BEAware KOHLS discounts, coupons, returns…

SHOPPING AND RETURNING AT KOHL’S AND WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY.

The other day I bought five items at the local Kohl’s store. I used a $10.00 off cash coupon from a previous purchase, which they matched with another $10.00 off coupon and then took 15% off thanks to the local Sunday paper insert ad I dutifully clipped out.

That was all well and good, a total of $20.47 in savings on a $155.00 purchase took the bill down to $124. and change, and off I went with my receipt in hand AND ANOTHER KOHLS CASH COUPON for $20.00 off my next purchase between the following Wed. and Saturday.

Kohl’s CASH BACK doesn’t Play in Vegas.

Sounds great, such a deal you are saying…

Until the saga of the return policy for Kohl’s began…

On Wed. I returned 2 items. The “FULL REFUND POLICY” is printed on the receipt in BIG BOLD PRINT, but the return receipt is very complicated to understand.

The discounts are broken down and charged back against each item purchased, but the logic as to how this is done, is not exactly spelled out or easy to understand at all.

First you can assume correctly that the 20.00 in cash off and the 15% discount is aggregated and deleted from the total cost of the items paid, so my return value was returned to my credit card, including the tax, but the computation used was not explained by the printed receipt nor the sales associate at the counter. The best line of the day was, “well your $20.00 Kohl’s Cash is voided because you didn’t spend 100.00 anymore, even though the remaining value of the 3 items kept was over $50.00. and the proffered response when I pointed this out was, when you come back to shop again, I’ll give you another $10.00 coupon to use next time.”

So, before I left the store (the first time…you see where this is going) I lost 20.00 and the total of the credit to my charge card looked off.

I left upset and promptly tweeted about the #kohls #fail, to which I received a quick @message from twitter@kohls.com in about 30 min.  Not bad, but as I responded to the tweet with an email explaining my frustration, including pictures of the two receipts, the email become more ambiguous than helpful.

After being told in the 2nd and 3rd email that if I returned tot he store, the store associate or manager could “correct” the “miscalculation I had been subject to.”

Having done the calculation in the most simple of math forms, divide the discounts by 5 items… add the tax on that total and get the total….

I asked Mr. C.Q., if he could tell me, via email, exactly what I should expect to receive upon returning to the store.

The reply was simply; “the associate or manager will know what to do…”

SO, with blind faith, and the assumption (we know what that means…)  I returned to the same Kohls store that evening.

The sales associate had no clue what I was misunderstanding about the receipt, as she tried to point out what was so clearly printed on the paper but could NOT explain how the calculations had been arrived at.

At my insistence she summoned the “store manager” who was professional and knew that yes, the calculations didn’t make any sense according to his math skills on his iPhone, but based on my lack of evidence (emails) didn’t know what to do to correct my situation.  I tweeted from the store, but the social media ears were gone for the night (east coast time) so all I got was the auto-responder that SOMEONE would get back to me.

TWITTER @ KOHLS

And so they did… A different person without the benefit of checking my name or email or twitter handle in the computer to know this was a return visit of a different kind.

When I explained to person #2, that I had “spoken”  to C.Q. and this was yet another #fail for #kohls… she quickly apologized and suggested I return to the store AGAIN, along with offering me some coupons for my time and frustration.

Coupons, really?

I asked that the name of the store manager be supplied, and that I be given some idea what exactly would be the resolution, as the “credit” for the “miscalculation” had to be applied “in-person” since I didn’t use my Kohls charge…

I did receive an email from the store manager, with her hours, so can make an appointment to meet this person…

However, as I will return there this week, I suggest to everyone shopping at Kohls… the following…

1. Be sure you REALLY want the item, it fits or whatever, because returns at Kohl’s aren’t easy, and may not be “FULLY REFUNDED without serious scrutiny.

2. Imagine how many people don’t “catch” the “miscalculation”, and how much money Kohl’s gets to keep… they say they do not charge a restocking fee.

