GAP Rewards

I've mentioned my love of the Gap before--quite a significant portion of my wardrobe comes from that store. In fact, I'm wearing a Gap skirt, tank top and hoodie right now. I'm like their own personal product placement. I even have a Gap credit card and while most everything I buy gets charged to my Discover card, anything from the Gap or Banana Republic gets charged on the Gap card.

Because I earn points--my obsession with Gap clothing is rewarded with a $10 certificate to spend on yet MORE Gap clothing. Cool deal, huh? The only problem is if you purchase items using the certificate and then have to return them, you lose the reward! This has always bugged me--one time I got a manager to allow me to transfer the reward if I made a purchase that day. And I did. I found a great black track jacket that I wore almost daily--until some skank from the gym stole it. Note to skank: If I see you wearing my jacket, I will rip it right off your body!

A while ago I got a letter in the mail notifying me of a class action suit. Usually I just yawn and toss these letters away. $5 off my next American Airlines ticket? Wow. But this one was a suit against the Gap and their rewards program. Seems someone else was frustrated with earning $10 certificates only to lose them completely if they had to return the item they used the reward on. And this person didn't bother with arguing with a manager--they hired a lawyer! Bottom line: the Gap revamped their rewards program. If you purchase something using a certificate and have to return it, your reward is credited back to your account. And even better, they enclosed a $10 rewards certificate as a mea culpa. Awesome!