Why you should always keep your receipt
Posted
Jul 28 2008, 12:40 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
The past few days would have gone a lot more smoothly if I'd listened to MSN Money columnist Liz Pulliam Weston regarding the wisdom of those economic stimulus gift card promotions. For weeks I'd been mulling over the pros and cons of those cards, which are sold in $300 increments and come with a 10% bonus.
Liz thinks it's a punk idea (more on that below), yet I decided to go ahead. This move seemed cursed from the get-go (much more on that below), yet the experience reinforced a basic Smart Spending credo: Always keep your receipts.
That advice sounds about as groundbreaking as "Look both ways before crossing." However, I've seen plenty of people leave their receipts behind at restaurants, supermarkets and department stores.
If I'd done that, I'd be out $1,200 right now.
Nothing can go wrong … go wrong … go wrong
Yep, I went for the high end of the promotion. With the bonus, it amounted to $1,320 worth of cards from Albertsons, the supermarket where I buy almost all my groceries. That extra $120 will go toward Christmas shopping, since Albertsons sells gift cards for bookstores, restaurants and department stores. (Liz hates that idea, too. But some of my relatives love it.)
Last Tuesday I found myself passing Albertsons on the way back from an errand. Even though I was in a bit of a rush, I stopped off to get the cards. How long could it take, anyway?
(Never ask yourself that question. Especially when you're in a hurry.)
The clerk loaded up four gift cards with $330 each and I ran my credit card. Moments later she announced, "The bank has declined your purchase." My face aflame -- I'm no deadbeat! -- I replied that there must be some mistake. (All the deadbeats say that.) The employee let me use the store phone to call the credit card's 800 number.
After about 15 minutes, a human being came on the line to explain that the computer had flagged the transaction as potentially fraudulent. Since I never charge $1,200 all at once, I conceded that the computer had a point. That's why I asked the customer-service rep to stay on the line until the second attempt to buy the cards succeeded.
Late the next afternoon I took the first gift card to Albertsons for some shopping. (The other three were hidden at home, tucked into my cash cache.) When I swiped it through the reader, the screen lit up with a "card denied" message.
The reason? The card held a zero balance.
Zip, zilch, nada
The young woman monitoring the self-checkout lanes ran the card again and got the same response: Nothing there, partner. "But I just bought this yesterday!" I protested. (All the deadbeats say that.) The clerk apologized for the possible mix-up and said I'd need to come back with the store receipt -- and with the other three cards, in case they too had zero balances.
They did, as I found out when I returned to customer service the next day. It took a clerk and two managers about 20 minutes to set things right. They never determined exactly how the foul-up happened, but they sure were apologetic. Out of curiosity, I asked if the situation could have been remedied if I hadn't had my receipt.
"We can't take back anything without a receipt," the clerk replied.
Even if I'd shown them my credit card statement? No, the clerk said, because all that would indicate is that I'd spent $1,200 at the store. A credit card statement would not show that these specific four cards had been purchased.
Later I called my credit card company to see whether I could have filed a "defective or damaged merchandise" dispute if I'd lost or tossed my receipt. Nope. Without a store receipt, I couldn't have proved what I'd bought.
Fortunately, saving receipts is encoded into my DNA. I keep cash receipts until I've made sure what I bought is acceptable, and I keep credit card receipts until the statements show up. In my whole life I've had to dispute just one charge, when a $14 gas transaction was recorded as a $74 sale. (This was years ago, obviously, back when $14 went a lot further at the gas station.) Boy, was I glad I had the receipt.
And boy, was I glad I had this receipt, too. A loss of $1,320 would have been pretty hard to stomach.
The moral of the story
To all of you who routinely leave behind or throw away receipts: Stop doing that. Keeping them means you'll have recourse if something you buy turns out to be defective.
Yes, it's annoying when little bits of paper accumulate in your wallet or glove compartment. Stick them all in an envelope when you get home, and every so often toss the contents into the shredder.
Incidentally, I agree with Liz in principle about why this program isn't always a good idea. Those living paycheck to paycheck would be better off using their stimulus checks to pay down consumer debt, establish an emergency fund or invest for the future.
Locking in at one specific retailer limits purchasing options and may induce you to buy things you don't really need. And suppose that the company for which you buy $1,200 worth of cards declares bankruptcy?
However, I still think it's a good fit for me. I already have an EF, and I've been debt-free for the past nine months. The Albertsons near my home is undergoing extensive remodeling, so I doubt it will go out of business. If it does, I'll smack myself in the head a few hundred times and check out one of those secondary card markets. Recently I sold several pieces of artwork for a decent sum, so I figure I could "invest" $1,200 of that money for a guaranteed 10% return.
Even if I do spend all $120 on more gift cards. Sorry, Liz.
