The Return That Still Haunts Me

[SourRobot]

Okay, this happened around this time last year, but it still makes my blood boil when I think about it.

A customer came in wanting to return a scarf. She had the tag on the scarf and brought back her receipt. I thought it'd be an easy one that would take a few seconds to do...boy was I wrong.

The item wasn't scanning right, so I checked the receipt. The scarf had been purchased in January 2007. It was November 2008. I told the customer that I could not honor the return since she had held onto it for so long.

Just so you people know, where i work the return policy is 180 days, or roughly six months. That's plenty of time to return something! Well, this lady wasn't having it. She kept saying, "But when I asked the girl that sold it to me, she said I could return it!"
"Yes," I replied, "at the time she was correct. But now it is well past the the six months (pointing to the date on the receipt), so unfortunately I cannot do anything about it."

She then kept repeating "But the girl at the other store told me...!" a few more times and that she had been shopping at our store for years, blah blah blah, how was she supposed to know she couldn't return it after six months etc., but I kept telling her that she just couldn't return it and even showed her on the back of the receipt where it explained the return policy. Not only was it against our policy, but the register couldn't even recognize the item. She asked for the manager. My manager (the cool one who would back me up) was out, so I had to call over the nearest manager. She looked at the receipt, saw the date on it and honored the return anyway!

I was so close to just walking out right after that, I was so ticked off.

[depechemodefan]

I just hate managers like that.

I hope the woman doesn't pull that shit again. She probably bought it for someone's bd, but kept on forgetting to give it to the person, for the past 8 months, and when she did, the person looked at her weird and told her "my bd was 8 months ago." So the customer takes it out on you.

[trailerparkmedic]

I can't even fathom trying to return something nearly 2 years after you bought it. 2 years!!

I'm angry that the manager took it. Your store is losing money by taking back something they can't sell. Too bad for the customer.

[jackfaire]

God if I am ever a customer witnessing that and I see a manager start to cave I will complain to him about his behavior me being a customer in his little mind I will be right but so will the other customer and hopefully it will make his brain develop splodey powers

[hotelnpa]

This can be filed under Morons in Management as well.

I hate it when the employee follows policy and then the manager does the exact opposite. It makes the employee look like an idiot in front of the customer.

Managers like that lose my respect.

[mattm04]

This can be filed under Morons in Management as well.

I hate it when the employee follows policy and then the manager does the exact opposite. It makes the employee look like an idiot in front of the customer.

Managers like that lose my respect.

But, it makes the customer lave happy and satisfied because if you don't they will apparently tell 300,000 people who will intern never shop at you store.

[HawaiianShirts]

She then kept repeating "But the girl at the other store told me...!" a few more times and that she had been shopping at our store for years, blah blah blah, how was she supposed to know she couldn't return it after six months etc...

If she's been shopping at your store for years, she should know the return policy by now. I hate it when customers make up contradictory excuses like that. Sure, they can be funny sometimes, but I've never been in a position to call out their mistakes, and that annoys me.

it never occurred to her to donate it to a charity?

It might have, but charity donations that small usually only result in warm fuzzy feelings, and the last time I checked, warm fuzzies are not usable as legal tender.

[jjllbb]

i feel you. just had one last night who brought something back from 2 years ago. Sorry lady it's not MY fault you left it in your frigging closet for two years! STFU!!!!

[Rine]

My store will take things back as long as it scans in the system. But if it doesn't scan in the system...that means we don't carry it anymore. Why would any store take back something so old that they don't even carry anymore? I hate it when managers don't support the front line associates. It negates everything that we say and gives us no credibility.

Now, we can take back things from five or six years ago (and more), generally, because we need to honor the fact that we used to NOT have a return policy...so, once I returned something about five or six years old, she STILL had the receipt, and we were able to override the automatic gift card return and return it to her credit card. But the difference here is she was a very sweet and good customer so I was willing to go out of my way to help her out.

[Dreamstalker]

I recently had to return an optical drive that was purchased back in June (I didn't get around to the build until last week, then realized I already had the same drive ).

I had the receipt though and it did still scan (they use thermal printers, that ink degrades fairly quickly)...the original credit card got compromised so I got store credit. Which was printed in receipt form, so I have to find something to use it on while the barcode is still legible.

[jackfaire]

When my grandmother passed we found Closets full of clothing never worn still tagged from the store if we had tried to return any of it I think it would have given them a heart attack.

[BookstoreEscapee]

This can be filed under Morons in Management as well.

I hate it when the employee follows policy and then the manager does the exact opposite. It makes the employee look like an idiot in front of the customer.

Managers like that lose my respect.

I had a manager who would actually tell the customer that I was right and that he was making an exception. It was nice. (He was creepy and annoying in other ways, but as far as backing up the head cashiers, he was pretty good.)

When my grandmother passed we found Closets full of clothing never worn still tagged from the store if we had tried to return any of it I think it would have given them a heart attack.

I saw someone doing that at Kohl's once (several years ago). They were getting like 50 cents for each item or something. For that I'd just donate the stuff to charity.

The one that bugged me for a long time was the woman who returned a study guide with a receipt dated 18 months prior. Normally I wouldn't have had a major problem with it (the return policy at the time was fairly lenient, as far as the window for returns went; as long as the item was sellable we'd give them a store credit), except that it was a study guide that had a new edition every year, so the one she was returning was obviously out of print. Eventually she got her return but I was pretty pissed.

I've also had a guy with a mint-condition book, still in print, with a 5-year-old receipt. He was pleasant and took a store credit and bought something else. That one I had no problem with.

[RxBoy]

I've worked in retail for the better part of my working life. One of the things that irritates me more than anything else is when a manager gives in to an outrageous demand. I think this is one of the reasons things have gotten so bad for people who have to work in the customer service industry. People have been conditioned to learn that if they throw enough of a fit they will get what they want.

Nothing pisses me off more than when a customer demands to see the manager because I follow a policy...and then the manager immediately overrides the policy and gives them what they want. Is it any wonder that so many people have no respect for those of us who work in retail/customer service? Just once it would be nice to see a company remain firm with their policies no matter how far up the customer escalates it.

[SG15Z]

This is exactly why when this situation comes up I just call over a manager or CSM and have them deal with it. I just bypass the whole "telling them no" thing now. Call manager first in anything like this, has been my rule for about a few months now.

[jackfaire]

They were getting like 50 cents for each item or something. For that I'd just donate the stuff to charity.
.

That is actually what we did with most of it. I am a sentimental fool though and kept one of her turban style hats to hang on my wall in remembrance of her. My grandmother taught me two things. One how to be gentleman and two the joys of shopping.