3. Exchange or return your item quickly. I don’t know what Kohl’s policy is on a FULL REFUND if the item you bought goes ON SALE between the purchase date and the return date.

 

I am curious to compare the “Everyday low price” deals of other retailers selling similar fashions, to the net cost of the items purchased at Kohl’s, after the cost of gas and time to make yet another visit (#3) to the Kohl’s store over 1 purchase. At my billable rate, the time wasted is more than the value of all 5 items purchased originally. #Iloseshopping.

 

Stay tuned for the next chapter in my Shopping at Kohl’s coupon, discount return escapade…

 

 

 

TWEET for better schools!

Las Vegas, NV– Tweet-2-Beat is gaining momentum at the rate of 1000 new followers a day.  However, at this pace TFERRISS will fall short of his personal cap of 50,000 new Twitter followers or $50,000 in personal $1 matches (plus the $2bucks from the mystery donor) making each follower worth $3, to be donated to the US public schools at risk. The money comes from Tim Ferriss and his mystery partner, NOT YOU, and is managed by Donorschoice.org.

All you do is join Twitter and follow @tferriss, the author of 4hour work week) before the campaign ends MARCH 23, 2009.

As of today he’s at 28k followers, which is up 6,000 from where he was when this started a week ago.  Are there really so many folks that don’t Twitter? YUP. I ask every person I know if they Twitter. SO far the average is 1 in 10 don’t know Twitter. OMG. TWEET-2-BEAT is a great reason to talk Twitter and a good cause in the same way educating at-risk students and public schools is helping our future leaders. If you won’t do it for them, do it for yourself because your investment in this country is at risk.

Go there NOW: TWEET-2-BEAT to learn more.

Twitter for US public schools

Las Vegas, NV–  Tweet-to-Beat for at-risk students and public Schools.  This came across my twitter feed the other day.  If you aren’t familiar with Twitter, it is the new addiction of the instant gratification generation. The IGG spans Gen X, Y, Millennial and Baby-boomers hooked on technology. 

Alas, I digress. Which is the point. Twitter will take you away into a world of voyeurism, OH= overheard, RT=repeating someone else’s comments and TWEETing, which is now being dissed for wasting bandwidth with useless information which the SXSW attendees have dubbed “over amplification”.  Like popular culture, if it’s hot, and YOU know about it, it’s yesterday.

Nevertheless, the intention of Tweet-to-Beat is such an awesome effort working the village, I can’t resist encouraging you to tag along, get involved and if do something about it. If you only join Twitter to help this cause, then great, you did something for the state of education.

“Here is the gist of the program as told by TIM FERRISS, the originator and author of  “4-hour work week”. He has 27,000 followers as of this post.

The gist: To benefit U.S. public school students, I will bribe the entire world to follow me on Twitter for $3 each.

I’ll (Tim Ferris) also be giving away a round-trip ticket anywhere in the world and a fully-loaded MacBook Pro. But first things first…

This is “Tweet to Beat”, a follow-up experiment to LitLiberation, which was a campaign by bloggers and their readers, and CEOs and their employees, to spread the power of literacy worldwide. It was a new fund-raising model based on competition and social media scalability, and it funded not only US public school projects (20,000+ students) but also libraries and schools in developing countries. I’m in Vietnam with readers right now to visit two of the schools.

With zero financing or hard costs, this model ended up raising more than $250,000 in less than a month, 3x more than Stephen Colbert during that same period.

The Experiment

I think that was just the tip of the iceberg, and Twitter is the perfect laboratory for a new-and-improved approach (at least with a few variables).

It’s public and therefore accountable, it’s track-able, it allows exclusive communication with followers when needed (”protect my updates” under settings), and it’s current media popularity makes it the ideal PR vehicle for this campaign. Last but not least, though this experiment has no victims, produces no spam, nor violates the Twitter Terms of Service, this alternative use will get some purists hot and bothered.

