The Holiday Blues...

[RetailWarrior]

Hi all,
Since this is my first post, I'll give you some background about my job. I work in a high-volume retail store (a national chain) as a customer service associate. I've worked there since our store opened (1 year and a half) which means I'm one of the more experienced associates which equates to me having to deal with the "tough" customers.
The holiday season is what we all dread, but this seems to be one of the toughest ones yet. I don't know if it's the economy or the fact that I'm working more hours at the store, but I'm at the end of my rope and it's only mid-December!

So on to my stories:
RE: Return Policy
I know whenever a customer twitches their face, speaks quickly, and becomes hostile before I say anything, that they are going to try to get something from me they know will be tough. So this woman comes in with a younger daughter and hands me a pair of toddler's capris and says she wants to exchange them.
Me: Alright, do you have your receipt with you today?
Her: Yes
*hands me a crumpled, out-of-state receipt from 4 months ago*
Me: I'm sorry ma'am, our return policy is 90 days, even with a receipt we cannot give you a refund.
Her: My MOTHER (like I care who bought it) bought this during the summer and she couldn't wear it because it was too hot, so then we put it on her and now they don't fit, I want a refund.
1. I don't care
2. Why are seasonally inapropraite items being purchased
3. Capris can be worn in summer
Me: Let me get my manager
Her: Fine. Get a manager.
Manager: Ma'am, our return policy is 90 days. We could run this as a return without a receipt and you could receive the current selling price ($2.97) and it would have to be a store credit that you will recieve in the mail.
Her: *explodes* Blah, blah, blah.
Me: Ma'am you had 1/4 of the year to return ths merchandise, the reason we have the return policy is because once we have to resell this merchanise we can only sell it for the current value, so we lose money.
Her: I'M NEVER SHOPPING HERE AGAIN!!!! Even though Target has the same policy. ( Yes, she actually said the last part! I wonder if she no longer shops at Target either, hmm?)
Her: Well, I want these gift cards redeemed then because I don't want to spend money here.
Manager: Nope, we don't redeem giftcards (even though she can).
Her: *storms out*
My manger and I both watched as she walked out and then she turned to me and said, "she'll be back, they all come back".

Now I'm really as to a loss about customers and their perceptions of return policies. What do they want? An unlimited amount of time? No prood of purchase requirement? No, I think they just want us to throw money out from the roof tops. And what really gets me is when customers get mad when I won't return their items without a receipt, FOR CASH no less, because the items still have the tags on them! What???? Tags don't mean anything. You could grab something off a table and bring it to me with the tag on it and it would be the same thing. Don't verbally abuse me for your silliness.

RE: Sale signs: Are you literate?
Nothing beats when some jackinthebox comes in, sees a sign that says "sweaters, 30% off", and asks "So....everything in the store's 30% off?". Ummmmm....no. Read the sign. S-W-E-A-T-E-R-S.
Two for deals mean just that...TWO. If your could just buy one item at the sale price it would say "tees, $7.50" not "tees, 2 for $15". I understand that people misread signs. I do it too, but what I don't do is accuse the cashier of "being deceptive" like I was accused of. Please, I don't print up the signs, I don't write the signs, I don't choose the sales. If you don't like it, don't shop here. Go spend your $20 somewhere else. Believe me, it won't break us.
Clearance is priced as marked. PRICED AS MARKED! PRICED AS MARKED!!!!! No, it's not a %age off the red sticker, that is why the sticker is there in the first place.
I would require all customers to take a basic retail literacy test before entering my store if I was CEO. That way, I could offer lower prices on my items because I wouldn't waste man hours explaning basic English to people.

RE: Return? Better have that debit card.
Returns are issued back to the original form of payment. This stops fraud.
ME: Alright, that will be a $53.34 refund back to your debit card, do you have that wih you?"
Some jerk: What, *incredulous look appears on face* I just want cash.
Me: Well, our return policy states it must go back on the original form of payment.
Some jerk: I HAVE NEVER HAD THIS HAPPEN BEFORE! No other store has that policy!
(Yeah right, do I look like I'm stupid?)
Then I have to call a manager, and it was our GM who can't say no. And the guy got $50 CASH for a debit purchase. A part of me dies everytime that happens. Just knowing that customer is all like "yeah, I showed that little cashier what was what".

RE: Misplaced bag? Not my fault!
This most recent Black Friday I was threatened with bodily harm.
On the phone:
Me: Hello *insert shpeel* How can I help you?
C: I must have not grabbed one of my bags, can you see if its there?
Me: Of course, can you describe the items that you didn't get?
C: *insert clothing description*
Me: And at what register?
C: 3. (note, not MY register)
Me: OK let me look.
I find one bag, but it's not hers. So after we speak again, I put he phone on my shoulder and ask a manger if anything has been found. It has, so I go to get back on the phone when I hear...
"I'm gonna f**k up this girl if she doesn't find it. I'm not gonna pay for this." She must have been speaking to someone near her.
Me: Ma'am we ACTUALLY found YOUR things. You can pick them up at the register. *Click*
Needless to say, she didn't pick it up that day, probably hoping I wouldn't be there.
My word, it's not my problem if she can't keep track fo her own things

[MadMike]

Nothing beats when some jackinthebox comes in...

