Kohl's — The bottom of the barrell as far as customer service

My first bad experience with Kohl's was when I noticed that my bill was due in just a couple days—and there was no way the United States Postal Service would deliver the check on time without paying a tremendous overnight fee. So, the easy solution—this being when gas was less than $1.46 per gallon—was to drive to Saginaw and pay the bill in the store where all of the purchases had taken place.

Uh ... NO ... you can't do that.

"We're ... " AND I QUOTE HERE, " ... just not set up to do that at the store."

Okay, whatever.

Being the persistent person that I can be at times, I convinced them to find a solution for me. I'm still not sure how this worked, but they let me buy gift cards and return them for credit or something like that. It was weird, almost uncomfortable. But it worked. And I got the impression that it probably wasn't something I should try to do again. Or something like that.

Flip the page ahead to 2007.

Anyway, in May, we were able to use the 30% off (if you use your Kohl's card) and get FREE SHIPPING of anything ordered online. It sounded like a great deal and one we couldn't really pass up. Well, Lori purchased a few items (Bissell carpet cleaning machine; commercial quality toaster; etc.) hit submit, and a few days later the products started to arrive.

The bill had a $25 charge for shipping, however. I figured it must be a mistake and that it would not be reflected when we received the actually Kohl's charge bill. I was wrong. The shipping charge stayed.

I called and found out that DUE TO THE SIZE OF THE ORDER WE WERE ASSESSED A SURCHARGE. I explained that it didn't say "surcharge," it said "shipping." The unhelpful, rude, "customer service representative" argued with me that surcharge actually means shipping charge and vice versa.

Getting angry, I said, "You know what, I don't care about the $25. It's the principle of the situation. Don't say 'Free Shipping' if it really isn't free. If there's a surcharge or shipping charge, explain that don't just list it in small print in the so–called disclaimer. Can I please talk to someone who can make a decision."

After being on hold for 20 minutes, I hung up.

If I'm a good consumer, I will spread the word about the baloney at Kohl's and switch my allegiance to JCPenney or Macy's or someplace else. I have always like Kohl's since discovering them in Milwaukee in 1987. They're like a good friend. I suppose we get mad at our friends sometimes ... This dilemma is a pain.

Just another day in the land of lousy customer service.