Complaint Review: Tiger Direct - miami Florida

I bought several hundred dollars of parts from Tiger Direct in order to build a new computer. Some of the parts had rebates associated with them.  When I went online to file for my rebates I was given an option to get my rebate faster if I accepted an American Express gift card, and I would then be charged a small fee on top of this which would be deducted from the gift card. I received my gift cards and went back to Tiger to buy more stuff. One thing I wanted was only available online but the web site would not accept my gift cards. Tigers response on the phone was that their web site and stores are two different companies. I said how do I order it then, and was told that the store could order it online for me at the register. OK, so I made two 40 mile trips to the store and went thru 3 different people at the store before I found someone who even knew how to order online from their register.

Later I decided to return the unopened item to the store and get something else. They would not take it back because it was considered an online payment. What? So I had to either mail it back or go around the building to the Tiger offices because the store is now considered Comp USA. So I went to their offices and sat in the lobby where someone would call me on the phone in the waiting room and give me an RMA. I got the RMA and turned it over to the receptionist. It was processed as being received after about 1-2 days. 
 
I told them when I returned it thru the RMA that I wanted to get something different and was told that if it was over 30 days that I could only exchange it for the same item. What? I said that was not what I wanted and after the rep talked to a manager they said the way I could do this was to do the exchange for a same item and then call on the phone before the replacement was processed and tell them to change the part for my new choice. I did exactly that. When I was on the phone telling them to change the parts I asked if I could use an American Express gift card (since I still have a couple left over from Christmas) and was told no. What? There was a difference in cost that would cost me $5.35 more. That is what I expected to be charged. I was not. I was charged the full price ($69.69) for the new items as if I never returned anything. Once I saw the charge, I called them to find out where my credit was. The rep told me they credited my original gift card because they can only credit the original source of payment. What? I have never kept a gift card after I used it up, have you? The rep told me she would email her manager when he came in and that they would call me back by 10.

At 2pm I called them again and after being told repeatedly that all they could do was credit the original gift card I said how am I supposed to get my money back when I no longer have the card? The rep told me to call American Express and I said what? How do I do that if I no longer have the card? I said give me the card number because AE will not be able to do anything without it, and they said they cant because they do not have it. How can they not have the card number if they credited it a month and a half later when I returned the original item? Apparently this fact escapes them. This logic irritated me so I asked for the manager and he was a robot repeating the same thing-did you call American Express, if not how do you know what they will do? Are you kidding me? I have to call AE without the card number about a card that was not in my name and ask for a refund.  This manager Steve out of the Miami Florida office, has no clue. I repeatedly said how do I get my money back if you will not give me the card number? I said your IT dept should be able to get it since it is associated with me in their computers since when I ordered it online at the register they ask for your phone number and have all of your info right there. I work with computer systems and if enough effort is applied you can find the number.  This is supported by the fact they applied a credit to the card so how else would they be able to do this without the number? So, because of this idiot mentality I have no way to get my refund.

I was not born yesterday and was probably using cards before these people were out of diapers, and I have never kept a gift card after it was used up. If I want to use a card over and over again I use a debit or credit card, not a gift card. Ever since Comp USA took over this company it has steadily gone downhill. Yes, just so I could prove myself correct I did call American Express and sure enough, if the card was not in my name, or I do not have the number, they can do nothing. At least they make sense.