Serial Returners: SC returning stuff drama

[catcul]

She wanted a bran new box.

[April]

Way back when I worked Target returns, a couple tried to return one of those Christmas hologram displays. I didn't even recognize the box. When they gave me their receipt, it turns out it was 5 years old. It wasn't even in our system anymore. They threw a huge fit, but management couldn't cave, even if they wanted to because it was so old.

One lady tried to return an empty container of Tylenol. Because the bottle said satisfaction guaranteed or your money back. She was upset when I told her that is the manufacturers promise and she would have to follow the instructions right under the guarantee to get her money back.

A lady tried to return an expired gallon of milk, that she had purchased more than a month before

A guy tried to return a puzzle because he "didn't need it anymore". He had already completed it, and looked like he tried to use that puzzle glue to hold it together and then tried to pry it apart.

[VComps]

Rental Customer Suck

I have a victory story involving one of those; a guy came in back when I worked in our home theatre department and bought a $3000 set of speakers. This was on Friday. Monday rolls around, and mister customer decides he "doesn't like" them, so back they come for a full refund.

Fast forward a few weeks, and he miraculously decides that they can't be so bad after all, and buys the same speakers again! Surprisingly, this also happened on a Friday. Monday rolls around, and mister customer decides (in a flurry of deja vu) that he "doesn't like" them, so back they come for a full refund.

Fast forward a few more weeks, and GUESS WHAT! He buys them AGAIN on the Friday.

Monday rolls around, but this time he rolls snake eyes, and gets me manning the till. Whereas so far he'd been dealing with part time kids, I'm third in command of the department at this point, and I've identified his pattern.

So I opened them up, and per our policy, went over them with the proverbial microscope, and LO! A SMALL SCRATCH!

They're no longer in "original saleable condition" as stated in our return policy.

Of course, Mr. Customer, your satisfaction is my priority, and I will gladly accept the return...

subject to a 20% restockjng fee.

Strangely, after his $600 speaker rental, we never saw him again. I wonder why?

[eltf177]

You rule, Dark Psion!

This is the way it should be, a restocking fee will go a long way towards putting an end to the serial returners (or serial renters as the case may be)...

[Enjis]

Oi vey! I worked in the kids' department at what used to be Hudson's department store (now Macy's)
I had a man return $400 worth of boys clothes. Reason? 'He didn't like them.' Why were they all washed? 'We always wash his new clothes before he tries them on.' You know we can no longer sell any of this to other customers, now that they are no longer new...that this is all going to be thrown away? 'Shrug'
Please let your son try on the clothes before you wash them, so he knows that he likes them.....
I was so angry at this casual waste of property that I still remember it thirty years later....

[notalwaysright]

Why were they all washed? 'We always wash his new clothes before he tries them on.' You know we can no longer sell any of this to other customers, now that they are no longer new...that this is all going to be thrown away? 'Shrug'
Please let your son try on the clothes before you wash them, so he knows that he likes them.....
I was so angry at this casual waste of property that I still remember it thirty years later....

That's one thing the company I work for won't allow... They have what I consider to be a very relaxed return policy, but if you wash or cut your fabric it is now non-returnable.* And they really don't allow returns without receipts on fabric, because we have no way of knowing how much the person bought. What really gets me steamed is when people return less than a yard of ribbon or trim. We will have to throw that away. I usually ask gently, "oh, was there anything wrong with it?" And I swear 75% of the time it's "I just decided not to use it." *siiiiiiigh* I mean, they're allowed to do this by policy, but I dislike the waste.

*Unless you discover a flaw in the fabric, then you can bring it back.

[greek_jester]

*raises hand* um, about this washing thing; a couple of weeks ago I bought a set of towels (2 each of a bath sheet, hand towel and flannel) and washed them all before using them.*

Despite washing them on their own and following the instructions to the letter, the hem on one of the bath sheets came away. I exchanged that towel for a new one (which I also washed when I got home, and it survived) as I liked the set. If they had run out of bath sheets in that colour, I would have gone home to pick up the remaining towels and exchanged the lot for the same set in another colour. Does that make me sucky?

Please note that in the UK if an item of clothing or linen is ruined despite following all washing instructions (e.g. if a top has multiple colours that bleed into each other even when washed correctly, or a hem isn't able to stand up to one wash/tumble cycle when all the instructions are followed) it is deemed to be not fit for purpose and the seller is obliged to either replace the item or, if a replacement is not possible, accept the return.

