I haven’t returned to Old Navy to shop since the snail trail pants incident, and I don’t know that I ever will. They did send me $50 in gift cards for my trouble, and I used them at OldNavy.com to buy 2 pairs of jeans, which came sealed in plastic bags. (Sanitized for my protection!) You can bet I inspected the crotch of both pairs of jeans as soon as I opened the package, and I washed them in hot water before they ever made it onto my body.

Live and learn.

I’ve got very lengthy post on my main blog talking about a pair of disgusting Old Navy pants I purchased recently. I hope it will serve as a warning to all of you - wash your “new” clothes before you wear them & inspect clothing carefully in the store! Hopefully my cautionary tale will prevent one of you finding a snail trail, or some other bodily fluid left in your new clothes by another shopper.

For those of you who are looking for the snail trail pants auction - it was yanked by eBay. While Old Navy let me purchase items with dried bodily fluid inside, eBay prohibits me from selling those items.

I’ve done quite a bit of Christmas shopping online this year (thank you, Old Navy!) and packages are arriving on my doorstep daily. That means I’ve got a lot of gift wrapping area of me! One of the things that I miss when I order online is being able to grab gift boxes to put clothing in. Around this time of year, most stores have stacks and stacks of gift boxes available for customers to grab. I snagged a few from Beall’s, and a few more from Kohl’s, completely free of course.

Imagine my shock when I was recently inside Old Navy and they told me they CHARGE for their gift boxes! What? I just spent $100 in the store, and you want me to pay $2.50 for a cardboard box that says Old Navy on it? I’m sure such a box costs all of a few pennies. If Old Navy wants to “regulate” who gets a gift box, by all means - do so! Hand them out to customers who purchase from your store, and don’t let people snag a stack of ten. But don’t charge us for them!

I had a really weird situation occur at the Wal-Greens last week.

Whenever I need one hour photo processing, I typically upload my pictures to Wal-Mart. Even though I hate the store, I don’t have any problems with the photo center. However, it was down, so I was forced to use another store, and picked Wal-Greens. I uploaded a few pictures and paid online, and when I got to the store, selected a few other things to buy.

The cashier scanned my photos and they should have rang up at no charge, but they didn’t. I had to explain to her that I paid online, and she called the manager….long story short, he argued with me about how the whole order / pay online thing works and it was obvious he didn’t have a clue. Another customer in line even told him he was wrong!

After going through that for about 10 minutes, he finally decided to ring the item up for $0 and let me pay for the rest of the things I selected. The cashier rang them up, and before I knew it, a receipt was spitting out - without me paying! How did my other items get paid for? Turns out the system had charged them to the card I provided ONLINE, for the photo purchases.

WHAT?

Again, the manager argued with me about that being the correct process…but come ON! If I authorize my card online for $2.35 worth of photos, I shouldn’t be able to add another $20 to that in the store without sliding the card, right?

I ended up calling the 800 # for Wal-Greens, where it was confirmed that what happened was not right. The customer service agent I dealt with said that the system is designed so that I could order photos online, pay for them, and then call a friend anywhere, even across the country, and she could pick them up. That friend should NOT be able to add her purchases onto the tab, which is eactly what happened to me.

My concerns were forwarded to the store manager, and she sent me a coupon for free photo processing. I’ll use it, but I’m never paying online with Wal-Greens again!

Hmm. Perhaps I raved too soon about Nine and Company? Things aren’t looking good for the order I placed last Wednesday. On Friday I received an email letting me know the shirt I purchased was on backorder, and that they’d be reaching out to their retail stores in an attempt to locate the size and color I selected. If they can’t find it, my order will be canceled. In all my years of online shopping, I’ve never had that happen! I’m disappointed, and I’m waiting to see if they can locate the shirt. If not, it will no doubt keep me from attempting to shop online with Nine and Company again.

