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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