Guess? Not.

It's been a while since my last post, but I had such a horrible customer service experience with one of my favorite places to shop for clothes. I've been a loyal customer and have exclusively worn their jeans for at least the past 10 years. We won't even discuss how many pairs of shoes I've bought from them.


I'll start from the beginning...on May 18, I placed an order from Guess.com for a dress, a sweater, a pair of earrings and a necklace. The total, including tax and shipping, was $180.51. I had a gift card for $96.13, and I put the remaining $84.38 on my credit card. About a week later the order arrived. I was a little disappointed to learn that the two clothing items didn't fit as I had hoped they would and that I wasn't as in love with the necklace as I thought I would be. 


I decided to return the three items to the local Guess? store rather than pay to ship them back. Their return policy is as follows:

"GUESS.com gladly accepts unworn, unwashed or defective full-priced merchandise for up to thirty days after purchase date. Original receipt, hygiene strip and tags must be attached. Unfortunately, pierced jewelry are final sales. Sale merchandise may only be returned to a store for an exchange.

Refunds for items returned within thirty days of the purchase date will be credited in the same form as the original payment type. The only exception to this are returns made to a store that were purchased online through PayPal or Bill Me Later®. These returns must be refunded via a merchandise return card. If the item was a gift purchased online, send it back to GUESS.com along with your online gift receipt. Refunds will be in the form of a merchandise credit redeemable with your next purchase online or at any GUESS store."


When I arrived at the store, the associate looked at the items I brought in to return and told me they don't accept returns on jewelry. Their policy states they don't accept returns on pierced jewelry...nowhere does it mention they won't accept returns on necklaces. The original tags were still attached to the piece. I was annoyed, but rather than argue, I decided I would just have to mail the necklace back for a return. 


The associate then goes on to say the dress and sweater were purchased on sale, and that they can't be returned. I did decide to argue this point, and she relented saying I could only exchange them. I asked if she had either item in a different size and was told no. I then asked if I could just have the amount put on a gift card/merchandise return card as I was a bit pressed for time. I was told I had to pick something out that day or I could not return the items. Fine. At this point I was really irritated, but I went through the store and picked up a pair of jeans and a top. I end up owing them $18.XX. Beyond irritated. I went to the mall expecting $84 back on my credit card and a new gift card with about $55 on it.


When I got home I packaged up the necklace and the invoice and returned it to Guess.com. Last night I received a confirmation email that the necklace had been received and that the refund was processed and put back on a gift card.  I emailed them back a short time later and advised that I had charged $84 on my credit card from that order and would appreciate it if the refund could be put on the credit card instead. 


I got an email a little while later "apologizing for the confusion" but stating that they can't refund the money to my credit card.  I wrote back explaining that I was frustrated and disappointed with their return policy, which I quoted, and also told them I didn't understand why I couldn't be refunded on the credit card I used to pay for nearly half of the order. Furthermore, I stated that if I did not get a refund on my credit card, I would no longer shop at Guess? and would be sure to share my story with my friends, family and co-workers. 


What did I get in response? Nothing. The $32 was put back on the gift card and my email was not answered. Sounds pretty typical these days, but I thought that a more "high end" company whose customers pay a lot for their wares might treat their customers a little better. Guess not... 


I am sticking to my guns though...once I use the gift card, or gift it to someone, I won't shop there ever again.






For the record, I returned another part of an online order just two days ago where I had paid the same way...with both a gift card and credit card... and I received the full amount back on my credit card and a partial refund to a gift card. 




*UPDATE: Moments after I posted this, I received an email from Guess? again stating they can only refund  thegift card since that is how I paid...I guess they're ignoring the fact that I also put $84 on my credit card that day. 

Review: Dr. Oetker's Ristorante Pizza

A few weeks back, I posted that I had received my bzzkit from Bzzagent that included two coupons to try out Dr. Oetker's Ristorante Pizza for free.

I finally got to try it out last Sunday. I got the quattro formagio variety because I'm a cheese lover.

I followed the instructions on the package....preheat oven to 450 degrees, then place pizza directly on the oven rack to cook for 10-12 minutes. Easy peasy.

Mine was done after 10 minutes and it looked almost exactly like the photo on the box. I didn't even think to snap a photo since I was so hungry and it smelled so good.

I was surprised at how good it tasted! You definitely wouldn't mistake this for delivery pizza, but it still rocked. The cheese didn't get weird like it normally does on frozen pizza which I was grateful for. I was a little nervous about two of the types of cheese since I had never heard of them, but the cheese was great.

The crust was nice and thin and cooked perfectly.

I don't think I would have ever tried this pizza on my own, so I'm glad I got the opportunity to try it out through Bzzagent. I can definitely see myself buying this in the future. It made great and easy meal last week when I declared a "lazy day".

What I did to save money last week....

1.  I went to dinner on Sunday night with a few friends at On the Border. I had an email coupon for a free bowl of queso. I also had a $10 gift certificate, so I used that. My total out of pocket cost for the meal was $4.00 and I had enough left over to take to dinner to work the next night

.

2. On Monday morning I made a huge batch of home fries to help me save time during the week on breakfast. I made enough to last all week, so I just had to reheat them each morning and make a quick scrambled egg sandwich.

3. Received two rebate checks for $1.75 & $1.00.

4. Sold an old text book on half.com for $119!

5. Received a Bzzkit in the mail with two coupons for free frozen pizzas.

6. Money maker transaction at CVS.

7. Deposited $131 into my emergency fund.

8. Received and accepted an invitation into a Bzzcampaign for a Phillips epilator. I’m actually very excited to try this out and I’ll definitely post my review as soon as I receive it.

