Poll of the Day: Theft or Fraud committed by Hilfiger?
Last October my mother-in-law, visiting from Russia, bought me a $100 Tommy Hilfiger gift card from the College Square location for my birthday. Unfortunately, when I tried to use it for the first time months later the cashier told me that there was no money left on the card.
When I explained that it had been purchased for $100 and never used, she told me that wasn't what it looked like to her.
"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do for you. Would you like to pay cash, credit, or debit?", she asked.
When I asked to speak with a manager, David, regarding the matter, he took down the card number and my contact details and promised to look into the matter.
Weeks later, after I'd made a few unsuccessful calls to the store, he finally got back to me to confirm that the card had never been loaded at the time of purchase due to cashier error. He then asked me to provide a receipt, which we did not have so many months later. Thus, they required some information from my mother-in-law's credit card statement regarding the transaction.
Russian banks being what they are, we were not able to retrieve this information online. Therefore, once my mother-in-law had returned to Russia she went to her bank in person to retrieve the required info, all of which I sent to David the moment I had it.
David then assured me that the Hilfiger Head Office would find a resolution to the matter, and likely reload my card remotely.
Sadly, many weeks, phone calls, and emails later, the card remains at $0 and my mother-in-law's still short a $100 birthday gift.
David's response weeks later was to ask me again for the card number, only to respond that the Head Office had once again confirmed it had never been loaded in the first place and should be able to reload it remotely.
I responded as follows:
"Thanks David,
Although this is not news. You told me months ago that the card had never been loaded.
All I'm looking for is the credit my mother-in-law paid for back in October. Gotta say, I'm shocked that a company like Hilfiger is so slow to remedy such an error. As a small business manager myself, I would be far quicker to ensure that my customers get what they paid for.
To accept payment for goods/services, fail to provide said goods/services, put the onus on the customer to prove the transaction had ever taken place, and then have them wait weeks to receive what they are owed is a very strange practice. I would have expected far better customer service from a company Hilfiger's size.
If I don't have the $100 credit by week's end, I'll try to resolve the issue with the company myself.
Thanks,
Nate"
Yesterday I received a call from another woman from Hilfiger, who explained that while they could confirm all of the information I had provided, they could not act without an actual copy of the credit card statement. I explained that this was not only problematic due to the Russian banks lack of an online presence and the Cyrillic Script the statement would be written in, but also a ridiculously poor example of customer service since they had already admitted that the error was theirs and the money was not. She then told me she would explain the situation to the Head Office and get back to me the same day.
Of course, she never called back.
So, for anyone who's bothered to ready this to the end: Is this a case of theft or fraud on Tommy Hilfiger's part, since they have admitted their error, confirmed the transaction, and still refused to honour the credit?
Thank you for your response. Good night, and good luck.
Update:
YELP WORKS!
The same morning I posted this review on Yelp and Facebook, Tommy Hilfiger called to offer me the $100 gift card owed within hours after months of dragging their heels. Apply adequate pressure and justice may be done. read more
