How cheap is cheap?

[Nakajo]

A guy today had the NERVE to return a $2.35 gallon of milk, in which he had very obviously DRANK the milk, left maybe a tiny bit in the bottom, then filled it with WATER.

Milk has a particular consistency, even when rotten or old. It was VERY obvious that it was just water. There were no chunks, it was only a tiny bit cloudy, mostly clear. And the best part, NO SMELL. Rotten or bad milk SMELLS to high heaven.

Even with giving him the benefit of the doubt, his date of purchase on the receipt was yesterday... and the milk carton read SELL BY SEPT 23 (uh, WHAT? We pull our sell-by dates around 2-3 days beforehand) which just proved our point that he did not buy it then and was trying to return an old EMPTY bottle of milk, and scam us by putting water in the jug. He didn't even do a good job at that. We told him no at first, then he started SCREAMING that our company was "trying to poison him".

We still gave him the refund (per manager because she wanted him to shut up).

He seriously put me in a bad mood. If he tries to pull that off again, next time we have the authorization to call the SM and say no.

All over $2.35. It's jerks like him that ruin good return policies for honest people.

[Gravekeeper]

We still gave him the refund (per manager because she wanted him to shut up).

God I hate this. As long as companies keep rewarding this crap ( Even if its to "shut them up" or otherwise just deal with the situation as easily as possible. ) it'll keep happening.

If he wants to scream tell him to get out or he'll be talking to the cops. Period.

I'd make a terrible manager. From a corporate stand point anyway. =p

[Amethyst Hunter]

Wanker. He should get an extra helping of hate flies to go with his fake milk for his pathetic scam attempt.

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

at least he didn't try to walk out the door with a computer saying he "threw away his receipt". if you want this kind of story go to wal mart and talk to a greeter, then to one of the customer service people, then to LP, you'll be laughing your ass off before you're done with the greeter, and the stories will only get better. a $2.35 jug of milk is the minor leagues, we have people grab stuff off the shelf and go straight to customer service, if you have 3 no receipt returns in a 12 month period you can't do any more without a receipt because of this

[SubwayGirl]

I know I am going to sound niave, but it actually blows my mind that people try and do this kind of stuff! What is the world coming to? Even if I bought milk and the next day I found that it was spoiled I probably would not even return it. I would dump it out and buy a new gallon.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I've stopped buying milk at work becuase I've had it go bad precisely on (or before) it's expiration date. And for a while everything they had for sale was either within a day or two of the expiration or past it. Last time I got chocolate milk it was several days before, and I didn't drink it right away. A few days later I went to drink it (I think it was on the exp. date) and thank dog I decided to use one of those little coffee stirrer straws, because if I had gotten a mouthful of that I would have . I went to sip through the straw and barely got a drop, which was enough to tell it tasted sour. I looked closer and it was a blob of chocolate slime. Haven't bought milk there since.

But I never bothered returning it becuase it takes me 10 minutes to get down there from my office and it's only 50 cents.

These are the little 8oz. cartons; they have them in an open fridge. I wonder if the temp is not cold enough.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I'd make a terrible manager. From a corporate stand point anyway. =p

As would I. If I were in charge, anybody who tried to pull what that SC pulled would be told to take a flying leap.

[Gurndigarn]

A guy today had the NERVE to return a $2.35 gallon of milk, in which he had very obviously DRANK the milk, left maybe a tiny bit in the bottom, then filled it with WATER.

He's not happy that milk's only $2.35 around there? It's running $3.50 typically here, though it is a frequent loss leader sale item— down to $2.80 or so.

[Boozy]

Even if I bought milk and the next day I found that it was spoiled I probably would not even return it. I would dump it out and buy a new gallon.

I do the same thing, because the length of time a return takes is not worth the two bucks. I blame myself as much as anyone for forgetting to check the expiration dates before leaving the store.

There's nothing wrong with legitimate returns, even for just a dollar or two. But to lie and cheat for $2?! My ethics are worth far more than that. I'd like to think they aren't for sale at all.

[scruff]

http://www.tesco.com/superstore/fram...rames/main.asp

£0.59 per litre here.

[Andara Bledin]

But I never bothered returning it becuase it takes me 10 minutes to get down there from my office and it's only 50 cents.

I wouldn't go back in over something like that, but I'd take the time to call and explain the problem to the manager. It's possible that they have no idea that there's any kind of problem. becuase nobody wants to bother over 40 cents, and everybody thinks that someone else will get to it.

He's not happy that milk's only $2.35 around there? It's running $3.50 typically here, though it is a frequent loss leader sale item— down to $2.80 or so.

Fun fact: In the US, dairy prices are kept artificially high by government mandate, part of which is for the government to buy unsold dairy products at a minimum price, which is up to twice the actual world value (butter, specifically) for the product itself, which is wasteful and harmful to the economy of anyone who is not a dairy farmer.

^-.-^

[Nakajo]

at least he didn't try to walk out the door with a computer saying he "threw away his receipt". if you want this kind of story go to wal mart and talk to a greeter, then to one of the customer service people, then to LP, you'll be laughing your ass off before you're done with the greeter, and the stories will only get better. a $2.35 jug of milk is the minor leagues, we have people grab stuff off the shelf and go straight to customer service, if you have 3 no receipt returns in a 12 month period you can't do any more without a receipt because of this

This happens every week. The small stuff like the milk bothers me a lot too because it's only 2 DOLLARS. How is that worth scamming over?

[Geek King]

It is still theft. I bet if you went to call the cops, "screamer" would beat feet even faster.

[mattm04]

I would not make a good manager form the view of the Suits who have never worked retail. I bet the employees I supervise would love me. I would love to tell customers to get lost when it is obvious that they are trying to scam us.

[Tigress]

Man, if my milk went bad or expired, I usually just pored it out into a large bowl and gave it to the cats as a treat when I fed them. It didn't hurt them and I didn't feel like I wasted it. If we had some eggs that were about to go bad, I threw that in there with a bit of flour, too.

Milk was also the reason I made sure to carry my lunch to day care. When I was 7, I got massively sick when I drank some bad chocolate milk from my mom's lunch truck. (The truck wasn't refridgerated.) My mom remembered me making a comment about how the milk tasted "weird", put two and two tegether, and made sure to throw out milk as soon as it hit the expiration date.

Fast forward to a year later, when we moved and started going to day care. The caregivers would ration out milk in tiny Dixie cups during lunch. One day, the milk had that familiar taste that made me lurch. Innocently, I asked her what the date was on the milk. She got snappy with me and told me in a condescending tone that milk was good up to ten days after the date. After I reasoned that someone was going to get sick and half the kids decided that they didn't want the milk, she marked me as a "troublemaker" and other nastiness started. But I started making sure I carried a juice box or drank water with my meals from then on.