Wow. I can't believe that I seriously just spent the past 3 hours on the phone calling nearly every Target store in all of the larger cities in Florida. Just...wow.
When we first picked out the nursery furniture collection a couple of months ago, I checked the store availability online checking our area and also the Tampa area, where our families live, so they would be easy to pick up while we were down for a visit. At that time, the search results varied between "Available" and "Limited Availability". We didn't think anything of it.
Fast forward to tonight. I did the online search again and found that most of the results said "Out of Stock" or "Limited Availability". Uh oh. I called our Target store to check for the crib and dresser. None in stock. I asked them to check the surrounding areas (Ocala, Jacksonville, some smaller towns in north Florida, etc). Nothing. They told me that the set had been discontinued. Whaaaat??? Yet, they still have the whole collection on display at the end of the baby aisle in the store! You would think they might do something about that.
Back to the search. I start looking up stores in St. Pete, Clearwater, Tampa, Sarasota...anywhere. Most of them said "Out of Stock" and a very few said "Limited Availability". I started calling those stores. Nothing. I asked them to check surrounding areas. Some would show 1 in stock. So I'd call those stores. Nothing. Arrrrgh!
Finally...finally there is a breakthrough. I called a store in Pinellas Park, which is only about 5 miles from my parents house, which we're going to visit this weekend, and they said they were showing 1 dresser in stock. I asked them to physically check and see if they had it, and sure enough, they did! I asked them to put it on hold, and they did, but only for 24 hours. We aren't going to be there for 4 days! I asked if he could hold it until the weekend and explained the situation to him. That I lived in Gainesville but would be in that area this Saturday, and that I've called all over the state to try to locate these pieces, and we already have the matching glider and ottoman...he wouldn't budge. He insisted that the 24 hour hold was store policy. I asked to pay for it over the phone. He wouldn't let me. I asked to speak to a manager to see if they could override the store policy. He said that he WAS a manager. Arrrgh! All he could say was to call back tomorrow and he would see if he could extend the 24 hour hold for another day. Sheesh. Thanks, buddy.
Then, after more searching, I located a crib in Brandon, which is about 30 miles from my parents house, but is actually right off I-75 in Tampa, before we cross the bridge to go to my parents house in St. Pete. They said that they were showing 3 in stock, and I asked them to go physically check to make sure. Sure enough, they found them in the back room. Thank God! They didn't place one on hold at that time because it was late in the evening and there wasn't any staff available to pull it from the back room, but she said to call back in the morning and they would put one on hold for me. I went through my whole spiel about the situation with her too, but she couldn't do anything about it.
So, it looks like DH will be calling both of the stores every day this week to extend our 24 hour hold on each piece by another day, and we'll be praying that they let us keep doing that until Saturday!!!
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