As part of their multi-pronged effort to fight the financial Godzilla besieging the world economy, the European Commission today proposed a 14-day no-questions-asked return period for any online purchases made within the European Union. The “two-week cooling-off period” is designed to give consumers a chance to shop across borders for the best prices without worrying about return policies. The practically adorable European decision to respond to a financial crisis with consumer protections made us want to look inwards at some of the onerous return policies Americans face.
Two come to mind: Brookstone and American Apparel.
Brookstone’s return policy is simple:
If a product purchased at Brookstone does not meet your expectations, you may return it with receipt within 30 days of purchase for a refund, merchandise credit or exchange. We will not accept any returns without a receipt.
Sounds fair, until you consider that there aren’t any provisions for gifts. Without the receipt, you’re stuck holding a potentially unwanted gift. Even if you bring the unopened mint-condition item to the store, point to the exact same item on the shelf, and ask to perform an exchange, they will refuse. You have only one option: ask the gift-giver for the receipt, an obviously impossible request no half-decent person would make.
American Apparel can’t even settle on a return policy. If you buy from their online store, they offer a full refund, but if you visit their brick and mortar locations, you can only receive store credit. So if you do your friend a favor and pick up a few shirts, and it turns out you were sold the wrong ones, you’re entirely out of luck and stuck with an unwanted store credit.
Is either policy unique? No. We know there are companies with vastly more farcical policies we want to hear about them. Fill the comments with the worst return policies you’ve seen. And no, “all sales final” doesn’t count.
EU to expand e-shoppers’ rights [BBC]
(Photo: theogeo)
Fry’s used to accept returns without receipts but I have had no luck with that in the past year. Walmart only allows 3 such returns in a calendar year. I’d gotten some blu-ray discs for Xmas that I didn’t want and Fry’s would not accept them without that label printed on them (“How do we know it was bought here at Fry’s?”), nor would Walmart (but I’d already returned some other gifts at walmart 3 times by then).
I never considered Target or Best Buy since AFAIK they don’t accept returns without a receipt.
Target annoys me with their policy of giving you the lower of two prices (the current vs. the one on the receipt)
Piperlime has a no returns policy posted on their website for clearance/sale stuff, but once I shipped back some shoes that I regretted, and they processed the refund anyway, to my delight. I really just need to be more careful/rational when buying online.
Brookstone is absolutely awful. I was in there once, chatting with someone I knew who worked in the store.
An old man came into the store, in a wheelchair. The man was clearly quite old, and it was apparent that getting out to go to the mall had been somewhat of a chore.
He had bought something (a lamp, if I recall) a few months prior and it had broken through normal use, still within the time frame of the return policy. Though he did not have his receipt, he had obtained a copy of a credit card statement showing the date, time, and amount of his purchase. He also, of course, had the box for the lamp, all the packaging and literature, and even the Brookstone bag in which it had been handed to him.
Naturally, the person working made no effort whatsoever to engage him in any communication beyond various ways of telling him “Sorry, but NO”. This unfortunate old man left without anything to show for his efforts other than the broken lamp he lugged all the way to the mall.
I later asked the girl working at the time, who was sort of a friend of mine, about the whole issue. She then proceeded to tell me numerous stories about “obnoxious” and “ridiculous” customers, who in fact sounded to me like reasonable people with reasonable requests.
With an absurdly unhelpful return policy like that, it seems to me like the company is just trying to minimize returns on their overpriced and mostly useless merchandise.
I was shopping for a camera bag a few years ago and went into Stuyvesant Photo‎ in Albany, NY. I spent about an hour talking to the salesman (he was long-winded, I don’t take an hour to pick out a camera bag). When I got to the register there was a sign that said “no returns, no exchanges, no exceptions. This isn’t wal-mart” I looked him right in the eye and said “oh, this isn’t a wal-mart? I’d better leave then” and walked out.
Brookstone Nightmare:
Received a gift from Brookstone at Christmas. They purchased it from the Bellevue Square store, and while the gift was a nice gesture, it did not work. So, a week after Christmas we went into the Bellevue Square store to find that they closed shop. We asked the folks at Bellevue Square where we could find another store, and they said their were none.
A couple weeks later (first week of January) we noted they had a store at Northgate Mall, a considerable distance from our home. We went there to exchange the product and they refused. Why? Because we didn’t have a receipt. (WTF?)
We went back to the person who gave it to us and got the receipt (oh yes, that is embarrassing) to take it back to Northgate again. This time we were so upset that we asked to be refunded, but it was the 17th of January, and they could only cover it through the 15th. End of story – no exceptions. It did not matter to them that they opened a store at a mall and immediately closed it before anyone could exchange defective product, or that we had to go well out of our way twice — they would have nothing to do with us.
As for the statement that “other stores” sell these Brookstone boxed items — um, so what? It is still Brookstone and it is still their product, so why the hell can’t they even do an exchange without a receipt? Unless I am pulling a Hotel for Dogs move of tossing rocks in the box, I think they are pretty safe.
I worked in retail for a decade, and I can not imagine ever treating customers this way in a situation that clearly was a problem they created. Oh well. The lesson for me is never shop there and warn all friends and family not to buy anything there.
My Mother recently bought me a comforter set @ Garden Ridge as a housewarming gift. After washing it, as the directions said you could, it fell apart. I tried to exchange it @ the Lewisville, Tx store but because I didn’t have a receipt, they refused to replace it even though it was their defective merchandise. Why would I have a receipt for a gift?!?! What happened to “The customer is always right & let’s keep the customer happy” Now my Mother is out $75.00 & I have no comforter. I will never shop at Garden Ridge again & neither will my family & friends.