Every time I have called Target's customer service on the phone I have struggled with making myself understood, and understanding the customer service agent. Why are reputable companies employing agents to deal with people's consumer problems who can barely speak a word of English?

I am having my first child in 5 weeks. I registered at Target in the beginning of October. As I am at Target (every day), I was very comfortable putting everything on my registry and trusting them. Well after realizing that I needed to add some stuff I went online and edited it. I added merchandise that is only available on-line. BIG MISTAKE. Target and Target.com are NOT THE SAME.

One of the things I registered for was a Boppy Cradle in Comfort Bouncer. My mom's best friend could not attend the show and bought this on-line on Nov. 28 for the Dec. 6th shower. They had it shipped right to me since I am 6 hrs away. When it had NOT arrived by Dec. 31/08 I called in to Target.com (who the manager at the store told me to call). I was told that it was shipping the next day...ironic I thought but ok! I was told I would get a confirmation email with the tracking number. Since I never received that, I called back on the 4th of Jan 09. I was told that this was not true and it was set to ship NO LATER than Jan 12, 2009 (which is exactly 6 weeks from the date it was ordered..they told me that was customary policy..which I know is a LIE too).

Once again, I did not receive the email I was promised so I called back again. I was told that they do not even have the product, nor do they know when they will. It will be 2 to 6 weeks before it ships if they get it right away, but could be up to 18 weeks. Okay..math time...I am due in 5 weeks 18 weeks from now is 13 weeks past my due date. These bouncers are for infants.

Here is the real kicker. Your registry expires after 90 days past your due date (per the Target store manager...remember I am there every day...even the store is trying to help)...so what that means is that if I do get it after that 90 days it can't be returned because the registry will have expired. Go figure!!!

I asked if I could just get the one that they have at the store that is in the pink. I really didn't want this one because I wanted a neutral color; however, at this point...I just want it to be done. I was told NO< NO< NO!!! Since this was bought off of my registry I am not allowed to do this! I was also told that Target.com only charges you once the item ships so until then you have No recourse because you have not paid for the item. THIS IS NOT TRUE! I went back in my bank statements and looked at all of the gifts that I have bought for people off Target.com and I ALWAYS have been charged at the time of purchase.

The generic emails that I get back from Vinodh, Akeliah, Thomas Jerome L. and Saikurma are generic absurd and full of nothing helping.

I've reviewed our records and see that one of my colleagues is researching this issue and will contact you soon.

(Here is the first response I received...of course I never heard back until I called)

We’d suggest you to wait so that it will enable us to complete our research, there are times that it may take us a little longer as it is in this case.

Sorry for the wait. We'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Best regards,

Vinodh

(This is the reply I got today)

I sincerely apologize that we ran into a delay in receiving this item from our supplier.

At the time the order was placed, this item was listed on the detail page as instock.

Unfortunately, when it came time to actually process the order, we found that we had a temporary backorder occurring, which was reflected in the new estimated delivery dates on your order.

Our supplier has not been able to let us know exactly when they expect to have more in stock. I apologize that you were not notified sooner of this change in availability.

When the item "Boppy Cradle In Comfort Bouncer" is back in stock, we'll ship it out to you as soon as we can. In further research I see that one of my collegues is following up with order and will reply back to you on January 20, 2009.

Thanks for getting in touch with us.

Well to start I had gone to Target's website and found a trumpet. It was the Harmony Deluxe Trumpet-Brass style. It read that it was 8 dollars and 49 cents. It came with free shipping and handling. In total it came out to 9 dollars and 18 cents.

I was completely happy till I received an email two days later saying that my order has been canceled due to an error made by an employee of the the website. The 'correct' price was actually $179.99. I called customer service and they said that this was a mistake that they had one day and could not give me the trumpet for the advertised price.

They would not say why they just said they could not (aka would not). I have done some research on Target and apparently this has not been the first time they do the old switch a roo. The messed up thing about this was that they had no explanation, they just said it was a mistake and could not accommodate me. In the end we 'the little people' who keep these big companies in business are left in the dust when it comes to customer service.

We had opened a bank account only a week before with plenty of money to last for some time. We went to buy some special things to add on to our daughters wii game; plus some new clothes/ hangers/pillows etc. When we got to the register and wrote out the $130.37 check it came back denied. We luckily had money in another bank account and was able to use the debit card for that account. When I called they said it was due to poss fraud/ identity theft. We thought maybe due to it being a new account maybe there was a security feature on it we were not aware of; but that was not the case at all!! So since Target has chosen to continue use of this company I will be limiting my shopping there, and I have paid off in full my credit card with them. I was embarrassed to say the least about the whole situation.
I am glad I have found this site out and appreciate knowing some of the places I will not be shopping with a check anymore.
Keith & Delia Zarndt

I'm sure most of you know about the economy in the US and let me tell you I live in Cape Coral, FL, one of the leading forclosure cities in the US. I shop at Target on a weekly basis and spend a bunch of money there...well not anymore. We went to do some xmas shopping and noticed a great sale on guitar hero with two guitars for wii. We were bummed because we had bought just the game a week before. We spoke to a salesperson, who was really helpful. We explained the situation and also mentioned we had thrown away the receipt. He told us no problem, as long as the game was not opened we could return it and get store credit and then use that toward the new purchase, which we were going to spend $60 more for. So target would have made another $60 bucks on us. My husband goes to the service desk and talks to this horribly rude girl who refuses to do this. We are told that without a receipt we can't even get store credit! We can get nothing. Shame on me for not saving the receipt, shame on target for not allowing their customers to return unopened merchandise to buy something more expensive??? My poor husband was treated like crap by this girl. She was rude, mean and really not in the holiday spirit!! I have four children and a husband and we shop at target all the time and spend a bunch of money there. NOT ANYMORE!!! I will drive across town to Walmart where you can return ANYTHING, they are decent to you, and I can save some $$, because they are less expensive.