David cc’d us on a letter he recently sent to Target:
My mother in law, recently went to Target to get a battery installed for her watch. The watch was a common Timex model and the associate told her that she would have to buy the battery first. So she purchased that battery, and the associate attempted to install it in the watch. The battery did not fit the watch, so the associate said “sorry, we don’t have the right battery” and then refused to take the battery back and refund her money. She was told they don’t take back opened battery packages.
Was she taken advantage of as she is 80 years old, or is this store policy? This occurred at the Target Superstore in Miramar, Florida two weeks ago.
We asked David if he tried following up with Target on his mother-in-law’s behalf.
Yes, I called and spoke to store an asst mgr, who stated that store policy is no returns on opened/used batteries. I said she never left the store, had remained at the counter, and it was your person that opened the package to remove the battery to install in her watch. I said I DONT FIND THIS ACCEPTABLE………………..is this the way you treat the elderly who came to your store for assistance, and then has to buy something she cant use !!!!
After pushing the issue, she said its “its only a small amount, I probably would have taken the battery back if I was aware of this” and, “come back to the store and we will discuss this further”
So, it will cost me more in gas $$$ than the battery is worth to drive back to that store and meet with her to get a refund.
From this, I must assume it is Target policy to screw the watch battery customer………..
I know its a small $$$ amount, but for the elderly, on social security, every penny matters.
Little things like watch batteries may not cost much stores much, but blind adherence to obstinately obtuse policies can cost stores customers. The Assistant Manager at least had the common sense to realize that this is a problem with an easy solution.
Of course, the easiest solution is to treat Target as a low-end big box store, and not a repair shop. Our local jeweler resurrects dead watches for $5, which may be a bit steep compared to Target, but he’s never cited ‘store policy,’ and he always gets our watches ticking again.
(Photo: Getty)
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Target is exactly like Wal-Mart, only they charge more for everything. Don’t get all high and mighty about it. They are both discount stores. Even if you pronounce it “Tarjay.”
As for the watch battery, the elderly lady should have received a refund. I’d drive my ass back to the store to get my $5 just on principal.
@Me.:
The Ikea problem is far more clear cut than Target, but clearly target should have accepted the return for good will, instead of being stupid over $5.
As for the Ikea problem, if I’m the customer and thinking clearly enough, when the refund is denied claim compensation for them damaging YOUR property. Ask for about 3 times as much, because you are in a position to set the damages… I bet you’ll get the refund.
likely, it was a dumb employee and stupid interpretations of the policy. had i been that employee i would have called my manager and asked for assistance on rectifying the situation. target hires folks who have never had a job before or have had barely anything.
it doesn’t matter if this person was a 25 year old or 100 years old. i really can’t stand when people try to add emotion to the story by saying the person was elderly. in target’s case, what’s wrong is wrong no matter what the age.
@Daniel Alderman: i have also met my share of 80-year-olds… they were tough as nails to sell pier 1 merchandise too. this is a compliment as i really felt they were quite wise on many decisions they made.
Target is nothing like Wal-Mart with the exception that they are both discount stores. At least in my area the Wal-mart has about the worst shopping experience imaginable. The only thing worse than the Wal-Mart is the K-Mart down the street.
The Target near me is the complete opposite. Clean and with prices that are competitive enough for me as long as I never need to step inside a Wal-Mart again.
that poor lady. I’d be pissed if this happened to my grandmother. The guy was right to contact headquarters.
Well there’s your problem. It’s a Target in Miramar. Duh!
For the record, I’m not really an ass. I was just playing off the old “blame the consumer” meme. I’m not usually so trollish.
I worked at walgreens and changed peoples watch, hearing aid, and garage door opener batteries all the time.
The trick is the old battery has a code and voltage/current info on it. It is pretty easy to find a direct replacement.
Sometimes I did guess, but let the customer have the final say so it was not my fault. Even though the customer made the wrong choice Walgreens would still let them return or exchange the battery.
@balthisar: I think it is much too late to change anyone’s mind about you being an ass.
/Thats lame of Target, I work at an independant jewelery store and we never charge the customer if the battery doesn’t work, even if they bring it back after 2 or 3 days and the watch stops for a reason other than the battery, we will still refund it so long as the customer lets us send the watch out for a (free) estimate to repair it.
@Daniel Alderman: I no longer need to read the comments section anymore since you’re right and pretty much nailed every single thread right there.
and to all people who responded to balthisar, honestly you can’t tell its flame bait when it’s so lovingly laid out before you?
