I was having some issues with my old camera, and was having a consistent urge to get a new one. My parents also had some Aeroplan miles to use up, and they could only really be used in Canada. So, using their Aeroplan miles we ordered some "West Edmonton Mall" gift cards and then went shopping at the world's biggest mall, West Ed...
- Sears department store. We found the camera (a Canon S5 IS) on display for $349, but they had none in stock.
- Little camera store near Sears. They had them in stock, but for $399.
- Another little camera store near Sears. No stock.
- London Drugs. In stock for $399, and they would have price-matched Sears... but the nearest Sears doesn't have stock...
- Zellers. No stock.
- The Source By Circuit City. No stock.
- The other Source By Circuit City. No stock.
Apparently this is a very popular camera! We knew that other Sears stores in Edmonton had the camera in stock, so we came up with a great plan: use our West Ed gift cards to buy Sears gift cards and then go shopping elsewhere. We were all set to do this but...
Oh, you have West Edmonton gift cards? I'm sorry, we can't accept it at Sears. Yes they are MasterCards, but if we try to use them our computer systems will crash for an hour.
What the hell? At this point I wanted to swipe our gift cards through a Sears cash register just for the fun of it. Instead, we toddled off to West Ed Customer Service to ask about our cards and whether we could exchange for cash...
I'm sorry, we can't exchange them. However, they really are MasterCards, not ordinary gift cards. You can buy things anywhere in Canada, not just at West Ed...
It would've been nice to know this beforehand. Still, this was the point where our luck finally turned. We went straight to a FutureShop who had it in stock. Better, they could price-match with a different Sears store. Even better, it was a camera that had been recently returned, unused, and so we got an additional 10% off!
Canon S5 IS from FutureShop: $324.14. Being able to use your West Ed MasterCards anywhere but West Ed: priceless.
2 comments:
Let me note that it was about 4 hours of the day...? I can't recall. There was lunch in there somewhere.
Ha, great post. I work for an American based company that manages and tracks gift cards and we blog on savvywallet.com. I'm not sure what the rules are with Canadian MC gift cards, but I know in the States the MC gift cards have fees, and they expire.(gift cardblogger.com) has information on that. So just be careful, if you don't spend it quick enough, you're going to find yourself canonless, and that won't be priceless.
Post a Comment