"But it's sealed!" Does not magically change the return policy.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

I don't know what it is lately but over the past several weeks I've had FOUR instances of this odd phenomenon where people seem to think that because they have a sealed product, our return policy doesn't apply to them.

The circumstances were as follows:

1) Guy had bought a PS3 game at another store that needed a Mic to play, we didn't have any Mics, but we do sell a version of the game he already has that comes with a mic, so he wants to buy that version, then bring back the sealed version he bought at another store for a full value refund at our store.

All we can do is a trade which will get him around $10 instead of $40. He gets supremely pissed at this, mutters something about how we don't give a crap about our customers and then says he'll shop at Target instead.

2) Guy brings a game in wanting a refund, with a sales receipt dated Nov. 23, 2009. Our return policy is 30 days. For some reason he believes he's entitled to a refund "because I never opened the game". Sorry, you're outside the return window, no dice. "But I never opened it!" Well whoopdee do, that's great, but that doesn't change the fact you missed our return window by over THREE months.

3) Customer asks me, in all seriousness: "Hey I have a game I bought a Christmas time. It's still in the packaging, that means I can bring it back for a refund right?"

Um...let me think.....NO.

4) Customer bought a copy of Final Fantasy XIII for Xbox 360 at Wal-mart, decides she wants the PS3 version instead. Her copy is sealed and she expects us to do an even swap out for a PS3 copy. While this may seem reasonable, our return policy doesn't cover anything not purchased at our stores (duh!). She throws a huge fit and storms out, depriving me the opportunity to ask the most obvious of questions:

"Why the CRAP didn't you just take it back to Wal-Mart???"

I cannot for the life of me understand why customers feel having a sealed copy of something gives them some kind of power to bend our return policy at will.

[mikoyan29]

I assume because they figure you can still sell it.

[ottid]

and they obviously can't have copied it.

I tried returning a CD to a store once, only because I got two copies for Christmas and I had both copies with me, it was a no go. Which was fine, but I just wanted to try.

[RetailWorkhorse]

"Why the CRAP didn't you just take it back to Wal-Mart???"

Because they already said "no"?

Why does anyone think they can take a product from one store and "return" it at a different one? [/Rhetoric]

[Mongo Skruddgemire]

and they obviously can't have copied it.

I tried returning a CD to a store once, only because I got two copies for Christmas and I had both copies with me, it was a no go. Which was fine, but I just wanted to try.

Well there is a big difference between trying and trying while at the same time being a douchewaffle.

In your case you tried with the mentality of "Nothing ventured, nothing gained" and you left there with the attitude of "Well it was worth a shot". In short an attempt that wasn't a foray into Customer Suckage.

Most people do the whole rant, rave, you're racist, you're a bastard, you're an evil baby-eating nazi dance for the whole world to see.

[Mystic]

The first one is understandable, but why did he think he could return it to a different store?

[crashhelmet]

The question is....

Are they still sealed or resealed?

Shrink wrap is cheap and easy to use.

CH

[VenomX]

Also have to remember they may have STOLE it at another store but it wasn't the game they really wanted.

I work at a small cigarette/cigar shop and we get people in all the time wanting to sell us steaks, tools or other items. You know darn well its' stolen.

And the thought of eating a steak after they shoved it down their pants to steal it makes me sick. I turn green and tell them sorry I don't eat steak.

[Lace Neil Singer]

One of the most famous SCs at the Orange Bag supermarket where I once worked on the checkout was the woman who brought in a load of Blue Stripy stuff to refund. She just would not leave, insisting that she had a right to a refund cuz none of the DVDs worked. Yeah, and you know this how? They were all sealed. Anyway, she didn't get her refund, and stomped off in a strop, yelling that she'd never come back.

She wasn't even a customer in the first place; she bought the DVDs at Blue Stripy, not Orange Bag! SC logic does not compute.

[CrazedClerkthe2nd]

The first one is understandable, but why did he think he could return it to a different store?

That was one of the points of my post, some people think they can bring something back anywhere as long as its unopened.

[Skeen]

OMG, I just did that last week. Mr. Skeen and I had both managed, on several occasions, to buy the same game for each other.

Now, I am a lazy bitch most of the time so I never could be bothered cramming the extra games back into their boxes and walking the 15 feet to the mailbox. I found a box full of "2nd copy" games the other day and since I was on my way out, decided to stop at a GS and trade them in.

I totally forgot about the shrink wrap. It honestly never occurred to me. I was embarrassed I'd forgotten about it.

But I didn't pitch a fit and start dropping f-bombs, either.

[VenomX]

We have this with cigarettes. They have a friend thats going to the next state over which isn't taxed as much as we are. They tell the friend they want a cartn of Marlboro Light Kings. The friend comes back with Marlboro Menthol Light 100's. They then expect me to exchange them.

I love when I check the tax stamp and see other states stamp and tell them sorry I can not do that. They start getting all pissy and demand that I do it. I show them the stamp and then ask if they see all the cigarettes we sell. When they say they do I then tell them if I exchanged the cigarettes and then our state inspec. comes in and sees the ther states stamp all the cigarettes they see in our store would be boxed up and we would NOT be allowed to sell cigarettes again.

I think they would just fine us but this shuts them up and gets them out of our store.

[C-130]

Hmmm see to me this is starnge for returns anyway. Maybe this is a Uk thing. I know that most stors promise a 28-39 day return no quams policy if product is unopened. And that you can return a product bought in say company A to any stopre by company A. I believe the law in the UK actually demands that.

On another note my work had taught me it was illegal for us to refuse returns on sealed products in certain cases.

[Food Lady]

Hmmm see to me this is starnge for returns anyway. Maybe this is a Uk thing. I know that most stors promise a 28-39 day return no quams policy if product is unopened. And that you can return a product bought in say company A to any stopre by company A. I believe the law in the UK actually demands that. On another note my work had taught me it was illegal for us to refuse returns on sealed products in certain cases.

Yeah, but these people are trying to return a product from company A to company B.

[Jay 2K Winger]

and then our state inspec. comes in and sees the ther states stamp all the cigarettes they see in our store would be boxed up and we would NOT be allowed to sell cigarettes again.

This kind of thing is why we tell people they can't return cigarettes or alcohol at the wholesale club. It's state law that prohibits us from doing so. Now, if someone hasn't yet left the store, and realizes they bought the wrong kind of cigarettes, the service desk can do an exchange for the correct carton. Likewise on alcohol purchases.

Once they leave the store, however, they're stuck with them. Around major "cook out" holidays (like Memorial Day, Independence Day, etc.), when I see people come through the register with whole flatbed carts loaded with cases of beer, I make a point of reminding them "You can't return the cases you didn't open."

Doesn't stop them from trying anyway, though. Sigh.