No Receipt, No Refund
Several years ago, my wife purchased a ‘table runner,’ a piece of material to drape down the middle of our dining room table at one of America’s largest general merchandise stores, and brought it home only to find that it didn’t look good on our table, it was too short, or too long, I really don’t remember. She intended to take it right back but got busy and placed it in the closet where she found it a couple of months later. She was showing it to me and telling me that she felt bad because she didn’t take it back in time to get her refund.
I could see she had the receipt in her hand, so I asked her why she didn’t just take it back now. “The receipt is expired,” she said. I looked at the receipt and it did indeed say, “This receipt expires in 90 days, all refunds or exchanges must be completed within this time frame.”
Well, I assured my wife that all companies have to have stated polices but that since she had purchased the item only 95 days ago, and still had the original receipt and just wanted to get credit back on her credit card, that I was sure it would be “No problem”. Well, maybe I wasn’t quite right on that…
We walked into the store together and Annie went to check and see if they still stocked the same item and sure enough, they did and the price was the same as when Annie bought it.
When I presented the item at the “Customer Service” desk, the Supervisor looked at the receipt and smiled and said, “I’m sorry this receipt has expired, and I won’t be able to help you.”
I looked at her and said, “What does that mean?”
“Well, it’s past 90 days, and this receipt expires after 90 days.”
I looked at her and said, “OK, I understand that is your stated policy, but the item is still for sale at the same price, and I have my original receipt, and all I want is for you to credit the price back to my credit card.”
Not only did she absolutely refuse, but she then referred me to the Assistant Manager who told me the same thing. When I demanded to speak to the Store Manager, she politely told me the exact same thing, told me she had no authority to “override” this policy and smiled and gave me the number to the company’s Headquarters.
When I called the corporate office and worked my way through several layers of people who told me “No Way, No How”, I ended up with their Director of Customer Service who politely explained that they never made any exceptions to this policy.
Now, at each stop along the way, everyone told me about all the fraud they have to deal with and that because of this, they have instituted this policy, to “protect us, the customers.” They actually told me this with what I could visualize through the phone as a straight face…And then I would ask them if there wasn’t a difference between someone bringing back an electronics item worth $500.00 and a table runner worth $20?
No, they said, no difference. And so, after visiting the store and speaking with 4 people, calling the corporate office, and speaking with 4 other people, I was told, “Sorry, we can’t help you”.
Just to clarify, the price of the table runner was $19.99, and I had the original receipt, and just wanted credit back to my card, but they had a “RULE” that they couldn’t break.
The Essential Lesson: If you hire right and train your associates correctly, then you can trust your people to interpret “the rules” to the benefit of both the customer and the company.
