Kirk and his wife spent over $4,000 last year at Target, but we have a feeling that figure is going to drop dramatically for 2008 after Target refused to refund Kirk $24 because they said they didn’t have a record of his purchase in the system. In fact, they didn’t have any record of the lampshade he was holding in his hands—it wasn’t in their computer, and therefore it didn’t exist, even after his wife went and brought an identical lampshade from the store shelves to the customer service counter. Said the clerk, “We don’t carry this lampshade.”
The “customer service” clerk scanned the shade and said “We don’t carry this lampshade.” Fine. Here it is. Doesn’t fit. Perfect condition. Just give me store credit, and I’ll go drop another $200 today in your store.
Nope. “There’s nothing I can do for you.” she says. My wife goes to see if she can find an identical one on the shelves. She does. Clerk’s Supervisor is here now. She scans it. That one doesn’t exist either. Hmm, strange. Flaw in Target’s system, they’ll probably give me the benefit of the doubt at this point.
Nope. “There’s nothing I can do for you.” I mention how much we spend at Target. Blank stare. Slight nod of acknowledgment. Okay, this is ridiculous. Go get your boss. Surely someone can override this policy. I’ve returned $200 jeans at Bloomingdales with no questions asked, no receipt, nothing.
Enter Eileen (pictured above). C’mon Eileen. You look intelligent. Surely, you’ll run my card, see how much we spend at Target, and give us the store credit. $24. Really now. I’m sure you put out fires around here all day long.
Nope. “There’s nothing I can do for you. Maybe if you know what date you purchased it?” We do. April 27. $306. Same day we bought a DVD player and other stuff we probably don’t need. “Hmm. No, I don’t see that.”
It’s as if Target has employed some sort of Schrödinger’s Inventory software, where if the system doesn’t “see” the SKU, the lampshade is neither alive nor dead. Just invisible to their employees.
“Come On, Eileen” [After the Jump]
(Photo: Getty)
I’ve seen a couple replies advising the customer in this situation to file a dispute with the credit card company. Is “Buyer’s Remorse” really a reason to file a dispute?
The item wasn’t defective and the store was not in default of their agreement with the customer over the purchase (despite the reasoning of “it’s not in the system, we cannot return it”, it would appear the customer did not have the receipt – something required via Target’s return policy [[www.target.com]]: “We will issue a full refund for most items returned within 90 days in new condition, with the original receipt, packaging and accessories.”]
I don’t see why filing a chargeback would be the right thing to do in this case. It seems to me, the right thing to do would be to find your receipt or to suck it up.
I had the same problem with a pair of shorts and went and got them from the shelf. Then they said ok we will take your return but we will take off 15% for a restocking fee and only give you store credit….Total scam, make sure whatever you are buying is exactly what you want
It’s sad when half of the posts here are shilling for Target. I don’t think that the OP was using the fact that he spends a significant amount of money is irrelevant or unwise. What is unwise is for Target and other retailers to not realize that their thumb off the nose treatment of their customers costs them a hard dollar loss in sales, from that customer because they’re not likely to come back, and potentially from others that he tells about this horrible experience.
As far as the receipt issue. The reason that Target and Wal-Mart only require you to have the Credit Card that you used to purchase the item you wish to return is thanks to electronic journaling. In times past and still in some smaller stores, there is/was a second roll of receipt paper called a journal that recorded every transaction for the register. In very large stores like Target they have moved to electronic journaling, which dispenses with the second roll of receipt paper and stores them in their data warehouses. They are very convenient for the merchant for a number of reasons, not the least of which they make credit card returns easy, because you can look up a transaction based on the credit card number and transaction date.
Obviously there was an additional issue here – either they did not use the credit card provided or something was wrong with Target’s journaling system, in any case the store personnel could have done something to save their relationship with this customer, instead of sending him into the waiting arms of a competitor.
