Post-hurricane SCs in action

[PepperElf]

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP068a...b6f22f292.html

People are mad in NY I guess... they bought all this emergency gear and didn't need it. So now they're trying to return all of it.


And I'm betting at least some of them really DID use the products, and are trying to treat it as a "free rental"

[Squeaksmyalias]

All I can do is sigh and shake my head.
I agree with sending stuff you don't want to the food bank, of course people would rather get their money back then help others most of the time. Honestly what is the harm in having a generator in the house? Really? I'd rather it be there taking up space then loose power fully.
People make no sense to me.

[Bright_Star]

Why don't they just keep all that stuff for a time when they they really need it? Makes sense to me but if it makes sense then it's not allowed...lol.

[wolfie]

Looks like the question I asked in the "person complaining about 5 days without power" thread in the PFB forum has been answered.

Seriously, electronics stores generally have a policy that big-screen TVs bought before $major_sporting_event are nonreturnable after, even if they'd normally be within the return period. Seasonal merchandise is generally nonreturnable after the holiday. Before Y2K, a number of stores posted signs that Y2K supplies were not returnable after December 31, 1999. Why wouldn't stores have a policy on "pre-Irene" supplies (or maybe they did and SCs just don't like it)?

[fma_fanatic]

It's not just in New York. I was disgusted to read this, especially the attitude the manager had.

Yes, the guy may have been a SC, but the manager's response was uncalled for.

[draggar]

Believe it or not we see this in Florida all the time. Never go to a Home Depot (or Lowes, Sears, Target, Walmart, Publix) a day, or two, or three after a hurricane. They are always swamped with returns.

Even after Wilma ripped though here (Cat3 (sorry, I don't believe the reports considering the data that is out there) people were trying to return spoiled meats etc.. (no power) 2 days later.

People trying to return wood that had obviously been used as shutters (cut, holes in it, etc.), generators that were opened, etc.

I really have to wonder, as prone as we are here, isn't even better to just hold onto it or do people enjoy "borrowing" items from stores (well, it's more than borrowing since they really can't sell it at full retail after).

[BookstoreEscapee]

Some stuff I can understand returning if it wasn't used, or selling, or whatever. But non-perishable food and batteries? Eventually you're gonna use them...what's the big deal?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Seriously, electronics stores generally have a policy that big-screen TVs bought before $major_sporting_event are nonreturnable after, even if they'd normally be within the return period.

Yeah, right.

My company enacted a policy charging a restocking fee on certain electronic items that could be used for a certain event and then returned for some bullshit reason, giving the customer a free rental on it.

Big-screen TVs that could be used to watch the Super Bowl on, GPS's that could be used on a trip, digital cameras that could be used at a wedding, and so forth.

Guess what? The company did away with it because people complained. So now we're back to dealing with the same serial renters we dealt with before the policy went into effect.

As for the guy on Consumerist, he's a fucking idiot. You live in an area that may not get hurricanes all that often, but does get them from time to time. Wouldn't it be nice to have a generator socked away in case another big storm comes sometime in the future and your power goes out? Oh snap, you did but you returned it when it turned out you didn't actually need it.

Plus, in winter time the northeastern United States gets snowstorms that make the snowfalls around by me look like scattered flurries. High winds, freezing rain, and ice to boot. A generator could keep the lights on and the juice flowing if the power lines are going down all over the place....

The manager wasn't right to swear at him, and the store should've thought out better how it was going to handle returns on generators so everybody was on the same page. But I really don't understand this concept of buying stuff in case of emergency, and returning it when that emergency doesn't happen. What's to say it can't happen in the future?