In today's economy, many women depend on email sale notices to determine when they are going to shop. A popular company, Shop It To Me, sends "Sale Alerts" to people advising of specific stores and brands having a sale. Often, Shop It To Me has a promotion running with the company to obtain a further discount.

This week, Shop It To Me ran a "Sale Alert" promotion for Ann Taylor, a popular clothing store for professional women. It provided a promotional code.

Ann Taylor recently got rid of plus sizes in its stores, stating that there was a lack of demand, regardless of the fact the average woman is a size 14. So, I made my first "online" purchase with Ann Taylor this week and entered the promotional code.

After entering the promotion, the website advised that they would determine if I was eligible for the promotion AFTER I entered my payment information.

AFTER I paid, the 30% discount was not applied.

After several emails with their customer service, they refused to honor the promotion, stating that the promotion did not apply to sale items - although Shop It To Me only alerts potential customers to sale items.

So for the many women who now need to shop ONLINE because their size was discontinued, I would not recommend doing so, especially if you are shopping under the belief that you may be obtaining a discount.

I have heard that The Limited is not carrying plus sizes in their stores. I think I'll go check that out.