I was given a $100 AE gift card for graduation, and decided to spend it online. I have never even been inside an AE store or shopped with them before simply because it's usually out of my budget to buy clothing there. So this was my very first time shopping here and I'd heard bad things before, but figured I'd give it a shot anyway.

I purchase four different items and at checkout entered in the gift card code to redeem it. The system accepted the card and informed me my subtotal was $1.29 because the card didn't cover all of it. So I pull out the good old debit card and fill in the boxes with all the standard info. All goes well and I'm promptly sent a confirmation email. So far so good.

About half an hour later I'm scrolling through my email and another email from AE saying part of my order has been cancelled. Ok, these things happen sometimes. I open the email and it says:

"To enhance your security, your order was pulled for additional verification. For your protection this order was not allowed to process further. You will not be charged."

I was given no actual explanation as to why my order wasn't put through and was simply told to call a 1-888 number if I want to replace my order. As a first time customer, this did not impress me at all. So the first thing I do is to go make sure that the $1.29 had been properly withdrawn so that I could set up a notification for when it was returned. To my absolute horror, I find that the FULL AMOUNT of my purchase including the $100 that was supposed to be off the gift card was taken directly out of my account. Thankfully, when I rechecked the balance on my gift card, it appeared that the $100 was still there. However the words

" Your current balance may not reflect recent purchases if you have used your gift card in the past 3-5 days."

Were not comforting at all as now I have no clue if the balance is accurate or not. Next, I go to track my order to see the details of payment and see that the gift card appears nowhere as a form of payment used. Instead, only my debit card appears. Also, I am told on this page that my order was cancelled because all four items I had purchased had sold out. I find it rather difficult to believe that all four completely different items has been sold out and even if they were, why was I permitted to pay money for them in the first place? And why was I told that it was for security reasons in the cancellation email? Nothing here is adding up and now I have $100 that is tied up in my bank account for upwards of a week. When I did try to contact someone about the issue I was coldly greeted and told it was a system error and I was not charged. My further questions were dismissed and I was hung up on. Very very upset about the poor service.

Hopefully my money really is restored and my gift card funds are still intact in 3-5 days, but even so, I will not be purchasing anything from AE again and will be trading my gift card in for one to a more polite, reputable, and customer friendly store.