[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
It is factually incorrectGeneral Counsel for the business claims that employees are trained not to induce customers into purchasing a gift card with promising specific servicesThe gift card contains the remark "For 1/hour Sport Massage" on the gift cardAs such, the inducement was not only verbal but in writingThere is zero dispute about this factAny statement to the contrary is conclusively dis-proven and perpetuation of an untruthNotwithstanding, his eloquent response, it is factually incorrectThe gift card was sold by the company's employee and bought by my friend with a specific service in mind. Further, General Counsel's response makes it seem like I am requesting a refund without any evidence of the purchaseThe gift card is in my possession and was shown to the employee at the store when I tried to redeem itThe employee looked up the purchase and confirmed the amount and purchase as accurateSo any insinuation that I am asking for something that I would not be entitled to is completely inaccurate. Lastly, if General Counsel would receive a voucher for car parts and the underwriter of the gift certificate later changed its policies to only selling boat parts for which he has no use because he does not possess a boat he would certainly object to such kind of treatment as it has the same effect as taking somebody's money without any consideration in returnAny repeated response to a complaint that only offers the same solution "Just buy from our small assortment of other products that you do not need and do not want" is not a solutionIt is an insult and refusal of customer service and lack of business decency masquerading under responsiveness.
I have to admit, I have never seen such level of greediness in a business contextAfter offering to return the USDgift card for a USDcash refund giving effectively a 20% net profit margin to the store General Counsel still refuses any kind of compromise - somehow assuming I will get tired of this issue and as their small assortment is of no interest to me will not redeem the card so that they can book the entire USDprofitIt is disappointing that a store that advertises "wholesomeness" and "harmonious living" is so far removed from any of those principles.
Regards,
*** ***
| submitted a response to complaint ID [redacted] online, but I am faxing a copy to ensure it is delivered to your attention. Thank you, and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or require additional supporting material for the response.Sincerely,General Counsel and Director of...
Operations Response to Revdex.com complaint #[redacted] by Michael FegeleinMr. Fegelein has a $60 gift card that we are happy to honor for Tranquil Space products or services. Our gift card policies are that they are sold for a set value and may be redeemed for equivalent cash value for products and services available at the time of redemption. Gift cards are not sold as a proxy for specific goods or services and they are non-refundable and not redeemable for cash.In October 2015, Mr. Fegelein came to Tranquil Space and asked us to redeem the card for a massage. Unfortunately, we haven't offered massage services since 2011. Since we couldn't offer him a massage he asked for a cash refund. We told him our gift card policy doesn't allow for redeeming his card for cash, but that he could use his card for $60 in any current products or services. Mr. Fegelein was not happy with this, so we tried to resolve this over the course of the last several months. Mr. Fegelein has insisted on receiving a massage or cash. We've offered full value for his gift card in several ways. He's responded by filing a complaint here.Mr. Fegelein's complaint leaves out a few critical facts and contains a few claims that bear scrutiny:- Mr. Fegelein says the item purchased was a "gift card for a massage" but it was a gift card for $60. All Tranquil Space gift cards are sold for dollar amounts, never for specific products or services. Our staff is trained on this point. Even if someone wanted to purchase a gift card for a specific product or service, they would be told that gift cards are for dollar value only, plus our online sales system only allows gift cards to be assigned a dollar value, not a product or service. - Mr. Fegelein says the card was purchased on May 9, 2012 to a friend who was "induced lintol buying a massage.” Our spa and massage services ended on October 31, 2011 and this was publicly announced September 27, 2011. (see http://blog.tranquilspace.com/ 2011/09/the-spa-at-tranquil-space.html). Either his gift card is much older than he represents or his friend couldn't have purchased it believing Tranquil Space offered massages. We're happy to honor the gift card for its S60 value no matter when it was purchased. The precise date of that is still a mystery because of the next point. - Mr Fegelein's gift card number does not show up in our system. Neither does his friend's record of purchase. That's unusual, and that set of facts tends to indicate a card was taken without being activated or has already been redeemed. We don't know if either of these things happened, so we're happy to redeem the card based on what was written on the envelope. - Mr. Fegelein states that the problem occurred on May 7, 2013. This isn't true. The first time I'm aware that Mr. Fegelein contacted us about his gift card was October 2015. - Mr. Fegelein claims that we have limited use of his gift card for purchase of men's clothes because he speculates that we believe by limiting his gift card use to a "quite limited" supply of "male clothes" that he will abandon his attempts to redeem the card's value. Nobody