Max wants to know why he hasn’t received the $10 gift certificate that the cashier at Sears promised him for turning over an email address to receive marketing messages. We contacted Sears and found out what’s actually going on.

First, here’s Max’s story:

About a month ago I purchased some tools from sears. At check out, I was told that if I gave my email address I would be sent a $10 gift certificate via email. A friend of mine who was making a purchase at the same time was told the same thing. We both gave our email addresses in order to receive the gift certificates, but neither of us ever did. I thought maybe my address had been typed in wrong, but thought it unlikely that both of our addresses were incorrect. I checked my spam folder frequently, and did not see anything.

Today I received an email advertisement from Sears with all of the new summer deals. So, apparently Sears got my correct address after all, but instead of sending me the $10 gift certificate I was promised, I’ve been sent junk mail.

Was this an error on the part of the cashier for telling us we’d get a gift certificate, or does this promotion actually exist? Was there a computer glitch that prevented the gift certificate from being sent? Or is it Sears policy to lie to customers in order to get their email address?

We actually suspected it was the work of a rogue (or just confused) cashier who told you the wrong thing, so we contacted Sears to find out. It turns out, we’re partly right: yes, Sears does offer a $10 incentive, but it’s not a gift certificate. A Sears rep told us,

I believe they may be speaking of a standard offer we have on the site when you give us a valid email [and receive] a $5 coupon for online and $5 coupon for the stores with a min $50 purchase each.

So you see, Max, it is $10 you can apply to Sears purchases, but with a few more limitations that you were led to believe.

On the plus side, anyone else who wants those $10 in coupons can also sign up via the link above, but of course remember you’re agreeing to receive email from Sears in exchange for the coupons.

(Photo: justj0000lie)

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