Worker Bees Blog

It's the holiday season, and like lots of people this is the one time of the year that I do a lot of shopping. And like lots of people I'm increasingly doing as much of my shopping online as I possibly can.

Today I tried to buy my S.O. a bunch of jeans and tees form The Gap. Nothing fancy...it's his software developer uniform, and his collection is getting a bit worn and frayed around the edge. I'll be honest: I'm 44 years old, and I don't shop for myself at The Gap anymore. BUt I do have a Gap Card, which at one time I used semi-regularly.

And they are happy to end me marketing emails every other week, you can be sure of that.

But today I discovered that because I hadn't used my card in 2 years as of October 2008, they closed my account. I discovered that because when I tried to check out using my account information, they couldn't process it.

I called and spoke to someone, and she confirmed that they had closed my account less than 2 months ago. She claims they would have sent a letter informing me. It could be true. I don't recall receiving such a letter (and October isn't that long ago) but even if they did send such a letter it was to inform me they had closed my account, not to ask me if I wanted to keep my account open.

She said i could re-apply for a card. I asked, "can't we just re-open this existing account? None of my information has changed."

No, no we couldn't. I'd have to re-apply.

As I told her: I have lots of credit cards, and in fact: There are lots of places I can buy jeans and tees.

So I cut up the Gap Card I still had been carrying, and I closed by browser window, abandoning a cart with almost $200 worth of jeans and tees in it, and I decided that I had really and truly outgrown The Gap.

Hey, I get why they'd be concerned about me not shopping in two years. But they basically ensured I will never shop there in the next two years...or ever...by deciding I didn't shop often enough to be their customer.

Alls I'm saying: These are tough times for retailers, and I just don't see how they can afford to cut customers off, customers who have a long, clean history of purchasing and paying.

Meanwhile, I ran my free credit reports recently ad discovered that some stores I had cards for when I lived in NYC (18 years ago now) still consider my account open and in good standing. I guess they are ever hopeful I'll return. And honestly, knowing they feel that way makes it just a tiny bit more likely I'll stop in their store next time I'm in NYC.

But The Gap, with an outpost in every mall in every city I ever might visit? I'm done there.

Labels: customer support, Stupid Company Tricks, The Gap