at Tranquil Space believes that and nobody suggested that. Tranquil Space would be very happy to redeem $60 in products or services amongst our entire current line of offerings for Mr. Fegelein. l reiterated this several times via email with him. - Mr. Fegelein states we corresponded with him for months "without any attempt... to offer any resolution." This is not true. I personally tried to find a massage therapist as a special service just for Mr. Fegelein, but was unable to make it work. Mr. Fegelein is aware of this as we communicated about it via email. We also have made several exceptions for him, most notably honoring a card that doesn't appear in our system. We've attempted to resolve this for months.I'm disappointed we've left Mr. Fegelein dissatisfied, but I know everyone at Tranquil Space treated him fairly and with polite respect, even when that wasn't always reciprocated. His gift card was sold for $60 and remains available for him to redeem for $60 of anything we offer, including yoga classes, meditation workshops, mindfulness-based stress reduction series, candles, clothing, and much more.Submitted March 3, 2016Tim Mooney General Counsel and Director of Operations
I’m afraid we fundamentally disagree on what complainant’s friend purchased five years ago. We sold a gift card worth a dollar value in credit at the studio, but the complainant thinks this gift card was sold to his friend for a very specific service Tranquil Space hasn’t offered in 5 years. He insists that he’s correct, but I know we’ve only sold gift cards worth cash equivalent credit for as long as we’ve sold gift cards. I understand the envelope to the gift card included a mention of a sports massage. As a courtesy, we provide these envelopes and let the purchaser write what they would like on them. I do not know who wrote “sports massage" on the envelope that the complainant’s friend bought. I do know that our gift cards can only be encoded with a cash value, and never a specific product or service. That specific point is always mentioned to gift card purchasers. Tranquil Space isn’t in the business of trying to pull anything over on anyone nor are we “greedy." We’re an honest business that’s been making people happy for over 16 years. I truly regret this is not the case here but the situation is, thankfully, unique. I know we’ve treated the complainant with professionalism and dignity, despite the hyperbolic language he uses in return. Rather than refute the rest of his supplemental response and continue to be subject to unfounded accusations of lying and manipulation, it seems prudent to bring closure to this process as it leaves us talking in circles over what a gift card is and what we’re able to do to resolve this. We will happily redeem the gift card for its value towards anything we currently offer. We will not exchange it for cash, because that’s contrary to our gift card policy.
[To assist us in bringing this matter to a close, you must give us a reason why you are rejecting the responseIf no reason is received your complaint will be closed Administratively Resolved]
Complaint: ***
I am rejecting this response because:
It is factually incorrectGeneral Counsel for the business claims that employees are trained not to induce customers into purchasing a gift card with promising specific servicesThe gift card contains the remark "For 1/hour Sport Massage" on the gift cardAs such, the inducement was not only verbal but in writingThere is zero dispute about this factAny statement to the contrary is conclusively dis-proven and perpetuation of an untruthNotwithstanding, his eloquent response, it is factually incorrectThe gift card was sold by the company's employee and bought by my friend with a specific service in mind. Further, General Counsel's response makes it seem like I am requesting a refund without any evidence of the purchaseThe gift card is in my possession and was shown to the employee at the store when I tried to redeem itThe employee looked up the purchase and confirmed the amount and purchase as accurateSo any insinuation that I am asking for something that I would not be entitled to is completely inaccurate. Lastly, if General Counsel would receive a voucher for car parts and the underwriter of the gift certificate later changed its policies to only selling boat parts for which he has no use because he does not possess a boat he would certainly object to such kind of treatment as it has the same effect as taking somebody's money without any consideration in returnAny repeated response to a complaint that only offers the same solution "Just buy from our small assortment of other products that you do not need and do not want" is not a solutionIt is an insult and refusal of customer service and lack of business decency masquerading under responsiveness.
I have to admit, I have never seen such level of greediness in a business contextAfter offering to return the USDgift card for a USDcash refund giving effectively a 20% net profit margin to the store General Counsel still refuses any kind of compromise - somehow assuming I will get tired of this issue and as their small assortment is of no interest to me will not redeem the card so that they can book the entire USDprofitIt is disappointing that a store that advertises "wholesomeness" and "harmonious living" is so far removed from any of those principles.
Regards,
*** ***
| submitted a response to complaint ID [redacted] online, but I am faxing a copy to ensure it is delivered to your attention. Thank you, and please feel free to reach out if you have any questions or require additional supporting material for the response.Sincerely,General Counsel and Director of...
