A Matter of $80
This is not a review of the entire store (it's a nice store with some reasonably priced items and some ridiculously overpriced).
No, this is a review of JASON, the store manager as of 4/29/18. I will try to be polite-ish here, for constructive-ish purposes.
Long story short: Jason held us hostage at Goodwill for an hour, not permitting us to leave, and then threatened to call the police if we didn't leave. Confused? So were we. I just got off the phone with my bank, and have confirmed that his actions were not only confusing, and an egregious example of customer service, they were also illegal.
Long story less short:
Didn't have enough money in bank to cover $220 purchase (went a little nuts at the 1/2 price sale). But Instead of declining my card, Goodwill knew the balance of my checking account and took what I had left, to the penny, $150.84 of the $230 total, immediately out of my bank account. I didn't think much of it at first, and was like, "My bad," and said that I'd need to take $80 of the stuff off. Jason said he couldn't because we were in the middle of a sale. I was like, if we're in the middle of the sale why did you already take the money out of my account without giving me a receipt or the merchandise? He said because I authorized the purchase. I said, I authorized the full amount, not a fraction of it, so why did you take some it of instead of declining the transaction? He repeated, "Because you authorized it, and, several times, loudly, said, "but DID NOT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT TO COVER THE $230" (more on this later).
I said, okay, so I'll take the $150 worth of stuff and just go. He said I couldn't, and that my girlfriend would have to stay there while I went to find the other $80. I did exactly as Jason ordered. My girlfriend stayed at the register chatting with Jon, who again was cool, while I frantically tried to come up with $80. Amid trying to solve the problem, my girlfriend tells me Jason has now given us 20 minutes to resolve the situation or he was calling the police. I was like, "Wait, what? I thought he was demanding that we stay?" If we left, we would be abandoning a debt/paid-for merchandise--that alone breaks my brain--and if we stayed we would be "holding up their line."
So, I had paid $150 and could not take any merchandise that I had paid for because in Jason's mind I owned 65% of all the merchandise and Goodwill owned 35%. Jason absolutely refused to take $80 of merchandise off the ticket, even though the ticket had yet to be completed. The only option the all-powerful Jason had for me was to return the $150 worth of items I never possessed, and it could take several days for me to get my funds back. So he (He?) wanted me to leave the store with no merchandise and the last $150 gone from my bank account for 3+ days o_O.
I told Jason I was fine with cash back and no merchandise. I was fine with taking only $150 worth of merchandise. I was fine with taking $150 worth of merchandise and coming back to pay for the $80. I was fine with suspending the ticket as a layaway, and coming back to pay for the entire purchase by the end of that day.
Jason said no to everything. On principle, it seemed. He was NOT to be trifled with by us . . . card users. When I asked why, he said "I can't." And when I asked why he couldn't, he said, "I won't." And when I asked why he wouldn't, he said "I can't!" He repeated the same point: "You don't have money in your bank account. You don't have the funds." I'm like, "Duh. No crap dude. The issue is you took my money and will not give me what I bought." What do you think he said in reply? You guessed it. "You don't have the money in your account." When I challenged him with valid concerns, he said he's not going to argue with me. He wasn't arguing; he was repeating statements. Restatements do not factor into logic, so the clear implication was, "I will not respond to valid concerns, even though I'm literally holding you here against your will under implicit legal threat."
And he illegally violated my privacy by announcing information about my bank account several times in front of multiple customers and employees.
I am tempted to end with, "You suck, Jason." But I wouldn't go through all this just to call someone names. A much more important statement:
You treated us like crap, Jason. You made us feel like criminals over a debit card conflict with your system. We are poor, clothes-shopping for our families at a sale, and you tried use that to publically bully us into complying with a financial transaction that would be flagrantly harmful. And your ego was the only thing on your side. And what makes this particularly bad: you work at Goodwill. Maybe you should separate those two words of your company name and take away the LLC, and read it again?
Jason, I'll happily remove this post if you issue a public apology: here or at least to your employees. I'll ask next time I'm in the store. I'll bring cash. read more