It all started on Monday when they sent an email announcing their gifts for me. Included was the offer below for those paying the $20 enrollment fee:
I contacted Borders "customer care" last night to ask if the offer applied to me. They wrote back this morning and had this to say (exact quote):
"Dear Valued Customer, We apologize for the inconvenience, unfortunately this promotion just started this month and those who upgraded starting this month are those who are qualified for the $10 Borders bucks and its redeemable on 12/26/10-1/1/11."
I replied back and asked to be put in contact with management. I also pulled the books in my shopping cart today at Borders.
Do you think I woke up on the wrong side of the page today or am I right to feel ripped off?
I also have a question. Why send this offer to customers already enrolled? Do you mean to tell me that Borders has no way of segmenting offers?
I agree with you. I am surprised that they didn't offer you some form of consolation.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I just paid the 20 bucks recently also. I'll have to check in to this.
ReplyDeleteOoh, that's just wrong! I shop occasionally at our local Borders, but the B&N is much better, so I'm ignoring the Plus program.
ReplyDeleteYou are very justified in being upset. I would think that since you brought it to their attention they would reimburse you, I mean heck its only good business sense.My pet peeve is when I purchase a e-book for my kindle on Amazon only to see them offer it as a freebie the next day!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the support. After I sent a second email today voicing my displeasure over the first one, and asking for a management contact, they sent a form letter back to say my concerns would be sent to the "right department."
ReplyDeleteJill, I should have ignored the program too. They caught me at a weak moment. Borders is here on Kauai and B/N is not.
Annette,if you write to Borders and have better luck, be sure to let me know.
Brenda, I think a lot of people must be upset. It's a bad PR move in my book. I'm not sure if this offer is available at stores yet or only on-line.
I'm not ordering from Borders. Maybe if I get a non-form letter response from them, and adequate explanation, I'll reconsider.
If I remember correctly, the original Borders Rewards which I started years ago offered for free the same benefits that you now pay a fee for -- discounts on books, a shopping day with discount earned by buying x number of books/month.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind paying the fee but what kills me is that I lost the benefits I originally started with and now I just get a lot of coupons for stuff I'll never use. I've been with Barnes and Noble's rewards program forever and they've stayed true to the deal I started with. I have to also say that Borders would do well to listen to their customers -- they're not really in a position where they can just ignore people.