The meaning of "illegal"....

[Lulu]

SC : *tosses book down on desk* "I want my money back, the person I brought this for already has it."

Me : *internally sighing cos you just KNOW what's coming here* "Do you have the receipt Ma'am? If you have the proof of purchase, I'll be happy to exchange it for you or give you a credit note."

SC : *rummages in bag for a moment and actually produces the CORRECT receipt* "Here *shoves receipt in my face* I want my money back."

Me : *well, give her credit for the receipt right?!* "As I said Ma'am, I'd be happy to exchange the book for you, was there another title in the series that you'd like perhaps? We could order it in for you if we don't have it in stock? You could have a credit note if you prefer?"

SC : *thumping counter and getting narky* "Gimme my money back! S'MY money! No one said I couldn't have my money back when I got it!"

Me : *pointing to the foot high sign RIGHT by her that explains the returns policy, the slightly smaller sign stuck to the desktop she's thumping and the HUGE sign behind me also covering the returns policy* "I'm sorry Ma'am, the policy is clearly stated at the counter. I can offer you an exchange or a credit note."

SC : "That's ILLEGAL! I'm going to talk to my solicitor about you! Gimme my credit note NOW!"

Now...for one thing, the returns policy CLEARLY states that your statuatory rights are NOT affected, therefore, had she returned the thing because it was faulty/damaged then of COURSE she could have had her money back, returning it because you didnt think to check what the person you're buying for already has is not a valid reason for us to give you a cash refund! So, SC's out there... "illegal" means something is "against the law" as opposed to "not getting your way". Jeez.

[pbmods]

Whee! How does this story end??

[tenaciousb]

um not your fault but I hate stores with picky return policies

mainly because my store takes back damaged, opened, sometimes with no packaging at all, and all of the above described products with no receipt all the time...

my manager just recently let someone return an opened copy of windows xp pro which is like $300 because the guy said he didn't need it anymore or something

now if I'm a manager I don't care what kind of argument you want to have with me, I know your reciept from 5 hours ago provided you plenty of time, to go home, load the cd on to your hard drive, and come back here expecting to have gotten your copy of xp for free -- and I'd tell you your clever ass is out $300 because thats copyright law nevermind store policy

my point is we take so much bullshit from peoples returns, I have no clue why they bitch at us when they bring something in such redicolous condition nobody would take it back, yet there are stores I can't return things for store credit/exchange when its in perfect condition still in the original packaging just because I don't have a reciept

(stuff like gifts you get that you don't want)

also we push our service plans on electronics hard so when people's shit break and they said no to us on the service plan before, and come back 2 months later expecting help, we take a quiet pleasure in turning them away

[Lulu]

I agree with you, it is picky and I actually do wish there was a legal standard returns policy that would apply to all shops to be honest, at least then the customers wouldn't get confused between shops and the staff would have less hassle over it all!

As for what happened, she threw a minor hissy upon learning I was as senior a staff member as she was gonna get, and then went off in a huff...I'll await some contact from the solicitor...who no doubt is either totally fictitious or currently laughing his arse off

[Mixed Bag]

I got angry at the mild-mannered older gentleman manning an independent book store when I was told returns only got credit, after I pointed out that I was trying to fulfil the spirit of the rule by buying a book about three-fourths as expensive as the one I was returning (someone else had thought Mom would like the same book for her birthday). He caved, and I guess I felt bad (as I have after other such episodes) because within a few days I settled on several cheap books there which would have cost more than the credit difference I was requesting.

Still, it seems petty not to offer some cash back when one is trying to buy something substantially as expensive. I don't think I've bought there since then.

