I think I had an encounter with an Ehellion today

[Audrey Quest]

You are not a special snowflake for going after a refund. You had had a negative experience with 2 locations of this chain, addressed the problem both times without satisfaction from management, and so you knew you would never use this certificate. I just heard from a small business owner that each new customer is worth $10,000 to the life of a business, so they lost a lot by chasing away a regular customer. You disliked them so much you wouldn't even return once more! I'm glad that you (politely, I'm sure) pushed to get your money back.

But, they didn't chase away a regular customer.  The OP is firm in that she will never go back there, no matter what.

It's unfortunate that her husband didn't remember her negative experience at this place - but that's not the salon's fault.

They did chase away a regular customer!  Just because it was four years ago doesn't mean that they didn't screw up and lose a customer.
 
And it doesn't have to be anyone's "fault."  The underlying principle is that the person who has the gift certificate should be able to use it.  This business has made that impossible by not providing good service.
 
And the idea that she should regift it seems rude--would you give a crappy gift to someone?
 
If the reason she couldn't use it was because of something specific to her, then that might be OK, but the reason she can't use it is the business' fault.  They bear responsibility for not being a good business.
 
And its true that just because a customer gets their money back doesn't mean they're right.  But, at the same time, businesses can refuse to serve people if those people are impossible to please.
 
That doesn't seem to be the case here, though.
 
I don't think there's anything Special Snowflaky about getting your money's worth.  The sheep analogy is pretty close.

[Hmmmmm]

Interesting topic.  Is it rude for a customer to go up the chain of command, asking to 'break policy', as long as customer accepts a final 'no'?

Depends on how far up the chain you go, and how you go about it.  If the person behind the desk can't do what you want, I think it's perfectly fine to ask for a supervisor.  Quite often, supervisors are able to make exceptions that regular employees can't.  It's also important in such situations to keep in mind that the first person you talked to wasn't refusing to help you, they just didn't have the authority to do what you want.  If you get a supervisor/manager, and they also tell you no, that's a no.  Demanding people higher and higher on the food chain until someone finally gives you what you want just to get you to shut up and go away is definitely not okay.  In the case of the OP, the highest authority in the spa had to call the corporate office and find someone there who could override policy.  That goes way beyond asking for someone in authority and well into throwing a tantrum until you get your way territory.

I'm well aware that the first person I spoke to did not have the authority to make this decision.  However, I was very clear when talking to the receptionist on the topic of my call.  I had no control over who they decided to take my call or the order in which my call was escalated.  At one point the GM stated that it was the credit card company that prevented the refund, however, I'v worked in the industry and have never heard of a credit card company imposing this type of rule.  Instead the policy is usually in place to elliminate the need to deal with lost certificates. 

I'm also not sure why you inferred that I threw a tantrum.  I was very polite to everyone I spoke to.  The first manager spent less than 5 minutes on the phone with me and the call with the GM was around 5 minutes.  He called me back within 15 minutes letting me know he'd received approval from corporate to approve the refund.  I spent way much more time on hold waiting for them to answer my call. 

[The Ricker]

Interesting topic.  Is it rude for a customer to go up the chain of command, asking to 'break policy', as long as customer accepts a final 'no'?

Depends on how far up the chain you go, and how you go about it.  If the person behind the desk can't do what you want, I think it's perfectly fine to ask for a supervisor.  Quite often, supervisors are able to make exceptions that regular employees can't.  It's also important in such situations to keep in mind that the first person you talked to wasn't refusing to help you, they just didn't have the authority to do what you want.  If you get a supervisor/manager, and they also tell you no, that's a no.  Demanding people higher and higher on the food chain until someone finally gives you what you want just to get you to shut up and go away is definitely not okay.  In the case of the OP, the highest authority in the spa had to call the corporate office and find someone there who could override policy.  That goes way beyond asking for someone in authority and well into throwing a tantrum until you get your way territory.

I agree with this.  I had a similar situation when my son received a video game for Christmas from his grandparents.  In his excitement, he ripped it open with none of us realizing that it was for a different game system, and thus unusable.  We attempted to get a refund at the local "big red bullseye" from which the game was purchased, and ran into its "no-refund" policy on opened games.  The very polite service desk employee stood firm on policy despite my equally polite attempts at negotiation.  Civil discussions with a manager were also fruitless.  I did not insist that the local employees call corporate.  We called the corporate customer service hotline ourselves, and after explaining the situation (including acknowledging the policy and taking responsibility for opening the game), we received a full refund.

Had the response from the hotline been "no," that would have been the end of it, no tantrums, no lawsuits, and chalk it up to a life lesson learned.  My attitude in this situation, and I admit I struggle with whether I did the "right" thing, was as long as we conducted ourselves politely, and accepted a final "no," then we could press our case, as it doesn't hurt to ask.

[Brentwood]

Had the response from the hotline been "no," that would have been the end of it, no tantrums, no lawsuits, and chalk it up to a life lesson learned.  My attitude in this situation, and I admit I struggle with whether I did the "right" thing, was as long as we conducted ourselves politely, and accepted a final "no," then we could press our case, as it doesn't hurt to ask.

And the OP did the same thing. She conducted herself politely, without "tantrums" or lawsuits. You got your refund. So did she.

[tnpenguinbaby]

The OP said in a prior post she went to this salon 1-2x a month. Then she quit going because of dissatisfaction with their services which they wouldn't address.
In another post she went to a new location of the spa and as she stated "was burned mentally and physically", which indicates to me they injured her.  At that time the manager accused her of lying.

I wouldn't have wanted to go back either!  I most assuredly would not *gift* a friend with a certificate to this place.  I agree I simply would not want them to have my money. From further posts, this was not a long drawn out process: she talked to 2-3 people and the whole process took less than 20 minutes.  She was calm and polite.  I don't see where there is any SSiness. 

[hjaye]

It sounds like you were being a special snowflake.  He bought a non-refundable gift certificate.  It was your husband's mistake.

There was nothing in her post that said there was anything on the gift certificate that stated it was nonrefundable, it was the manager telling her that it was nonrefundable, and she didn't accept that.  I agree with her, they have her money, there is nothing preventing them from going into the till and giving back the money, or issuing a credit to the credit card or sending her a check.  I think she did just fine.

Where are you getting this?  The OP said it was non-refundable, but she contacted the manager anyway.  So it doesn't sound like the manager made this up.  Also, it's pretty pro forma for gift cards and certificates to not be refundable.

But I'd stop short of calling her a special snowflake.  I just think it would have been better to address the poor service issue at the time it happened, rather than use it as leverage a couple years later to get cash for a refund (which was against corporate policy). 

Yeah that's my bad, I was reading it too fast.