October 15, 2004~~11:56 a.m.
An Open Letter to Linens N Things
Fucking corporate America. After all I’ve done for them. Spending money hither and thither. Saying things like “I HEART that store!” “(blank) is the BEST place to get (blank)!” Yes, my friends. I, an unassuming and patient customer of a rather large home accessory chain, have been screwed. I went to Linens N Things last April to purchase a much-needed high quality iron. To my glee, when I went there, I found that they were offering a $10 gift card rebate if I purchased the iron from the company of my favor! What luck! I could upgrade to a slightly more expensive model and still come out even! This was to be a great day. I purchased my Rowenta iron and took it home. Upon arriving, I checked the rebate offer closely to see what I needed to send in. I discovered that I actually had purchased the iron a week too soon!! Those sneaky sales associates at Linens N Things on Blossom Hill Boulevard in San Jose, California (Oakridge Mall) had put the rebate forms out on the sales floor too early! I was faced with a moral dilemma. Return my Rowenta iron and go back a week later to purchase it in the required date range, or just send in the rebate with a note explaining the mix-up and hope they honored my request. Surely they would side with the customer, no? The answer was a most resounding, no. I got my rebate offer back to me a couple months later with a letter stating that I had purchased the iron too early to qualify. Well, no shit! I called customer service and they said I should take the letter to the actual store and see what they could do for me. I did so, and they could do nothing but sign the letter at the bottom saying “Please process, signed, Leigh, the manager.” I was a bit miffed that Leigh couldn’t just give me a stupid gift card on the spot. I mean, who knew there was a bureaucracy within Linens N Things?! Is that the “things” part of their business? You buy a towel set but then have to go through several yards of red tape to get out of the store? Apparently. So I sent in my information AGAIN to LNT headquarters with Leigh’s signature boosting my resolve. And AGAIN, it was returned to me, stamped “additional postage needed” because by now, I had acquired several layers of paper explaining my situation. So I added a stamp and stuck it back in the mail. To add insult to injury, back it came about a month later, with an even larger stamp stating “OFFER EXPIRED.” Not surprising since, so far, it has taken me 4 fricking months to get a stupid $10 gift card!! I called customer service AGAIN and it turns out, that in my haste and fury, I had sent the information to the wrong address. The guy told me to send it again to the right address with a note explaining things. So I did. And guess what? It appeared in my mailbox yesterday with the big red hand stamp. “Return to Sender. Offer Expired.” I just got off the phone with customer service again. The girl told me that my request had originally been denied because I didn’t include my UPC label. But the thing is, I DID include my UPC label and anyway, nobody had thought to inform me of this little glitch before NOW? I now have a fax number to send all my proper documentation. In addition, I have penned a letter to Linens N Things. I hope it will encourage LNT to get their “things” out of their asses. ~~~~~ October 15, 2004 To Whom It May Concern: This fax and letter come to you after several attempts to receive my due gift card to Linens N Things. You will find another letter explaining the first part of the process wherein I purchased an iron before the dates for the gift card rebate began. I now know that upon discovering this when I got home, I should have returned the iron to the store and gone back a week later to purchase it again so as to fall between the required dates for the rebate. I would have saved myself several stamps, several phone calls, a trip back to the store, and much frustration. I have been in touch with customer service and they have given me this fax number to which to send my rebate information. Apparently, the first time around, I was denied my rebate gift card because my UPC label was not enclosed. However, it WAS enclosed and someone obviously just didn’t see it or chose to ignore it. Also, even after several calls to customer service, I was never made aware that this had been a problem. I have had two envelopes returned to me unopened with a large stamp stating “offer expired” even from the address to which I was supposed to send expired offer information!! This is absolutely ridiculous customer service on the part of Linens N Things. I am usually very patient with things like this, but this has gotten out of hand. I have basically been given the run-around for something that was never my fault to begin with. I expect to receive my gift card promptly and to have no more hassle with this issue. And I can assure you that the next time I need a home item, I will be purchasing it at Bed Bath and Beyond.
Sincerely,
Lauren
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