No receipt, no return

[Android Kaeli]

Our return policies have recently changed within the last month to month and a half, some of which I may not like myself but I can see the reasoning behind it. Even most of the customers that do returns that the changes apply, have the same mindset: don't like it but understally fully why they need to do X, Y, and Z now.

This is not this kind of thread that is dealing with the new return policy. No, it has to do with something that been on policy since before I started.

We can not, and I repeat NOT, do returns on ANY seasonal merchandise and clearance without a reciept. If there's a recipet then fine and dandy, we'll return it if possible. I had a guy come in to do a return/exchange on some seasonal stuff, he did not have a reciept -- no reciept, no return. He didn't like it and decided to register hop for five minutes to see if anyone would do the return.

Either the lines were too long for him or no one took the return, eventually he landed back to my register and tried it again. He STILL did not like the response, so I called either our SM or ASM -- our ASM came over, explained the policy, and that should have been that.

No, the damn idiot decided to argue with the ASM for a few extra minutes and wanted to know if this was just a policy during the Christmas season. ASM looked at him and blantly told him it was a year-round policy, there was nothing we could do about it. Sorry.

I don't know if anything will come out of this since the man left in a furious huff, I had dozens of other customers to help so yea.

[Kristev]

I've always believed that no receipt should equal no return.

[Teskeria]

He was hoping the answer was 'seasonal policy' so he could hold on to it and come in after the holidays. to bad for him

[Android Kaeli]

I've always believed that no receipt should equal no return.

That's me as well. If someone has no receipt they shouldn't be able to return anything, even if they bought it five minutes ago.

[emax4]

Interesting. It never hurts to ask though, although this guy was just nuts.

General helpful info: Five Below sometimes takes returns dung the season. I was at there tonight and wanted to try and get a working iPhone charger. I explained how a different one I've gotten there before didn't work and was questioning their return policy. She said that usually all sales are final, but during Christmas season they will take returns. I don't know if Five Below stores are corporate, franchised, or both, but you may want to check the ones in your area first.

[simplyanother]

Glitter Hell now has the ability to swipe a card and find a receipt ... but it doesn't always work.

I really get irritated with the people who come in and tell me they bought it THIS MORNING! But they don't have the receipt. Yet, we've got some insane customers who try to get a return on stuff they bought a year ago (with their receipt). Why can those people hang on to it for a year, but the other folks can't hang on to it for an hour?

And the return policy has changed, so that's fun to explain. Used to be, no receipt, you got store credit, unless it was seasonal or clearance. Then, changed to store credit--but it was of the current sale price or regular price minus 20% (and I still think that clearance and seasonal were excluded). New return policy: No receipt, you get store credit for the lowest price within the last 60 days.

People think that we should be HAPPY! happyhappy to take their crap back. Dumbasses.

[Sapphire Silk]

I always put my receipts in my wallet, not in the bag. If I need to return something I can almost always find the receipt.

On the few occasions I've lost one, I've and said, "Oh well, that's on me!"

I don't have the nerves of steel to be a SC and demand stores violate policies.

Oh, right. I have that little nuisance called a "conscience." Silly me.

[Android Kaeli]

I really get irritated with the people who come in and tell me they bought it THIS MORNING! But they don't have the receipt. Yet, we've got some insane customers who try to get a return on stuff they bought a year ago (with their receipt). Why can those people hang on to it for a year, but the other folks can't hang on to it for an hour?

I had one about a year or two ago that brought in stuff to return, WITH receipt, from 2003. Random Craft Store had not carried the items since 2005 or so, the card that the purchase was put on was no longer active, and we still had to take it back.

Thankfully it was put in as store credit, but really? I can see a few days, maybe a few weeks up to a month, but six to seven years? I don't even hold my OWN receipts for more then a month!

ETA: One of the problems I see with our new return policy is how we do debt returns, especally the ones that are $70-plus. Considering the holiday season now, there have been and will be many purchases well over $100 -- we now can NOT put the refund back onto the debt card, cash only. If I'm going to be the first person on the register, have just started my shift, only have a few bucks over what I start with, I'm going to be SOL if the return is $150 from a debt card.

[Peppergirl]

I gotta give your managers props for not giving in!

I was expecting the inevitable, "...and he threw such a fit, my manager told me to give it to him just to shut him up!".

[Food Lady]

I love my boss. She had he same situation recently, and when accused of being difficult and petty, responded, "I'm paid to follow [company's] polices." The lady just looked at her before giving up arguing.

