Babies: 3 - 6 Months
aimeemb06
member
Target- vent and warning, long
aimeemb06
member
So I shop at Target fairly often, once or twice a month, however we live about an hour and a half a way from the big city that has Targets, so it normally involves a day long trip, so we don't get up to that town but maybe once a week or every two weeks... That being said, I went last Sunday to a Target with my mom, somehow we lost his diaper bag there.. a big, faux-suede messenger bag by Carter's, don't ask me how we lost it... in the circus that is getting groceries, and baby in the car maybe... Idk, anyways, after we got home, I just assumed we had left it in my mom's car. So on Saturday my mom picked me up and I asked her where his bag was, and she said "oh yea, i know which one you're talking about, it's here." Load off our back right? I was so happy there was still a nice person out there who would return it! So we drive an hour and a half up there specifically to pick up the diaper bag. We get there, and no one can find it! We wait 20 minutes for them to walk to the back of the store and check there... nothing. I talk to a manager, tell her what happened and she tells me that their policy is to THROW away items after 7 days. So I tell her again, I called THIS morning and they said it was here, AND it hasn't been 7 days yet. All I get it a blank stare and "oh sorry". So I get the store manager, tell her the same thing, And I tell her the diaper bag itself is worth $40, in addition to all the things that were in the bag.. diapers, wipes, extra outfits, a nursing cover, pacifiers, burp clothes, and he had a little medallion with his initial on it. So all of that is an additional $20-$30 AT least, and since it was in their possession and they didn't follow their own policy, I wanted to be reimbursed for that amount or atleast the amount of the diaper bag. I got another blank, unapologetic stare from that store manager and an empty "im sorry, I can give you a $3 off coupon, possibly 10% off a new diaper bag"... SERIOUSLY? I wouldn't have cared if she gave me a gift card and walked around the store to get replacement items, even though most of it wasn't bought there. I called corporate and they took it as a complaint, and are forwarding it to their "report center", so another 30 minutes wasted tellling someone my story who has no power to fix the problem. So recap: Horrible customer service, no accountability or responsibility, AND instead of Target's policy being to at least DONATE items, they just throw stuff away, which means some employee probably has my sons diaper bag in their car right now.
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Re: Target- vent and warning, long
Wow - I feel frustrated for you! So sorry to hear. Ugh. I would write to Corporate.
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OMG -- I'm pretty sure I would've flipped a sh!t at all those Target employees. I've never really had good customer service with them either, though I've never had anything like that happen. And I want to let you know I feel your pain -- I used to live in Uvalde and had to drive an hour and a half to San Antonio...it sucked big time. It sucks because people at these stores have no clue what you mean when you say "I can't just come and pick it right up right now, I have to drive an hour to get there."
And YOU KNOW that as soon as they heard you were going to come pick it up "it was thrown out..." Ugh. I'm sorry this happened to you. I agree w/ PPs that you should call the BBB and call corp. over and over and over and over.........
My Chart
Ummmm, accidents happen. You've never accidentally left something somewhere??? And their policy is to throw it out after 7 days and it hadn't been yet AND she called that morning she went to go pick it up.
My Chart
I worked at Target, in guest services, and I'm not sure that throwing items away is a company policy. They actually should have a log where that information is kept (items found, if someone calls, etc) I know for a fact that many of the items that are damaged in the store get donated to somewhere.
Also, no retail store would allow you to take anything that is supposed to be going in the trash. That IS stealing and would be a serious issue from a management perspective.
I'm sorry they did that to you but the right thing was definitely calling corporate. I would even call again and ask for the actual store manager - sometimes the person you speak to is just the manager on duty.
I am sorry. I ran into this with one of DS's shoes. Our Target's policy is: on garbage day we throw out or donate anything that was turned into lost and found, depending on what it is. (They have entire bins of things that accumulates throughout the week. Almost none of which has any type of identifying information.) Which for us is a Monday. Since we went on a Monday to find his shoe, which was lost on Sunday, they think it was turned in but they threw it out.
