Kohl's frequently has a promotion where you get $10 "Kohl's Cash" for every $50 you spend. There is a bit of a catch in that it normally doesn't take effect until the following week. I hate that, but I understand it's to get you back in the store, or back to the website, whatever. But that's not what I'm griping about. From my Christmas shopping, I'd earned $50 in Kohl's Cash, and it became "good" this week. I needed a new pair of sneakers, so I went online and found the ones I usually get. They weren't available at either of my nearby stores so I decided to just go ahead and order them. They had a coupon code for 15% off, and shipping was free for any orders over $50. So I'm thinking, cool!
My shoes were on sale for $64.99. So at 15% off (9.75), they came to $55.24 plus tax, or 59.11 total. Sweet! They still qualify for free shipping, and with my $50 Kohl's Cash, I figured they'd only cost me 9 bucks and change, right? Oh NO... I put in my code number and PIN for the Kohl's Cash, and the total came to $23.21. What?? Is this that core math I'd heard about??
Well, instead of working like cash as the name implies (it has CASH right there in the name), here is the way it worked.
Shoes - $64.99
Minus Kohl's Cash - $50.00
Minus 15% - $2.25 (What the heck happened to my 9.75??)
Sub Total = $12.74 (So now, shipping is no longer free!)
Shipping - $8.95
Tax - $1.52
Total = $23.21
So, my $50 Kohl's "Cash" wasn't really $50, it was really only $35.90, and my 15% off was only 2.25 instead of 9.75. Now don't get me wrong, I was still pretty happy with the overall price, but what gripes me is that it is misleading the way they apply their "cash" to the transaction. To my way of thinking, if you're going to call something "cash", then it should behave just like cash. If it had been a $50 gift card for example, then I would have gotten $50 off the total, after any discounts and shipping (if applicable) were applied. They wouldn't have gone back and applied it after the fact, reducing the discount and (now) adding shipping charges.
My shoes were on sale for $64.99. So at 15% off (9.75), they came to $55.24 plus tax, or 59.11 total. Sweet! They still qualify for free shipping, and with my $50 Kohl's Cash, I figured they'd only cost me 9 bucks and change, right? Oh NO... I put in my code number and PIN for the Kohl's Cash, and the total came to $23.21. What?? Is this that core math I'd heard about??
Well, instead of working like cash as the name implies (it has CASH right there in the name), here is the way it worked.
Shoes - $64.99
Minus Kohl's Cash - $50.00
Minus 15% - $2.25 (What the heck happened to my 9.75??)
Sub Total = $12.74 (So now, shipping is no longer free!)
Shipping - $8.95
Tax - $1.52
Total = $23.21
So, my $50 Kohl's "Cash" wasn't really $50, it was really only $35.90, and my 15% off was only 2.25 instead of 9.75. Now don't get me wrong, I was still pretty happy with the overall price, but what gripes me is that it is misleading the way they apply their "cash" to the transaction. To my way of thinking, if you're going to call something "cash", then it should behave just like cash. If it had been a $50 gift card for example, then I would have gotten $50 off the total, after any discounts and shipping (if applicable) were applied. They wouldn't have gone back and applied it after the fact, reducing the discount and (now) adding shipping charges.