Over the past little while, we've been looking for a new TV to put in our cozy little condo. After looking for a while, I found one that I really liked. A Magnavox 37" LCD HDTV. In fact here it is:

It isn't the biggest TV ever but it's big enough for our condo and fits in our entertainment center with only 1" to spare...plus it's High Definition. It was $999 but you got 10% off for applying for a Target card making it $899. Not too shabby I thought. The picture looked good, it sounded good, and I liked the style of it. The sign talking about the Target card said that you just had to apply for the card and that it did not need to be used for the purchase. We said that we had $100 in Target gift cards with us and that we'd take it. They rang it up and we handed them the gift cards. They scanned them through the computer. It popped up on the screen and said that the Gift Cards could not be used as the item was on Sale. Well that's a load of crap...gift cards are supposed to be as good as cash. Oh well, we handed them the credit card that we wanted to use for the purchase. They swiped it and it was rejected. Why? Because you had to use your Target card for the purchase. The advertisement was a misprint and the employee lied to us. He then stated that if we put it on our Target card, we could go directly over to Customer Service and pay off part of the card using our Gift Cards and use our Credit Card for the rest. We thought that sounded kind of fishy as no one let's you do that. They called over the store manage who verified that it could be done. It was a new policy to improve the experience of Target customers. We said ok, the store manager said that it was true. Upon purchasing the TV we went over to customer service and handed them the gift cards to put on the Target card. Oh wait, it really isn't possible. We told them that the store manager had verified that it was and they responded by telling us that it didn't matter, it was against Target policy. We then asked how we could pay for it then. Well Credit Card, Debit Card, Cash or Check. We hand them a Credit Card....oh wait, no you can't use a credit card. They then told us that it didn't matter because the card couldn't be paid off until a full month had passed on the purchase meaning that 24% interest would accrue, completely canceling out the 10% discount and a whole lot more. I was furious and they wouldn't talk to us anymore so I called the store manager from my cell phone. He stated that he couldn't do anything about it. In 20 minutes I was lied to a total of 9 times by 6 different Target employees including the store manager. He put it very clearly that he didn't care. I vowed to never return to the store and after returning the TV, getting a refund and closing the Target card I never will. Their purpose is to take your money and run. They don't have any customer service and I will not support a company like that.

In good news, I found the same TV online for $920 with Free Shipping and No Tax. It ended up being cheaper.

As an update to this story. We also had a DVD that was purchased from Target. We opened it and it was extremely scratched up and unplayable. My wife today went to exchange it. She was looking through her purse for the receipt when the person at Customer Service made the comment that maybe she stole the DVD if she couldn't find the receipt. Now they are accusing customers of stealing because they happened to leave a receipt at home?

I called the corporate office about it just now. The first person that I spoke with had heard of similar situations before and advanced me to a supervisor who then called me a liar and said that they didn't really care. They may not care about loosing a couple thousand dollars from me but hopefully others will stop shopping there as well.