Random Tales From the Christmas Shopping Front
My wife returned to work last week after using up her maternity leave and personal/vacation days. It also meant I got to be Mr. Dad and a honey-do list completer for the week.
Two of my tasks were to complete transactions with retailers Best Buy and Dollar Tree. One task was simpler than the other, but made me shake my head. The other one kind of defied common sense, and may have been a little over-protective.
My wife placed an order last month on the dollartree.com website for items she would include with gifts for the people who work for her (before you call her cheap, she’s got about 50 people working under her and she didn’t just give them a $1 item). When the order arrived, one SKU was missing, and instead she received a case of cellophane holiday gift bags.
She called Dollar Tree’s 800 number, and the customer service rep got everything straightened out. But my wife was surprised about the instructions for returning the cellophane bags: The rep told her to just drop them off at a local Dollar Tree store and get a note from the manager saying they’ve been received.
I dropped them off last week, but the manager on duty was running a register and really didn’t have time to write a note. She just told me to put them down and thanked me. She also seemed kind of shocked, like “why am I taking these items back and not giving this man any money in return?”
But I guess it makes sense. Why charge the customer a hefty shipping fee when they can be dropped off at a store and immediately be placed with other holiday items? I’m not sure if this messed up that particular store’s inventory, but I’m sure the store sold out of the bags in no time.
Now, Best Buy may have been a little over-protective, but again, I guess I understand.
My wife ordered a gift for my parents and did the store pick-up option. As she was ordering the gift, I told he to put my name in instead of hers since i was going to finish the transaction. But out of habit, she typed her own name in as the purchaser.
No problem, I figured, since we have the same credit card number and the same address is on my driver’s license.
Yeah, it was a problem. I told her my wife was at home with the newborn, but since the names didn’t match, I wasn’t allowed to pick the item up, the clerk told me rather sternly. But her mood immediately changed and she said, “But the line is pretty long and I don’t want to make your wife come back, so I’ll get it for you.”
I told the clerk my story, and she told me that for future reference, when doing the store pick-up option, you can add the name of a person who will pick items up on your behalf. And as that turns out, my wife saw that option, but not until after she submitted the order.
I can understand Best Buy protecting the customer. But in reality, what are the odds that I’m going to know know that someone randomly ordered items for store pick-up and then try to intercept the order?