I used to work in the Kohls jewelry counter. We sold the battery first and then installed it. But we never refused a refund for something that was our fault. If we rang up the wrong battery, we exchanged it for the correct one.
@Daniel Alderman: I’m not sure that anyone feels that she was dim-witted. Having spent years in various customer service jobs (and having parents nearing that mark), I’ll posit that the “problem” is something else. As pigeonpenelope points out, many are tough as nails (that’s my father). Many others fall to the other extreme (my mother) and feel a significant frailty and vulnerability. They’re forced to put too much of their safety and success into the hands of strangers, and are afraid of pushing too hard on any one issue lest they be put on the losing end of some even worse situation.
No, it may not be rooted in reality or even logic, but it’s a very real emotional situation for a great number of elderly, and is even more reason to treat them with extra respect. No kid gloves, of course, that’ demeaning; but kindness, respect, and enough awareness to subtly look out for them should be practiced. After all, age takes us all.
Oh, and what should Target have done to appease the OP? I suppose that the following migh have helped: You’re right, sir. The clerk made a mistake by not double-checking the battery and should have called me before refusing the refund. I’ll have a discussion with him about this. We aplogize for the invonvenience. Haven’t we all learned how much an apology is worth?
Fails the implied warranty of merchantability test. The battery did not serve the purpose which the store claimed it did. It is not a valid sale and the store must return the purchase price or provide a functional replacement.
Okay, that’s her problem. She purchased the battery, if I could give my games back to Gamestop every time they told me that it was going to be good then I would be rich.
Lamburger: next time try reading the post. They sold her the wrong one then refused to take it back.
@Me: IS about the only one that understands the obvious point in all this. The stupid sales associate looked at the watch, said “Yes, I know what battery fits this watch” when in fact they had no frickin’ idea. They then sold the lady the wrong item and refused to take it back after it was opened. the sales clerk is the idiot in all this (along of course with balthisar).
My advice is to buy really cheap Timex watches with a battery that lasts for somewhere in the two to three year range and then when it dies, just buy another $10 timex to replace it.
I used to work at the jewelry counter in a Target in FL. This is actually the policy. I had the exact same thing happen. It really sucks. And the problem is the jewelry sales people are usually not properly trained. Including myself at the time. I was only in highschool, had no idea what I was doing.
@Lamburger Helper: Didn’t your mommy and daddy teach you to play your videogames quietly when the adults are conversing?
You clearly didn’t read the post, so you have no frame of reference here, Donny. You’re like a child who wanders into the middle of a movie and wants to know what’s going on.
Is it just me or are there more and more asshats in the Consumerist comments with every passing week. I wish Consumerist would be like their “sister” site, Kotaku, and start ban-hammering all these “blame the customer first” astro-turfers.
@AngryEwok: Umm, no, I clearly read the article. It doesn’t matter whether they told her to buy it, the associate is not a trained watch repairer, nor should “David” or the old lady treat them like they are. Target is there to sell a product and only that, having somebody that may or may not know how to repair a watch is just a bonus.
The only people that are taken advantage of are the ignorant.
TARGET: Refund this customers money, install the proper battery – for free – into the customers watch, apologize profusely to the customer for your poor employee training and for their unnecessary inconvenience, and “counsel” your salespeople about how to properly handle such incidents in the future.
@Lamburger Helper: Sure it does. Imagine:
OL (Old lady): Hi. I need to replace the battery in my watch.
SC (“Silly” Clerk): Sure. Here’s the battery you need.
OL: Can you install it, please?
SC: Yeah, but you’ll have to buy it first.
(Money changes hands.)
SC: Oh, oops, this is the wrong battery. My bad. Well, thanks for playing.
Do you really not see the difference between an opinion (yeah, this game is kewl) or fact (this is the battery you need for your watch)?
@Lamburger Helper:
“The only people that are taken advantage of are the ignorant.”
Are you for real?
@Carrnage:
Sometimes the customer is wrong.
Not necessarily in this case, but it happens. So a blanket statement to “ban hammer” the people who say the customer is wrong would be counterproductive.
I think the ideal we should be striving for is fairness by examining each case on it’s merits, not blind agreement with the customer (or the business) regardless of stated case.
@thekizerman: that’s okay, as long as they know I’m an ass for other reasons.
@MonkeyMonk: The Target near me is a pretty big dump. The Wal-Mart, on the other hand, is clean and tidy. It is different wherever you go.
Besides all that, they are both discount stores. Tell yourself Target is superior if it makes you feel better.