[simplyanother]

I had one about a year or two ago that brought in stuff to return, WITH receipt, from 2003. Random Craft Store had not carried the items since 2005 or so, the card that the purchase was put on was no longer active, and we still had to take it back.

Thankfully it was put in as store credit, but really? I can see a few days, maybe a few weeks up to a month, but six to seven years? I don't even hold my OWN receipts for more then a month!

ETA: One of the problems I see with our new return policy is how we do debt returns, especally the ones that are $70-plus. Considering the holiday season now, there have been and will be many purchases well over $100 -- we now can NOT put the refund back onto the debt card, cash only. If I'm going to be the first person on the register, have just started my shift, only have a few bucks over what I start with, I'm going to be SOL if the return is $150 from a debt card.

2003? And they did the return? That's ridiculous. That should have been a "hell no". If they called corporate, corporate should have said "no, no no no, you've had it for the better part of a decade. no. no no no. Also, no". You know that it probably has to go straight to the trash (or whatever you guys do with the penny items, it seems the rules change just about daily. One day, it's hold for donation, another day it's hold for trash. I don't even know anymore).


And dude, debit card returns. I start out every return that results in cash back with "because you paid with cash (or debit), you're going to get cash back, before I can give your money back I will have to enter your ID". To hopefully ward off the assholes who will have a giant hissy fit over the rule (and to make sure they have the damned ID. Same dealy with credit card returns, "you used a card that ends in 5467..." because I've had so many dipshits who don't have the card.

Or my favorite was the woman who goes "well, I don't have THAT card, I have MY card, which is attached to the same account, can I use that?" . (That is, her husband had used his card to buy the item, and she wanted to return it on her card. However, I had no way of telling who it belonged to...so... no).

Back to debit... I get so many "Can't you just put it back on the card?!". Apparently the appropriate response isn't "Only in Canada". They really need to make it so that we can do it too, because it's getting ridiculous.

Though you know, if it wasn't Miss300debit card return, it's mr Ihaveahundredandimbuying 2dollars worth, first customer of the day. I do love it when the drawer has been running a bit, and I can give 'em back a 50. It's the little things that make me happy. Or something.

Too much glitter, it's gotten to my brain. If I hear another person complain that we're picked over, I'm going to impale them with a glitter encrusted stem. Christmas is in two weeks, it's been Christmastime at Glitter Hell since July, gee, ya THINK we might be picked over?

I can't wait til we put out the spring stuff soon. That'll make 'em go apeshit.


It's writing this post that I realize how much ...I try to ward off bitchy when I'm on the register, with explaining. And I find I do it on autopilot, because I get the same speech, regardless. Especially those damned register coupons. "And it's going to print out a coupon, for NEXT week..." hand them the receipt, and their coupon "and this coupon starts NEXT week, on sunday..." and 6 times out of 10, they'll try to use it right away...

Bah. I am tired of the people

so many red squiggles as I wrote this. Mostly it's the made up words I've misspelled.

[Android Kaeli]

Yea, it was allowed but I figure it was more to do with the management at the time over any policy. Heck, all of my craft stuff I have laying about my home, I rarely ever return any of it since the majority of the crafts I do put together are beading stuffs.

And considering how many SM's and ASM's this store alone has gone through, it's a wonder I can still NAME all of them -- my head hurts just thinking of that.

I always say that if we don't have SOMETHING Christmas set by July 4th -- or by that weekend -- Christmas is late -- the previous ASM pretty much agreeded with me. The July before he left, both of us were looking high and low for the Christmas Lemax stuff, 'cause usually that's one of the things that's set first outside of picks and the bushes.

Oh, I had a lady a few weeks ago pitch a FIT about how I had to give her cash back instead of putting it on her card. She told me that she had to go deposit all of $10 into her account, how I was wasting her time by doing the return this way, and that she was only going to give me her ID because she wanted to leave quickly. Funny thing is, she was still keeping about $70-some dollars of crafts anyways.

And the register coupons! Today I must have had at least a dozen or more people come up with these coupons that didn't start until NEXT Sunday. One or two tried to argue with me about it, but stopped when I pointed out that the dates are clearly marked on the coupon.

[simplyanother]

Yeah, I figured it was some manager who let it through. When it comes down to it, what can we do, we tell them no, they pitch a fit, the MOD comes over and...totally undermines us.

