Body Shop scam

Have you ever been asked to join the Body Shop membership? Always say no!

Unfortunately I've fallen for their trap. Membership used to be free. Now they charge $10 and say, oh, it's been reduced from $15. You do get 10% off purchases and stamps towards free stuff, but how often would I spend over $25? The stamp card is completely useless. The only reason I join is because they'll give you a birthday gift that worths up to $10. And if it goes over, you just need to pay the difference. Sounds like a shopping discount, right?

To make up for the $10 membership fee, I'll need to spend at least $100 within one year. The only thing I buy there is toner. That would be less than $60 annually. So normally I wouldn't buy membership unless it's guaranteed that I can recover the cost. That "birthday gift" seems to be the case.

Now, when I went to claim my gift today, guess what they gave me? A lip balm and a bar soap. Wouldn't even worth 5 bucks. (What? The soap is $4 and the lip balm is $6? You gotta be kidding me!) I bet these are left-over items that won't sell. And I don't think I can use them either. I stopped using soap 15 years ago. (Switched to gel because soap is too dry.) There're only 3 kinds of lip balm that won't make my lips peel, and this isn't one of them.