Wedding gift message character restrictions
While buying a wedding gift using the Bloomingdale's gift registry, I decided to collect my thoughts about an aspect of these stores that I find infuriating: They all make it as difficult as possible to write a gift message.
Over time, on sites like Bloomingdale's and Macy's, I've seen one or more of the below restrictions on gift messages:
- You must separate your message into lines.
- Each line is limited to a certain number of characters.
- Punctuation is stripped from your message.
- Your message is converted to ALL CAPS.
Today, my gift message needed to be separated into three lines, and each line had a limit of 45 characters. (At least they had Javascript that stopped you when you got to the 45 so I didn't have to count myself.) That's just 135 characters to work with--less than a tweet. And, of course, you only get all 135 if each of your lines happen to end at exactly the 45 character mark.
I saw a "live chat" button and decided to vent a little. I wasn't expecting any sort of real response, and indeed, my expectations were met.
Deborah C: Welcome to Macy's live chat service! What can I help you with today?
Customer: Why do sites like yours always have the line-by-line character limit (in this case it's limited to 45 characters per line)?
Deborah C: I'm so sorry for any inconvenience .
Deborah C: that is all they allow for message.
Customer: Right, I realize that, but it seems such a strange and arbitrary restriction. If you need a limit, why not just have a limit on the total number of characters?
Deborah C: I do apologize.
Deborah C: Do you have any additional questions I may answer for you?
Deborah C: I'm so sorry. As there has been no response, I will be closing our Chat session. If we can assist you in the future, please do not hesitate to contact us again. Have a great day!
