Bed Bath & Beyond Stole $25
One of the reasons Kris and I registered at Bed Bath & Beyond is that you can return gift cards for cash. The employees reiterated this benefit when we registered.
Yesterday we went with $705 in gift cards, this is confusing so three people had to help. A scowl faced manager lady with a snarl1 informed me that she didn’t want to give away the cash that early in the day after scanning the first card and I could put it on my ATM instead. I didn’t know the PIN to my ATM card (since I don’t use ATMs) so I decided to come back later. …I don’t think it would be very prudent to use a PIN number at an institution other than a bank anyway. No problem. We’ll come back tomorrow.
Today, we went back and the first card that they scanned, showed a $0 balance. However, it was for $25. Kris had called to verify the balance when we received it. The scratch stuff that conceals the PIN hadn’t been removed so we couldn’t have used it online. We recalled to verify the balance and indeed it was blank.
Gift Card Hackers! That was my first thought. I figured it would be fairly easy for a hacker to use an algorithm to generate possible gift card numbers. Someone must have hacked Bed Bath & Beyond and used our card!
To my dismay, the crime was less sophisticated. I called BB&B’s phone number, and was told that we cashed out the card yesterday. I explained that we did not receive cash for it and asked if Bed Bath & Beyond would credit it back. The representative said, “no.” I would have to talk to whoever helped me at the store.
What a hassle. BB&B’s rating with me dropped from 5 stars to 3 stars. 1 star taken away for stealing $25, and 1 star taken away for making me do work to get it back.
So tomorrow, I will have to drive back and have a little talk with the manager lady. If I get the money back BB&B’s rating will go back up to 4 stars. If we get an extra $100 for my time and trouble, I’ll reinstate their 5-star rating.
We’ll see what happens.
1 I mention this because she was the first employee I’ve ever dealt with at BB&B that wasn’t friendly and smiley.
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