Felt Stupid

[boozypansy]

I won $25 from the Macy's instant win game. It advises you to print and bring in your email to use it. There are even instructions on it for the sales associate. Well, there I go with my purchase and wanted to use the $25 on it and the sales associate had no clue what I was talking about or what to do. She called the manager and the same thing....They looked at me as though I was making this up, but finally they decided to accept it. I felt so stupid....Also enjoyed the other shoppers looking at me like I was nuts since the sales associate and manager had no clue what I was talking about or about the email....I explained the promotion very thoroughly which did not help...Took a very long time to check out and I was relieved when it was time to get out of there....They really need to educate their employees regarding their promotions.... :scratch:

 

[pmeek]

:crazytongue: I can only guess that they felt more stupid than you did. You had no reason to feel that way. Congrats on your win!

 

[jemr2]

Had the same experience with mine. I won $100 and was really excited to get some new bedding. When I went to check out they looked at me like I had grown a third eye. However, this was not my first rodeo so I told the staff I would be fine spending it online if there wasn't a way to figure it out in the store. They did try to figure it out following the instructions on the e-mail but the instructions did not work. The manager even gave me her number to call her if I was unable to use it online and she would make sure to take care of me. I ended up getting what I wanted online which was fine because shipping was free that weekend. No one who tried to help us had heard of the contest. There is often a disconnect between what corporate is doing versus what the stores know about. Whenever I have a prize to be redeemed in a store I take every piece of notification/documentation/mail/e-mail I have with me to minimize confusion and erase suspicion. If I get a coupon in the mail for a freebie I take the envelope it came in to the store too. It's irritating but when I am dealing with store-level employees who are not paid a great deal and are often the last to hear of store promotions I do what I can to smooth the process out. It sounds like you got the runaround a lot more than I did though. I'm sorry that they made you feel bad. It's probably worth at least an e-mail to corporate with that store's number to let them know there needs to be better communication about the contest and prize redemption. If both of us had problems I'm sure there are others who will be going in to spend theirs and will be running into the same issues.

 

[amyshulk]

:crazytongue: I can only guess that they felt more stupid than you did. You had no reason to feel that way. Congrats on your win!

I agree. I expect stores/franchises to have NO clue when corporate runs any promo, so I expect problems and I always make sure to let them/corporate know when I DON'T encounter any!!!

 

[quilt1404]

I had a terrible time when I took $50 of the Nestle's Book Cash certificates to Barnes & Noble book store. The contest had been running a long time by then but nobody had a clue how to redeem, even with instructions on the page. They finally ran them through as travelers checks and put the certificate number in as a check number. I have a few more certificates coming so I hope it is better next time. ( I did cash 2 of these in in April at a Toys-R-Us and the clerk had no problem with them.

 

[missmarta]

Don't feel stupid-you're smart; you're winning prizes online! I know what you mean though. People look at me like I'm from Pluto all the time. When it takes me a long time to check out hubby says "Guess you had to educate them, huh?" Wish companies would advise their staffs........

 

[boozypansy]

I emailed corporate and asked if they could please educate the staff about the sweeps in hopes to help others have a smoother time. I was surprised I was their first win since I was shopping in New Orleans...quite a large population...despite the hassle and anxiety, it was nice to buy something on someone else's dollar!

 

[bethtoons]

I used mine (I entered on my smartphone, so the "card" was issued via text message instead of email) in their store in the Mall of America and while the cashier had to get a manager, he had no trouble putting it through and congratulated me on the win. I was getting the cross-eyed looks until she called her manager over though and he didn't seem to know about the promotion but he was able to put the code through.