You know what's a little bit nifty about the register coupons? They've changed the barcode. Even if it's a 40% off, it's a different barcode than the current one, so it rejects the coupon. Which is great, because I don't have to be the coupon police (it was always stupid when ...it had the SAME damned barcode as the current one, but the valid dates were different).


We once had a woman bring in a little plastic shoebox, full of... cross stitch floss. To return, back when we gave full price on a store credit, for no receipt returns. The woman who had to process her return had to scan each one (and it was full, to the top, so you can imagine how long that too), and half of them, we didn't even sell. Her grandmother had died, or something, and she was trying to get money from her craft room.

I sort of love the people who think if they just express a little bit of displeasure, I'll be all.."oh! yeah, it's not a real rule, just for the people who don't mind...you don't have to give me your ID". Nope, you want the return and it's cash, you have to provide ID, sorry. Not my rule. Your choice is ID or...keep your crap. I get paid the same amount regardless.

[angelicafire]

I think this thread is turning into the Glitter Hell employee thread. I work there too! I had to go to a wedding in October, had 4 days off, and STILL had glitter on my face and in my hair the day of the wedding!

And I know some of the stuff I complain about is petty, but come on. Your big ass piece of garland won't fit in a bag. Carry it. That tube of wrapping paper? Carry it. Your frame that's bigger than my whole body? Stop being a bitch and carry it. Those 20 wreaths that you piled into a cart? You really think I have a bag the size of a kiddie pool? I don't. Carry them to your car.

I'll try to contain your glitter bomb explosion of wreath making supplies into a bag, but when the stems stick out, that's your fault for thinking you needed a 3 foot long piece of sparkly shit to put in a 12 inch wreath. STOP COMPLAINING THAT THE PICKS ARE PICKED OVER! We're had our Christmas picks out since November 1st. And I'm sorry that they aren't neatly organized by type anymore. I didn't do that, your fellow shoppers did. I'm not going to stand there and recover probably about 2,000 pieces of glittery things that poke me for 4 hours after my shift.

Do you guys have the vultures standing around your registers starting at about 3:30 on Madness Sundays? They block everyone else, and pester you. "Is it 4:00pm yet? How about now? How about now?" And then 40 people get into two lines and bitch about the wait. How about next time you don't shop for 3 hours beforehand? It's only 20% off!

And no lady, you can't return a handcrafted wreath without a receipt. Why? Because I don't know if you got it here or not, and we only accept those returns from our own store. Because we don't. No, I can't take it back without a receipt. No, I can't take it back without a receipt. NO, I CAN'T TAKE IT BACK WITHOUT A RECEIPT NO MATTER HOW MANY DIFFERENT WAYS YOU ASK!!!!eleventy!!!11!!

[simplyanother]

By a stroke of...something, I rarely work those madness Sundays. I hate giving out the fliers for them, because of one too many "I don't SHOP on SUNDAY!" people, throwing it back at me. "well, fuck you too". And of course, I'm personally responsible for the 4 or 5 hour window to use the coupon.


Every 3rd customer tells me the picks are picked over. And that it's very glittery down there. Cause, I didn't know that. I've had the fun of...having to straighten/reorganize that aisle a couple of times (not this year, thankfully), and that was a whole barrel of fun.

Regarding the people who want me to bag impossible shit, they ALWAYS see the bags hanging on the register behind me, and ask "Well, what about THAT one?". "it's the same as this one here" "well, try it". Fine, whatever, I'll do it. Hey, look, it doesn't fit! Magic how I knew this.

People who want their shit in bags, who ...don't want to take the shit out of the cart---those are people I don't understand. You don't want me to scan your 56 wreaths individually (or in groups of five, to save time..ahem), but you want me to bag them... individually. And they always act like I've done some sort of horrible injustice to them, when I don't immediately offer up a bag.

I love the impatient assholes on the phone, who get all exasperated when there is a wait, and..call back multiple times, expecting, somehow, this makes their question get answered faster. You hang up, we have to start all over with the getting it answered. It's Christmastime, you're trying to save time by not driving down here, you're going to have to wait. I wish that I could answer the phone with a new greeting: "Glitter Hell, My Location, just so you know, we'll be dealing with the customers who are actually IN The store first...so their may be a delay in answering your question, how may I direct your call?" (I figure it fits with the whole "blah blah custom framing" bullshit).

Woman asked me the other day when the best time to call back would be(because I'd told her that there wasn't anyone who could answer her call at that time, due to some scheduling fuck ups that left us severely understaffed), and I was so tempted to answer "mid January...".