Kohl's Schmoles

Let me share with you a little story. Way back at Thanksgiving, when we were visiting Jeremy’s family, I went shopping with Jeremy’s Mom and sister. We had scoped out the ads for the day after Thanksgiving and I set my sights on a Presto Cool Touch Griddle that was on sale for $9.99. Now, I didn’t really need a griddle, but that didn’t stop me from heading out with everyone to get my griddle. When I got to Kohl’s I found a huge stack of the griddles, grabbed one, and after looking around for a little bit longer, we headed for the checkout.

When I got to the front of the line, I found out that the griddles were only $9.99 after a $10 rebate. After I kindly pointed out to the checkout girl that the ad said nothing about a rebate, she commented that some of the ads run the day before had the rebate clause in there, but not all. Hmmm..seems a little shady to me. Maybe a bit of false advertising? Perhaps. I didn’t want to make a huge deal out of it, so I just made sure that I kept up with my receipt for rebate purposes.

3 days after Thanksgiving I mailed off my receipt, model numbers off the box, rebate form. Everything requested for my stupid ten dollar rebate. Then, on Tuesday of this week, 2 months after Thanksgiving, I got a letter back in the mail from Kohl’s with all my rebate stuff inside, saying that they could not process my rebate because “The cash register receipt you submitted does not indicate the correct item purchased, as indicted in the offer requirements.”

Let me just preface my next few paragraphs by saying that I am a nice person. I tip well. I hold doors open for strangers and little ladies. I always throw my trash away in trashcans, not on the side of the road. I always say “please” and “thank you”. I really try to be nice all the time. However, if Kohl’s was betting that they were going to keep my ten dollars because I wasn’t going to be hassled with dealing with this rebate situation, they should think again. No one is getting my ten dollars when it is MINE. Ten dollars may not seem like much, but to a family with a toddler, ten dollars means:

• ½ pack of diapers OR
• 2 huge boxes of Goldfish crackers OR
• 3 gallons of milk OR
• 5 Gerber Graduates meals

My list really could go on and on. So I will move on to my phone call with the Kohls rebate representative who might I say, was extremely rude and snarky. I will call her Gertrude because anyone that ugly over the phone has to have an equally bad name.

Gertrude: “This is Kohl’s rebate center. Can I help you?”

Me: "Hi. My name is Amy and I received a letter in the mail saying that you couldn't process my rebate request."

*long boring part where she gets my name and address

Gertrude: “What is your model number.”

Me: “There are several pieces that I cut off the box that have numbers. I am going to tell you all three of the numbers.” *me telling her the numbers

Gertrude: * in a very snappy tone “None of those numbers are in this rebate. Do you not have the box there in front of you?”

Me: *Biting a small piece of my tongue off to keep from yelling at her “Mam. I’m at work right now. And believe it or not, I didn’t bring my Presto griddle to work with me today.”

Gertrude: “Maybe you should just call back when you have your model number.”

Me: “No mam. I am taking care of this today. I have my receipt and it says Griddle1234567. My model numbers off my piece of the box also say Griddle1234567.”

Gertrude: “They can put anything they want on those receipts.”

*This went on for 5 more minutes before I finally convinced her that I was telling the truth and that I was the proud owner of a Presto griddle. After that was established, her tone was considerably friendlier and she was so helpful. Shocker there huh???

Jeremy always says that he doesn’t want to get on my bad side. I promise that most of the time, my bark is worse than my bite, but I just can’t stand being taken advantage of. Gertrude better be glad she didn’t mess with me when I was pregnant. I was a hot mess then!! I wonder how many people out there shopped at Kohl’s, filled out their rebates correctly, and Kohl’s is just betting that they won’t take the time to resubmit their rebate. So if anyone out there needs help getting a backbone when dealing with corporate America, give me a call, and I would be happy to share some of mine.