Here’s how the Tweet to Beat campaign works:

1) For every new Twitter follower in the next two weeks, I will donate $1 to DonorsChoose.org, and an anonymous supporter will match $2, for a total of $3 to U.S. public school classrooms per follower. For now, the matching limit is tentatively capped at 50,000 new followers, though I’m open to increasing it later. 50,000 new followers would mean $150,000 to U.S. public school education, and I hope to double or triple this total with a few twists.

The goal is directly helping 25,000 U.S. public school students in low-income and high-need areas in two weeks. This timeline is half the time dedicated to LitLiberation. My current follower count is, at the time of this writing, 22,782, so we’ll round down and begin the count at 22,500. (so he’s up 5,000 followers in one week, too low, IMHO.)

2) There is a simultaneous competition for those who would like to spread the word.Just do the best you can (Facebook, blog, e-mail friends, FriendFeed, add to your e-mail signature, tell local media, etc.) and detail what you did in the comments here. Tell your friends who are teachers and encourage them to do the same. Bonus points go to people who act sooner vs. later. Deadline for comments is March 23rd at 5pm PT.”

SO, how does this help our community? Well, we all know where Las Vegas and Nevada falls in the national average of spending per child in our schools. Furthermore, the current budget debate directed at cutting teachers pay is a weapon of mass destruction at a time we need all the brainpower we can muster to prepare our country for the future. ISN’T THAT ENOUGH to make you take 5 min. to join and follow?

BTW, you can pass this message along with another reason to get involved. Anyone who clicks through and follows TIM from my feed here will get a FREE copy of my latest eBook; MyCarlady’s Guide to Car Buying and more… 100+ pages of vital information including teen driver and parental information, hybrid technology and your car personality test.   I usually charge $5.00 per download but if you follow, I’ll give you a copy free! I’ll know when you follow along using this link FOLLOW NOW!

 

Thanks for listening and helping, pass this along PLEASE. We have until MARCH 23rd to get Tim to his goal.

Potpourri KILLS Children and Pets!

12/18/08 Las Vegas, NV.

PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN and PETS this Holiday season.

This is a very sad story for holiday time, but given our propensity for decorating this time of year, and indulging huge gatherings of friends and family, this is a GIANT YELLOW CAUTION FLAG, which will hopefully avoid another disaster.

With permission from Karen, I share this story with you…<In a message dated 12/10/2008 6:25:17 P.M. Central Standard Time, she writes:

“We have suffered a terrible, terrible tragedy last Wed. Two, beloved Cavaliers (dogs) of mine, Haley and Zoe both ate potpourri from a decorative basket in my Living room.

Within hours, they were vomiting it, convulsing and going into total body rigidity and shock. We took them to the after hours clinic, they had no idea what it could be and wouldn’t listen to me about them vomiting potpourri at home and how I had such concerns about the toxic effects of it. They treated symptoms.

We transferred them to our day vet. He also wouldn’t listen to me about the potpourri theory. He said they had “strychnine” poisoning symptoms. I kept telling him that the potpourri was Made In India, sold by a company in California and sold at my local WalMart. My heart told me that it was the culprit of their condition.

They declined rapidly throughout the day and we transferred them back to the after hours clinic for a second night. At midnight, I made the agonizing decision to put them to sleep. Haley was in constant seizures that wouldn’t stop, fluid was filling up in her lungs, body temp was dropping on both of them, Zoe was lying almost lifeless on the table, struggling with every breath she took. Every muscle was completely rigid, you couldn’t even move her.

I have devoted the last couple of days (now that I can get out of bed and function) to researching my concerns with the potpourri and have since found out I was right. There is a lab in England that has case studies on toxic potpourri from India!! The toxin, strychnine, which in it’s commercial source, comes from a certain tree grown in India .. I am completely heart broken over this.

Please be aware of the potential toxins in any and all stuff like this in our homes. I would’ve never guessed this could happen but when I saw them both “playing” in the potpourri and then after about two hours saw the symptoms of a poisoning, I just put two and two together.