I don’t understand why everyone gets up in arms about the lack of refunds without a receipt. I’m sure they could have found a way to pull up the receipt if they’d tried a little harder, but if you can’t hold onto a receipt sucks to be you. Target makes so much money, I doubt they care about $4k/year. I wouldn’t.
Well how ’bout this: If a tree fall in Target’s forest, but an employee does not hear it, does it make a sound?
Did I just blow your mind?
I think I did.
@thelushie:
“That is when I manage to mention working on my PhD into the conversation. The looks are hilarious. (I work retail because I like it…not because I have to.)”
No, you’re a loser with a worthless degree. THAT is what they’re thinking.
I work retail in Whitest Whitesylvania. My multiple degrees in more than one discipline make me nigh unemployable in this area. The perfect employee is a dullard with less than high school and a Republican/Ayn Rand philosophy. So, I toil in the fields of commerce to fund my Xth sheepskin. Nothing delights me as much as knowing far more about everything (except sports)than the locals. They still retain the fantasy that all retail is populated with serfs or slaves and we all must kowtow to their glorious $3.96 purchase.
This post smells. Even though Target is a DISCOUNT store, they do have fairly decent computerized POS. If the item was from the store, a manager could possibly offer store credit. However, even in the piney backwoods of Pennsyltucky, there are those that attempt to obtain unwarranted benefits from retailers. “Cutomers” enter with stock from KMart, WalMart, Goodwill, DollarTree, Dollar General, and local merchants and want cash. Methinks the posturing about money spent should indicate a problem with the poster. Many stores have gone to the “no receipt-no return” style policy. Reduces shrinkage, eliminates the profit for thefts, pisses off jerkwads (hooray!), and forces idiots to have adult behavior. Really folks, unless you recite the alphabet every morning you should be able to produce a receipt.
@ClevelandCub: ::Sigh:: Ok, this won’t make a lot of people happy, but if you believe me, it will at least help you let go of a little stress.
Major Big Box retailers (Wally World, Target, BB, CC) use a mathematical formula to determine customer retension v. return losses. This means that when they make a return policy, in their equation is BUILT IN that they are going to piss off X number of people and they won’t come back and they will tell their friends. So at the store level all they are doing is implimenting a formula. Yes, they are going to tick you off, and yes, you wont shop there anymore. But, if the formula is applied universally to every customer every time then Target comes out ahead and doesn’t “Lose Business.”
If you play poker this is the same concept as “pot odds.”
@eeyore.conspiracy: Gonna have to agree with you on that. A retail employee could tell me they’re in the process of curing cancer but I’m not going to believe them because as soon as they’re done telling me that they have to go clean up vomit in a dressing room.
Had this problem at Sears with a sweatshirt my grandmother gave me for Christmas. They told me it was probably old stock that had been sold off to TJ Maxx or something and they couldn’t take it back at Sears.
@christoj879: You sir, are an elitist, entitled asshole. I hope you drown on your own excriment. If you seriously decide how you are going to interact with another human being based solely on the fact they are wearing the uniform of their employer, you are the biggest waste of human flesh I can possibly imagine. You are a toliet. Really, a toliet.
@eeyore.conspiracy: Yeah, every PhD is worthless. Nope, can’t get any job w/ a PhD. No how, no way. All you’re fit for is retail and waitressing when you get a PhD.
I’m a full time college student and I deliver sandwiches to make my way through school. The guy/gal you made a crack at said s/he was working on his PhD, which is pretty much a full time job, and is working in retail for fun and money.
The lack of reading comprehension by the vast majority of commenters here never ceases to amaze me.
I think every one of the lampshades on the shelf were actually returns from people like you that brought non-existent lampshades into the store. Now they got a whole pile of them that they can’t sell because they don’t exist.
Very existential.
A few years back I worked at a national chain. A woman came in with a sweater she had bought, put in her closet, and somehow forgotten about: she wanted to return it. It still had the tag, but that did not have a scan code – because she had bought it some fifteen years ago!
The store manager allowed it. Which was corporate policy, BTW.
