I think Richtree's Gift Card Redemption process is not world class. Here's the deal: You get a holiday card from a colleague, friend, work, whatever... you get a food card at Richtree. Get your meal, enjoy the food and when you're ready to pay, the cashier asks "How much is in your card?" Do you have to answer (which means you have to always remember the value of your card) or do you say "I don't know, check it for me please." Here's the real problem: If you decide on the latter and ask them to check the card value for you, they would look at you with disdain as its another step in their process. Here's the explanation of one of the filipina checkout employees at the BCE location. [her words not mine]
1. If I check it for you, I have to remove the orders, then look up the value of your card
2. Then I have to load your meal cards again to get the total value
3. Then I have to use your card to pay for your check
[my words again]
So why do you have to ask the value of my card?
[her words]
Because it saves one step - you tell us if you have enough money on the card to pay for your check [check means the bill] otherwise your card will bounce and you will have to pay the difference.
[my thoughts]
Don't you do this at any other store anyway that uses a gift card? If I go to Starbucks and use a gift card, I will hand it to them and if there is a difference in value, they will tell me in which case I have a choice of paying by another card or cash. Why not have the same process at Richtree instead of making me remember the value of my card EACH time I use it? Would this be counter productive to the usage of the card? Is this a function of their cash register system - an afterthought that meant a process workaround that puts the onus of remembering the value to you - the customer - rather than to the store. Why don't they just look up the card's value and then tell you the difference without giving you further aggravation.
I think this process needs to be reevaluated as it does not entice me to use their gift card system. What do you think? ~ richard
