Not sure how its all going to unfold but I ordered the Knipex 16" pliers wrench and Grip-on 12" Wing clamp last week and they came to $150.20. I had a $20 off $150 freecash offer plus my points so got them both for $93 out the door. Just chatted and got $14 back in points even though the lower prices would have put my total below $150 and cutting out the freecash offer..? The person I chatted with mentioned that I used freecash but did not say anything about reversing that. Maybe that's why they said they would add points to my account instead of refunding the card. Anyway, now I'm up to $29 in points again, time to shop soon!
http://www.sears.com/grip-on-12-inc...SellerId=Sears&prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1
http://www.sears.com/knipex-16inch-...SellerId=Sears&prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1
I wanted to ask that, about getting points/$$ back in a purchase that had a minimjm spend, but then wouldnt qualify if a PM was involved. Guess they don't look that close. Thanks, and congrats on the savings
I've had this same concern in the past. As far as I can tell from talking with support reps the several times I didn't get awarded the points I had earned, it seems like on their end, they have a clear delineation between "out of pocket" (i.e. what was charged to your credit card) versus points
spent on an order, which is what they look at when assessing how many points you were supposed to
earn from an order.
Furthermore, it seems like when an order is split (like when one item is shipped or picked up right away, but another item from that order is still proccessing), the "out of pocket" amount and points spent both get split across the actual deliveries. I think this has been the main culprit causing issues with earned points for me.
For example, when they had the $10 in points back for every $30 spent, my $65 order got split into one delivery that contained $40 worth of tools, and one delivery containing $25 worth of tools, causing me to only get $10 back in points instead of $20. When I called, they initially kept saying I only got $10 back because only $40 was charged to the card, and I had to point out to them that $40 was only for one of the deliveries in the order (this was after both deliveries had arrived).
Now, at least for me, whenever they've given a price protection refund, it's usually in the form of FREECASH points, rather than a refund to the card. Because of this, I think the old orders remain unchanged in their system other than having a note added that the customer has been given additional points for the order and for what reasons and amounts. The actual amount charged remains unchanged, which I believe is what the points-spent and points-earned eligibility is actually based on. I recognize that FREECASH points aren't as good as a refund to the card when it comes to price protection, but it seems like a fair enough trade-off to avoid retro-actively affecting the past eligibility of points earned and spent in some opaque manner.
In other words, it seems like things are calculated in this order:
Code:
1. Sub-total =>
2. eligible coupons =>
3. sub-total less applied coupons =>
4. eligible free shipping =>
5. eligible points to spend (including FREECASH and SURPRISE points) =>
6. final sub-total, less applied coupons and points spent =>
7a. points earned =>
7b. total charge to credit card (final sub-total plus tax and shipping)
I might have 3 and 4 in the wrong order, as I can't remember if coupons affect free shipping eligibility.
When I've gotten price protection refunds in the past, it's usually in the form of new FREECASH points awarded, which means it hasn't actually affected the amount of "3. sub-total less applied coupons", which means it also hasn't affected eligible points spent (5), points earned (7a), or charge to credit card (7b):
Code:
1. Sub-total =>
2. eligible coupons =>
3. sub-total less applied coupons =>
4. eligible free shipping =>
5. eligible points to spend (including FREECASH and SURPRISE points) =>
6. final sub-total, less applied coupons and points spent =>
7a. points earned
7b. total charge to credit card (final sub-total plus tax and shipping) =>
8. refund as new FREECASH points
And the thing that seems to repeatedly confound their back-end systems when calculating "7a. points earned" is when "6. final sub-total, less applied coupons and points spent" gets split up between separate deliveries/pick-ups.
All of the above could be completely wrong, this is just the result of trying to connect the dots to make sense of the different experiences and interactions I've had with Sears.
