The woman I spoke to about getting the tax refunded was a real piece of work. She sounded like the same girl who does the voiceover for the menus when you call customer service. Seems nice enough, eh? She's not. I explained the situation to her and she told me: "Tax is included in the refunds." I tried to explain that she was mistaken. It's simple math:

My merchandise subtotal was $50.55.
They mistakenly added $70.68 in shipping.
They then added sales tax on the combined $121.23 amount ($7.30)
The final total they billed was $128.53.

So I told her she was wrong and that Hastings obviously did collect tax on the $70.68 shipping fee, as KY sales tax on the $50.55 merchandise subtotal is $3.06, not $7.30. Where did the extra $4.24 in sales tax come from if it was already included in the $70.68 shipping refund? I mean, this isn't rocket science here.

She retorted, "You're throwing numbers at me that aren't making sense. You are incorrect.". I told her I most certainly was not. "You were refunded FULL shipping charges, sir. I don't know how to make that any clearer." I won't deny that I was getting pretty pissed at that point. I asked her if she was denying that their company collected tax on shipping charges. She said no, she wasn't. I asked her where the extra $4.24 in tax came from, if not from the shipping. "It's not my business to know what your state charges in tax, sir. You are incorrect."

Anytime I tried to persuade her, she would just keep huffing like a mule and calmly repeat "SIR, your subtotal is $50.55. Your tax is $7.30. Your refunded shipping is $70.68. There is NOTHING else I can do for you." That was her mantra. She repeated it at least three times, as though it was enough to make me give up my argument. By that point, I was pretty flustered and on the verge of boiling. I asked if she was really that incapable of understanding what I was explaining. "I am NOT getting in an argument with you today, sir! I will send you a print out of your order if you need proof." I told her I had the confirmation e-mail in my hand. She told me she was done with this conversation and was going to hang up, so I asked to speak to her supervisor. She literally put me on hold for fifteen minutes before coming back and telling me they would now be refunding the tax. I guess her supervisor finally showed her how to use a calculator. "We're issuing a refund of $4.30 to your payment method." I told her I appreciated it, but that the tax was only $4.24. She let out a huge huff to get her point across, then in a monotone, robotic voice restated "SIR, I HAVE BEEN AUTHORIZED TO GIVE YOU A REFUND OF $4.30. I thanked her and she said nothing, just hung up. I got the message loud and clear: she was pissed and had no more time to suffer my abuse.

These people are morons. I will never give them any of my business again. I've gone back on that statement before, but not this time. I've never been treated that poorly or told I was wrong more times in a single phone call. To be fair, I'm sure I was raising my voice after having to explain the situation for the fifth time. Still, this chick was a total nightmare to deal with. I left a voice mail complaining about her treatment of the issue and telling them that they've lost a customer (After getting cut off twice because of the 90 second time limit. I'm sure they'll get a kick listening back to my multiple long-winded attempts to report her ass). I doubt they'll care. If fact, she'll probably be the one who hears it first.