Consumer Grumbling

[judecorp]

Dear Columbia Sportswear Company:

I hate you.

~//~

My brother was kind enough to buy me a gift certificate to the Columbia Sportswear Company for Christmas, because everyone and their mother know that what I wanted for Christmas was to finally have a new pair of hiking boots for the spring. My old boots are from back in the Philmont days and they got trashed through all of that good, good hiking, yet I have continued to use them. Since the late 90s. It's time.

I'm pretty sure he was told at the outlet mall where he purchased the gift certificate that I could redeem it on the Columbia website if I didn't have a store nearby. And that's 100% false, because Columbia doesn't sell their products directly. At all. And umm, my nearest outlet store? It's the one in South Carolina. There are lots of stores locally that sell Columbia products but of course they're not going to redeem a gift certificate from another store.

I called Columbia Sportswear headquarters in Oregon and a nice Consumer Services worker told me that they in essence have zero relationship with the outlet stores and the "retail division," and he gave me the number to the SC outlet store. I called that store and spoke with a manager who said that she would only refund my brother's money if he had his receipt. Are you kidding me??! It's a freaking /gift certificate/. You can clearly see how much he paid for it ON THE GIFT CERTIFICATE. Come on, people!

The idiot manager in SC called me "honey" a lot and told me that I should just come back and visit and use my gift certificate. If I /do/ go back to SC any time soon it will be to punch her in her smug, Southern face. Honey.

(Yet another reason why I love LL Bean.)

Comments

[sassywoman.livejournal.com]

If you knew the style you wanted would they let you order on the phone and then ship it to you?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

There's no way to know what sort of inventory they are carrying at the outlet store. I doubt they're going to bother telling me! ;)

And I would hate to order some boots and have them not fit properly and then have to do it ALL over again with them. I can't even imagine what their return policy is like. Argh!

[childlight.livejournal.com]

Where at is SC? If it is close to me I could buy them for you and ship them.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Myrtle Beach area.

Problem is I would really have to try them on... and they don't even have the prices on their website so I don't even know where to start, especially since the stores are actually outlet stores and thus probably have older stuff. I'm cool with that, but I wouldn't even begin to know what they have.

Thanks, though!

[ntiva.livejournal.com]

Could you try them on elsewhere? Is there any local store that carries them? Or Zappos? You could figure out the right size at Zappos, then return them, then order them from the outlet store? What a mess! I'm mad for you!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Guh, that seems like a whole lot of work to make up for bad customer service!! I checked Zappos and they don't have any Columbia hiking boots. :( And I could go to a sporting goods store and try on some shoes, but there's no guarantee they sell the new stock from the stores in the outlet store. :(

[violane.livejournal.com]

That is unbelievably lame.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I know! Just give my brother his money, people! He was doing something nice and you had to go eff it all up!!

[folkyboy.livejournal.com]

thats awful that they won't give him a refund without a receipt! especially considering it's just a gift certificate

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I know! Who the heck cares?

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

Might I recommend the following:

It has come to the attention of Windmill and Associates that representatives at your outlet store are selling gift certificates under false pretenses.

Specifically, gift certificates redeemable only at your specific location are being sold under the guise of being redeemable online and at other locations.

This behavior constitutes fraud under the South Carolina penal code.

My client is willing to settle this matter without invoking South Carolina criminal law. Your store will provide my client with a cashier's check for the face value of the gift certificate, $xx.xx, by February 1 , 2008. Failure to comply will result in the following:

On February 4, 2008 judecorp will:

File a criminal complaint with Myrtle Beach authorities.

Notify Columbia Sportswear and Myrtle Beach media outlets of your Outlet mall's fraudulent behavior and your refusal to resolve the matter.

File a complaint with the BBB.

File a civil small claims case against your outlet mall for:

• The face value of the certificate
  
• Legal fees
  
• Court Fees
  
• All other expenses incurred as a result of the fraudulent sale of the gift certificate
  
• Punitive damages amounting to treble all other demanded funds or $10,000, whichever is higher.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Small problem: I'm not the biggest fan of lying. (But you do sound very professional!)

[halleyscomet.livejournal.com]

So drop the part about a solicitor, refer to me ambiguously as your "representative" and follow through with the rest. What they did IS fraud and you can file a small claims court case, in some cases for free.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

ooh, I should go on Judge Judy!!

[oddharmonic.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Sorry to hear about the sucky customer service.

(I especially love the LL Bean outlet. It's like the perfect storm of Bean's quality and Spag's thriftiness.)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah. I dig the Bean outlet.

And ha ha about the Spag's! I'd forgotten about Spag's!

[estrange.livejournal.com]

You can sell it on ebay.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Wow, I would have never thought of that!

[estrange.livejournal.com]

Yeah I've done it before. I sold a $100 Sears gift card for something like $95 or $90.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Cool!

[smurfbrother.livejournal.com]

Ha, that's a great idea.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Let's go beat them up!!