Return Of The Living Dread

[Demonoid Phenomenon]

At my store we have layaway (which is a whole website all by itself, lemme tell ya), and I've encountered something that weirds me out.
Has anyone ever dealt with what I'll call 'Serial Layawayers'?

I have several folks who at any given time might have two or more layways with us. These layaways can (and sometimes do) run over the thousand dollar mark. The thing is, though, that these people never seem to get the layaways out. They allow the 30 days to lapse, then they come in wanting what little of their deposit is left (sometimes there's nothing to refund since the initial $5 charge is non-refundable PLUS there's a $5 fee for not getting the layaway out, so they lose $10 right there).
To add to all of this, I have one lady who comes in regularly (and I shudder when I see her coming because I KNOW her transaction is going to take at least 15-20 minutes or longer), and she always wants to alter her layaway somehow. She also has some lame excuse for wanting to do this like once she claimed she was getting laid off and the next time she claimed she lost a paycheck, etc, on and on, psycho much...?
Anyway, the most bizarre aspect of all this is that she apparently has layaways at many of our other locations throughout the area. Last time she came in, she whipped out what literally looked like dozens of layaway receipts.
Considering that she ends up allowing most of her layaways (with us, anyway) to lapse, she has to be losing all kinds of money through non-refundable fees.

Anyone else seen this?

[Imogene]

Not quite on that scale, but, yes, I do have a layaway story that I hadn't thought about in forever...

Way back, deep in the sands of time, when I still worked at Chesterfield, we had a kid come in one night, with his mom if I remember correctly, and wander around a bit...
Kid comes up to the register with a copy of the Mobile Suit Gundam movie, Char's War (Or whatever that movie was called...) Puts it on the register, and asks if he can put that on layaway?
M: Uh... maybe... hold on..." *run to the back to grab MoD, have him help the kid*

A few minutes after the kid leaves, I ask the MoD if it was alright?
H: "Yup, but why put a $20 movie on layaway?"
M: "I have no idea, but isn't there usually a minimum purchase for layaways?"
H: "He just barely made it."

I remember seeing that layaway slip tacked up to our bulletin board in the back room the last day we were in the store cleaning everything out. So, kid obviously never came back to get his movie. What a shame.

[Tikki]

That lady sounds like super compulsive shopper to me. She ought to be spending more time with a psychiatrist and less time in stores.

[batmoody]

Quoth Tikki

That lady sounds like super compulsive shopper to me. She ought to be spending more time with a psychiatrist and less time in stores.

Thats what I was thinking. She likes to shop, or the thrill of shopping. And the layaway department is her great big warehouse of a closet. And all she ever has to pay is a little deposit here and there. She can be a compulsive shopper without actually having to spend those thousands of dollars....hmmmm....

[One-Fang]

Perhaps she is often tempted and has decided that her best course of action is to put all those lovely things on layaway and wait. If she still wants them come lapse time, she can go pay for them, but she finds that as often as not, she's no longer interested in what seemed like a "must have" on that day.

How many of us have bought something "wonderful" only to find out a little while later we never use it again? She may be losing nonrefundable fees, but at least she's not spending thousands of dollars on impulse purchases.

Strange behaviour, yes, but possibly the only way she can curb the compulsive shopping behaviour.