Illustration by Dustin Elliott.

By Christopher Elliott
Guest Columnist

Janet Stevens has two vouchers for a furniture purchase at Macy’s. Why is Macy’s refusing to honor them?

I bought furniture from Macy’s in San Mateo, Calif., over five years ago. I paid for Macy’s Worry No More Great Give Back warranties on the sofa and chair.

I made no claims over the five years of the warranties, which entitles me to a refund of the full cost of the warranties. I applied for and was sent two vouchers totaling $396, which could be applied to another purchase of furniture from Macy’s.

Christopher Elliott

I recently tried to order a dinette set using the vouchers, and since the vouchers didn’t state otherwise, I verified with a Macy’s rep before she took the order that I could use both vouchers on the one purchase. The representative took all the detailed information on each voucher, placed the dining set order, and told me that my credit card would be charged for the total purchase, and about two weeks after delivery, I would receive the $396 voucher amount credited back to my credit card.

I never received the credit.

I have tried for over two months to get this refund. I’ve made numerous phone calls to Macy’s customer service and to the Worry No More office and waited through long holds. I’ve been disconnected and have spent hours repeating the problem and all the information on the vouchers to at least five different customer service people. Each of them required me to detail the entire history of the problem all over again, then either put me on hold and never came back or somehow disconnected the call and didn’t call back.

I would like Macy’s to honor the Worry No More Great Give Back warranties they sell. Can you help me? — Janet Stevens, Half Moon Bay, Calif.

It looks like that Worry No More warranty is giving you a lot of worries. But let’s rewind for a second. Worry No More — which Macy’s annoyingly spells in all uppercase and run together as one word — is a warranty plan for furniture, mattresses, area rugs, fine jewelry and watches. I will refrain from spelling it that way because that’s considered yelling online.

WORRYNOMORE! See what I mean?

If you never initiate a claim that results in a technician visit or replacement through the duration of your coverage period, Macy’s will give you 100% of your furniture or rug protection plan price in the form of a voucher good toward your next rug, furniture or bedding purchase at Macy’s stores.

That’s actually pretty smart because it commits you to making your next major furniture purchase at Macy’s in exchange for a modest discount. But in order for it to work, the Worry No More program has to actually deliver.

What Macy’s doesn’t say, but what you now know, is that you have to make a full purchase on your credit card and then you get a credit back. I’m not sure why Macy’s does it that way, but I suspect it has something to do with its accounting. Perhaps the company has to show that you paid full price for your table, chair or sofa.

I can see your problem. You described hours of fruitless phone conversations with Macy’s as you tried to get this resolved. I would have put your problem in writing, writing by sending a brief, polite email to Macy’s and then, if necessary, escalating it to one of the Macy’s executives I publish on my consumer advocacy site. Be sure to follow my proven techniques to a faster resolution.

And that’s what you did. You composed a brief, polite email and sent it to one of the executives. You also mailed a copy to them.

“Several days later I received a phone call from a woman who identified herself as the assistant to Macy’s president,” you told me. “She apologized for the poor customer service, asked me a few questions, then told me that she would arrange credits to my Fidelity Visa card for each of the two $198 warranty rebates I was due. ”

It took a few weeks, but you finally got your credit.