June 2, 2008

Don't Believe the Hype!


I recently had to put my google investigative skills to good use when I received the following spam e-mail from my mother:

Subject: Companies filing Bankruptcy...

The following companies just filed for Bankruptcy: Hollywood Video, Levitz, Sharper Image, Performance Team Freight, Linens n Things, Circuit City and Bed, Bath and Beyond If you have gift cards from the above list use them ASAP, they will not be valid for much longer. PASS THE WORD.

No offense to the other stores exposed in the e-mail, but all I saw was "Bed, Bath and Beyond" (or as we affectionately call it, BB&B). BB&B going bankrupt? What is this world coming to? How could this be true? And more importantly, what would happen to all my unused 20% off coupons?

I refused to believe the news. It must be a joke, right? I mean how can a store with unlimited discounts and amazing return policies possibly be going out of business?

The security I often feel in being an American was threatened by this e-mail, and I decided I had to find out the truth. True ridiculous gas prices and all over increases to the cost of living have caused most Americans to cut back on luxuries...but BB&B is clearly a necessity!

Thus began my diligent search on the Internet for confirmation that this was nothing but a bitter lie. While the outlook for Linens N Things wasn't looking good (it's true that the company filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, sorry Linens N Things)
(click here for the full story), there was nothing to confirm the news about BB&B; however, there was a lot of Internet buzz that the rumors about BB&B were just that . . . rumors.

Just to make sure that I wasn't missing anything (and because some might say the Internet is not always a credible source), I decided to attack the situation the old fashioned way: I picked up the phone and called my local BB&B to get to the bottom of the story. The nice woman who answered the phone said that BB&B was not going out of business, and that I might be confusing them with Linens N Things. However, when I asked if she was sure that my gift cards were safe, she put me on hold to confirm. Although the silent pause made me nervous, a nice gentleman soon answered the phone and further assured me that it was not BB&B that was going south.

So it turns out the good news is that BB&B is here to stay (at least for the time being); the bad news, on the other hand, . . . yeah, it's our economy.


Photo pictured above is not my own brilliance, but was found on here on flickr and is by Billy Hunt, which I am required to tell you - if you want to borrow this picture like I did, see this link for the rules for sharing.

2 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 03, 2008

    Stiletto those coupons expire after a while...

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousJune 03, 2008

    watch that junk mail

    ReplyDelete