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Hello all 
. This is my very first SC post so I decided to go with a few classics from my old job. A couple of years ago I worked in a clothing store that had the stupidest return policy ever. Basically the policy is, "if it was from here, we'll return it." This means in any condition, no matter how old, without a receipt, etc. Not for store credit either. They would actually get credited on their debit/credit card or get cash back, depending on the amount of the return. No, I'm not making this up (I honestly thought my trainer was either joking or trying to get me in trouble when I first heard this). The amount of clothes that had to be written off was unreal. These are example of how people abuse this policy:
Customer 1: 7 year itch
A customer actually came in and returned a shirt she bought 7 years ago. It was smelly, full of holes, and covered in stains. She then got mad because she only got $2 back for it because she didn't have a receipt; we could only refund her the price that SKU number (which took us half an hour to find in our Style Guide) rang up as. And let's face it, after 7 years it is beyond clearance price.
Customer 2: Chronic bra-abuser
This customer was a chronic. As all you ladies know, if you don't take care of a bra (i.e. treat it as a delicate) it will get wrecked. Well once every couple of months this woman would come in with a beaten-up bra and her receipt to exchange it for a new one. This woman has paid for exactly one bra and received upwards of 11 for free.
Customer 3: I don't want to try it on in the store
This older lady used to come in once a month, buy 30 or so items and then take them home to try on, because "public fitting rooms are disgusting" (meanwhile, she had no problem using our public washroom). She would eventually bring all but 2 or 3 items back to return the next time she came in for her new 30 items. Not only was returning this many items a huge hassle, but due to a feature in the computer system that is supposed to prevent employee theft (because the EMPLOYEES are the ones using this return policy to scam, right?) we can only return 5 items at a time. She also never had her receipt, so we would have to go back through our records to see what promotions we had when she bought them to make sure she didn't get more money back than what she paid. She always seemed to have a knack for coming in at our busiest times too.
Customer 4: The shoplifter
This woman would come in a few times a month, shoplift a few shirts and then come back to return them the next day. Because of the policy we had to do the return. None of us had caught her in the act, but we were all very suspicious. She was finally caught when they installed the security cameras.
Customer 5: The Exhibitionist
This woman was the worst, and unfortunately I was her "abso-positive-a-lutely favorite girl in this store." She was claustrophobic so hated using our fitting rooms. That was fine, I understand that phobias are a serious thing. We usually allowed her to change in our (rather large) break room. However, if someone was on their break in said break room she was told she would have to wait. Would she wait? You guessed it. Instead of waiting, she would decide (this happened on multiple occasions) to just strip down and try on her items in the middle of the store! She even did this in front of the large front windows once. When we would reprimand her (our sucky district manager refused to let us ban her
) she would just say, "it's just us women here." Did I happen to mention she never wore a bra and underwear? Thankfully she never did this in front of other customers. Now what does this have to do with the refund policy you ask? Very simple. After buying the stuff she tried on (while going commando) she would come back a few weeks later and return everything. And every single item she returned would smell of cigarette smoke and BO.
Side note: The district manager actually got fired after reprimanding me and another girl for getting fed up and calling the cops to report the customer for public nudity.
. This is my very first SC post so I decided to go with a few classics from my old job. A couple of years ago I worked in a clothing store that had the stupidest return policy ever. Basically the policy is, "if it was from here, we'll return it." This means in any condition, no matter how old, without a receipt, etc. Not for store credit either. They would actually get credited on their debit/credit card or get cash back, depending on the amount of the return. No, I'm not making this up (I honestly thought my trainer was either joking or trying to get me in trouble when I first heard this). The amount of clothes that had to be written off was unreal. These are example of how people abuse this policy:Customer 1: 7 year itch
A customer actually came in and returned a shirt she bought 7 years ago. It was smelly, full of holes, and covered in stains. She then got mad because she only got $2 back for it because she didn't have a receipt; we could only refund her the price that SKU number (which took us half an hour to find in our Style Guide) rang up as. And let's face it, after 7 years it is beyond clearance price.
Customer 2: Chronic bra-abuser
This customer was a chronic. As all you ladies know, if you don't take care of a bra (i.e. treat it as a delicate) it will get wrecked. Well once every couple of months this woman would come in with a beaten-up bra and her receipt to exchange it for a new one. This woman has paid for exactly one bra and received upwards of 11 for free.
Customer 3: I don't want to try it on in the store
This older lady used to come in once a month, buy 30 or so items and then take them home to try on, because "public fitting rooms are disgusting" (meanwhile, she had no problem using our public washroom). She would eventually bring all but 2 or 3 items back to return the next time she came in for her new 30 items. Not only was returning this many items a huge hassle, but due to a feature in the computer system that is supposed to prevent employee theft (because the EMPLOYEES are the ones using this return policy to scam, right?) we can only return 5 items at a time. She also never had her receipt, so we would have to go back through our records to see what promotions we had when she bought them to make sure she didn't get more money back than what she paid. She always seemed to have a knack for coming in at our busiest times too.
Customer 4: The shoplifter
This woman would come in a few times a month, shoplift a few shirts and then come back to return them the next day. Because of the policy we had to do the return. None of us had caught her in the act, but we were all very suspicious. She was finally caught when they installed the security cameras.
Customer 5: The Exhibitionist
This woman was the worst, and unfortunately I was her "abso-positive-a-lutely favorite girl in this store." She was claustrophobic so hated using our fitting rooms. That was fine, I understand that phobias are a serious thing. We usually allowed her to change in our (rather large) break room. However, if someone was on their break in said break room she was told she would have to wait. Would she wait? You guessed it. Instead of waiting, she would decide (this happened on multiple occasions) to just strip down and try on her items in the middle of the store! She even did this in front of the large front windows once. When we would reprimand her (our sucky district manager refused to let us ban her
) she would just say, "it's just us women here." Did I happen to mention she never wore a bra and underwear? Thankfully she never did this in front of other customers. Now what does this have to do with the refund policy you ask? Very simple. After buying the stuff she tried on (while going commando) she would come back a few weeks later and return everything. And every single item she returned would smell of cigarette smoke and BO. Side note: The district manager actually got fired after reprimanding me and another girl for getting fed up and calling the cops to report the customer for public nudity.
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