Well, I never heard anything back via e-mail. I called Monday morning and was told there was absolutely nothing they could do until the order was billed to my credit card with full shipping charges. Only then could they refund shipping for each individual item. The woman on the phone was very sweet, but that seems like a messed up system. I refuse to believe there was no way the total couldn't have been adjusted before the charge went through. I actually called back and left a voice mail nicely requesting that someone higher up review my order and make the adjustment, but they've never responded.

The charge was posted this morning, so I called again during my break. The woman on the phone asked me to confirm the free shipping code, then put me on hold for about five minutes while she looked into it. She came back and told me that the code was valid until 10/02 (I got my order in a few minutes before midnight on 9/30), so they would honor the free shipping. No specific end date was listed for the code on their website, however. As the code didn't work at all on 10/01, she must have been mistaken about the end date.

The lady did act like she was making an exception or doing me a favor by refunding the shipping, but the code was correctly applied at the final checkout stage. Someone just decided to yank it five minutes early. Regardless, even if I entered the code at 11:59:59 PM and hit the order button at 12:00:01 AM, as long it still showed as applied at the final stage, they should always honor it. At least it's taken care of now.

I also get the feeling that the sales tax they charged on the shipping amount ($4.24) won't be refunded. I told the woman to make sure it was, but she just replied "They'll take care of the tax". However, I've sent back numerous damaged items to Hastings over the years and it's been my experience that they hardly ever refund the sales tax, even when I include a note about it. It's always a headache to convince this company that they've made a mistake.