To all of my customers who do not keep their receipts for returns...

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

...you drive me crazy!

Over the past several weeks we've had an epidemic of customers coming to do returns without receipts. I've had people throw a sealed copy of a game on the counter and want a refund...without having any receipt.

And I HATE it that customers think I can magically look up a receipt if they give me their last name or phone number or the card they used to pay with. Although we can track certain items, the vast majority of the time, if you don't have a receipt, you are SOL.

You are also SOL if you bought it a different store. Saying "but I thought you were all connected to each other!" does not change said circumstance.

I wish the official policy was no returns without a receipt ever, but corporate disagrees. We do have a "no cash refund without receipt" policy though.

I also can't stand the customers that get PISSY with ME because I can't find their transaction record (or refuse to look through hundreds of transactions to). Uh, hello? YOU FORGOT THE FRICKING RECEIPT! And yet I am the bad guy here now?
A customer complained last week that I was "unhelpful and rude" because I refused to track down a receipt for her when the only thing she could remember about the sale was that she "bought it sometime in September".

I am NOT going through an ENTIRE MONTH's worth of transactions to find your record. Sorry. I didn't get in trouble for the complaint and I was certainly not rude to this lady. My manager in fact said I made the right call by turning down the request.

Another thing that bothers me is how customers say "I don't have a receipt" or "I lost my receipt" or "I threw away my receipt" in a tone that seems to silently add to the end of the statement "but I don't think that should be a problem".

WRONG! Oftentimes it IS a problem and don't expect sympathy from me if you threw your receipt away because you thought you'd never have any problems with the product and now you need a repair done. Tough luck, son.

[Food Lady]

I think stores like mine could be responsible for your problems. We can look up a receipt with their card. We will issue store credit or an exchange without a receipt, but there is a dollar limit per year. Because we do it, your customers expect it from you.

[MergedLoki]

At my local gamestore i've seen the clerks TELLING customers to either put the receipt in the game case when they open it (basically where hte instruction book goes. Thats what i do) or slide it right into the cover of the case (like under the plastic covering on the cover)

that way... should the game want to be taken back due to malfunction/traded in whatever. the receipt is magically still there!

[simplyanother]

People come into Glitter Hell expecting the receipt lookup thingy. I've learned that...it can...be done, sorta, but it's not a simple or quick process. And that's not even in customer terms. It's really just not easy at all.

Like calling corporate and getting someone there to pull records or something, I've witnessed it, after a customer shit fit, but I don't remember all the details. I think it took a couple of hours to get this bitch her money back. Because SHE LOST her damned receipt. And she WAS a bitch, from the getgo.

"but they do it at Target!"

Yeah, this aint target.

(These same people bark for gift receipts. Sorry, can't do it. Sucks to be you)

[Magpie]

In my defense I only do this at stores where I know I can get away with it, and I've only done it when there was a flaw with the product, for a straight exchange. (Tilley's with their 100% guarantee, and MEC where they can look it up by my member card).

Cookies? I started Christmas baking, so you can choose between sugar cookies and pffernusse.

[JustaCashier]

One thing I've regularly done over the years with significant purchases of items that come with warrantees and instruction manuals, was to staple the receipt to the manual.

That way, should any issues arise, the receipt is as handy as the manual!














Wherever the hell that may be.....


Mike

[DGoddessChardonnay]

One thing I've regularly done over the years with significant purchases of items that come with warrantees and instruction manuals, was to staple the receipt to the manual.

That way, should any issues arise, the receipt is as handy as the manual!














Wherever the hell that may be.....


Mike

Another good thing to keep would be the original packaging, especially if it's a big-ticket item such as a computer.

The box that my brother's Dell came in is still out in the building. The receipt from Wallyworld is on my nightstand in front of the alarm clock and his manuals and DVD's are stored in one of his drawers at the desk in his room.

As long as I know where everything is, I'm good. Now unless a spirit moves me, the receipt will either stay on the nightstand or walk itself to my brother's room and staple itself to the user guide.

[Stryker One]

Running the numbers

So, what is your experience with the difference (percentage) between scam returns and just idiots? 5:95?

[JustaCashier]

Another good thing to keep would be the original packaging, especially if it's a big-ticket item such as a computer.

Oh yeah, I've done that before too. Especially when I still had my house and could toss the box, intact, down in the basement.

I not only did it for the possibility of a return, but also as a security measure rather than putting it by, or even in, the recycle bin, which would be an advertisement to what I'd just bought.

Now that I've been in the apartment for over 9.5 years, it's a bit of a different issue due to lack of space. Even collapsing the box for a physically large item, there's little room to stash it.

It's been several years since I last made such a purchase, so any of the boxes are long gone. Don't recall exactly how long I hung onto any of them, likely until after any warranty would be up. Then would have cut them up, and stashed them in one of our building's recycle bins, having removed any shipping/address labels that would trace them directly to my apartment number.

Mike

[Android Kaeli]

I love the customers who want to return things without the receipt, because not only do they get a lovely store credit but they also get a percentage off of the item because they don't have the receipt. The only way to get this percentage off is through a manager or having a receipt, most people don't really care -- it's the few people with one or two items that throws a hissy fit. o.O

One customer asked me, and I remember this question because of the nature of the return I was doing, "Who keeps their receipts anyways?"

[EricKei]

"Who keeps their receipts anyways?"

Only the sentient carbon-based life forms do thaaaaaaaaaaaat...

I do the "keep it next to the manual" thing, too. The little plastic tabs in there work really well for this, mysteriously enough...

Aside...I do tech support for a retail POS program that lets you look up receipts...but if the store doesn't track customers by name, or people refuse to give their name, then it becomes a HUGE hassle. The closest they're gonna get on an "anonymous" receipt is "every receipt upon which this item has been sold, EVER" >_< Not too useful.

[EvilEmpryss]

.Another thing that bothers me is how customers say "I don't have a receipt" or "I lost my receipt" or "I threw away my receipt" in a tone that seems to silently add to the end of the statement "but I don't think that should be a problem".

With me, "I don't have my receipt" is said in a tone of "Yeah, I know, I'm a goober, but anything you can do to help me will be greatly appreciated. Store credit is fine, and I know I'll only get the lowest sale price for it."

[Lace Neil Singer]

At the garden centre where I used to work, store credit was given to anyone who didn't have a receipt. Not a refund, not a replacement and you can bitch, whine and scream all you like, but this is not going to change cuz the boss is a stingy git and does not like to give money away.

[Andara Bledin]

Another good thing to keep would be the original packaging, especially if it's a big-ticket item such as a computer.

Nekojin & I do that, partially in case of a problem, and partially due to laziness.

After a few months, we'll get tired of kicking the box(es) around and take 'em to the dumpster.

^-.-^

[AriRashkae]

I think stores like mine could be responsible for your problems. We can look up a receipt with their card. We will issue store credit or an exchange without a receipt, but there is a dollar limit per year. Because we do it, your customers expect it from you.

I was overjoyed when I walked into HomeDepot for an exchange (bought the wrong breakers for our box) and they could look up my transaction when I gave them the card. The original receipt got ... mangled ... and I was fully prepared to have to buy a new set and eat the loss.

Now I ask (nicely!) if such a lookup is possible at other stores. If not, I figure something out.