Retail Therapy…

…or how retail shopping is going to push me into therapy.

First it was Costco. A couple of months back I was at the self service check out, since there was no line and I didn’t have any Veuve Clicquot in my cart. Self check out doesn’t permit alcoholic beverages.

I scanned all my items, tapped the pay now button and inserted my card. Suddenly the screen blinked and all my transactions disappeared. I was nonplussed. I love to use that word, it perfectly captures how I feel interacting with a lot of technology.

The Costco in Lodi has really good people. The self check attendant was on the scene at once. When he saw what had happened he was almost as nonplussed as I was, but since there was no receipt we both assumed that the transaction had been cancelled somehow. He rescanned all my items, much faster that I could have, and this time my card was accepted and I got the receipt for the door monitor person to examine on my way out.

Later when the e bill arrived at my bank I thought it seemed a little high. I know it is easy to spend a lot at Costco, but even so this seemed excessive. So I went to the Citibank website and looked at my statement. Sure enough there were two identical charges for $215.61 on the same date.

Double Billing

I disputed the charge, giving ‘duplicate transaction’ as the reason. I did it on line, not on the phone. To their credit Citi gave me an instant, provisional credit and said they would contact the merchant (Costco) on my behalf. Citi also sent email updates on the investigation.

So I was kind of surprised when I got an email from Citi saying that the Costco claimed the charges were valid. Now I have to call Citi and get a real person and plead my case. I did so, and while the person was nice they said that since the merchant claimed the charges valid, Citi couldn’t help and they suggested I call Costco. They even gave me a number and connected me.

Unfortunately, that Costco number was only for on-line sales and issues from Costco.com. That person suggested I should call the Lodi store directly. I did, and a really nice and competent person saw the duplicate charges, said something like ‘tsk, tsk’ and reversed one of them. After multiple e mails and phone calls I’m all square, and only a little peeved.

Today it was Raley’s. We do a lot of shopping at Raley’s, and are ‘Something Extra’ members. They track our purchases like a casino tracks their players, and every 3 months we get a cash coupon along with targeted coupons for things we often buy. This week is was bread, broccoli, eggs, pasta, frozen fruit and and some gluten free crackers. And our cash coupon was for $11.

I handed the coupons to the clerk, and he put them next to the scanner. He had to scan the groceries first, then the coupons. The computer would pair the coupons with the items and reduce my bill.

Except he forgot to scan them. He sent the pre coupon total to the computer, which checked my credit card. The ‘Approved’ screen came up, and then the signature screen. Oops!

I pointed out the omission, and the clerk asked me to press the red ‘x’ to cancel the transaction. But we both learned that once the signature screen is up there is no going back. My Visa is being charged the full amount.

Since there was a line of people I didn’t stick around to plead my case. I also didn’t yell or scream. I did tell the clerk that I bought some of the items specifically because of the coupons, and he did say ‘sorry’.

I told a different clerk monitoring the self checkout area (limit 15 items, which is why I didn’t use it) what had happened and if there was anything I could do. Her suggestion was that I could return all the items and get a credit, then they could rescan them and this time (hopefully) not forget the coupons. I sighed, said quietly “life’s too short’ and left my $20 of free money behind.

I left considering changing supermarkets in the future, but Raley’s is close and convenient and the quality seems ok. And I know where almost everything we buy is located, unless Stoker puts something new on the list and I have to go hunting. And there is a good side to all this: blog material! Writing about it is my version of ‘retail therapy’.