Now, Then & Again

Review: On 05/11/2013 I purchased a $50.00 gift card for my mother from The Mercantile, A.K.A. Olde Salem Mercantile. In August, my mother attempted to use the gift card but was told that the business had changed hands and the card would not be accepted. She paid for the purchase herself. The male behind the counter said he did not know that there were any gift cards still outstanding from the prior owner, but he would call the prior owner and get back with my mother. My mother did not hear from him and stopped in again a few weeks later. The same man gave her the same story again, and said the prior owner did not call him back. He took my mother's name and phone information again; she has not heard anything. I took the gift card to the store on October 24th. The lady at the counter, [redacted], said she would be fired if she honored the gift card. She told me that I would have to come to the store on Sunday after 1 P.M. and speak with the owner, [redacted], to discuss the matter. I asked if [redacted] could just give Ms. [redacted] my info and ask her to call me, and my request was refused. I asked if there was a number where I could call Ms. [redacted] or if we could call her right then; this was refused as well.The sign over the door still reads The Mercantile and the phone number is the same as always. Yet I heard [redacted] answer the phone as Now, Then & Again.It seems misleading to keep The Mercantile over the door but then refuse to honor a Mercantile gift card, especially from customers who have given their business to this shop for several years.Desired Settlement: At this point, I just want a $50.00 refund. The service is clearly very poor, and we have gotten the run around too many times to want to deal with this business any further.

Business

Response:

We were most concerned to receive your notification of this

issue from a customer at Now Then and Again and the matter in which it was

handled. Here at Now Then and Again we

aim to give our customers a professional level of customer service to our

customers and I would like to state that on this occasion the level of service that

was given was unacceptable. Although we had no obligation to honor the gift

certificates, it wasn’t followed up with the previous owner properly.

In July 2013 we took over the space and the business concept

of the former Salem Mercantile, we received no business records and where told

that there were no outstanding gift certificates from the Salem Mercantile. But

we have found out since that there are gift certificate out there and have contacted

the previous owner and made arrangements on handling them from here on out.

Since receiving this notification we have contacted the

customer in question to resolve this issue, and have decided to honor the gift

certificate from the Salem Mercantile. Mrs. [redacted] and her mother have since

come in and used the gift certificate and was very pleased that the issue was

taken care of to their satisfaction and stated that they will be back to shop

with us.

Sincerely

Now Then and Again

([redacted]

Consumer

Response:

The response is correct. Thank you so much for helping us to resolve this,

Regards,