@target_veteran: I also worked for Target, and that is exactly how I was trained to handle watch battery replacements. Also most of the watch batteries are kept behind the counter, so the team member would have had to get it.
The girl basically did everything wrong that she could do wrong.
@balthisar: It was just a comment she made, this isn’t the point of the letter. Thank you for being an asshole. I wish poverty on you and your family.
Target was in the wrong, but I read plainly they were willing to make it right. I understand the OP’s frustration with high gas prices, BELIEVE ME, but instead of just refusing the offer, he should have mentioned something additional he would like to make it worth it, especially since it was the old lady’s money, not his. His willingness to help his mother with the situation doesn’t give him the right to co-opt her right to get the refund. He should have asked her what she wanted to do and let her make the gas up to him another way.
But a good manager also would have offered him something else to keep his business.
@Carrnage: I couldn’t agree more. Any non-constructive rude comments critical of consumers on a pro-consumer website should just be edited and their accounts cut off. That’s how this site would be run if I owned it….but…. Just because it’s a free country, doesn’t mean you have a right to run people down on any site you want, pro corporate assholes.
Policies are made to be broken. If the policy is stupid and doesn’t work CHANGE IT.
Escalate and be patient! A girl I was dating had her watch broken by a Target employee. After calling their customer service line, they offered to pay for the cost of the repairs!
There are good people who will listen on their customer support line. Just be patient and friendly and they’ll fix what they did wrong.
I call bullshit on that alleged policy.
Obviously no store is going to accept a return on a battery that has been bought, opened, taken out of the store and then brought back. How are they supposed to know if it’s the same battery and not some shady customer trying to return their dead batteries? But if the battery was bought, opened and the customer never left the store then your “policy” doesn’t apply.
If it was me I’d have escalated to the highest manager possible. Free gift cards are always nice.
Some of you are very hard on the customer here. No matter what age, when a “policy” becomes ridiculous, clecks should be taught to use common sense. Customers should not have to fight for justice and common sense. Customers should not have to waste valuable time (their’s and the store’s) taking matters up the line. Half the time we only get the same parrot talk. “It is not our policy” Can anybody think these days or just read scripts.
I have worked for Target for 3 years, and in those 3 years I have had to of changed a couple hundred batteries for people of all ages. I have never once told a guest that they have to pay for their battery before I install it. To my knowledge that is not Target’s policy because I have had managers assisting with a watch at the same time when I first started out learning how to use the tools, and they, nor anyone has told me to have the guest pay first. Same with watches, if someone buys a watch and wants links taken out etc. we are supposed to do all the work on it before the purchase, because if something goes wrong, or in this case if the battery is incorrect, the problem can be taken care of faster.
The employee was definitely in the wrong here, they should have called a manager over and had them deal with it. Target’s ultimate policy is to: “provide Great Guest Service”. At least that is the case at my Target. However, since the employee failed to provide such service, the woman should have asked to speak to a manager in the store instead of waiting after the fact and having her son in law call in. Manager’s are always (at my store at least) more sympathetic towards in-store guest, especially if the issue is simple and easy to take care of like this one.
Not to mention, ALL Target stores recycle used/unusable batteries of all kinds at the electronic and jewelry boats, so the opened battery that most likely cost 3.54 would not have done any damage to the days sales and the employee and any manager that was on duty that night should have known better.
@Hamm Beerger: Companies and humans are not perfect. I expect mistakes. From time to time, I expect an item to ring up with a wrong price (hello, Target); I expect to receive the wrong merchandise; I expect a newly purchased item to break or is otherwise defective in some manner; I expect a service rep to give me misinformation; I even expect that a rep may have a bad day and take it out on me. Etc., etc.
I expect all of these mishaps and more. But I also hold the company accountable and expect that mishaps will be dealt with and resolved in a reasonable and satisfactorily manner. When they are, I have no further complaints. I will gladly give them more of my business. When mishaps are ignored or minimized that’s when my ire is raised and the fight is on.
She should have gone to Radio Shack. I had an old watch that didn’t work, and I was pretty sure it was just the battery. I went to Radio Shack, and they let me open a battery (before purchase), install it, see the watch still not work, and didn’t make me buy the battery.
I actually felt a little bad, because I had sincerely intended to buy the battery, but not TOO bad, because… well, here I am, recommending Radio Shack.
@Assimilate: @Assimilate:
The girl at the jewelry counter should have sent the lady to guest services to refund the battery- then guest services should have defected it out. This is the best guest service that could have been given by the team member to a guest.