Billy Hyde sale

The McKillop branch of Billy Hyde is currently holding a sale on the following items until December 8.

• 25% discount on all print music, books & plays on stock. Doesn’t include orders.
• 80% discount on items without barcodes.
• 70% discount on items with Fine Music on the barcode (as opposed to Billy Hyde Fine Music).
• 80% discount on print/plays/books downstairs including those already discounted.

Sale at Dymocks Melbourne

There’s a 20% Off Everything sale on Dymocks Melbourne CBD stores (only) starting today up to Sunday the 26th of February. Of course, it doesn’t really mean “everything”. The fine print excludes CDs, DVDs, videos and any existing specials.

So, if you’re from around Melbourne looking to buy some books, you may want to drop by the city and buy them off Dymocks.

Esprit Privilege Card Disappointment

Here in Australia (and most likely in New Zealand), the Esprit clothing shops have this promotional discount card called the Esprit Privilege Card which would give a qualified card member discounts and other benefits.

Here are the benefits as listed on the Esprit website:

15% off all full price merchandise at Esprit stores in Australia, New Zealand and selected stores in Asia *

15% off all full price merchandise at selected Red Earth stores in Australia and New Zealand

advance notice of sale events

exclusive offers, bonuses and competitions

Sounds great, right? Well, before you become a card member, you’d first have to spend an accumulated total of $300 in their stores within a three month period.

Three hundred dollars may not be a lot of money to spend on clothes for some people but for Raquel and me who aren’t really much into brand-name clothes, it had been difficult. It was difficult in part because everything was much more expensive than when you purchase something real similar in Target or Kmart. Granted that the quality of the products you would buy in Esprit may be better than those in Kmart but I’m sure that it isn’t that much better.

The other difficulty was that we were having a hard time picking stuff we actually liked. The stuff they’re selling weren’t cheap so we really have to like what we’re buying. In the past, I’ve bought two shirts from them and I hardly wear them. Sure, I buy shirts from Kmart that I also hardly wear but at the Kmart shirts didn’t cost me as much as the Esprit shirts.

Last week, we had purchased a total of about $248 in a span of almost three months (short of one week). We needed to buy something worth $52 before the week ended last week or we would miss the opportunity to qualify for the privilege card. So, we’ve visited Esprit shops in the city, DFO, Chadstone and Southland trying to buy something — anything — worth $52 just so we could meet the $300 purchase requirement.

Last Friday, Raquel was finally able to buy a decent $55 black shirt from Esprit in Chadstone. Finally, we were qualified to get this coveted Esprit Privilege Card. She filled out the membership form and passed it on to the cashier. The cashier started writing at the bottom of the form to complete it.

This was the disappointing part: the cashier wrote the expiry date on the form. I was not really paying attention at the time but I noticed that in the year part of the expiry date, he wrote “05” in the blank. Excuse me? As in, year 2005? The so-called Esprit Privilege Card only lasts for less than a year?

Not only was it less than a year but it was actually only effective for three months! We would only be able to benefit from this card for three short months after we spent three difficult months accumulating $300? To top it off, the cashier told us to expect the actual card within two months’ time. So worst case scenario, we only get to hold on to the actual card for one month before it expires? I thought such a membership privilege card would last a year at the very least. Unbelievable.

In the meantime, we have this temporary cardboard cutout for a card that we can show Esprit shops that we are actual card members. We must now buy often in Esprit just to get the full benefit of the discount card. I don’t think so! I will only buy something from Esprit if something catches my eye, regardless of a discount card. After this one expires, I don’t think Raquel and I will actively try to get another one from them. I think we’ll just rather wait for seasonal promotional shop discounts instead.

Three months duration. They should put that on their website.

Update (27/06/05): Read this update on the Esprit privilege card.