30 day return policy

[Jazz]

How many of you work in places with a 30 day return policy? We have a 30 day return policy upon receipt of product from the mail. This guy ordered one of our package with this TV show - Season 1 through 5. We also offer Season 1-2 and 3-4 in two separate packages.

He calls two months after he purchased it and said that one of the DVD isn't working. We have a 30 day return policy. However, after much emailing back and forth and he was really rude, I said I would make the exception. We received the defective DVD and sent out a new one.

Today he calls and insults me over the phone saying that the shipment arrived and the DVDs are dislodged in the case. He screamed saying how this was unacceptable and then went on to scream about how our 30 day policy is unacceptable and that whoever heard of a 30 day return policy?

Huh?

Most places I have shopped have sometimes a 7 day return policy, never mind 30 days. He started getting off at me saying that Walmart returns everything back and that they didn't have a time limit. I looked up their website and the return policy is 90 days with receipt and there are exceptions...including movies have to be unopened.

Huh.

I'm so fed up at being insulted. What insults me more is that he was soft-spoken in the beginning and I couldn't hear him so I asked him if he could repeat what he said politely and he started yelling saying, "Are you deaf?" Well, you know what? I am. I'm hearing impaired. Then he turns around and said, "Then you must be stupid."

Thanks, I'm not being paid enough for this abuse.

[Chrysantha]

This happened to me quite a few times too at Home Depot. One policy we had was after 30 days your gas powered tool had to be shipped out for service. We dont service on site and no exchanges/refunds after 30 days. Even worse was explaining to the customers that if the damage wasnt covered by the warrenty there would be an extra $30 diagnostics fee charged by the company on top of the repair cost.

All these items were sent to a place that was seriously 4 blocks from the store however they only picked up/dropped off to our location once a week. That ment u drop it off on saturday you have to wait till the next friday before it even leaves the store. Taking that some of these tools took a lot of work it could be a week or so of work on the item....once they got to it...so if it took them a week to get to it and 2 weeks to work on it...even if it was finished on a monday, you wouldnt get it back to the store until friday.

Long story short we told most customers to take it to the place themself as they usually got to those tools faster and there would be no pickup/drop off delay.

Imagine them being so mad they throw a chainsaw at you and jump up and down like a child for asking them to do something to save them time. (dont worry, it didnt hit me)

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

My last retail store job had a thirty day return policy. It's pretty dang common.

Wal-mart's return policy is just that...Wal-mart's.
I don't get when people throw some other store's policy in your face like that's going to be some sort of instant epiphany for you and you'll just bow to their wishes without another word.
"Wow, you mean Jagoff's Department Store not only allows returns with no receipt and no questions asked no matter how long ago you bought it, they give you an extra $10 just for your troubles?! Dang, that's good enough for me! Let that be MY store's policy from this day forth! So mote it be!"

[BookstoreEscapee]

BN's policy was 30 days with the receipt, in saleable condition, you get a refund in whatever form you paid for it. After 30 days with a receipt you get store credit. No receipt, you get store credit for the lowest selling price in store or online. Which means if the online price is 30% off, that's what you get, even if we didn't discount it in the store. Usually we'd just use the online price because it's almost always lower.

A few years ago they changed the policy but as a trial it was only in certain districts. The store I was in then was in one of the districts that changed but one of the nearest stores was in a different district and didn't change. That was fun.

The new policy is 14 days with receipt to get a refund, after 14 days you get store credit. If you don't have a receipt it's still store credit, but you have to fill out a form and the card gets sent to the customer from corporate, so they have to wait 2-3 weeks to get their credit. We also had to take ID and write what ID they used on the form. A lot of people got pissy about that whole process. I heard a lot about how "ridiculous" it all is. Usually if it was under $5 we'd just give them the cash because it wasn't worth the paperwork, but if it was a real SC some supervisors would do the whole credit thing anyway. I've seen them for under 2 bucks sometimes.

[bigjimaz]

We have a 30 day return policy. However, after much emailing back and forth and he was really rude, I said I would make the exception.

If people put into effect a 30 day return policy and ADHERE to it and not cave in whenever some idiot whines, incidents like these would virtually disappear.

Either that or change the policy to 30 days or whenever you whine relentlessly.

[myswtghst]

At my work, there are two different divisions that deal with warranty. For most of our cellular stuff, if it's under a year, it can be replaced under warranty, but the majority of infrastructure equipment and radios are only covered for Repair under warranty. People have an insanely hard time understanding that unless they paid for a contract covering advanced replacement, or the unit was DOA--meaning that it never ever turned on, not even once, and that they noticed this within 10 days of receiving the unit, it cannot be replaced. I don't care if you've only had it for 2 weeks, if it ain't DOA, it ain't getting replaced.