9. Carpooled 4 out of the 5 days I worked this week.

10. My dad’s birthday was yesterday, and he asked if I would help my mom out and take care of buying a cake for him. I decided to make one instead using this recipe I found on (where else?) pinterest. I picked up a few of the missing ingredients (buttermilk, margarine, unsweetened chocolate & coffee) plus a dozen eggs on Saturday night for a grand total of $10.41. It came out great. My mom, who normally doesn’t like chocolate cake, liked it and said she’d have it again.

11. I did horrible this week on bringing dinner to work. I didn’t do my grocery shopping until Thursday (I normally go on Sundays) so I didn’t have much to bring. I tried to choose inexpensive places to eat and drank only water from the cooler at work so I didn’t have to buy soda.

12. My dad and I picked up my buffet on Friday morning. As I mentioned in a previous post, having it shipped to the store and picking it up saved me a $75 delivery fee. It is all set up and looks awesome!

13. I stayed in on Saturday night instead of going out to a bar to see a cover band with my friends. I was pretty tired and was looking forward to relaxing at home so that’s exactly what I did.

14. I listed about 8 items on ebay this week. I have a few more things to list in the next few days.

15. Submitted the reading on my water meter so I get an actual bill instead of an estimated one.

Sunday:   $4.00 On The Border

Monday: $57.87 Gas

Tuesday:  $7.00 Center Pizza

Wednesday:  No spend day

 Thursday:  $5.00 Moe’s

                     $24.33  S&S

                     $4.99   Shaws

Friday:  $1.71 Chipotle

Saturday:  $3.49 Michaels

                   $10.41 S&S

Railings: Before & After Shots

A few weeks back I mentioned that I had gone to Lowes to pick up some paint and supplies to paint my kitchen cabinets and counter tops. I ended up using some of the paint to do my railings over. I was inspired by this photo on pinterest....(Have I mentioned how much I love this site??)

I followed this tutorial. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, although it was a bit time consuming.

Here are the before & after shots:

BzzAgent: Dr. Oetker Ristorante Pizza

I’ve been a member of BzzAgent for about 3 years now, and over the years I’ve gotten to try out some really cool stuff. A few weeks ago, I was offered a spot in the Dr. Oetker Ristorante Pizza campaign and I gladly accepted. I received my Bzzkit a couple days ago. It contained 2 coupons to try these pizzas out for free and some coupons and magnet pads to hand out to friends.

There are six different varieties:

~Mozzarella

~Spinaci

~Funghi

~Quattro Formaggi

~Vegetale

~Speciale

I haven’t made it to a grocery store since I got my kit, so I haven’t tried them out yet. Has anyone else ever tried one? They look and sound delicious!

CVS 1/31/12

Reese’s Egg (Sun-Tues Only)  $.87   (earned .87 EB)

3 Hallmark cards@ .99 ea…..$2.98 (earned 3 EB)

1 Physicians Formula Foundation $15.49 - $3 peelie coupon…..$12.49  (earned 7 EB)

I used 13 EBs to pay and the remaining $4.47 was put on a gift card.

I earned 10.87 back in EBs and will submit a MIR for $14.95 for the makeup.

What I did to save money last week....

I don't know how much saving I actually did this week...it seemed like I did a lot of spending.

1.  Last Sunday I went to look at a buffet I had found online at West Elm. I loved it and decided to buy it. It was very expensive ($699 plus tax) but I’ve been searching for something for that odd space in my dining room ever since I bought the place in 2007. The dimensions are perfect and I’m looking forward to filling it up with stuff. They didn’t have any in stock, so I chose the “ship to store” option, which saved me $75 on shipping. I also opened up a West Elm credit card because for every $250 you spend, you earn $25 in design dollars. Once tax was added on, I was about $8 short of spending enough to get $75 worth of design dollars. I grabbed a white tray I had been eyeing for a grand total of $766.06.

2.  On Sunday I also stopped by Joann Fabrics to pick up some buttons so I could make a button monogram like this one I found on pinterest. I already have a frame, glue and scrapbooking paper for the back, so all I needed were the buttons.

3. I made a huge batch of macaroni and cheese using this recipe I found on pinterest. It didn’t really taste like Panera’s, but it was still really good. I brought some of this along with some salad to work each night for dinner.

4. Wednesday was one of my favorite coworkers last day at work. We ordered pizzas and went out for drinks at the end of the shift. I had a $3 coupon for the pizza which helped defray the cost a little bit.

5. I made some Oreo truffles using this recipe. I had been craving these for a while and used my coworker’s last day of work as an excuse to make them. I halved the recipe since there would only be about 6 of us. They’re so easy to make, and so so so yummy. I aready had the melting chocolate on hand and had picked up a bar of cream cheese and a package of mint oreos a few weeks ago while grocery shopping.

6.  I got all of my top cabinets sanded, primed, painted and hung back up this week. Now it’s on to the bottom cabinets and drawers. The rest of my house looks like a disaster during this process because all of the displaced kitchen items are everywhere.

7.  Saturday night one of my best friends had a little get together at her house and served pizzas and margaritas. I brought over two packages of mini cupcakes ($5.98) that I picked up at the grocery store on the way over. I spent the night catching up with a bunch of friends I hadn’t seen in a long time.

8.  My heat was kept at 62 degrees while I was sleeping and at work and at 64 degrees the rest of the time.

Sunday:   $37.33 S&S

                $766.06 West Elm

    $5.58 Joann Fabrics

Monday: No spend day

Tuesday: No spend day

Wednesday: $6.00 pizza

                     $12.00 beers

Thursday: $11.35 post office

Friday: No spend day

Saturday: $5.98 Shaw’s