I usually purchase my books on-line, but over the holidays, since I was near a Borders store I decided to stop in and have a look around. After making my selections I headed for the check-out and encountered an extremely long line which was moving exceptionally slow because each customer was being urged to sign up for the new “Rewards Plus” membership. When I finally reached the register, the clerk, upon hearing that I have already been a regular rewards member for many years, smiled and reassured me that if I was willing to spend just $20 to upgrade to the “Rewards Plus” membership I would be entitled to free shipping (as opposed to free shipping on orders exceeding $25) and receive major discounts on many hardcover books. Sold!
She filled out the necessary information in her computer, rang me up, and I smugly left the store with my new pile of books and my new “Rewards Plus” membership.
Several days later, sitting in my cozy library browsing at books on-line, I decided to place an order. This is when the problems began. I browsed, filled my cart, and was ready to check out – as I always did in the past – and my computer firmly insisted I could not order from Borders until I entered my password. Excuse me? I never had a password with my regular rewards membership. Nothing I did would allow me to by-pass this road block. Of course, if I placed my order as a “new guest” Borders would accept that, but then I would not be able to use my new “Rewards Plus” advantages. So I struggled for several hours trying not to lose my temper or give up, and finally decided the only thing left to do was re-register and create a new password. Well guess what! Borders would not allow me to re-register. A bold yellow warning message popped up on my screen saying “YOU CAN NOT USE THIS NAME AND E-MAIL ADDRESS BECAUSE WE ALREADY HAVE SOMEONE IN OUR SYSTEM WITH THAT NAME.”
Not about to give up, I searched for a way to contact Borders Customer Service Department. They call it “Customer Care”. I wrote them a lengthy message explaining the problem. Several days went by and no response. Now, thoroughly irritated, I sent Customer Care a second message saying if I did not get a response within the next 48 hours I was going back to the local Borders store and canceling my “new and improved membership”. No answer.
One week after my original purchase I drove back to the store. The clerk could not resolve my issue. She smiled and apologized, and suggested I contact Customer Care. I cancelled my “Rewards Plus” Membership. Finally about 2 weeks later (just a few days ago), I got an email from Borders Customer Care Department. It was embarrassingly trite and incompetent; misspelled words, poor punctuation, broken English, and a garbled paragraph asking me for my email address (which they had just used to contact me), and asking me to explain my problem.
I think you can guess what my response was. So I am warning all my friends, family, fans, and followers that if you opened a Borders account anytime in the past when passwords were not required, and you up-grade to a Borders “Rewards Plus” account, you may never again be able to access your account on-line. And you will not be allowed to re-register.
Also, if you already made the mistake of signing up, you only have 30 days to cancel and get a refund. And beware: the new “Rewards Plus” membership is $20 each year. If you have a credit card registered on your account, Borders will automatically charge you $20 one month prior to membership expiration for a one year renewal.
