That EASY button must be broken

I shop on-line all the time.

Hate shopping in malls.

Too many people and too much walking.

I am a somewhat frequent buyer from Staples for our many office supply needs.

Generally, I love the convenience of ordering today and receiving tomorrow.  Works like a charm.

Anyway, MHYC's school recently held a fundraiser wherein one could buy gift cards for various retail outlets and the school would receive a percentage of the value of the purchase.

Generous Grandma bought a significant number of cards, several of which made their way into Christmas packages.

But a few were to be used specifically by us in our day-to-day operations.  Like the two $50.00 Staples cards I bought.

Last week, Staples sent me some discount cards. (OK, I'm sure they sent them to lots of people, but I only received the ones they sent to me.)  These cards offer savings of $15.00 off an order of $100.00 or $20.00 off an order of $200.00 -- but only for on-line or phone orders.  They cannot be used in stores.  OK by me, since I rarely shop in store.

I save up my orders to wait for these discount cards.  (Sometimes, the discounts are even higher.)  They are routine promotions.

Yesterday, I sat down to place my order of just over $100.00.  I wanted to use my $15.00 discount card and then pay for the order with my gift cards.

No can do.

I couldn't find anywhere in the process to enter the information about the gift cards.

This morning, I called their toll-free number to ask how I use gift cards to pay for an on-line order.

Can't be done, I'm told.  Gift cards can only be redeemed in stores!

Says so right on the site, I'm told.  (Yes, if you look up information about gift cards.  The cards are not explicitly referred to anywhere in the on-line purchasing experience.)

Quite perturbed, I decided to take advantage of the $15.00 savings so I placed the order, paying for it with my credit card.  (I'll use the gift cards quickly enough throughout the year, I'll just have to go into the store to do it!)

Imagine my surprise when I received the order confirmation and saw the following advice at the bottom of the statement:

Hold on to your Staples Rebate Visa Cards and Prepaid Gift Cards

until your order has been received."

Now how, I ask, can there possibly be a need to hold on to a gift card for an order that could not be paid with a gift card?

I've sent an e-mail of complaint/inquiry to Staples, suggesting that their EASY button is not so easy to use after all!