Benny wanted to return a baby gift worth $19.98, but Macy’s refused to offer more $2.50. Benny didn’t have a gift receipt so Macy’s understandably refused to give him more than the product’s lowest advertised price—but when Benny tracked the item down on the shelf, it was selling for $19.98. When he asked where the product was selling for $2.50, he was told: “its not, the managers put in the lowest selling price, thats Macy’s policy!”
Benny writes:
As an avid reader of The Consumerist, I wanted to share the following story of how Macy’s has a “selling price” and a “return price” that 85% less.
I recently received a baby outfit for my daughter as a gift but mistakenly misplaced the Macy’s gift receipt, being that the outfit was the wrong size i decided to try and return it to Macy’s without the receipt. When i got to my local macy’s the girl at the counter in the baby section was very nice in explaning that Macy’s will happily accept the return however they can only offer the “lowest selling price” I said ok how much is that? the answer; $2.50! Thinking wow the giver must have gotten a really good deal we decided to keep the outfit and look around the baby section for other items we might like.
while browsing through the baby section I noticed a whole rack of the same outfit selling for $19.98! thinking this must be a mistake I scanned the barcode at one of the price checker machines… nope! it says $19.98.
I went over to another checkout counter and tried the return again, once again she says “the lowest selling price is $2.50!” I picked up one of the outfits the store was selling and said look its selling for $19.98! she said “macy’s policy is to give the lowest selling price, not the current selling price” I said ok where is it selling for $2.50? I’d like to go buy more of these outfits! she said “its not, the managers put in the lowest selling price, thats Macy’s policy!” she then proceeded to call her manager saying there is a customer who has an issue with Macy’s policy….
I took pictures of the screen saying $2.50 with the item number and the tag showing it sells for $19.98, see attached
Please post this story on your site! buyers should be made aware of such scandalous policy’s, feel free to edit and reword.
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Meh, this is dumb. As has been noted many times, the maximum return policy with no receipt is the lowest selling price in the last X days. While the number of days varies by store, this policy does not. It’s standard practice in retail, and it’s very reasonable.
It is unlikely Macy’s makes up fake lowest selling prices. All it means is some Macy’s store, anywhere in the region or possibly nationally, put this item on clearance sometime recently. It doesn’t have to be the same store, because obviously, with no receipt, you could have bought it anywhere.
Keep your receipts. Don’t expect to make returns without them. Not worth writing about.
This is not uncommon at all.
Babies R Us does it, Home Depot does it, etc. I actually EXPECT it to happen now if I bring something back without a receipt.
On the flipside, if you bought it yourself and used a credit card, most stores are nice enough to try and find the credit card transaction in their computers so you can prove how much you paid for it.
At least they let you return it. A lot of stores wouldn’t let you return it without a receipt.
I bet if you put the item on ebay you will get more for it.
Having worked for Macy’s I can absolutely state that this is no accident. ‘Lowest selling price’ could mean that this particular item went on sale at a store in Ohio, for a couple of hours on a Wednesday morning.
Yes, technically you could have bought this there for that price and be credited more than the price paid, and all stores share the same computer system. That makes it all nice and legal, and stuff.
That’s the Macy’s way, they either make money on the sale, or make money on the return, and then sell it again.
The problem here is the dope returning it didnt have a receipt. If you had saved your receipt problem would be solved.
Seems like a normal practice, but I would hope to talk to a Macy’s manager and work something out.
Clearly if they didn’t have it in stock and it had been reduced to $2.50 it would be over. Since they did have them in stock I would ask for store credit if I also buy another $30 in merchandise. It would be a take it and make money now and have a happy customer, or I don’t ever shop at your lousy store again type offer.
One more note, Doesn’t Macy’s put a unique bar coded sticker on everything the sell, effectively being the receipt? It goes right on the tag. Seems like it would take the place of the gift receipt very effectively.
Somethings fishy.
The burden is on you not to lose the receipt. You can’t hold Macy’s responsible for something that was your fault. These policies are in place to protect macy’s from all of the scam artists out there who “work the system”. The little guy is not always right.
I’ve had this exact same thing happen at Circuit City. I was given a present of a game that I already owned, but didn’t have a reciept, although the game was clearly marked with a sticker that said Circuit City and a price of $60.00 and was unopened. When I tried to return it, they offered $25.00 telling me that “Circuit City’s policy is to give the lowest selling price, not the current selling price.” (The same as above.) I accepted the credit and returned to the store two hours later, only to find my copy placed with the new items (identifiable by its different sticker!) and priced at $50.00, the current price CC was selling it at.
People like this really irritate me. As a sales associate at The Gap I frequently get screamed at because of irrational customers like these.
It is ludicrous to think that this person should get 19.50 for their item. Especially because it is a gift. People buy cheap gifts all the time. That’s why they don’t give the gift recipients their receipt. Even a gift receipt is risky because then little Timmy comes in the store picks out a new pair of pants, comes to the register, and discovers that Uncle Fred only spent 97 cents on the gifted pair.
Yes, it sucks that sometimes after an item is marked down, it gets marked back up, but hassling lowly employees will never change this policy. The man you need to talk to is on a yacht with both his wife and his girlfriend wearing a monocle atop a throne of gold bars.
I recently went to Macy’s to exchange a suit my husband had bought. The pants had a hole in them. I spoke to a saleswoman who said she couldn’t do anything because I didn’t purchase it at that store. I told her that not purchasing it at that store should make no difference it was a suit made for the Macy store by the designer therefore, Macy’s should stand by their merchandise.
The pants had not been tailored and the jacket did have the designer name tag on. I told her I understood her dilemma but I was not asking for money to be returned but an even exchange since all the suits were on sale anyway. The Manager was supposedly in a meeting but said he couldn’t do anything without a receipt.
I understand I didn’t have a receipt but give me a break. I wanted to exchange it.
I didn’t think there would be a problem with the pants on a suit. There has never been a problem before with any suits purchased. This is what I get for paying cash and not charge.