"You should explain your ENTIRE return policy before...."

[Midnight]

....someone purchases something!"

Ugh, had a real winner come into my store last week. I manage a local independent game store. This black girl and her not to sharp boyfriend come into my store wanting to return a game since he claimed he never played it and just didn't want it. Now mind you, this was roughly three or four days after he had purchased the game....

Anyways, our store gives a 90-day replacement warranty against defective merchandise only. No cash refunds and all sales are final once out the door. We can't give you a new game because you hated the old one or little johnny found it to be to hard for him. If we don't have another copy of the game to replace the defective one, we give only store credit for the full purchase price so the customer can pick something else. We can buy it back for a normal trade-in price if you didn't like it, but you won't get what you paid for it in the first place. Unfortunately, as most small business goes, we can't really afford to do cash refunds like larger retailers can since we don't sell nearly the amount of product larger stores do.

Anyways, these two winners came in wanting their money back for the above stated reason. I told them I couldn't do that, and the guy pretty much gave the classic line "Well I was told I can get my money back!" Yeah, nice try, except I was the one who sold you the game in the first place and I clearly remember the transaction and never saying anything along those lines. I did say be sure to hang onto your reciept cause there is a 90 day replacement warranty on the game, because if you lose it, there is nothing we can do. He had selective hearing apparently...

Well, by this time, his girlfriend jumps into the fray and starts giving me a lot of attitude about how they should've been told about the WHOLE return policy before they bought the game. I kindly explain to her that I'm under no obligation to do so since we have our return policy clearly posted in two different places in the store, one of which she walked right by when entering the store. "Well, I never saw it the first time I came in here." RIGHT.....even though it's been sitting on our counter for YEARS, well before even I started to work there.

Anyways, they left still with their game since the few dollars I offered in exchange for the game wasn't enough. She came back a few minutes later to look at something else in the store, still ranting about how we should've told her about the ENTIRE policy. Caveat Emptor aka "Let the Buyer Beware" is what I told her in response. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to read every line of our return policy to every customer who buys something from our store. And her expecting me to do so is just plain idiotic. If you're to blind to read our return policy in the first place or ask specific questions about it BEFORE you buy your game, it's not my fault your stuck with a game you don't want after you buy it. Yeesh...

[CanadaGirl]

Lol. They'd probably get more money back if they put it on eBay.

[icia]

yeah, we have the same policy on games at our store. it's the copyright laws and for some reason people seem to think i get my jollies from not wanting to give them money back (well, if they're a jerk i DO kinda enjoy telling them no >>) but they just can't get it through their head that its policy and not my own personal rule that i've just made up to tick them off.

[varmintjane]

How is being black relevant to the story? Did she claim that it was racism or something?

[toolbert]

How is being black relevant to the story? Did she claim that it was racism or something?

i was thinking the same thing

But back on topic, I hate it when people come back to the store and bitch when I've already explained my store policy to them. For us it's on the reciept and I'm sorry if you can't read or if you threw your reciept away. That's our policy and I'm not bending unless it really is the fault of the item in question.

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

A lot of this attitude comes from many stores (mine included) who teach you that if a customer gets unreasonable, loud or makes a fuss, just give it to them.
In other words, act like a three-year-old and you get your way.

[Cvstos]

This makes me extremely happy that our return policy is on our receipts. I love it when they get all upset at me that they didn't read the signs next to the register, and I just circle the relevant bit on their receipt!

[technical.angel]

I had that too!

Woman walked up with a gift receipt, wanting a refund.

I explained that we could not refund with a gift receipt.

Well, no one told her precious angel that when he bought it.

"Actually, ma'am, I did. Not to mention, it's written right here on the receipt."

She left. I can't remember if she came back with the real receipt or not.

Jenni :angel:

[One-Fang]

I second the thought on mentioning her colour. Not because I think you should avoid potentially racist-seeming comments, but because I was reading it expecting to read something like "then she called me a n****er" and it never came. :(

Like setting up a joke and forgetting the punchline.

[Clintmax]

I worked for many years at an office supply store and our return policy stated 14 days on electronics, 30 days on everything else with your receipt. I was the KING of returns. Nobody returned anything to MY store after their time had expired. Nobody. I had people who would want to return open software. Didn't happen. I had to explain to them that they could easily have burned a copy of the disc or copied the disc contents to their harddrive, and they're trying to get the software for free. That's why opened software and music CD's can only be exchanged for the exact same item. :devil:

I hate returns.:roll:

[Midnight]

I apologize if I came across as racist by saying she was black. It really had no relevence to the story since I've had customers equally sucky who have been pretty much every race under the sun. As I was typing the above story, it just came out as part of the story and I didn't really think about it.

