Free Winona

I've had an interesting experience with a national department store chain and I can't decide if I feel guilty or lucky...

I have needed new bras for a while now. So, a week or two ago, I decided to remedy the situation. I went to the store that had a "buy 2 get 1 free(b2g1f)" sale, and bought two and the free one.

Here's the way the b2g1f works, they ring up all 3 items, and you only pay for 2, but on the receipt they divide the total price between all 3 items in case you want to return one. That way you don't try to keep the free one and return a full price one, which makes total sense to me.

Well, I ended up with buyer's remorse, so I decided to return one that I hadn't worn yet. Except I could couldn't find the receipt. I remembered from looking at the receipt that the return price was around $16. When I got there, the lady said w/o a receipt they could give me a store credit for the lowest sale price in the last 30 days or something like that. I figured it the price was too low then I'd just keep it. Then she scanned it and it rang up as a $28 credit! Hmmmm.....

But that's only partly where I feel guilt/joy....later, I decided I really did need that 3rd bra, so I went back yesterday to re-buy it with my store credit. It was on sale for $17! The exact same bra, same style, color, and size.

So, to recap: purchased for $16, returned for $28, re-purchased for $17. So if my math is correct (which it never is), I think I paid $4 for this bra?! Do I feel guilty? It's not like I tried to scam the store, I couldn't find my receipt. I had no idea I'd get full price credit, but it would be insane to tell them to credit me less, right? And when they were on sale when I went back, I would be crazy to demand to pay full price, right? No? I don't know....

Guilt. Joy. Guilt. Joy......