Just when I think I've heard every possible insult that sounds like a swear but really isn't, I see something like this.

RE: Return? Better have that debit card.
Returns are issued back to the original form of payment. This stops fraud.

Just out of curiosity, what would you do if the customer no longer has the fault, through no fault of their own? Something like that could have happened to me last year, when my card number was compromised. I found some charges on my card that I didn't make, and my bank cancelled my card and issued me a new one. If I would have then had to return something that I had bought with my old card, I wouldn't have had it.

[Hobbs]

Just out of curiosity, what would you do if the customer no longer has the fault, through no fault of their own? Something like that could have happened to me last year, when my card number was compromised. I found some charges on my card that I didn't make, and my bank cancelled my card and issued me a new one. If I would have then had to return something that I had bought with my old card, I wouldn't have had it.

Similarly, at my store, debit is returned as cash. Credit, of course, is returned as credit, which gives us some trouble with people who make credit purchases w/ their debit cards.

[malmalthekiller]

I feel you on the return policy thing.

I have that happen constantly. Recently I've had several people come in with receipts from July (I don't know why, it seems to be a popular month), and try to return lots of merchandise.

People always flip out on me, but I ask them why they decided to wait 6 months before returning a white t-shirt, or appliance that hasn't been opened yet??

[Chromatix]

I have had the opposite experience - I had to return something when it didn't do what I expected (and this was within about an hour of buying it). I'd bought it with a debit card. I expected it to be put back on the card - but in fact they gave me an authorisation note and sent me to the cashiers for cash.

[tamezin]

If your could just buy one item at the sale price it would say "tees, $7.50" not "tees, 2 for $15".

You really have to know the store you are shopping at. Some stores do give you the 1 for 7.50 if they are on sale, others don't. Usually the sign will say 2 for $15 then in smaller print (or 8.99 ea.).

I don't think there is anything wrong with asking if you aren't sure. But you shouldn't wait until you get to the check out counter to find out, and/or get cranky if you don't hear the answer you want.

[RetailWarrior]

Just out of curiosity, what would you do if the customer no longer has the fault, through no fault of their own? Something like that could have happened to me last year, when my card number was compromised. I found some charges on my card that I didn't make, and my bank cancelled my card and issued me a new one. If I would have then had to return something that I had bought with my old card, I wouldn't have had it.

Well in that case, a manager CAN override it and give cash. I'm sure there are a lot of other complicated reasons as to why we don't refund debit as cash. I'll ask a manager today and see what he says about it. But it's not like we hide our return policy, it's in front of every register and on the bottom of each receipt. When you purchase things fro us, you agree to our return policy whether you choose to read it or not.

[PepperElf]

RE: Misplaced bag? Not my fault!

did that once myself... but i went back to the store and asked nicely at the service desk. and since i recalled almost everything that was in the bag (except for my 20oz bottle of soda) they called a manager over and let me have the bag.

[Gerrinson]

I'm going to reiterate what tamezin said about the 2 for $XX.00 items. In fact, the local grocery stores here often let you buy just 1 of an item at half price on all of their 2 for $XX sales. So, really, it could go either way. Of course, that doesn't excuse the lack of a polite question and a reasonable response to getting an answer you don't like.

As far as not longer having the original credit/debit card but getting a refund - it can be done. But, it is a pain the buttocks to do so. We had this happen to a guest of ours about a month or so ago. I'm fuzzy on the details of the resolution, because I don't handle our receivables, but it was a couple days of phone calls between our A/R rep and the credit card people. Mostly because she kept getting a new person each time she called and having to explain the whole situation over and over again, i.e. guest made a reservation, old card was stolen, now they are cancelling and need a refund but it has to go back on a different card number. *wheeze run-on sentence pant*

So, it can be done. But it requires a bit of work on the part of the vendor. More work than the average peon at a service desk is likely to do, or even be able to do, given the information we had to have available to prove we were the actual merchant in question and not running some weird scam.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread, alread in progress...

[MannersMakethMan]

Just out of curiosity, what would you do if the customer no longer has the fault, through no fault of their own? Something like that could have happened to me last year, when my card number was compromised. I found some charges on my card that I didn't make, and my bank cancelled my card and issued me a new one. If I would have then had to return something that I had bought with my old card, I wouldn't have had it.

If I remember rightly, the last time I had that problem, it was a gift voucher refund for the lady involved. It helped that she wanted something else, but I think in the UK it's illegal to give out a cash refund for things purchased on a card, in case of fraud. If she hadn't wanted the vouchers, I guess it'd have been a call to the card issuer.

[LadyAndreca]

I don't know about every store, but when I worked at Target, we could issue a gift card if someone didn't want a return put back on their card. So, if you didn't have the original credit card, you had another option...admittedly, not perfect, but most people can figure out how to spend money at Target. They did have an option for cash back on a debit purchase, though.