I expected an explanation of some type and didn’t appreciate the fact that no one could take the time to get back to me. My email wasn’t rude. It was straightforward and to the point. I had waited over a month, which I thought was more than enough time to warrant a response.

Well a day after submitting the second email I received a response from the local store manager who offered to correct the problem. We arranged a time to meet and I drove over to the store this morning. He apologized for the delay and explained that he’d been out of town when the email first arrived and simply forgot about it once he returned to work.

He noticed that I was pregnant, (it’s impossible to miss with only three weeks to go), and we began chatting about his own child. He punched numbers into the computer as we talked and a few minutes later he handed me a gift card worth much more than $5! We joked that the card was really a gift for the baby.

I’m so happy that I followed up on this situation. It didn’t take any time at all to email the store about my problem or to reach out to the store a second time when the issue failed to be resolved. It wasn’t a hassle to meet the manager since the shopping center is less than 5 minutes from my home and I was visiting a neighboring store this morning anyway. Best yet my persistence saved me much more than $5!

Sometimes I’m not certain that tracking down bargains is worth all the hassle, but in this case I can say without a shadow of a doubt that it was well worth every second!

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