I ordered a book (A Thousand Splendid Suns) and a DVD (Lord of the Rings - the first one) a few days ago using an Amazon.com gift certificate I received. I got an email yesterday saying my package was on the way, so I logged in to track it tonight, so that I could figure out when UPS would be dropping it on my doorstep. The status says that it’s been received by UPS, with an estimated arrival date of 10/19. Um…almost 2 1/2 weeks from now.

Amazon.com - now shipping via Pony Express to save YOU money!

I hate Wal-Mart and their own hour photo.

I logged into their site today so I could upload a few pictures for a school project my son is doing. It was only AFTER I uploaded the pictures, edited the pictures, cropped the pictures, and added the pictures to my cart that I was told one hour is down…

And apparently it’s down at every store in my county? WTH? No, I don’t want to wait until next Tuesday to get my pictures. Can’t you let people know one hour isn’t working in advance? I switched to Wal-Greens and went through the same process, and have already received an email that my pictures are ready.

Take THAT, Wal-Mart.

It’s school fundraiser time again! This week, I got hit with a fundraising packet from the middle school and the elementary school. I went through the catalogs for each and wrote out a check for one school, and realized that the other school was offering online ordering. Online? Well, that’s for me! They had a neat system set up where parents could register and send out emails to friends and family, and the student would get credit for the sale. I did all of that, and then logged in two shop, and selected two items, which totaled $15. When I proceeded to the online checkout, I noticed the shipping card was $10. To ship $15 worth of merchandise I didn’t really want.

I left my card and put in my order the old fashioned way, and paid no shipping at all. It may not be as easy, but it’s definitely cheaper.

I had to venture into Wal-Mart tonight for a few gifts - we needed to get something for my daughter’s 10th birthday, and her siblings wanted to buy gifts for her as well, plus I needed a get well gift for someone else.

I hate Wal-Mart. Our local store recently completed some sort of renovation. What they renovated, I’m not sure, since everything looks the same, it’s just in different locations. I wanted around for a good 15 minutes looking for the office supplies that used to be in the front of the store before asking someone. Turns out office supplies are now in the back corner, where auto parts used to be, wedged between toys and crafts. Surprisingly, I was able to find a checkstand without a line, and I was out quickly. That NEVER happens.

It’s official. Shop.nhl.com is on my shit list! I never heard back from them, and that was after sending email through their “contact us” form on the website twice. It really irks me when companies, especially big companies, don’t respond to customer complaints. The shirt I bought has half a logo left on it now, so it’s ruined. I guess I can keep it for painting or yard work? Lord knows it’s not decent enough to wear to the WalMart!

Before our vacation, I bought hockey shirts for the family from shop.nhl.com, and after wearing my pink Tampa Bay Lightning shirt once, I wasn’t pleased with it. The logo had a glitter over it, which began wearing off immediately, and then the silk screened logo started flaking off!

I didn’t want to return it without talking to someone first, so I submitted a complaint on the website. No response, aside from the automated response. Today, I submitted another complaint, and noted this was my 2nd email. So far, I’ve just received the automated reply. After spending $150 at this store, I’m not very pleased at being ignored!

After thinking I was done with back to school shopping, we returned to Target and dropped another $100 last night. Thankfully, that included 3 backpacks and 3 lunch boxes, but it also included a calculator, special binders and dividers, and color coded folders. Most of that was for my oldest, who is going into middle school. The biggest ripoff - orange folders, which were a specific request on her supply list. Every other color folder was 10 cents in the school supply section, but they didn’t have orange. We found them in office supplies, but those folders (same size, same style) were 42 cents!

How long is too long to wait for a response to a complaint?

I’m not the most patient person in the world, but am I being unreasonable by expecting a response of some sort (even an auto responder!) when you submit a complaint about a company via their corporate website?