They seem to think I can ok it--which, technically I can, but then billing will come right back, bi*** me out, and charge them for the exchange.

It drives me NUTS when management oks exceptions, because it just gives the idiots the idea that they can get away with it, that they're special. I understand if it's special circumstances (i.e. it's been in for repair 3 times and still doesn't work, lets just replace it) but seriously, just cause you want to whine? No.

[Zinjadu]

At S_____, there is no stated time limit, but it it's now posted that you have to have your receipt. We used to get people bringing back stuff with no proof they'd actually purchased it in our store, and they'd be able to exchange it or get a refund - the customer is always right, superior service, blah, blah, blah!

At my warehouse job (catalog shopping only), we now have a 90-day return policy. It used to be that customers could return stuff whenever, and they did - when I was in the Clothing Returns Dept., we'd get stuff from 2 catalogue years ago that'd been accepted for return. Not to mention some of the clothes that were returned were obviously worn - stained, ripped, smelly, etc., but their return policy is so pathetic that customers can and do abuse it.

[greensinestro]

You know what? Stories like this aggravate the rest of us. A while back, shortly after I bought my XBOX 360, I bought a game that was for the original XBOX and was told by a friend of mine that it would play without a problem on the 360. I got it home and it turned out I would need to be a member of XBOX Live to do it. I really am not interested in it and decided to return the game, just an hour after I bought it at Target. Immediately, the guy told me he was sorry, but he could not do a return on that game being it was already opened. I politely told him that I had just bought it and there was nothing wrong with it, but he stood firm on the store policy. Plus, the signs behind him also stated this.

I just don't have it in me to get rude and ugly. Plus, I found that this was not something that I would be in the right on anyway. With this thread, it now makes me wonder had I been rude and nasty like this guy, could I have received a refund?

[Primer]

The nearest Big Name Bookstore to me is about 35 miles away, and really is not on my way to or from work or anywhere I normally go. A few years ago, hubby, step-daughter, and I stopped in when we made a special trip to another store in that mall, and we each bought several books. When we got home, I doscovered I already had one of them, so the next time I was in that area, I made a special trip to return that book. I had the receipt and everything...only I had the wrong receipt. Somehow, they had gotten mixed up. Did I throw a tantrum? Of course not! I took the store credit, as I knew I was in the wrong. I ended up giving the credit to the step-daughter, but I never got upset at the store personnel for my mistake.

[crazylegs]

ours is pretty good, return non faulty in 21 days in perfect condition with receipt you get store credit/exchange. Other than situations where its only been a small amount of time we don't usually offer a cash refund. if its faulty w/receipt than cash it is.

it can be quite satisfying when rude/arrogant customer comes in as management dont usually cave to a cash refund.

[BusBus]

Businesses are in it to make money, not to make YOU the happiest person in the world. A reasonable return policy is a fantastic way to ensure customer satisfaction while still being profitable. Otherwise, people would simply return things when they no longer needed them.

**Awesome! 200th post!**

[greensinestro]

30 day return policies are good, except when a customer tries to return something after this period. A while back, I was at Best Buy and witnessed this old fogie arguing with the sales clerk on returning a cordless phone 45 days after she bought it. As a compromise, the clerk offered this woman a sales credit that could be used for an additional purchase, and of course, that was unacceptable. So, she demanded a manager, who came within seconds. This manager also explained to the lady that because it was past the 30 days, she could get a store credit. Being she saw she had met her "match", she took the store credit and I was finally able to get assistance.

A short while later, I saw this same woman buy another phone with her store credit, then right after she checked out, she went back to the returns counter and demanded she get a cash refund! Because she could not get the cash the first time around, she purposely bought another phone (the same one, by the way), then made a beeline for the returns desk to get her cash back. Once again, the same clerk and the same manager got involved, and they stood by their policy that since it was bought with store credit, they could issue another credit toward the purchase of another item in the store. Floored and pissed off, this bitchy old hag finally stormed out of the store, with the "new" phone she bought.

Happy ending right? Everyone out there thought perhaps this woman would get her dough back. Thank God she didn't being lots of other people out there like this woman probably do this every day with store credit.

[Jazz]

I just don't have it in me to get rude and ugly. Plus, I found that this was not something that I would be in the right on anyway. With this thread, it now makes me wonder had I been rude and nasty like this guy, could I have received a refund?

Hmm...I've had another rude and nasty guy and I didn't give him a refund. He hung up on me but really, that's all he can do. What bothers me is those who keep calling and calling. They keep asking for the manager. The problem with this company is, the top manager doesn't want to talk to the customers. Refuses to. She tells me, "it's my problem". Seriously, I never worked for a manager that will not talk to customers if I am having a problem. It's her company...and yet, she won't deal with the problems that I have to deal with when they request a manager to do it.

SO basically, I'm on the front lines alone. It sucks.