*After seeing someone sneeze, blow his nose on a hand towel, fold it up and replace it on the shelf I always wash everything before using it. I also wash new clothing; have you seen the state of some people who try on clothes?

[notalwaysright]

Greek Jester, at my store that would fall under the "flawed" category. If someone comes back and shows us washed fabric which did something weird, they will likely get their return okay'd. For example, someone bought flannel and washed it once, she brought it back literally the next day and it had washed horribly! It was very pilled, and had shrunk way more than normal, and generally looked like crap.

I had a very bad experience trying to return flannel sheets I had bought online though a major retailer... I washed according to the instructions, and they pilled like nothing I had ever seen before. I filled a gallon size ziplock bag with the fluff. The retailer gave me almost nothing, (like 15%) and basically said they could do nothing since I had "used" them. I had not slept on them, obviously, and did make that clear. After a few emails back and forth it was clear that they weren't going to budge. I left a very calm and objective review which was in line with their review policy. The review was never posted. I haven't shopped there since...

[Sleepwalker]

My sister does this. I call her a shopping bulimic- I think it's a mania for her or something, she gets all hyped up and buys a ton of stuff and then sobers up later and realizes she doesn't need it. At least she doesn't wear/rip tags off/damage the items.

[April]

Oh, I forgot about the person who tried to return used, unwashed underwear because "it didn't fit". They were very obviously unwashed, if you get what I'm saying. I refused to engage them and made a manager do it.

[Ghel]

Years ago when I worked at TJ Maxx there was a group of women who did this. Every single week they would purchase hundreds of dollars of merchandise and, like clockwork, return all or almost all of it within a week or two. And a lot of it was household goods too, so it wasn't like they were just wearing clothes for a week and returning them. I always wondered if it was some kind of psychological issue. Of course there were a load of scammers who tried to get one over the return desk too, but I never got that vibe from these women. Everyone groaned when they saw them coming with bags and bags of returns.

If they were coming in as a group to shop, then coming in separately to do their returns, it sounds like they might have been trying to show off how well-off they were. Go shopping together, show that they're able to afford a bunch of nice stuff to impress their friends, and then return most of it because they couldn't afford it in the first place.

[eltf177]

If they were coming in as a group to shop, then coming in separately to do their returns, it sounds like they might have been trying to show off how well-off they were. Go shopping together, show that they're able to afford a bunch of nice stuff to impress their friends, and then return most of it because they couldn't afford it in the first place.

Here's to a restocking fee that would (hopefully) put an end to this, or at least slow it down a lot...

[Android Kaeli]

Had a serial returner during my days at Random Craft Store. Lady would return about $200-300 worth of stickers every week if not MORE, we knew she was stealing stickers and we had seen her do so but there wasn't a damn thing we could do to stop her since we weren't exactly allowed to say/do anything. 'Cause, you know, the company much rather would lose $1000 or so in sales every month over banning a customer that numerous employees could prove was stealing from our store alone. Nope, the only thing we could do was let her return the stolen stickers -- at least until Random Craft Store started requiring an ID for all non-receipt and cash returns.

I can't remember off hand if the cut off for returns without a receipt and/or cash was a certain amount, X amount of said returns within a certain amount of time, or both, or the exact amount of time that has to pass before one can do even another return after hitting a certain amount [I think it was a couple of months, I'm not sure]. But what I can remember is that sticker lady hit the mark within three days of this new policy starting and threw a hissy fit when told she couldn't process another return after a while. Don't remember the outcome, at that point I really didn't care anyways and it's been a while since I had seen her so I don't know if anyone that still works at the location I used to work at will remember.

[manybellsdown]

Then she returns the unwanted patterns. This has been going on for years. We can find no evidence that she opens and traces the patterns.

Hah, if she could unfold and trace the patterns and then fold them back up so you can't tell she'd have to be some kind of savant. I've never in my life been able to refold a pattern the way it came out of the envelope.

[jedimaster91]

Hah, if she could unfold and trace the patterns and then fold them back up so you can't tell she'd have to be some kind of savant. I've never in my life been able to refold a pattern the way it came out of the envelope.

I've been able to do it once or twice. It's a freaking awesome feeling to be able to put everything back in the bag.