Vitamin Shoppe

Your return policy is misleading. I had to return one of the items I bought online. They told me to bring it to a store for a refund. I brought it to the store in Woodland Hills, CA. They would only give me store credit even though I had the receipt. They said they didn’t have the original credit card on file.

To whomever this may concern,
I placed an order online as a Guest using my secondary email account (I do not have a Vitamin Shoppe online account) a little after midnight on Saturday, March 17, for in-store pickup. The total for this purchase was $76.38. I later visited the store on Atlantic Ave and 4th Street, right before it closed, to pickup my order. I was told that my order was not ready so, the clerk obtained my items from the shelf, scanned my rewards card, and told me that I needed to pay $74.98 (without my knowledge, he signed me up for subscribe and save which brought down the total) for the items in the store. I assured him that I already paid $76.38 online for the items and he reassured me that I was not actually charged yet. I wasn't able to access my card account to check if my card was already charged so, I trusted his judgment and had him charge my card in the store. I found it odd though that he quickly wrote a number for the Vitamin Shoppe Home Office (866-293-3367) at the bottom of the receipt for me to call in case, as he said "my card was actually charged and you need to call to have the charge reversed / refunded".
After leaving the store, which was closed at this point, I checked my account information, and I noticed that my account's available balance decreased in the amount of $151.36. I scrolled down and saw
-$74.98 and -$76.38. I immediately called the number that he wrote at the bottom of the receipt. I spent approximately a half hour over the phone trying to get the matter resolved, and finally I was told that the $76.38 was showing up on their end that was deducted from my debit card account and would be refunded to my card. The representative also told me to call back on Monday to have the Subscribe and Save removed, as there was nobody on the premises to handle that issue.
I called the number on Monday, March 19th, to have the Subscribe and Save removed, and was told that it was not showing up in the Vitamin Shoppe system under my name. I also followed up about the refund that I was told on Saturday would be refunded to my card, and the phone rep told me there was no record of a refund under my name in the system. I informed the rep that my $76.38 taken from the Vitamin Shoppe was still missing from my debit card account (I was looking at my account's available balance which was short $76.38 while I was on the phone, and the -$76.38 was still showing since Saturday), but the person told me, to sum it all up, that what I was talking about was not true. This went on with a few reps after being transferred to them and having the same thing told to me. I was taken aback because, I did not understand how reps could essentially make such claims without even attempting to delve more into the matter, and blatantly disregard everything I was saying about this charge. I was even bounced back and forth from the store where I was charged twice in person, and the phone representatives at the Vitamin Shoppe Home Office.
I was even given two additional numbers to call, 201-868-5959 (Corporate Office), and 1800-223-1216 (Headquarters). At this point of now being bounced between four numbers and an innumerable amount of phone reps, my online banking account signed me out for inactivity since I had the screen up for so long, staring at the same thing. The last person I spoke with was at the latter number (1800-223-1216 Headquarters). After being on the phone again for over a half hour, I finally reached a manager. Initially, after telling her of the issue, she brushed it off and told me the same exact thing I was already told, which was that my card was never charged for the online order of $76.38. I reassured her that I was charged and that I was looking at my account balance and so forth. I asked if there was any other way she could possibly investigate the matter and she finally showed concern and delved into the issue. I had to keep asking her what information I could supply her with to assist with the matter, and I supplied everything and nothing was working. She happened to start reading my cr, and I told her that the information was completely incorrect. She then delved deeper into the issue and found that there was a mix up with accounts, etc and the fact that I used a Guest account for the online order with an email address different from the one under my name in the Vitamin Shoppe system, it somehow caused issues with my debit card charges and in-store charges. She said more stuff about the mix up and apologized for me having to go through all of the stress. Upon my request for the ridiculous amount of trouble I had been through with the Vitamin Shoppe, she issued me an incentive in the form of a $20 gift card.
After the phone conversation ended, I signed back into my online banking account, and sure enough, my refund was posted immediately. My balance increased +$76.38, back to where it was supposed to be. I was elated that, FINALLY, I received some real help. I signed out and went on with the rest of my day. That night (still Monday, March 19th), I checked my debit account again to make sure that everything was in good standing, but the $76.38 refund that appeared earlier that day was completely gone. I scrolled down in search of the record of the $76.38 that was initially taken from my available balance on Saturday, March 17th and that record (-$76.38) was also completely gone. My account's available balance was still missing the $76.38 that was taken, refunded then taken away again. I received correspondence via my secondary email account sent to me later that day stating that my order was ready for pickup. It made absolutely no sense, as the issue with this order should have already been taken care of. The next day, Tuesday March 20th, I received email, to my main email address, confirming the $20 gift card shipment but no information regarding my missing $76.38 via my main or secondary email addresses.
Between Tuesday, March 20th and today, March 23rd, I've been sending and receiving email correspondence with both Vitamin Shoppe and my banking company, in an attempt to have this issue resolved yet again, to no avail. Today, March 23rd, I called Vitamin Shoppe Headquarters at (1800-223-1216). Representatives brushed me off and kept transferring me to other reps. They were telling me the same thing that the reps prior to the management rep on Monday, March 19th. They all kept also asking for my debit card number which was odd because the woman who helped me on Sunday did not need that in order to assist me. I refused, and they were still able to lookup my info. The last rep that I spoke with was a management rep and he said that he could only help me if I gave him my debit card number. I refused at first and he said he would not assist me unless I told him my card number. I asked if there was another manager I could speak with and he told me that he was the only person on the premises with the highest management status. I provided my card info, and ultimately, he regurgitated the same exact thing everyone else prior was telling me, and did not help me whatsoever. He said there was no record of the refund that was issued from the management rep on Monday, and there was no record of an online order or anything. At that point, I gave up trying to seek assistance with this matter, which brings me here. If someone out there can please, possibly, somehow help me get to the bottom of this issue, it would be greatly appreciated beyond measure.
Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your correspondence.
Sincerely