Quadmama wanted to exchange a pair of books she received as gifts, but the manager stonewalled her because she was 60 days outside of the return window. When Quadmama reiterated that she wanted to exchange the books for replacements, not return them for money, the manager told her that for the bookstore’s policy purposes, a return is the same as an exchange.
She writes:
Borders thinks returns and exchanges are the same thing.When I was 9 months pregnant with my second daughter, a friend bought us some books from Borders. Two of the books were ones my daughter already owned, but since we had the gift receipts I thought I would just go exchange them for new ones. The next couple of months were a little busy to say the least. I finally got a chance to take my 2-year-old to Borders this past weekend to let her pick out new books in exchange for the two she already owns. I looked at the receipt to make sure there weren’t any time frames I needed to adhere to in order to make the exchange. Everything printed on the receipt mentioned returns needing to happen within 60 days if you had the gift receipt. Exchanges were mentioned, but only for items like audio books, music, videos, etc. not regular books. I thought, “Great, I’m covered since I only want to make an exchange of regular books.”
When I got to Borders, I went right up to the counter and explained that I wanted to exchange two books for new ones since we already owned them. The Borders employee said that she didn’t think she could exchange them since it was past 60 days. I told her that I checked the policy on the receipt and it doesn’t mention anything about exchanges of regular books, only returns. She said she’d call a manager over to see if there was anything they could do. I don’t know about you, but the last time I looked it up, returns and exchanges were different things. In the case of a return, you receive a refund when bringing merchandise back. When you’re exchanging something, you do exactly that; exchange one thing for another and pay any price difference. Their policy even differentiates the two, but they don’t make any mention of exchanging regular books.
A manager came over and reiterated what the employee had said, but then he added that, “When it says ‘Returns’ it means ‘Exchanges’ too.” Then why doesn’t it say that? I was just about to argue back when he said it wasn’t that big of a deal and they could give me store credit for the two books I brought back. Whew, crisis and angry customer with squirmy toddler leaving very unhappy averted. Perhaps Borders should brush up on their vocabulary and print their Returns and Exchanges policy in a way that actually differentiates the two and mentions regular books.
Here is the full text of the policy as printed on their receipt:
“Returns of merchandise purchased from a Borders, Borders Express or Waldenbooks retail store will be permitted only if presented in saleable condition accompanied by the original sales receipt or Borders gift receipt within the time periods specified below. Returns accompanied by the original sales receipt must be made within 30 days of purchase and the purchase price will be refunded I the same form as the original purchase. Returns accompanied by the original Borders gift receipt must be made within 60 days of purchase and the purchase price will be refunded in the form of a return gift card.
Exchanges of opened audio books, music, videos, video games, software and electronics will be permitted subject to the same time periods and receipt requirements as above and can be made for the same item only.
Periodicals, newspapers, comic books, food and drink, digital downloads, gift cards, return gift cards, items marked ‘non-returnable,’ ‘final sale’ or the like and out-of-print, collectible or pre-owned items cannot be returned or exchanged.
Returns and exchanges to a Borders, Borders Express or Waldenbooks retail store of merchandise purchased from Borders.com may be permitted in certain circumstances. See Borders.com for details.”
It would be helpful if Borders was clear in its policy about exchanges counting as returns.
If you’ve managed to exchange a book at Borders after 60 days, let us know how you made the magic happen.
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Gonna have to add my voice to the group that the woman is in the wrong here. I also work at a bookstore, and this kind of thing happens, not all the time, but often enough. Just last week I had someone come in with a book with a NOTICEABLE crease in the spine and a receipt for it from early May, and somehow she was angry when I explained to her that we couldn’t exchange it. She kept asking if we still sold it, and when I said we did she repeated, “Well, if you can still sell it, I don’t know why you can’t take it back!”, even after I explained how we can’t resell it (she actually ended up just leaving it with us out of disgust).
Just because you have a receipt that’s old doesn’t entitle you to create your own return policy.
I’m sad that you are more worried about being right than retaining customers… Bookstore and Coffee shot employees are right behind airline employees for the worst customer service. Is your ego that bruised that you need to act like you are better than your customer? Sorry the English degree didn’t bring you the millions you thought you would be getting, but learn how to treat customers with respect or get out of the customer service business.
What? You think stores should take back clearly used items just because? A bookstore isn’t a library. A good customer doesn’t try to abuse store policies by using an item for what they wanted and then trying to return it when they decide they are done with it. If they want to do that, there are places like libraries were you can borrow and item and return it.
Customers who feel entitled not to pay for the product they have used are customers no business needs.
Maybe that’s why their stock is at $1.29 a share, and 10 years ago it was over $40… poor customer service, loss of company focus… what a sad, sad story Borders has been…
Yes, and this has to do with Borders. Has nothing to do with the fact that ALL book stores have had their stocks drop in the past ten years (Barnes and Noble dropped 50 dollars per share in the past 5 years, just as one example). Has nothing to do with a burgeoning internet, less people buying physical books, more people getting their news and “magazines” online. Yes, looking at the fact that EVERY major specialist book retailer has had their stock drop, this is obviously the result of Border’s return policy and a woman who waited over two months to do a return.
Yes, this must be it. Let us ignore the fact that Barnes and Noble’s stock ALSO dropped (over $60 six years ago to less than 15 today) during the same time frame, this has to do with bad customer service, and has nothing to do with changing market trends and the burgeoning internet and the availablity of free information and literature.
What a moron.
Aside from the fact that return and exchange are the same thing, you shouldn’t be allowed to do either at a bookstore. I think this lady was looking for the library.
They must have changed their policy recently, as I’ve in the past (maybe a year ago) taken in books without a receipt, in saleable condition, and been handed a gift card for the lowest price the product was sold in the previous either 6 months or a year.
Since they were gaming books, that were never discounted by Borders, this wasn’t really a problem.
Is he point of this update to be an object lesson in how not to act at the bookstore?
Wait, he said exchange is the same as return, but gave her store credit, which is essentially a return… My head hurts
Following posted policy is hardly cause for complaint – the no return/no exchange policy is posted in the store and on receipts. As someone who worked for Borders for 12 years, I was so *happy* when they finally made that a policy (along with no receipts, no return or exchange) – there was more then a “a few bad apples” spoiling it – we had Barnes and Nobles sending people over to do returns at our store because they wouldn’t take them. It was a nightmare. the fact is that after 60 days, the chances of a book selling (this is past the date a book is first released) drops dramatically, so the store will be most likely, loosing money by taking that back.
It’s perfectly clear.
Exchanges of opened audio books, music, videos, video games, software and electronics will be permitted subject to the same time periods and receipt requirements as above and can be made for the same item only.
Fark. Meant to add (but page went wonky) that even though it doesn’t specifically say books, if I saw that the exchange/return period was the same for all the items, I would assume it meant books too.
While other commenters are noting the wording — ‘for the same item only’, I would like to draw everyone’s attention to the ‘subject to the same time periods’ line.
In English, that means, ‘Those time limits we just outlined in the paragraph above about returns apply to exchanges as well. You should be happy we didn’t print them all again ’cause then you’d have to waste another minute reading it….’
It’s not Border’s fault you had a busy schedule, or didn’t feel like a quick stop in while on an errand. Quit whining.