Birthday Gift from Belks was Not Too Special

Happy Birthday to Me - but No Thanks to Belks

I was pleased to get a card from Belks department stores for my birthday. They really didn't have to do that, and they really shouldn't have.

This Belks card says, "Celebrate Your Birthday with a Gift from Belks" on the front. When I open up the flap, it says, "Our Gift to You." It's $10 off on my single regular or sale purchase of $50 or more.

I go to Belks and find a short swing coat that I love. It's $59.99 I think - something in that range. Good deal. I can get the cute coat and save $10. That's a nice birthday suprise.

When I get to the register, the code scan won't work. The sales girl is new, and she doesn't know why the code won't work, so she calls someone with more experience.

Experienced sales lady comes over. She sees my coat and the birthday card. She tells the girl that usually these codes don't work, because people think that they can get several items for $50 and then take off $10. The kicker is the "single regular or sale priced purchase." That means it must be one item and not more than one adding up to $50. That's not very clear, and it's pretty lame. But, OK. I only got one item - an expensive one. Experienced sales lady tells new sales girl to try the code again. She tries twice. It won't work.

The lady who has been working longer asks if the item is a special purchase. Heck, I don't know. It's a coat. It was on a rack in the ladies section.

Experienced lady goes and checks and says that the coat is a "special purchase." Well, I don't think it's very special when it voids my birthday card. It sure doesn't say special purchase on the sales tag.

I'm really not the "whatever" type, but in this case, that was my thought. I spent about an hour shopping and only found the coat and really wanted it. So, I paid for the special purchase coat, but I still did not find this whole thing particularly special.

The sales lady did tell me that the clause about "special purchases" was in the fine print. Heck, I couldn't read that font size. I wouldn't have been able to identify the coat as a "special purchase" anyway. What does that mean? Who knows?

When I got home, I got out my reading glasses and read the fine print on the birthday card. Whew boy. You would not believe all the brands and items listed as not qualifying for the birthday gift card coupon. No Levis or Dockers. No Coach or Mattel. The brand list was long. Then the special purchases, red dots, early birds and so on were off limits. Heck, you couldn't even buy maternity cothes - not like I need those. But still . . . Don't even think about fragrances or make-up or jewelry. Bamp. Wrong purchase for your birthday.

The young sales girl did say that she was sorry and asked if I still wanted the coat. I did. I was not impressed with how this went down, but it wasn't her fault. I've found our local sales folks at Belks to be really helpful. They can't help it if the home office pulls a bad prank like sending a birthday gift that is not a gift at all - just a tactic to get me in the store thinking I get $10 off.

So, this post is really for the Belks corporate office. This is a sneaky way to do business. Don't send me a birthday gift card and then limit it so much that I'm paying full price on almost anything I pick. That's just wrong. Yeah. You got me in the store. You sold me a coat. But, it will be a while before I drop any more bucks at Belks. I have been a regular customer. That birthday coupon scam didn't impress me even a little bit. Don't bother if you're not going to do it right. You got me today. I'll know better in the future.