Recently I had a credit card of mine compromised, and I had the account closed to any traffic. All of the fraudulent activity was dropped, I was issued a new card, and all was well and good. That was until I had to make a return at the Edgewater, NJ Target.
I approached the customer service desk, playing by the rules that Target sets forth in their return policy. The item was still sealed and accompanied by its original receipt. I then explained to the cashier that the card that was used to purchase the item was compromised, and I am carrying the replacement card. She tried her hardest, but all she could do was offer store credit. So I escalated it to the team leader of the customer service area, and I got the same response.
The issue got escalated to the store manger on duty, to which I had to explain that, I purchased this, the card was compromised, and because my card was compromised, I have to accept that I can only spend that money in this company’s stores. Just like most sensible people are thinking, that just doesn’t sound right. So he had one of the clerks at the desk get on the phone to the guest services help desk.
After the store associate is off the phone, the phone gets handed to me to explain the situation, and I have to explain that in the cultural climate that we are in, where any card number can be compromised at any time, I find it ludicrous that the store does not have any plan for these types of incidents. I was told to take the gift card, instead I insisted on being transferred to a superior with whom the cycle began again. On the final transfer I was transferred to a woman going by the name of Amy.
The conversation began as amicable, and she understood the issue, that was until I inquired what could be done, and it immediately went into bullying about just taking the gift card, as “its policy”. When I began to mention for the fifth time about how I can’t use the card anywhere else, Amy became more and more belligerent, but apparently going through her script of how to handle a customer with this situation. I was also refused corporate information from this call, which while easily attainable on the internet, getting it from the representative on the phone makes it know that it has been escalated to a beyond serious issue. Trying to get me off the phone line, I was asked “Is there anything else I can do for you today?” Instead of leaving the issue die, I asked the semi-relevant question of “What steps does the Target Corporation use to protect the database of customers’ information?” only to get a “Why should I answer that response?”
Now I have a gift card from Target for just over $30 that I will not use. Not only the store, but the entire corporation, proved that they can’t handle issues that come up during any given day in American culture. Until the amount that I was refunded is actually returned in a currency that can be used outside the Target Corporation’s universe, and a plan is instated to prevent future instances of this, any plans of crossing the threshold of a Target are on hiatus.
I approached the customer service desk, playing by the rules that Target sets forth in their return policy. The item was still sealed and accompanied by its original receipt. I then explained to the cashier that the card that was used to purchase the item was compromised, and I am carrying the replacement card. She tried her hardest, but all she could do was offer store credit. So I escalated it to the team leader of the customer service area, and I got the same response.
The issue got escalated to the store manger on duty, to which I had to explain that, I purchased this, the card was compromised, and because my card was compromised, I have to accept that I can only spend that money in this company’s stores. Just like most sensible people are thinking, that just doesn’t sound right. So he had one of the clerks at the desk get on the phone to the guest services help desk.
After the store associate is off the phone, the phone gets handed to me to explain the situation, and I have to explain that in the cultural climate that we are in, where any card number can be compromised at any time, I find it ludicrous that the store does not have any plan for these types of incidents. I was told to take the gift card, instead I insisted on being transferred to a superior with whom the cycle began again. On the final transfer I was transferred to a woman going by the name of Amy.
The conversation began as amicable, and she understood the issue, that was until I inquired what could be done, and it immediately went into bullying about just taking the gift card, as “its policy”. When I began to mention for the fifth time about how I can’t use the card anywhere else, Amy became more and more belligerent, but apparently going through her script of how to handle a customer with this situation. I was also refused corporate information from this call, which while easily attainable on the internet, getting it from the representative on the phone makes it know that it has been escalated to a beyond serious issue. Trying to get me off the phone line, I was asked “Is there anything else I can do for you today?” Instead of leaving the issue die, I asked the semi-relevant question of “What steps does the Target Corporation use to protect the database of customers’ information?” only to get a “Why should I answer that response?”
Now I have a gift card from Target for just over $30 that I will not use. Not only the store, but the entire corporation, proved that they can’t handle issues that come up during any given day in American culture. Until the amount that I was refunded is actually returned in a currency that can be used outside the Target Corporation’s universe, and a plan is instated to prevent future instances of this, any plans of crossing the threshold of a Target are on hiatus.