I had a horrible experience at Panera Bread on Tuesday, and submitted a complaint using their online form that evening. And yes, I was surprised when I didn’t hear back from someone, anyone, even a corporate lackey within 24 hours. If I don’t hear back in a week, then they get a letter. The experience we had was bad enough, and if they ignore it…

well, Panera might have to go on my naughty list then.

About 7 months ago, I turned in the points I had earned through My Coke Rewards in return for 2 magazine subscriptions. It only just occurred to me that I never GOT the magazines. I realize magazine subscriptions are a notoriously slow prize to order, but 7 months worth of slow? I went to the Coke Rewards website to log in and complain, and noticed a little “details” link on my awards page. Apparently requesting the prize on the Coke Rewards site isn’t enough - you have to take a code provided by Coke Rewards and go to the magazine website to finalize your request. What a poor design! I never got an email with instructions!

I’ve noticed a few women in my office, and around the building, wearing those dressy shorts. They look like dress pants cut off above the knee - you know what I mean, right?

I don’t think I like them. There’s just something weird looking about a woman in heels, dressy shorts, and a blouse. (Do people even say the word “blouse” anymore? Am I dating myself?) Maybe for an outside even in the summer you needed to dress for, but it just looks weird in the office.

For the record, I’m not down with the gaucho pants either. That’s another trend I wish would go away for good.

I just got the Land’s End catalog in the mail - the one that features backpacks and lunch boxes. I bought the kids Land’s End backpacks 2 years ago, and they did hold up well, but I wasn’t impressed with the lunch boxes we got at all. We had zipper issues with one, twice, and despite Land’s End assuring me that they were washable, they didn’t come very clean at all.

I didn’t pay for those lunch boxes - they were free when we bought the backpacks, but they’re not running that particular special this year. The same lunch box I got for free 2 years ago is now $20. For a lunch box! I don’t think so. My kids can brown bag it for the first week, and by then, the lunch boxes and other school supplies will be on clearance in the local stores, and I can pick up a few for just a few bucks. That way, if one gets dirty, we just toss it!

The Victoria’s Secret convertible bra I just bought is going back to the store. It stinks!

I had planned to wear it yesterday with a new tank top to a 4th of July party. I hooked up the straps, criss-crossing them into the racerback design. Three times I put it on, and three times, a different strap went flying. Now, I’m not a well endowed girl, so I knew that wasn’t the cause of the issue. The problem is simply poor design. The metal on the end of each strap only slips into a teeny little cloth holder, and that’s all holding the whole contraption together.

So not worth the $45!

I convinced myself to make an Old Navy run yesterday, and it wasn’t worth the trek. Is it just me, or is the material that Old Navy is using for their shirts getting thinner? I found a few shirts that I liked, and the material was super thin cotton - practically see through. In a face instances, the shirts were designed to be layered, so I can understand why they are thin, but c’mon - this is too thin. I liked the look, but I think the quality is going down hill fast.

I had to pick up a prescription yesterday, and when I got to the pharmacy, they said they were out of what I needed, and it would be in the next day.

Well, my kid is sick now, so that doesn’t really help me any, now does it? I started to leave, thinking I’d go home and call another store in the same chain, but then I stopped. Why should I do the legwork? Why didn’t the store call another location on my behalf to keep my business? A competitor is right across the street, and they’re practically offering to walk me there.

I went back in and talked to the manager, and stressed 2 points with him. One, no one called to let me know the prescription couldn’t be filled. Time was wasted by me not knowing that it couldn’t be filled as soon as the pharmacy determined that. And two, they should have taken the initiative to call around, find another store that could service me, and direct me there. That’s customer service.

I did have him call another store, and it was in stock, so I was able to get what I needed.

Sears is stupid. Why are boys suits, sizes 8-20 on sale for 30% off, but the suits sizes 7 and under are full price? Same suit, different sizes. And of course, my son was too small for the 8, so we had to buy a 7. One overpriced boys suit, a pair of dress socks, and a shirt and tie later, and he’s ready for 1st Communion tomorrow morning.