Rite-Aid Haul This Week & Rite-Aid Woes(Rant)

 First the haul, done on two cards and using the $10 off wyb $50 coupon.........

Everything from the Airwick warmer to the right was one transaction.

I spent $33.55 between Bonus Cash and gift cards and earned back $34 in new BC(the Nexxus is double dipping for a monthly deal and a weekly deal).  I also submitted the Revlon eye palette to Ibotta and got $3 in rebates back on that.

So the other 3 Nexxus, the 2 hair colors(on clearance)and the 4 Baby Ruth bars were my other card's transaction.  I spent $35.81 in BC and gift cards on that transaction and earned back $38 in new BC.

I also earned $2.00 in Swag Bucks for buying the Baby Ruths.

Rah.

Now the difficulties..............

I had a $5/2 Clairol IPQ which refused to come off saying no matching item but clearly there were TWO matching items.  The shift manager said to put in the higher of the two clearance prices for those hair colors for the price and the register took the Q....and cheated me out of .61¢ on that transaction.  My total "should" have been .61¢ lower than $35.81 or $35.20.

But that .61¢ gip is the least of my Rite-Aid problems right now.

I had amassed 12 R-A gift cards in 2021 from various promotions, most of them $50 in value and a couple worth $60.

Lately in 2022, I've been attempting to spend them and 9 times out of 10 when I slide them/scan them they don't work saying, "Bad Card Read, Try Again."  And no matter how many times I try swiping them I still get that message.  Some times a gift card will work once or perhaps twice if I don't spend the whole thing the first time and then that gift card will no longer scan.  And usually if it's not a manager working the register the cashier just looks at me like a deer in the headlights and says, "Your card doesn't work.  You have to pay another way."

Well....DUH!  You work here, you figure out what to do!!  It's ultimately MY problem, but come on Rite-Aid, FIX YOUR  DAMN GIFT CARDS!!!

Last week was the final straw when I went to a R-A in my regular rotation and pulled out a not been used before R-A gift card and I got the "bad card read, try again" message.  So I pulled out my phone and called R-A to get the balance on the card, which was $50 as expected.  We then transferred to Customer Service and the cashier transferred my $50 balance onto a new gift card and I attempted to swipe it with the CS person still on the line and it gave the "bad card read" message wouldn't work.  So the cashier took a new R-A off the rack and transferred and again, transfer the $50 onto this different gift card.  I tried to swipe that one, it beeped like it was going through, the cashier hit her button and she got the message, "This card is expired."

WTF?!?!

If you know Rite-Aid you know that THEIR GIFT CARDS NEVER EXPIRE!!!

WTF WTF WTF??

At this point the CS person had hung up on us(I think she was feeling overwhelmed by the situation and couldn't handle it anymore).  So I called back and had to go through everything so far with a new victim

CS person. So the shift manager came up and she grabbed another new gift card off the rack and AGAIN transferred that $50 onto yet another gift card.  While this was going on the first CS person called back on the other R-A phone line.  I tried the THIRD new gift card, it beeped but said the card was expired again when the cashier hit the register button.  The first CS person got in touch with the accounting dept. and they said the gift cards this store was sent were bad and to pull them all off the shelf.  I got on the line and said, "So what do I do now?  I have $50 held hostage on an "expired" gift card and I can't use it!!  CS person said I can put that $50 on your Wellness card as Bonus Cash to which I said no way!  BC expires in 30 days and I may not want to use it all within 30 days, I want my money!   She said she can't send me my money back and I'd have to go  to another R-A with working gift cards and have that $50 transferred onto a fourth gift card! (And hope that one worked correctly I might add.)

So on Tuesday I went to my R-A with a handful of non working gift cards(plus my "expired" gift card)and had the Asst. Manager transfer all of them onto new cards.  Corporate wouldn't let her transfer the funds off the "expired" gift card.  Instead they wanted my name and mailing address and phone number and they are going to send me a new gift card in the mail for that one.  And I am not holding my breathe on that!!

So on Wednesday when I went to another R-A in my rotation and bought the Nexxus, the hair coloring and candy bars I used Bonus Cash on that card, $4.30 on a working card I had used before that was STILL working, then I tried one of the new transferred "supposedly working" gift cards and it beeped and but showed it was expired! 

WTF!?@#%$%$&@$@#%^

So I tried a different card and the last $6.51 went through.

Now I have 4 gift cards that "supposedly" work, 1 that is expired and another one that was expired that Corporate is replacing via the mail.

I must say that dealing with this situation has been a clsterf%ck for me and stresssful not knowing if my gift card will work at the register for months now.  And being someone with a chronic condition where I need to avoid stress in order not to have it flare up this is not a good situation.

We are looking to move in the next year or two and one of my criteria was to move to an area of the country that has Rite-Aid drugstores.

After this stressful  adventure that criteria is no longer on the table!  Once these gift cards are spent(IF I CAN SPEND THEM!)I will think long and hard before I shop at Rite-Aid drugstores again and you can bet I will NEVER buy another RITE-AID GIFT CARDS AS LONG AS I LIVE!!!

You earn your credibility with your customers by fixing your mistakes, not by making situations worse for your customers.  The way this situation has played out has driven away one of your loyal customers.

Do something Rite-Aid.  Don't keep giving me gift cards that don't work.

FIX IT!!!

Fed Up

Sluggy