Oh, AG. Your IT department sucks.

Let's talk corporate stupidity, shall we? Last weekend, prior to Cyber Monday, AG kicked off a 20% off promotion that's good on almost every full priced item, dolls included. When the email first hit, there was one glaring exception in the exclusion list: gift cards. Usually gift cards are excluded from these sales and say so in the fine print. But this time they weren't.

I considered, for maybe half a second, ordering one. Last year, AG did something similar only the gift cards were listed in the exclusions but the IT department didn't remember to set it up so you couldn't apply the discount to them, so orders went through and AG honored... some of them.

If I'd known for sure that right up front I would have only had to pay the 20% off price, I probably would have done it, but there was a chance that I'd have to pay full price (AG has, on more than one occasion, charged the full price for a 'sale' and then you have to call them on it because they can't tell you your total is $80 and then go on and charge you more.) and you guys know I'm way more into backorder roulette than I am in blowing that much upfront. But I was seriously tempted.

The other thing that kept me from doing so was the knowledge that this was just another glaring example of AG's shitty website at work. There's no way they meant for the gift cards to be on sale and anyone who tries to convince you they thought it was an extension of the Costco deal to everyone is either lying to you or to themselves. That said, I'm not saying I blame them for taking advantage of the sale because I don't. Like I said, had I the funds, I would've done so myself.

Naturally things get messy. The gift cards are sent out and people receive them with the little included message that tells you how much the card is worth. But when people called to check the balances, surprise! They balance was 20% less, or what they actually paid.

If AG had sent out the cards with the messages for the price actually loaded onto the card, fine. You paid $80 and while you hoped it would be the $100 card, it was a gamble all the same. However, sending gift cards that say, "Here's $100 to spend with us courtesy of __!" and then having the card only contain $80 is just wrong, AG. And naturally they got called out on it.
Since this all happened about the same time as Cyber Monday, the phones were down for aaaaaaaaaages. Eventually people started getting through and getting mixed messages, an AG specialty.
We'll skip the run around and go straight to the email that AG sent out to people affected by the gift card fiasco:

Dear American Girl Customer,

Thank you for ordering an American Girl gift card(s) on November 27th during our 20% off regular-priced merchandise sale. While gift cards are excluded from the sale, some customers, like you, attempted to purchase a gift card(s) at a discount. While the price you paid was discounted by 20%, the gift card value was reduced by 20% as well. We apologize for the error and for any confusion this situation may have caused.

As our way of saying “we’re sorry” for a confusing order experience, American Girl will load additional funds onto the gift card(s) at our expense. Within the next 72 hours, your gift card(s) will be modified to reflect the value you originally intended and your existing payment will remain discounted by 20%. After 72 hours, you can verify the corrected balance on our website. Please note this offer only applies to a very specific group of customers who ordered on the first day of the sale.

Because of this modification, the value on the gift message card that accompanies the gift card(s) will be understated. While we are unable to send a corrected gift message, we hope you will find a way to inform the gift card recipient of the new balance.

Thanks again for choosing American Girl. We wish you a wonderful holiday season!

Sincerely,

American Girl Customer Service

Whoa. Even though I still think everyone who ordered those cards knew full well they were taking a risk, I don't think a company that sells doll shoes that'll fall apart in a couple of years (if they take that long) for more than the cost of actual human shoes gets to play the "you tried to pull one over on us!" card. Thing is, without the "like you" and quotes around we're sorry, it wouldn't be... bad, it just wouldn't be a good email. Plus the last paragraph is completely factually incorrect but really, that's the least of their worries.
I didn't even participate in this and I'm offended. Good job, company. And by good job, I mean screw you.

Needless to say, people weren't happy and expressed that unhappiness. Cue the canned email response:

Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns. On behalf of Stephanie and all of at American Girl, we truly apologize for offending you. As you said, our intentions were good, but the tone didn’t convey our message as well as we would have wanted. We very much appreciate your comments and will share them with the appropriate team.

We wish you and yours a most joyous holiday season!

Most sincerely,
Sandi Panaretos

Sandi, no one thought your intentions were good. They do, however, think your company's online presence is run by idiots.

Usually the fall and early part of winter (what I consider this to be even though it's still technically fall) are pretty exciting times for me and AG, but this year I've just been meh for most of it. I missed out on the gold/white dress this year and I'm not even terribly upset. I cannot think of another year where that would have been true because I love the holiday dresses, but this year I didn't even try to snag the one I sorta wanted.

I'm clearly not their intended audience (no daughters to buy for and I'm not a little girl) but I'm also not the only one feeling the meh.