Stones' Rants

 I Received an Amazon gift card as a gift (imagine that!) and tried to use it today. The whole point of it is convenience, right? Take my laptop, find a thing I want to buy, go to checkout, try to enter in the number on the gift card. I get an error, something like "not a valid number" or something. Maybe I typed it in wrong? Try again, same error. Maybe it's not this number, but the other number? Tried that one (it's fucking thirty digits long!) Nope, same error. I try examining the physical card. Am I missing something?  It's in an envelope, with a window. The window shows a bar code and some numbers. I notice, just below the edge of the "window" is another number. I tear the envelope just enough to enter this number. Nope, same error. The "card" is in the envelope, but there is no way to open the envelope. The envelope is glued shut! The fucking card is glued inside it. I carefully tear away the envelope, trying not to damage the card. This reveals another goddam number; but, it's under a "scratch and sniff" thing, like a lottery scratch card. For fucksakes. I peel away the scratchy bit, and try this number. SUCCESS!!! I spent the better part of an hour fucking around with this shit. What kind of a drunken monkey would engineer the card to be impossible to remove from the fucking envelope??? I can't be the only one that finds this ridiculously complex. WHY? What is the point of it?  The Amazon Gift Card is supposed to make my life easier, not harder. That's an hour of my goddam life wasted that I will never get back. Kind of takes the joy out of giving, doesn't it? Or receiving, for that matter.
I wouldn't use Amazon at all, except that, no retailer, not Walmart, not Target, not Home Depot, not Lowe's, not anyone has any kind of variety, anything other than stuff they think they can sell quickly. It's been bad for awhile, and it's only getting worse.

# posted by DaveL @ 12:57 PM