Shortly before Christmas I was swooning over a pair of boots from Aldo. Upon seeing them in the store but resisting the impulse to buy them because I was placed on a buying restriction prior to Christmas, I did not purchase them.
For Christmas (after dropping several obvious hints) I received a gift card to Aldo to use toward the purchase of the boots. So excited I was that I quickly fired up the computer, selected the boots in my size and color and put them in my shopping bag. I was all ready to check out; I even had a promo code for 15% off! It was supposed to be an exciting and successful boot shopping experience. But when I went to select my method of payment as a gift card, there was no such option. After checking and re-checking the site to make sure I wasn't just missing something, I gave up and decided I'd try again later.
After still not having any success on the website I took the next step any determined shopper would and I emailed the company. They took about a week to respond and when they did they basically just said they don't accept their own gift cards on their own website and that's that. I had a gift card and a promo code but no way to buy the boots unless I happened to find them in the store following the biggest shopping time of the year.
I called my local Aldo store and was told that the entire Aldo company - not just that particular store - was out of the boot I wanted in my size and color, just to crush my holiday spirits I guess. I told the employee that their policy of not accepting gift cards online was ridiculous but not so surprisingly she didn't care.
So, eventually I figured out the only way to buy these damned boots with the gift card was to order them online then return them to the store and re-purchase them with the gift card. It was very strange though considering the entire Aldo company was out of stock of this particular boot that they shipped out two days later. It really was no harm no foul because the shipping was free and I still used a promo code, but just the hassle of having to do it that way was annoying.
Basically I just don't understand how a company can issue gift cards but not accept them as a method of payment on their website. IT MAKES NO SENSE. So, Aldo gets my "You really suck" stamp of unapproval for that transaction. On a site note though, the boots are awesome and I love them.
