How Target’s Red Card Works to Disappoint
I live two blocks from a Target. It’s affordable and very convenient, and I go there at least 3–4 times per week. A Target Red Card yields a 5% discount on all purchases, so it makes perfect sense to get one.
The actual user experience of having and using a Target Red Card, on the other hand, has many anti-features:
Low credit limit
Every month, when there are about 5 days to go before the auto-payment kicks in, I am on the verge of exceeding the credit limit on the card and having it fail. There is no way to apply for a different credit limit*, and no way to schedule payments more frequently than monthly*. So every month I end up making a manual payment sometime during the month.
A web site to manage the card that has regular and extended downtime
“The Red Card site will be down for maintenance from 9pm tonight until 5am tomorrow morning.”* What web site does that?
A web site that won’t take a simple login
On my most recent trip to the Red Card site (it’s near the end of the month) the site wanted my first grade teacher’s name as added security. Did Target have a security incident? They didn’t say so, they just keep asking me for additional details.
A new features tour that isn’t
Once I logged in the site excitedly told me that it had new features, and asked me to take a tour. The sum total of the tour was the site asking me to confirm that I want electronic statements, which I already signed up for when I opened the Red Card.
Forcing me to prove I can read a PDF
Seriously? Upon (re)confirming that I want electronic statements, the site required me to download a PDF and enter the security code in the PDF.
A security code that isn’t
Not that it matters too much, but the PDF security code was as weak as if Target’s password was “password.”
No wait, you can’t pay us
Once I was finally in the site, as expected I had only about $40 left on the Red Card. So I set up a one-time payment for today to pay the balance. All the way through the system (including selecting the payment date a step or two earlier) and when I submit the payment I get a warning that since it’s after 5pm Central Time the payment can’t be made for today. Note: not that the payment has been scheduled, and won’t go through until tomorrow — that’s too helpful — literally that the payment can’t be made for today. I have to go back through the payment pages to the scheduling page and select tomorrow, then forward through the process again to make/schedule the payment.
Remember, I had $40 left on my Red Card
Even though the payment isn’t scheduled until tomorrow, I still have $40 left, right? Nope! I go to Target to pick up a salad ($3) for my wife (the reason I checked the balance in the first place). I open the Target App to make the Red Card payment. Rejected. Switch to the actual Red Card. Rejected. Get home and log in to the Red Card site and despite the fact that my balance is still $40 below the limit, the available credit has mystically dropped to $1.33. Why? No idea.
Another thing
Beyond the above, the Target’s registers seem to be unable to accept a gift card and the Red Card together for a payment. So if I have a gift card, I don’t get the 5% discount from the Red Card.
On the plus side
The app is easy to use, and once the Red Card is tied in, you can purchase right from the app, which is nice. And obviously a 5% discount on everything is overwhelming to any inconvenience. But a poor user experience is still a huge problem.
* Restrictions on hours of availability and dollar amounts are from memory.
