Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Ordering Online

Received an email from Sears about a big online clearance sale.
Ordered some clothes.
Received the items I ordered and one item that I did not order instead of one that I did.
(I received a gray sporty tank top instead of a black beaded tank top.)
I contacted customer service via online chat.
He told me to go to a store and exchange it for the top I wanted.
I asked if he could check if any of the stores close to me carried that top.
He looked and none of them did.
(Maybe should have looked before blindly telling me to drive to my local Sears.)
So he told me I could order it online again instead and drive to Sears to return the mix-up top.
So I ordered the black beaded cami again.
The same gray "shelf bra" (as it is labeled) arrived a second time.
I called customer service.
She was very nice; we chatted a bit.
Ultimately she told me that I could keep the top.  (Well, both tops.)
Wait... you mean keep the two shirts I paid for because I paid for them even though I didn't want them?
Yep.
Or... I can drive on down to Sears and return them.
And she left me with this ominous warning about items that say "while quantities last" and implied that I should know better than to necessarily expect to receive the right item if it says that.
But as far as online shopping (or any shopping goes), that's sort of how I roll.
And I've never before run into this fine (imaginary) print that reads:

While Quantities Last:
We may or may not have this product (regardless if it's only listed in one size or color making you think our website updates product availability).  We may substitute this item with another item and hope that you don't notice.  Or secretly we want you to like your replacement item even more than the item you actually wanted, because then we feel extraordinary deep down inside (and get rid of more of our extra merchandise).  But if all else fails, our mistake will get you to drive down to our store--we know that ordering online in no way displays a lack of desire to drive down to our store--and we all know what happens when you drive down to our store... sometimes you buy more.

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