It took several days for Target to put out an official "comment" on the matter and it was a very brief apology which probably took less time and review than this blog posting. To help make up for any "inconvenience" they gave customers 10% off for a whole whopping day. wow. Slightly less profit for a whole day. How generous.
Here is some ways Target and their big data leak effected my family:
All my bills come out on Fridays, from my debit card, which was immediately cancelled (on a Friday) by my bank. The bank was kind enough to provide a letter to explain the situation but the bill companies were not so understanding, which means 3 $25 fees for my card being rejected when they tried to charge it: $75
I then had to rush to the bank and take out cash before it closed (going in, waiting in a line of 50+ people in the same boat while wrestling 2 small children was super fun, NOT!). I then had to rush to a store on the opposite side of town and pay my bills, plus the fees, plus the service charge from the store ($3 per bill x3 bills=$9) Not to mention the gas which we shall say conservatively was around $5 extra I wouldn't have had to spend.
Then Saturday night came, and as you may have already read, my super brilliant dog decided it was a good idea to eat mouse poison and I had to rush him to the Animal hospital at 11 at night 4 days before Christmas.
Animal Hospitals (at least this one) require cash up front, and its $75 just to walk in the door. I have $78 in my wallet and no way of getting more until Monday (Bank is closed Sunday). I have no one I can call, its late, and I'm not thinking people will have extra money laying around 4 days before Christmas. The hospital was pretty much going to let my dog die because of money. Because of Target. (If you want to read about this story check it out here:http://saltyalley.blogspot.com/2013/12/silver-linings.html)
Because of the high volume of new cards being ordered, they were taking longer and it was a full 10 days before we got our new cards, and we still have not received our new pin numbers (as of New years day). We have made 6 total trips to the bank which we normally wouldn't have so I am going to call that an extra $15
Not to mention I ordered my husband's Christmas presents Thursday night before all this happened and the payment didn't process before the card got cancelled, so all of his presents were late. :(
That puts me at an extra $103 Target has cost just my family alone. I know there are people who had far worse situations than we did. People who had money taken have to wait an average of 6-10 weeks just to get their money back. What if I didn't have a Christmas miracle and my dog died because I didn't have access to my money? What if it was my child and I needed medicine in the night? Seriously, how is a day of 10% discounts going to make this OK?!
I shop at Target a LOT. I had cartwheel all of 2 weeks and saved over $90 before this happened, just to give you an idea of how much I shop there.
Target needs to step up and make this right, or I am never stepping into a Target again.
They need to be held accountable for their lack of security/discretion with their customer's information and make up for nearly ruining (or actually ruining) many people's holidays!
If you agree, PLEASE SHARE this post! Lets make a ruckus and let Target know we deserve better as consumers!
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