Evelyn here,
What - A - Day! I have spent the better part of the day loafing around the house and watching television programs that I recorded earlier this week. When I finally got up and out of the house to buy a few things from the store, I was feeling great and the day was beauty. I purchased a few things to eat from a grocery store and a prepaid phone card from a local drugstore. The name of the drugstore is not important, but what occurred there is important.
The problem arose with the prepaid phone. After I got home, I called the standard prepaid number on the receipt and keyed in the prepaid pin number. I received the message that the card was invalid. I thought that I had keyed it in wrong so I tried again and I got the same message. Frustrated, I called again and this time got a service rep from the mobile phone company that issues the cards. The service rep told me that the card had already been activated and to return it.
I called the drugstore and told the manager what happened and he appeared to want to help me during the call. However, when I got to the store, and he went through the same steps that I did and got the same invalid message, he then talk to someone else in his company who also talked to me. This someone else told me that the drugstore was not responsible for the card once the customer purchased. This I knew was not true.
Well, I told the drugstore’s service rep and the store's manager that the mobile phone company said that the drugstore was responsible to honor my receipt and correct the problem. I also told them that I was not leaving the store without a refund for the invalid phone card or an exchange for a valid phone card that I could use with my cell phone account.
They did not want to help me, and I was not going to leave the drugstore until they made the situation right. After all, they were asking me to throw away $50.00, which was the cost of the prepaid phone card, and to ignore the fact that they were responsible the situation because they sold me the bad card. My inner most feelings on their attitudes I do not think I have to express to you.
The drugstore managers left before solving the problem, but not before telling his employee not to honor my receipt. In fact, he did not even want to let me use the store’s phone the try to call the mobile phone rep. I asked him several times before he allowed me. Buyers Beware! My guest is that they wanted me to believe that it was the phone company problem when, in fact, it was the drugstore’s problem, but they never tried to look any further into it. This is what a customer would normally expect and deserves to happen when they purchase a falsity product. Still, I was not leaving that drugstore until they honored that purchase.
I called the mobile phone company again and finally got through to a service rep and she went through the same steps as we all had and she got the same invalid message. However, she checked further in her records to see exactly why that prepaid card was invalid. As it turned out the card had been activated and the purchase amount added to another cell phone account two months prior to my purchasing it.
Well that helped me, but the drugstore employee was still trying to follow his manager's orders or as the two of them told me “store policy”. Sorry, but that just was not going to wash with me nor was the mobile phone company letting them off the hook especially when the she was sitting on the other end with the facts on that prepaid card. Finally, she spoke with the drugstore’s employee and told him the truth about the card and that the drugstore was responsible selling me a bad prepaid card. The mobile phone rep informed him that he did need to either give me a refund or provide me with a usable phone card.
It took some time on all ends the conversation, but finally the employee use his own judgment and provided me with another prepaid card. The mobile phone rep was still on the line and after I gave her the new card’s pin number, she transferred the prepaid amount of time to my cell phone account. I love that woman. I thanked her for her wonderful help and for seeing me through the whole situation.
This is an actual event and all I have to say to buyer of prepaid phone cards is to beware if you purchase a bad one. Stand you ground if the store where you purchase it does not want to honor it. However, the thing best to do is refill you cell phone there in the store of purchase, so that if a problem does occur it will be handled before you leave. Also, keep it your receipt should you have to leave the store.
In addition, I think that drugstore should suggest a revision in their policy for prepaid phone cards to their corporation policy makers. The revised policy should reflect and uphold evident that tells them that they are responsible for honoring the customer’s receipt and acknowledge when a customer is right. The way they presented their policy to me made them look very unscrupulous. I will not be buying any more prepaid phone cards from them.
Once again, "BUYERS BEWARE!"