[Barefootgirl]

Mmm, bookstore credit (said in drooling Homer Simpson-type voice)

[tenaciousb]

and while we are on the subject

I hate the nature of corporations in this light:

the customer that understands when you tell them no the first time are the ones that don't get what they want

the ones that cause a big scene and start making redicolous threats of peoples jobs and calling district managers (purely because they know it will work), and who generally are the ones that deserve to die in a car fire, get what they want

If I owned a company and I turned someone away and they complied straight up, I might just say from time to time, you know what come back we'll help you out. The latter. I'd curb stomp them out in front of the store if they didn't take my decline for its face value

[Mr. Rude]

Mmmm, curbstomping customers (said in drooling Homer Simpson-type voice)

[Becks]

Isn't curbstomping actually illegal? I certainly hope so.

[Enjis]

I bought a book at Border's a few weeks ago. I said it was a gift, and asked if I could have a gift receipt in case the person already had a copy. The counter person said they don't do gift receipts, but that the giftee could return it, with no receipt, and get something else. I don't know if they would have given the person cash back or not, as I did not ask.
Of course, if there is not a gift receipt, there is no proof of how much I paid for it either, and if the book goes on sale, the giftee gets a lower price in exchange.
That's why my store does gift receipts.

[phillippbo]

the customer that understands when you tell them no the first time are the ones that don't get what they want

I can't stand that either. Myself, I'm one of those customers who ask and take the answer at face value because that must be what the policy is. But from my experiences on both sides of the counter and phone, with a few exceptions the one that raises the biggest stink is the one that gets exactly what they want, or at least more than everybody else. That not only is unfair, but it tacitly punishes customers who follow the rules and at the same time rewards unwanted behavior. In my opinion, this appeasement mentality has lead to many (if not most or all) of the entitlement issues we have with customers now, and the longer it's allowed to continue the worse the problem will become.

The sad thing is that it's going to get worse. The industry idea is that companies who have "no hassle" return policies end up making more on the back end with returning customers than they lose with the fraudulent returns, so more and more companies go this route. (Note: I haven't actually seen any research on it myself, but I have read lots of articles that love to trumpet that as if its fact.) On top of that, many companies also over value a college degree and hire middle and upper managers (and sometimes the front-line management) who have never darkened the cash register side of the counter just because they have an MBA. This means that the people making all the decisions do not understand the dynamics of their own business, the importance of building rapport and loyalty among the employees, and the nuts and bolts of how the actual stores operate. (Not to mention that the new executive on the block must make a name for themselves by coming up with some impossible idea and implementing it right away. Upper management loves this, especially since it's conveniently the one that came up with the idea that feeds their superiors the data on how well it works. Ugh.) When, oh when, will companies learn that the best managers are the ones who were your best front-line employees...?

(Sorry if I went on a bit, but this has bothered me for many, many years...)

[Tito]

At least she did not try claiming it was 'bait & switch', or 'discrimination'.

[karma_gypsy]

I've got two stories:

One is that a woman purchased like, two or three video games and wanted to return them because her kids "were acting like 'butts'" and she simply wanted to return the games to punish the kids. I've gotta hand it to her honesty, but the receipt states that there are no refunds (we only do exchanges or credit). The manager did reluctantly do a refund though.

The next story takes place online. I had posted this auction (for work) for a longboard air sander. My co-worker, who takes care of the shipping, feedback and bookwork details decided to leave the customer good feedback because we haven't heard anything from the guy for a month, so we decided it the transaction closed. A day later, the guy e-mails us saying the sander doesn't work, (something to the effect of, 'I was on vacation, never had time to use it,). We accepted the return of the item (even though IT WAS tested before going online) and gave him a full refund (although he would prefect the exchange of an air file, we didn't have any, let alone knew what hell it was) upon receipt of the item. The sander was promptly tested and it worked just fine.

We came to the conclusion that the guy used the sander for what he wanted and then wanted his money back after he was done. We decided not to leave feedback until they left us feedback first. Ah well, learn from your mistakes, eh?

[Mr. Rude]

That sounds like the "renters" at radio shack aka The Source....Buy something friday, return on monday.

[Lehk]

That sounds like the "renters" at radio shack aka The Source....Buy something friday, return on monday.

i was talking to the guys at a local radio shack and they said they specifically will not take back ethernet cable crimping tools because so many people "rent" them