Target needs first to alter its policies and second to replace its entire computer programming staff (or, if the inventory system was purchased from a software outfit, fire the people who bought it and replace the system).
Oh, and a tip: if you buy something as a gift, ask for a “gift receipt” at the register – duplicates everything but the price, so if desired it can be returned/exchanged but otherwise the recipient need not know how much it cost. This was an option at the same chain, may not be universal.
@stuartny: very nice…
Wow. I didn’t expect to be invited to leave. Remind me not to disagree with people again. I’ll toe the line from now on, sir.
That being said, my point is that it may be worth to the OP to get over his little $24 grudge and continue to shop there. What if an alternative vendor has higher prices and is a farther drive? Target won’t notice that they’ve lost $4000 in sales a year because they’re a big company who doesn’t look at an individual’s purchase history. If they did, they’d likely be wasting money and manpower to do so.
Would you prefer them to analyze your purchase history to determine if they should give you a refund when you don’t have your receipt? That would be discrimination. What if it was your first purchase from Target and you had no purchase history? The whole “I spend x number of dollars here a year” really only should work in a mom and pop store. Retail has changed. Get over it.
@mmatesky: Well, it cost them multitudes of that now, as I’ve decided to use them even less than I have been over the past few years since they decided their crap doesn’t smell…. Really, it’s a Kmart with a better paint job, robotic employees, and a layout designed toward total overconsumption. The fact they went from having a reasonable return policy to this “walk out of the store and you take a risk we won’t honor our return policy” BS makes keeping money in the bank even more delightful.
With this report, they’ve sunk in status to just above the level of Walmart now. Congratulations, “Tar-Jay.”
@mechanismatic: “Target won’t notice that they’ve lost $4000 in sales a year because they’re a big company…..” <- famous last words in the retail biz. How’s it hanging MonkeyWards?
Computer sez no…
@The Walking Eye:
Most are. Moreover, your feeble attempts at refutation by sarcasm do not speak highly of your abilities.
Obviously you can work retail. Or maybe even deliver sandwiches.
It also seems to be the case that the Ph.D. program in question is not a funded one. That almost invariably means that (a) it’s a horrible Ph.D. program, and (b) the student got suckered into feeding a school’s money cow.
@TheUncleBob: “Is “Buyer’s Remorse” really a reason to file a dispute?”
A: No, but failure to honor a written return agreement probably is. If they purchased this with a written understanding they have “x” days for which they can return it for a full refund – with or without a receipt – and no terms stating that it has to be in Target’s computer system… I’d say the Big Red Anus is fucked here. Of course, IANAL – but pretty sure Target wouldn’t fare too well if dragged into Small Claims for this sort of shit. Hope they do it, if only to spare me the trouble of doing it myself if they ever pull this stunt.
@me and the sysop: Tell us that from the soup line after your career gets automated or sent off to some third world country, elitist pig. $4,000/year spent at a yuppified (read “overpriced”) “Dollar and up” store like Target may not seem much to you – but a whole lot of the world lives on less than a buck a day for all their needs and can MAKE you care about $4 Grand.
Anyone posting in defense of Target is a FOOL! Customer service shouldn’t come at how much you spend or how much the Customer un-service agents are making. Wife pulled exact shade off the shelf….money back! Just because you don’t like your job IS NO reason to give poor service. Just because it was less than $20 does not give Target the right to keep your money. I’ve had piddly problems returning items to Target WITH a receipt…I looked forward to it like going to the dentist. SO I DON’T SHOP there anymore….. Seriously do you want Target run like the airlines? DO YOU?!
@eeyore.conspiracy: Wow, what’s with the PhD hate? A PhD in any subject will basically make you eligible to teach that subject at a college level, and a PhD in Engineering or Science disciplines is very useful when applying for private research jobs. That’s not the mention the experience and skills you gain from doing research during your PhD program, or the potential for your research to have a real benefit to society. Of course they aren’t for everyone.
