Today I was
looking over my credit card statement and noticed a charge for "Linus & Gwen*, sweet treats, $48" for 2 days ago.
Hmm, I remember taking one of my favorite teenagers to get ice cream but I didn't think Baskin Robbins had a parent
company, and I didn't think we spent almost 50 bucks. Who's Linus & Gwen?
I scrolled a bit and saw the ice cream
charge confirming indeed, it was not that.
Where else did I go
Tuesday? How could I have purchased almost $50 of sweets two days ago
and not remember it? And where are the treats?! If I bought
something delectable, there's zero evidence of it. I haven't gone
foodshopping in nearly two weeks. There's NOTHING to eat in this house. I had to satisfy both my hunger and my
sweet tooth last night with a vitamin D pill. There is no way I bought
any goodies two days ago. Even if I had, $48 is an odd number.
Occasional treats are usually only obtained in single servings.
It was such a mystery I called the store.
"Hi, I'm looking over my credit card statement and I see a charge from your company, can you tell me more?"
"Sure! What's your telephone number? I'll look up your order."
I gave her all my info and she said, "yep, okay, it says here you ordered a dozen chocolate-covered strawberries."
Me: "What? When? Is this a subscription? I mean, I remember placing an order a few months ago but nothing recent."
Them: "Oh this order was placed Feb. 11, for delivery to your friends. It includes a condolence note."
Me: "OHMYGOD wait... you mean THIS is the order that was supposed to go to my friends after their MOM died? Why is it only going out now?"
Them: [cough] "Um, it's not going out now... it's scheduled to go out in two weeks. But that must be why the charge is appearing now."
Me [after checking my credit card statements to make sure I didn't pay for duplicate orders]:
"I did NOT realize this wouldn't go out for months. Why didn't I
get a note? Why wasn't there something that indicated the delay?"
Them: "There should have been..."
Me: "Well, I'm checking my email and my spam filter and everything and don't see it. If there is a notification, it needs to happen at the time of the order and be more obvious. I can't imagine how I would have glossed over that."
Them:
"Sorry. Hey, we have white
chocolate truffles on sale for 42% off, would you like to order some?"
Me: [Wanting to say "AYFKM, what, so I can have it in 3 months??"]
Anyway
I told the woman I wasn't trying to be a difficult customer, but this
was a pretty big deal. My gift was supposed to express sympathy after a
loss. I didn't want to send JUST a card which so I sent something
sweet. Meanwhile, as far as my friends knew, I never even acknowledged their
mother's death. Also, I sent something to
everyone else in the family (from another company) making the omission
even more obvious. So no, I'm not buying white chocolate truffles!
I
eventually talked to a customer service supervisor who apologized
profusely and reimbursed shipping (yay?). But wow, the next time people
die and I need to acknowledge it, no strawberries!
*Name changed to protect the company's privacy.