While it sucks and is irritating, it isn't Target's responsibility to keep track of things that I lost or to hold onto it for a specific period of time. It would be nice, though, and much better customer service. But I don't feel that they owe us a shoe.
I am surprised, though, that when you called the customer service person didn't put it aside. I would be filing a complaint against that person, rather then against the entire chain.
(We left our diaper bag in a Kohls cart once, but it had our info on it so they called us as soon as they discovered it. Replacing an entire diaper bag costs well over $100.)
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to be over, it's about learning how to dance in the rain." -Unknown
Married 3-1-08 | Nathan 11-24-08 | Kaelyn 11-30-10 | Alicia 8-17-13
I would agree if they had not told her when she called that they had it. Having worked in customer service for a long time people do forget stuff pretty frequently. Usually wallets or keys, but if you tell the customer you DO have the item knowing that they have to drive an hour to get it, i think you damn well better still have it when they get there... now had she called and they said "no, I'm sorry we don't have it" that would be a different story.
You could try to call their customer service and ask for a supervisor in Minneapolis. I was SO frustrated with Target too after I never got my 10% discount for registering there. I called customer service a million times. I finally got a supervisor and she said when you call to ask them to transfer you to someone in Minneapolis because that's where the supervisors who can actually do something are located. I ended up getting my discount, a million apologies, and they sent me a $25 gift card for all the trouble.
I'm sorry they suck so much!! But maybe this will help!
I agree with you. It really sucks, but I don't think Target owes you anything.
A few years ago on Black Friday I was in a town about an hour away. I was shopping in Old Navy and went to a Target. When I got home I realized I left one of my Old Navy bags in my Target cart. I called Target and someone had turned the bag in. I went the next day to get it and everything was still there. If it wasn't, I would have been mad at myself, not Target.
QFT
I can certainly understand why you're frustrated about driving long-distance -- while responsible for a baby -- to pick up something that wasn't there.
However, I agree with PPs that this really isn't all about Target. First, you were the one that left your bag behind; it's not like a Target employee came and stole it from your cart. After all, you considered it lucky that someone turned it in. Second, you don't even know for sure whether the bag was actually there when you called and then thrown out/taken. It's entirely possible that whomever you talked to on the phone misunderstood, wasn't paying attention, saw another bag that wasn't yours, etc.
I agree with PP that if anything, you should be complaining about the person on the phone who told you the bag was there. That person either misled you or failed to set the bag aside so it would be waiting for you. But you were still the one who left the bag in the first place.
very true. target shouldn't be responsible for things people leave behind. but the fact that they told her that they did have the bag changes everything.
since they can't cough up the bag her anger is very justified. the employee who called her should be questioned and if management valued her as a customer they would be doing more than offering a 10% discount.
word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool, even for a company as big and popular as target.
here is some contact information for target:
Guest Relations and Quality Assurance
PO Box 9350
Minneapolis, MN 55440-9350
612-307-9800
Toll free: 1-800-440-0680
TTY: 1-800-755-5852
Fax: 612-307-8870
chairman, president,
and chief executive officer
via https://consumerist.com/company/target/
keep complaining to the 'higher ups' in the company...seriously! You should be getting compensated! The items in your bag, plus the bag itself are worth over a hundred bucks, PLUS the gas you wasted because they told you the bag was there and it wasn't! To boot, they didn't even follow their own procedure so they should be reprimanded.
I bought a patio set last summer. Well after 3 weeks, it rusted- all over my brand new $10,000 patio, and to add insult to injury, all over my maternity clothes. No one would do anything at the store level except give me my money back for the patio set which a start. So i complained to head office and they were decent about it. I took pictures and provided receipts where possible. Luckily, we were able to remove the rust with CLR and no damage to the brand new patio. I got all the money back for the clothes that were wrecked, plus the cleaning products and a little more.
I agree with all of this. Unless they have a video or some proof of a Target employee taking it, I kind of think it's ridiculous to expect any store to reimburse you for your personal property that you admittedly left behind. I would consider it an expensive lesson learned and be more careful in the future. And be glad your wallet/cell phone weren't in it.