[MystyGlyttyr]

I didn't even notice anything about it until everybody started talking about it... :confused: . She was a black lady. It's just a description. Someone could call me a white lady or a red-haired lady, they're both perfectly accurate (well, minus the "lady" part ;) ) Just another adjective.

So far as the return policy thing, maybe we should should make customers sign a contract that explains the return policy, the all sales are final policy, the you-can't-sue-because-it's-raining policy, the if-we're-out-we're-out policy, the just-because-you-see-my-lunch-doesn't-mean-you-can-have-it policy, and the if-aliens-come-you're-on-your-own policy.

Of course, then they'll complain that the store's oxygen-to-nitrogen ratio is off, and that we're risking giving them cancer...

[varmintjane]

I wasn't trying to be a dick by mentioning it, I was just wondering if she increased her suckiness by claiming racism.

But Mysty, how many stories on here say "this red headed lady spit in my face" or something. Usually descriptive terms like "old man" or "fat lady" have some relevance to the story, such as the common experience that some old people are crabby.

[MystyGlyttyr]

I just don't really notice to be honest. Unless there's a paragraph-long description about the person's girth or color or whatever, I just figure it's part of the storytelling and read on. Someone described as a fat person is just that...a person who's fat. It helps me visualize the scene.

Maybe that's why I don't always get the stories on here...

[volvodrivincashier]

Ah yes, returns. I'm a dick about returns.

Had a guy come in once wanting to return a little mini-fridge (I mean the kind only big enough for like a 6 pack of soda) because he never used it. This was in Jan 06. I looked at his reciept, purchase date: 06/28/2005.

"Sir, I'm sorry but I technically can't even take this back, it was bought over 6 months ago and our return policy only allows 30 days for returns." "Well I have my reciept, and I paid cash, so I'd like my money back." "Sir, (pointing to the return policy sign beside me" Our return policy states 30 days, what this means is after 30 days, you can't return it, period." Well Mr. Bright tried to play the "But it's not on the back of the reciept!" card on me. Nope. Called my manager, who (ugh) buckled into giving him store credit only, which he still scoffed about. He finally accepted THAT, but then went around the store telling every customer he could find that we wouldn't give him his money back even though he had his reciept. I let my manager know, and recommended we tell him to leave, but he wouldn't do that. :confused:

Some people.

Then you get the real bright chaps who come in first-thing in the morning on Sunday with a $173 cash return. "Sorry sir, you'll have to come back later with that, it'll leave me with about $30 in the drawer, and I have to be able to give change to other customers. Try back in about an hour, I should have enough cash by then." He looked disgruntled, but agreed. HELLO people? COMMON SENSE!

I guess some people think the cash register has an endless flow of cash coming from it or something...whatever.

I'm a huge dick about returns though. I can't stand it when people return something just because they "don't need it" when it's something ridiculously cheap that they could keep and use later or have as a spare. Obviously if it's something weird or expensive, it's legit and I don't have a problem with it. But c'mon, return a $2 screwdriver because you don't need it, and expect cash even though you don't have your reciept because "it's just $2??" You can't even get a gallon of gas with $2 anymore, and hey I've got news for you, no-reciept cash refunding is an AUDIT POINT and can GET ME FIRED, no matter how little or much cash is refunded without a slip.

[Rubystars]

I had that too!

Woman walked up with a gift receipt, wanting a refund.

I explained that we could not refund with a gift receipt.

Well, no one told her precious angel that when he bought it.

"Actually, ma'am, I did. Not to mention, it's written right here on the receipt."

She left. I can't remember if she came back with the real receipt or not.

Jenni :angel:

This probably makes me seem really ignorant, but I thought you gave a gift receipt to someone with their gift so if they didn't like it, they could return it, but if they didn't return it, they wouldn't know how much you spent on it.

[Enjis]

In my store, we give gift receipts, which means this: you can get an exchange of the item, a credit to your in-store charge, or a credit slip, good for buying merchandise elsewhere in the store for up to a certain amount of time (not sure of the time yet, since we recently underwent MAJOR ownership issues, and are now working under a new system to match our new parent company)

Gift Receipts will NOT give the giftee CASH...and that is the one thing that bothers most customers.

[technical.angel]

Right. You can get store credit or an exchange with a gift receipt, but not cash.

