Got a gift card to Academy for Christmas. Made the 22mi round trip there tonight. Grabbed the last pair of insulated coveralls in my size. Went to pay. Their giftcard system is down. I asked if I could leave the card and have them run a credit card slip so they could run it when it was working again. No. Asked if I could write a check for the full amount and they could tear it up when the card went through. No. Asked if I could get a refund on the gift card. No. Asked what my options were since I had a worthless piece of plastic. They said I could order on-line when the system was back up. Free shipping I asked? No. They said they would hold the items till tomorrow. I can't go tomorrow, but I asked if they were sure the giftcard system would be working then. No.

So they already have the money and to spend it I have to keep going back, wasting my time, burning my gas. Worthless.

Uh, pay with cash or credit card and spend the gift card later?

I got to stick with academy on this one....

So the answer is to just buy more stuff?

I wish I could run my business this way. Take folks money and then tell them they can't have anything for it.

That's unfortunate. Unless you shop there often, I understand you position. Why spend your money when you have a gift card. I understand their position as well, not being able to verify your card. No win for anybody.

Sometimes systems go down buddy. It sucks for you that it happened but their hands were tied so to speak.

Tough situation for both parties. Academy runs on super thin margins and can't afford to do much in this case besides wait for their systems to come back online. I feel for the OP, but this stuff happens more times with more retailers than most think. How many times has retailers posted wrong sale prices on items and then not honor them? I have seen it 3 times this year alone online.

Sorry it happened to you. You can wait until they run a free shipping ad and then spend your card?

Seams more like a $#!+ happens situation. Inconvenient, but not really that big of a deal.

Guessing you won't be a repeat customer.

No in the grand scheme of life it was no big deal. I think what they couldve done was offer free shipping if I ordered it but I also tried to offer 2 other alternatives that would have cost them nothing.

Scanners in all stores routinely ring up high and/or fail to register sales prices.Have you EVER seen an item ring up LESS than the stated price? I have not. It's an intentional attempt to rip customers off. Period.

OP just a bad situation. Sorry it happened.

Happened to me at Walmart a few days ago. T-shirt Tags and rack clearly said 9.99$,but thy rang up as 8.47$. I mentioned it to the Cashier, and she said if I wanted she could charge me 9.99.

Then you need to change your business model.

It's called customer service. And in this day and age, a computer tells them how to give customer service. It truly is unfortunate for you, but this seems to be the world in which we live these days. 15-20 years ago, I would be willing to bet, a manager would have gladly worked with you and probably even accepted one of your offers, but they are instructed not to do so anymore. Sucks tho, hate it happened to ya.

And people want to sell their gift cards ??? Now I know why.

I understand both positions...........I got an academy gift card for $80 from my parents for Christmas, went to academy to buy a new target for my bow. the yellowjacket target was listed for $77 so I figured hey...............just right.
went to pay, handed them my card and the cashier said you have a $2.88 balance on the card. ??????????
I said, no way, I just got it yesterday for Christmas, here is the receipt that says it is an $80 card.
no sir, you have a $2.88 balance.........whatever, I want the target so here, take my bank card, ill argue with someone else tomorrow, I just want to go home.
my wife got on the phone with academy the next day to find out what the balance is (my mom is nuttier than a fruitcake at times and it is conceivable she gave me an old card...lol)
Academy tells my wife that the card balance is $77.12....go figure
told academy what happened and found out that its just my bad luck there is nothing they can do

its just what you get when they hire uneducated minimum wagers I guess instead of somebody who actually knows what buttons to push on their cash registers..........or maybe it is actually rocket science that they are dealing with

I guess in hindsight I could've paid for the stuff with cash and then got the reciept from my family member that bought the card and returned it some other time. It still would've required a return trip to the store. Frankly the only things I really buy at Academy anymore are their brands of clothing and sometimes shoes. I've found I can get most stuff on-line with free shipping or at their competitors with less hassle and cheaper. Academy does have competitive prices, but usually only when the items are on sale and then they typically don't have any in stock. I understand they operate on slim profit margins but losing customers isn't a great plan in retail.

I agree the most disappointing thing was how the "manager" wasn't empowered to do anything. I wasn't asking for anything free and I don't think I was being unreasonable.

Pegasaurus: I was never good enough with numbers to be a banker.

I'll give you .50 on the dollar for it.

I have had stuff ring up less than the marked price several times. It also happens daily at the retail store I work at. No store that I am aware of would ever intentionally state a sale price and then try to have it ring up at a higher price just to "rip customers off." That would be a great way to go out of business.

I bought a few things at academy yesterday that rung up for less than marked. They honored the lesser price.