Operations Response to Revdex.com complaint #[redacted] by Michael FegeleinMr. Fegelein has a $60 gift card that we are happy to honor for Tranquil Space products or services. Our gift card policies are that they are sold for a set value and may be redeemed for equivalent cash value for products and services available at the time of redemption. Gift cards are not sold as a proxy for specific goods or services and they are non-refundable and not redeemable for cash.In October 2015, Mr. Fegelein came to Tranquil Space and asked us to redeem the card for a massage. Unfortunately, we haven't offered massage services since 2011. Since we couldn't offer him a massage he asked for a cash refund. We told him our gift card policy doesn't allow for redeeming his card for cash, but that he could use his card for $60 in any current products or services. Mr. Fegelein was not happy with this, so we tried to resolve this over the course of the last several months. Mr. Fegelein has insisted on receiving a massage or cash. We've offered full value for his gift card in several ways. He's responded by filing a complaint here.Mr. Fegelein's complaint leaves out a few critical facts and contains a few claims that bear scrutiny:- Mr. Fegelein says the item purchased was a "gift card for a massage" but it was a gift card for $60. All Tranquil Space gift cards are sold for dollar amounts, never for specific products or services. Our staff is trained on this point. Even if someone wanted to purchase a gift card for a specific product or service, they would be told that gift cards are for dollar value only, plus our online sales system only allows gift cards to be assigned a dollar value, not a product or service. - Mr. Fegelein says the card was purchased on May 9, 2012 to a friend who was "induced lintol buying a massage.” Our spa and massage services ended on October 31, 2011 and this was publicly announced September 27, 2011. (see http://blog.tranquilspace.com/ 2011/09/the-spa-at-tranquil-space.html). Either his gift card is much older than he represents or his friend couldn't have purchased it believing Tranquil Space offered massages. We're happy to honor the gift card for its S60 value no matter when it was purchased. The precise date of that is still a mystery because of the next point. - Mr Fegelein's gift card number does not show up in our system. Neither does his friend's record of purchase. That's unusual, and that set of facts tends to indicate a card was taken without being activated or has already been redeemed. We don't know if either of these things happened, so we're happy to redeem the card based on what was written on the envelope. - Mr. Fegelein states that the problem occurred on May 7, 2013. This isn't true. The first time I'm aware that Mr. Fegelein contacted us about his gift card was October 2015. - Mr. Fegelein claims that we have limited use of his gift card for purchase of men's clothes because he speculates that we believe by limiting his gift card use to a "quite limited" supply of "male clothes" that he will abandon his attempts to redeem the card's value. Nobody at Tranquil Space believes that and nobody suggested that. Tranquil Space would be very happy to redeem $60 in products or services amongst our entire current line of offerings for Mr. Fegelein. l reiterated this several times via email with him. - Mr. Fegelein states we corresponded with him for months "without any attempt... to offer any resolution." This is not true. I personally tried to find a massage therapist as a special service just for Mr. Fegelein, but was unable to make it work. Mr. Fegelein is aware of this as we communicated about it via email. We also have made several exceptions for him, most notably honoring a card that doesn't appear in our system. We've attempted to resolve this for months.I'm disappointed we've left Mr. Fegelein dissatisfied, but I know everyone at Tranquil Space treated him fairly and with polite respect, even when that wasn't always reciprocated. His gift card was sold for $60 and remains available for him to redeem for $60 of anything we offer, including yoga classes, meditation workshops, mindfulness-based stress reduction series, candles, clothing, and much more.Submitted March 3, 2016Tim Mooney General Counsel and Director of Operations
I’m afraid we fundamentally disagree on what complainant’s friend purchased five years ago. We sold a gift card worth a dollar value in credit at the studio, but the complainant thinks this gift card was sold to his friend for a very specific service Tranquil Space hasn’t offered in 5 years. He insists that he’s correct, but I know we’ve only sold gift cards worth cash equivalent credit for as long as we’ve sold gift cards. I understand the envelope to the gift card included a mention of a sports massage. As a courtesy, we provide these envelopes and let the purchaser write what they would like on them. I do not know who wrote “sports massage" on the envelope that the complainant’s friend bought. I do know that our gift cards can only be encoded with a cash value, and never a specific product or service. That specific point is always mentioned to gift card purchasers. Tranquil Space isn’t in the business of trying to pull anything over on anyone nor are we “greedy." We’re an honest business that’s been making people happy for over 16 years. I truly regret this is not the case here but the situation is, thankfully, unique. I know we’ve treated the complainant with professionalism and dignity, despite the hyperbolic language he uses in return. Rather than refute the rest of his supplemental response and continue to be subject to unfounded accusations of lying and manipulation, it seems prudent to bring closure to this process as it leaves us talking in circles over what a gift card is and what we’re able to do to resolve this. We will happily redeem the gift card for its value towards anything we currently offer. We will not exchange it for cash, because that’s contrary to our gift card policy.