Jenni :angel:

[XM10ADefiant]

The worst is when people claim that it is the LAW that you give them cash back... uhh ok and what congress passed that man that really gets me raging

also I love it when someone tries to return a CD that does not work and you look at it and it is scratched to hell god forbid you reccomend taking better care of their CDs and oh yeah not giving them a refund on stuff they broke is a crime and its a crime to sell stuff that breaks GAH! :rant:

[chainedbarista]

yeah not giving them a refund on stuff they broke is a crime and its a crime to sell stuff that breaks GAH!

i figure it will only be a crime when someone finally invents an idiot proofing method that CAN'T fail, then it selling it would be a crime, because every idiot in the world will see a challenge before them. the result would be an increase in lawsuits over wrongful death, severe injuries or some other foolishness they bring on themselves. you just can't win...:doh:

[SongsOfDragons]

I second the thought on mentioning her colour. Not because I think you should avoid potentially racist-seeming comments, but because I was reading it expecting to read something like "then she called me a n****er" and it never came. :(

Like setting up a joke and forgetting the punchline.

Meh, it's a basic descriptive term. Big deal.

[Imogene]

This probably makes me seem really ignorant, but I thought you gave a gift receipt to someone with their gift so if they didn't like it, they could return it, but if they didn't return it, they wouldn't know how much you spent on it.
Exactly, return, not refund.

[SongsOfDragons]

You can't even get a gallon of gas with $2 anymore, and hey I've got news for you, no-reciept cash refunding is an AUDIT POINT and can GET ME FIRED, no matter how little or much cash is refunded without a slip.

Here in England, $2 is just over £1...and we buy our petrol by the litre, of which there are about 4 and a half in a gallon.

Now we pay a pound a litre, and to buy the equivilent of a gallon we spend £4.50...which translates to about $8.60.

:cry:

So I don't wanna hear any Yanks complaining about the price of fuel - thank whomever you wish you don't live in the UK!!!

[dragonflygrrl]

I'm just trying to picture the glazed, bored expression of absolutely not listening to me that would cross the faces of my customers if I actually did read them the whole return policy. They don't listen when I explain the contract they are about to sign that commits them to a two year service agreement, why should they listen when I explain the return policy? Nah, it's way more fun to try and return a broken , soaking wet phone with no charger or owner's manual on the fifteenth business day and claim I never told them they couldn't.:rolleyes:

[varmintjane]

Meh, it's a basic descriptive term. Big deal.

I don't think anyone was making a big deal of it, but most stories using descriptive terms like that, the description has a direct bearing on something that happened in the story. I think most people who inquired about it were just wondering if we had missed something or if the OP had left something out, such as the SC playing the race card.

[Mighty Girl]

When i worked at this clothing store in the strip mall- they had a "No cash refunds" policy. And in HUGE letters above the counter, they even had a sign that said "NO CASH REFUNDS. STORE CREDIT FOR RETURNS ONLY"

You'd think that people would get it. This sign was easily 18 inches tall and 3 feet wide. Nope. At least once every couple weeks we'd have some dullard whining that they didn't know about our policy.

[One-Fang]

Uh, to be fair though, what 'counter' was this above? The returns counter? Why would I look at that when I'm buying something at the checkout? So it does kind of sound like it's not really clear until you go to return something - at which point it's too late.

[Mighty Girl]

It was a puny store- there was only one counter. You go to the front counter to buy things or return things, so there really was no excuse.

[SonOfSpam]

I apologize if this is a bit wordy, but I just remembered this story. At my rug place, the policy was absolutely no cash refunds for defunct merchandise. You could exchange a damaged or unwanted rug within 2 weeks for store credit and could only spend the credit in the rug section, you couldn't take say, $40 of rug money and go to a private vendor. One woman came in on my second or third day of work, I helped her pick out one of the $270 9X12 area rugs but before I could finalize the sale I was called away for a minute to help carry out a customer's items. Before I left I told her the return policy and asked that she check over the rug and make sure everything was to her satisfaction, you know, in case there were any big tears I didn't notice. I actually saw her checking the rug over as I walked away and I assumed all was well. I got back to her and after explaining to 3 times about how the customer pickup worked, she had me roll the thing up and lug it to the cash register for her. I noticed while rolling that there was a very small rip in the side, but being an idiot I just assumed she had looked it over and decided it wasn't enough to disregard the rug over, and she was already 50 feet away at the register preparing to hand over the cash and I'd already had the thing rolled and taped. I lugged it over and set it next to her, telling the cashier the SKU number and walking off as the sale was finalized. Not two minutes later I heard loud complaining about the tear in the rug, I turned around and saw the lady I just helped waving her arms frantically about the imperfection, the thing that really sucked was that after the cash changed hands she couldn't get a refund and after about 10 minutes of intense debate she agreed to an exchange for, as she put it, an uglier rug. The manager came down on me about explaining the exchange policy better, I told her I did but she was still skeptical. What really irked this lady was that her money was two feet away and she couldn't do a damn thing about it, I sympathized with her but "Buyer Beware" is all I can say.

[One-Fang]

Exactly. I'd have told her "Lady, I didn't tell you to check the rug over because it makes me feel good."