@mechanismatic: You summed up what is wrong with retail when the businesses and their employees (as attested by you with your years of retail experience) believe that “You’re not doing them any favors”. Why not put that right at the front door then, use it as the new corporate slogan perhaps?
Something that goes like this: Buy your shit here or whatever, it’s not like you’re doing us any favors by spending money here.
I do want to add something, and I’m not sure it has been posted, since there are a lot of posts, but I will go for it anyway. I used to work over-night stock for Target. From time to time we would get in items that the store did not actually carry, or even the company. It would come through from the supplier, but be the wrong product. Some kid doing stock would be like “F*** it” and just put it up with all the other items of similar characteristic, here a lamp shade.
What would then happen is someone would try to buy it, and it wouldn’t ring up, so the cashier would “walkie” someone on the floor for a price check. The person on the floor would go and not find that exact numbered shade, but all the other shades were equally priced, and so would just call it back in at that price. Then the cashier would manually punch in the price.
This is not to say this is what happened, but I think you got the raw end of a deal where such a mega-corporation can have little mistakes like that.
My advice: Take it to walmart, they will usually take it back, even if they don’t know where the hell it came from.
P.S.: I no longer work for Target, or am affiliated with it in any way, it was just a summer position during college.
@eeyore.conspiracy: I got $50 that you flunked out of grad school, but think you have enough knowledge to warrant a degree. Or, you know someone with a degree that you think you’re smarter than. In either case, actually finishing a grad program says somthing about your character in that you are willing to finish what you start, and take challenging paths in life. I don’t think you would understand what it means to have character though, based on your comments.
This thread is a good example of Target’s return policies bringing out the best in people, isn’t it?
@RetailGuy83:
You just lost $50. It will take you almost an entire full-time work day to pay off that bet.
Sweet. I have character, your $50, and a job that actually pays well. I win. You lose. Go stock some shelves or swipe some credit cards.
@dweebster: “walk out of the store and you take a risk we won’t honor our return policy”
They are honoring their return policy – the return policy requires an original receipt.
@dweebster: Please read the link I provided directly from Target’s website where it shows Target’s return policy that clearly states returns require an original receipt.
Well, this is America, where the good customer is always wrong. They hire the lowest IQ humans they can find, so that they dont have to pay them a decent wage. The supervisors are from the same boat, and maybe the manager graduated from high school.
Its not only Target, its Sears & Roebuck, Dell, Motorola, and many many others.
After the sale, its F*@K the customer.
eeyore fantasy..I am better than a wage-slave. Let’s see your cards.
Many posters still have the need to feel superior to retail employees. Any guess as to why not one treats you with deference?
See, I never have problems at Target. When I do, I either go to another one or come back when said douche is not at the counter.
I also buy almost everything on my Target card. I do that for a reason.
Also? When you complain to Target, they don’t care. I’ve never seen a store less concerned with a complaint in my life…well, I guess Wal-Mart, but I can’t be bothered to shop there.
LOL on the graphic!
@JAQUEBAUER: That may be the most ignorant comment, like, ever. Do you know how many people work in retail not because they’re stupid, but because they’re just waiting for something better to come along? Customer service work is easy to come by and has flexible hours for students/single parents/those who are working multiple jobs.
Was this couple on the receiving end of corporate policy/stupidity? Unfortunately, yes. Does that mean that everyone who works for a company like that is stupid? No. They’re just following the rules so that way they don’t lose their low-paying, thankless job.
@dweebster: “failure to honor a written return agreement probably is. If they purchased this with a written understanding they have “x” days for which they can return it for a full refund – with or without a receipt”
Unless I am mistaken, the return policy is often written ON the receipts, either on the front when it is printed, or on the back of them when the paper it produced.
To make a valid return claim, especially at a large store that sees, at a minimum, tens of thousands of dollars of business per store, per day, having that paper strip with the date of purchase, descriptions of items purchased, prices or items purchased, etc etc would make an attempt to return an item MUCH easier and painless.
