Anyone who knows me well knows that I don’t really fall for designer anything. Yes, there are some things that I absolutely love, like my RayBan sunglasses that I left in Katie’s car, and my iPhone, and all things Apple. I think I fell for those when Robert Redford put Aviators on in The Way We Were and Ellen used to dance around with her iPod. I’m not one for designer bags or designer shoes or designer jeans.
But last year I had a whole bunch of American Express points added up and decided that I was tired of using them to give gift cards to my kids and buying everything I could on Gap.com. So, I was cruising online at all the things my points could buy me.
I’m really a snob with my points though. I won’t use 1250 points to get a $10 gift card. If I can’t get a $10 gift card with 1000 points then I’m not going to play. That leaves out cards like Amazon and Starbucks. But that’s all right. There are plenty more out there that do.
So as I was perusing my options I saw a Coach gift card. I thought that might be fun. So, I went to the options and decided to look to see if there was anything on their website that I just had to have. They have the standard shoe section, which I did not need to have. They have the standard bags section where I was more tempted but really didn’t have to have anything. And then I came to the work bags. This was computer bags and briefcases and such. Well, if you know me then you know that I am a sucker for a work bag. I probably have more tote bags than I will ever use. There is no way that I can wear any of them out. So, I was excited to go to that section.
Lots of the pieces looked too nice for me. But there was this messenger bag, that held a tablet and lots of other stuff, and I thought, ooh, I like that. The color was good and I really liked the design. It was a lot of money but I could afford it with my points and I like to consider those points free money. I know that other people don’t consider them free money but I do. So, I put it in my cart and started to check out.
I was informed that the piece wasn’t in stock but would be in stock within the month. I didn’t have to have it right then and there so I bought it. I put a reminder on my calendar to watch for it the next month. But it didn’t come. Because I couldn’t order it online because I was using gift cards to buy the bag I had to call into customer service. These ladies were great. She explained that the piece was still on back order but I was in line to get it as soon as it came in. No problem.
The next month I decided to wait a couple more weeks and see if it had shipped yet. I didn’t want to be disappointed. I mean, there really wasn’t anything else on their website that I could see myself with. So, I decided to wait.
But then I got irritable and called. The lady that helped me on the phone (Candace) explained to me that there had been a problem with my credit card that they had on file to pay for the shipping. I told her that there shouldn’t have been. She was so nice and patient with me being a little bit irate, she figured out what had happened and told me she was going to fix it. I asked her to please confirm that the bag was in stock. I also asked her why I never heard that they had a problem. She didn’t know the answer to that but she went to figure it all out.
She came back and explained to me that they were going to have to delete this order and re-enter it, that they would need to confirm the credit card info, and then get the bag out to me. I suggested that they send it overnight and that they pay the freight. She said “absolutely”.
When I got the bag I called her to thank her. She had made my day. The bag was exactly what I expected and if you didn’t know it was a Coach you wouldn’t know that it was a Coach. I liked that. They had sent it to me in 2 boxes with all kinds of ribbon and tissue paper. For someone who likes that kind of thing I was really excited.
Was it worth it? Of course, it didn’t cost me a dime. But it did cost me almost 4 months. But it was worth the wait. And I should never need another bag in my entire life. This thing will never wear out.
