I'm Done With You, Express!

I really haven't shopped at Express much in the last couple of years.  For one, they don't sell maternity clothes so I definitely wasn't shopping there then.  And since Michael and I got married I can probably count on one hand how many times I have shopped there, maybe to find something cute and flashy to wear for New Years or something like that.  That being said, back in college, I loved the place.  In fact, they were the first store to (stupidly) give me a credit card.  Sure, I had to drive all the way from GA Southern to Savannah to use it (probably saved my credit score, haha) but I definitely loved the ability to get cute clothes when I needed them.  But that was college. 

Wednesday after Sophia and my Mom and I got our haircut we did a little shopping and my Mom wanted me to take a look in Express just to see if they had anything worth looking at that might fit me better than some of the current stuff I've been wearing (as in, pants that I don't have to hike up after every few steps....definitely does get annoying, but better than too tight, am I right?).  I went right back to the sale section, pretty much like I do in every store.  We quickly found two dresses that were on a 30% off rack, but not marked on sale.  They were definitely cute, but no worth the regular price.  I flagged down a sales girl and asked about the dresses.  Oh yeah, she said.  Those dresses are ringing up at like $27 and are so cute on!  Wow, was my response.  I mentioned the 30% off and asked if the $27 was before or after that discount....she wasn't sure.  But I figured that if they fit me then either way that would be a good price.  So the girl started a fitting room for me.  I found a few other sale shirts and got to trying on.  Well both dresses were SO cute!  And for around thirty bucks, can't lose!  My Mom said she would buy them for me, can't argue with that!  Sophia was starting to get antsy, so I dealt with her while Mom checked out and we moved on. 

Cut to later, while I am showing off the new dresses to Michael.  I rummaged in the bag to show him how great the deal was on them (he also thought they were super cute and looked nice on me) and very nearly had a heart attack.  The receipt said ONE HUNDRED AND FORTY EIGHT DOLLARS!!!!!!  Um, what?????!!!!  Despite Sophia already being in bed for the night, I freaked out and was yelling and possibly cursing Express and the associates there, haha.  I immediately called my Mom to see if she knew that they had totally screwed us over.  She admitted that she had seen the (major) price difference after she signed the credit card pad but didn't want me to make a scene in the store, hahaha.  I explained (much calmer to her, it wasn't like she was the one who had done the screwing anyway) that Express wasn't worth full priced dresses to me, no matter how nice they looked, and that the point was they totally lied and told us the dresses were on sale and apparently they weren't!!  I was taking the dresses, both of them, back and getting her money back. 

So the next morning, totally unshowered, I got in the car with Sophia and went over to Express.  The stupid air conditioning was out in the store and their stupid system was down.  Not a good start to fixing my problem or keeping me as a customer.  I explained my issue and they said, oh, no, those dresses weren't on sale.  Hmm.  Well, they were on a sale rack.  And apparently one of your employees thinks so.  She thinks they are $27!!  They asked me to describe her and when I did they just looked at each other and laughed and said oh, that's so and so and laughed some more.  The one lady, who I will just assume was the manager or something said she would talk to her and I guess that girl gets talked to a lot....she seems to be the store screw up according to the looks they gave each other and all the laughter.  Doesn't really solve my problem though does it??  Oh and besides the system being down, they actually can't return the dresses without my Mom being there in the flesh with her credit card.  What kind of ancient system are they running on??  Target never needs my card to make a return.  Neither does Macy's or Banana Republic (which is like two stores down from Express) or half a dozen other stores I shop at and return things to regularly.  So now I have to wait until my Mom can be there for me to return the dresses.  But you can bet that they WILL be returned.  And that Express has seen the last of my business. Guess I'll find my cute New Years flashy tops somewhere else!!