I’m pretty certain that as part of that “written return agreement”, it states that the item must be returned within a specific amount of time, AND that the receipt must accompany it.
it sucks that the OP didn’t get the return they felt they were entitled to, but let that be a lesson to follow the rules like (most of) the rest of us do. Most people keep receipts. you should too. they’re provided for a good reason.
the store employees may have been asses, or simply uninformed, but you’re the one trying to get them to bend their return policy. On the bright side, they’re only out $24, and they have an extra lampshade. they could save it for a new lamp, or give it to someone as a gift or something. (either way, it looks like they may be stuck with it)
A few general comments.
Stores don’t determine how to treat customers based on how much they spend – False. Best Buy explicitly focuses on pleasing long-time, consistent spenders of high-margin items. This does not mean they refuse to help the guy who shows up to buy the loss leader and nothing else.
All customers are NOT equal – it is foolish to consider all customers equal. A store is in business to make a profit, not treat everyone the same. I can’t blame a store for spending more energy on keeping profitable customers happy over customers they lose money on.
Repeat Business – Customer loyalty is tremendoulsy important to long term success. Generally, it is much less expensive to retain existing customers than to earn new ones.
@mechanismatic: “Target won’t notice that they’ve lost $4000 in sales a year because they’re a big company…..” – Oh yeah? How’d that work out for Sears? K-Mart? Montgomery Ward? A loyal, repeat customer base is an easy revenue stream that you don’t need to spend millions marketing to. Big companies weren’t always and may not always be.
Nordstrom – citing Nordstrom was specifically to juxtapose Target’s rigid, illogical adherence to a store willing to make a special exception for a repeat customer.
General – Rigid adherence to a policy with no room for considering exceptions is short-sighted. Blindly following the rules, especially in this case, may protect Target from losing $24 but end up costing them a revenue stream of $4k per year. Not a good return on investment if you ask me. A reasonable, entitled associate could have examined the situation reasonably, seen it was a special case, determined that since Target CLEARLY stocks the item since it is SITTING ON THE SHELF and the OP brought it up there that it might be worth it to make an exception for store credit. It’s not like the OP is NOT going to spend the store credit at Target, and while there is also a lot more likely to spend more than that.
And therein lies the value of retaining customers – repeat business. They might lose a little on the lamp shade but might have made up the difference in additional transactions the same day. Nordstrom is expensive, but they have an exceptionally great return policy and stellar customer service. There are case studies where they have flat out accepted returns on categories of items they do not stock (tires!!) but they graciously accepted it and won business and great word of mouth.
Word to the wise…don’t let the letter of the law blind you to its intent.
I stopped shopping at Target years ago when they installed the credit card machines that eat your card to read it. A friend on the inside told me they did that to protect the clerks when a card is flagged to be confiscated.
@UdoLibolo:
I’ve been pants shopping.
And no way would I ever be stupid enough to pay $200 for a pair of jeans. I’m hoping that was the reason for the return: “Wow, why the hell did I pay $200 for a pair of jeans?”
1) Eileen is a dartboard? Should have tried talking to a person.
2) There’s no mention of having a receipt. If he didn’t have a receipt, it’s reasonable for Target to not accept the return, regardless of whether they stock the item he is trying to return.
CSC: “Hey manager, this lamp shade isn’t coming up on the system.”
Season CSM: “look under ‘party supplies/misc’”
CS: “oh yeah, there it is.”
Sometimes, you just gotta know where to look.
@Psychodad1961: Wait… why is that a bad thing?
well… doesnt matter how much you spend at target, I think that if you dont have the reciept then you shouldnt ba able to return it period!! But they do make acceptions and now are able to return off your ID for $35.00. If it wasnt in the system, then like was said, probably got clearanced out. not much you can do there. If they kept everything in their system then people could return things from 5 years ago… It says on your reciept when it expires, oh wait you didnt have one!!