You never know what you're losing out on if you don't ask.
My husband is the master of this - he asks for deals and discounts all the time on construction work and supplies he needs. He asks if he can get a break by paying cash. Most of the time it works. I'm not usually so brazen to ask for stuff like this.
But, I got $172 just by asking for it.I had two gift cards from Macy's that had expired, one in 2007 and the other sometime before then. I also had a credit slip from some returns I made in 2005. There is some back history here as to why I
let them expire. Let me explain.
After Katrina hit in 2005, we didn't have a Macy's until this year. So unless I traveled somewhere to use these credits before they expired, they were going to expire. I went into the new store a couple of weeks ago and was making a purchase with a very helpful, very nice woman. So I figured I'd ask her about my dilemma. She told me to call her back in a couple of days because she was going to find out if they could do anything for me.
A few days passed and I forgot about it, but recently I was in the store and ran into her again. I actually had the cards with me this time so I asked her about it again. She remembered me and immediately made some phone calls. The first one took less than a minute to reactivate with the automated service we called, and I was $21 "richer".
The second card was a little more tricky and required the associate to give her store number and ID etc, but the customer service rep reactivated it instantly. $75 richer.
I really didn't think the credit slip was going to fly. I mean, it was basically a receipt showing I had returned some items. It even said "not valid tender" or something of the sort on the bottom. But when I explained it, they knew right away it was valid. Apparently when I returned my items they didn't have the capabilities of giving credit via gift card. They gave you this receipt and your credit was in "Macy's la la land" somewhere in the computer. I am truly surprised I still had this paper over 4 years later, and that it was in one piece and legible. Their only challenge was to figure out how to force the computer to give it back to me as a gift card. $76 richer.
I'm not really sure how much the Katrina card played into getting my money credited. I mean, when I called the automated number and punched in my info, how did it know where I was? It asked a few questions and I punched in a few numbers, and voila. Either way, my point to you is that you really don't know what you're losing out on if you don't ask.
So ask for it!