Hug your babies, Love them and always take lots of photos along the way, it helps later on, trust me. “

Karen Cantner, Heartland Kennels, Evansville , Indiana USA

Obama and Berkley 2008

June 11, 2008- Las Vegas

And then there were two. “A manager of Democrat Barack Obama‘s vice presidential search team resigned Wednesday amid criticism over his personal loan deals.” according to Obama’s handlers as reported to MSN.com.  “Jim did not want to distract in any way from the very important task of gathering information about my vice presidential nominee, so he has made a decision to step aside that I accept,” Obama said in a statement. “We have a very good selection process under way, and I am confident that it will produce a number of highly qualified candidates for me to choose from in the weeks ahead. I remain grateful to Jim for his service and his efforts in this process.”

Add another boner to the sweepstakes of friends of Barack. Not that Hillary didn’t have her achilles heel with the China connection, but now’s the time to find someone that can electrify the public. This race is now hanging on the VP choices.  I’ve heard republicans express concern for McCain’s age, wanting someone young and vibrant with street creds.  The Democrats are uneasy with Obama’s lack of international experience (suggesting a sit down with terrorists.)  chumminess with Rev. Wright and the statement by wife, Michelle, that she just suddenly got a “love” for America. This isn’t sitting well in middle-class America. The most frequently heard comments on both candidates is “Can we trust him?”

So I’m thinking Nevada Congresswoman Shelley Berkley would be a good running mate for Obama. She would appeal to both democrats (Hillary delegates),  Jewish repubicans and middle-class voters who want some tried and true experience.  With 5 terms in Congress, Berkley is held in high esteem and hasn’t fallen victim to poor alliances or ill-conceived agendas.  She sits on the Ways and Means and Veterans committees which attests to her knowledge of fiscal affairs as well as an appreciation for our military.

So would she take the job?  I put the question to her PR guy. We will have to wait for an answer.

Cast your vote.

In the meantime, read a good book: www.readartistsproof.com

 

 

What if Obama picked Oprah?

                                                                             June 9, 2008 Las Vegas, NV–  (:00 am EST, Senator and Democratic Presidential nominee hopeful, Barack Obama is expected to name Oprah Winfrey as his presidential running mate. 

Now there’s a headline!  The stock market makes 500 point correction. Republican nominee John McCain is speechless for once.

So what would all the talking heads and political pundits have to say? Would this news unite the democratic party or send them dems on the fence running for Independant Jesse Ventura?  The Obama selection committee is made up of Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former president John F. Kennedy, Former Fannie Mae CEO Jim Johnson, and former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.  According to the LA Times there is a long short list of names starting with Hillary. Among them are two erstwhile presidential contenders who since have endorsed Obama: New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, the party’s 2004 vice presidential nominee.  Others mentioned include Govs. Tim Kaine of Virginia, Janet Napolitano of Arizona, Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas and Ted Strickland of Ohio; and Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware (who also ran for president), Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Jim Webb of Virginia. Former Sens. Tom Daschle of South Dakota and Sam Nunn of Georgia have also been mentioned, as has retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark.  BUT NONE of these folks have the immediate recognition and star power of this country’s leading ladies…

Hillary, vs. Oprah, you decide.

Have our politics gotten too much like television?  Are we watching a new season of West Wing and the joke is on us? Is the American public so homogenized that our attention is hung on some prime-time players who know what fodder we the people are willing to swallow? Oprah for Vice-President 2008. 

Oprah (OBAMA/OPRAH2008) certainly has the finances to carry the campaign all the way. She has the international passport to pass a geography test and keep the who’s who engaged. Her canidacy would certainly boost rating and subscriptions not to mention electrify the electorate. Would it work in THE WHITE HOUSE?  Would it work for you? Would Oprah want the job?

What if?   O/O ’08.  Cast your vote here.

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