Shoppe Smitten

I need to formally respond and apologize to this complaint.
First, I am sorry that this customer's contact information was misplaced (by myself) as it was written on a small note from our employee (who was filling-in for us on a Saturday and not a regular employee who is "in the know" on the history of things such as gift cards). I am sorry that I misplaced it and had no way of then following up with this customer.

We at ALL times want to give the customer the benefit of the doubt and make things right. We do NOT steal and in ALL things want to do to others as we would want them to do to us. This whole message brings me to tears and hurts my heart.
I understand this customer's disappointment.

I did accept the phone call from our employee about the customer wanting to use the gift card. I was on the sidelines at my son's soccer game so I sent over a quick response. I am sorry that I wasn't there personally to honor this for you in the moment. I always want to keep customers happy and go above and beyond to make things right.
I actually laughed to myself when I saw the image of the blue gift card because it was from our operating system five years ago. It was like a blast from the past. It doesn't have our business name on it (it was a generic gift card we used from the Square platform as a start-up business). We have since switched systems twice and changed ownership roles.

To clarify, when we receive gift cards we actually don't receive the money either until the card is redeemed, so in this case we both lose, as Square received the money 5 years ago and it would have been taken as a loss to us. I laughed because I merely thought it was an old customer hoping to cash in on something old they found. We had no way of checking the balance on it. I have old gift cards and when I know it's my fault for not redeeming them sooner, I always proceed with understanding if I have waited too long and if I am out of luck. I thought it was a lighthearted attempt at using an outdated card. I have no understanding of the law about five years, but I will look into that. I am not sure how businesses track that with changing of systems, but I will definitely research it.

I also do want to point out that we recently were thanked by many people because for about 3 months we issued statements about our previous pink gift cards and making sure customers come redeem them in time or cash them in for a new card. We did NOT want people to be blindsided or left in the dark, so we took to our social media accounts the best we could, and ate the fees, for three months, to make sure that we honored all that we could for our customers.

From what I understood, there was $25 to your knowledge on the card. Since we are a business known for our giving, I would like to respectfully double your store credit and offer you $50 to spend in our store. It saddens me that you would want to spread such a negative reputation to our community over a small gift card, and immediately assume the worst over a single transaction. Even though a part of me is shocked at this reaction, I want to go the extra mile and hopefully reverse your opinion of us. Small businesses are the heart beat of the community, and I know that we have really played a large role in the vitality of downtown Springboro over the past 5 years. Again, I am sincerely sorry for this misunderstanding and I hope that this makes it right.
I will issue a notice to our employees about your credit, and hope that you accept it. I will also see if there is a way to immediately have it emailed to you. I will attempt that now. Thank you-
Leslie M

I need to formally respond and apologize to this complaint.
First, I am sorry that this customer's contact information was misplaced (by myself) as it was written on a small note from our employee (who was filling-in for us on a Saturday and not a regular employee who is "in the know" on the history of things such as gift cards). I am sorry that I misplaced it and had no way of then following up with this customer.

We at ALL times want to give the customer the benefit of the doubt and make things right. We do NOT steal and in ALL things want to do to others as we would want them to do to us. This whole message brings me to tears and hurts my heart.
I understand this customer's disappointment.

I did accept the phone call from our employee about the customer wanting to use the gift card. I was on the sidelines at my son's soccer game so I sent over a quick response. I am sorry that I wasn't there personally to honor this for you in the moment. I always want to keep customers happy and go above and beyond to make things right.
I actually laughed to myself when I saw the image of the blue gift card because it was from our operating system five years ago. It was like a blast from the past. It doesn't have our business name on it (it was a generic gift card we used from the Square platform as a start-up business). We have since switched systems twice and changed ownership roles.

To clarify, when we receive gift cards we actually don't receive the money either until the card is redeemed, so in this case we both lose, as Square received the money 5 years ago and it would have been taken as a loss to us. I laughed because I merely thought it was an old customer hoping to cash in on something old they found. We had no way of checking the balance on it. I have old gift cards and when I know it's my fault for not redeeming them sooner, I always proceed with understanding if I have waited too long and if I am out of luck. I thought it was a lighthearted attempt at using an outdated card. I have no understanding of the law about five years, but I will look into that. I am not sure how businesses track that with changing of systems, but I will definitely research it.

I also do want to point out that we recently were thanked by many people because for about 3 months we issued statements about our previous pink gift cards and making sure customers come redeem them in time or cash them in for a new card. We did NOT want people to be blindsided or left in the dark, so we took to our social media accounts the best we could, and ate the fees, for three months, to make sure that we honored all that we could for our customers.

From what I understood, there was $25 to your knowledge on the card. Since we are a business known for our giving, I would like to respectfully double your store credit and offer you $50 to spend in our store. It saddens me that you would want to spread such a negative reputation to our community over a small gift card, and immediately assume the worst over a single transaction. Even though a part of me is shocked at this reaction, I want to go the extra mile and hopefully reverse your opinion of us. Small businesses are the heart beat of the community, and I know that we have really played a large role in the vitality of downtown Springboro over the past 5 years. Again, I am sincerely sorry for this misunderstanding and I hope that this makes it right.
I will issue a notice to our employees about your credit, and hope that you accept it. I will also see if there is a way to immediately have it emailed to you. I will attempt that now. Thank you-
Leslie Moss