Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Shopping at Target

            Ahhh, the glorious mornings. Waking up to go to work. I went off to Target to do some shopping! I was desperate to go buy the new DVD’S that had come out, Desperate Housewives Season 4, and Ghost Whisperer Season 3. They were on sale which made it all the more better! I also noticed on the tag it said with a purchase of the DVD I could get a 10 dollar gift card too at the cash register! I grabbed both DVD’s, and grabbed some TV dinner’s for my lunch at work. I was feeling quite cheery. My friend matt who works at Target told me a hilarious story about how he thought a raccoon got into his house and licked his face when it was actually a dog… LOL

 

            I then went to the cash register and put down the items I was going to pay for. She scanned everything and the total came up to exactly 100 dollars even. At first I was shocked it was that much and questioned the price going wow that is a lot of money, then remember what I was buying and realized oh that is actually cheaper then I expected. The cash lady then said to me “would you like 10% off that?”

 

I then realized she was talking about the gift card, but thought she said 10 dollars.

 

I said “yes” I then expected her to hand over a 10 dollar gift card.

 

She said “let me re do the purchase and switch it and I can give you the ten off now!”

 

I said to myself oh fantastic, I don’t even have to come back and she will take it off for me, perfect!

 

She then asked me to sign some paper work and needed to see my ID, Address that sort of thing. Now I’m like what?! All that for a gift card discount?! I never had to deal with that for my work?!

 

She then explains how the discount worked and said I should be approved about the card in a few days. Now I am completely baffled, I thought I was only supposed to get a gift card from her…

 

She is printing all this stuff for me, and I’m signing shitload of stuff still baffled, not even hitting me on what I am doing. I thought this is seriously taking to damn long for a quick purchase.

 

She goes on to say thank you for my business and that my card will come in the mail in a few days after I am approved! She showed me a receipt where I got 10% off. This oddly enough came up to exactly 10 dollars, since 10% of 100 is ten!

 

I again thought ALL this for that? Did I mishear her say something? Did I sign some contract and it flew over my head? I walked out of the store, went back to my work to look over what EXACTLY I signed.

 

I looked it over and realized, oh snap. I signed and got myself a brand new CREDIT CARD from Target, and my purchases I made, 100 of it, but now only 90 dollars (remember 10% off!!!) was charged to this new Credit Card instead of my other one! *GULP!*

 

Oh CRAAAAAAAAAP. I DID NOT need a THIRD Card in my wallet, no way, no hell! How did I go through the whole thing without an inkling of an idea I was signing for a credit card. Did I not hear something?! Ugh...So now I have a new credit line opened, which I have to figure out how to pay off because the APR is OFF the CHAIN-25%!!!

 

I then also have a charge of 90 dollars to the Credit Card too. Ugh. You know what the best part out of the whole thing is?

 

I didn’t get my 10 dollars gift card. :)

 

Alex

7 comments:

Abbie said...

Oh dear, you got taken for 10 bucks LOL! Boy that went right over your head. It must have been that racoon/dog story floating around in your head. :)

Ah hem, totally serious now. I would cancel that in three months so it doesn't muck up your credit. You don't want to open and close credit cards right away because they can have an adverse affect on your credit score.

You friendly neighbor financial advisor,
:)
PS: Next time when you hear card, triple ask what kind of card? :)

Anonymous said...

Actually you saved $20, that is if you go back to the store with your receipt and get the $10 gift card they were supposed to give you because you bought a DVD.

Then pay off the credit card bill right away when it comes and you will not be charged any interest at all. Then simply don't use it or cancel it.

Enjoyed your story:)

Jay said...

Alex, as the last poster pointed out, I was going to say the same thing.. Go back to the store and get the $10 gift card.

Anonymous said...

LOL, poor Alex!!

Believe it or not, it happened to Jes once which I wished I was with him but damn, you know how much I CANNOT stand Hollister store so I stood outside waiting but anyway he paid for his clothes with some sort of discount special like you were offered.

A few days later, we received a letter stating to thank him for applying the card and he was approved. OMG, he didn't realize cuz he didn't really understand them or it was hard to hear for whatever reason. It was funny but it has been taken care of.

Two things you can do is like Abbie suggested is to wait a few months but just don't use it then close it so it won't look bad on your report by opening a new card to pay it off then close it right away. They'd think you were abusing to get 10% off, it hurts your credit.

Other thing for you do if possible like I did with Jes' card at Hollister is to call them to explain the situation that you never tend to sign up and it was all misunderstanding (as long as they hasn't reported to credit report as an account opened.) But if they did, go back to first step is wait a few months. If they haven't, they can have it taken care of and fixed. Only thing you cannot remove is inquiry part which is unfortunate but better than having an account opened.

Do it ASAP :-P

Be careful at stores, n-e-v-e-r trust them! Ha ha.

Good story, though. Damn!!

-SG

Anonymous said...

Oh by the way,

Whenever you are asked to fill in address, you know what it means.

Keep in mind for next time because that's what I told Jes. :-P

-SG

Anonymous said...

Oops.. Jes corrected me that it was AE not Hollister, well they look the same to me!! :-P

-SG

Valerie said...

Practice, no thank you! That is my answer to any question they ask at the check out.

Oh, my Alex cut up the card as soon as you get it.