UPDATE: Macy’s does accept cash refunds with a receipt, according to a CSR at a Tucson location.

Sandy is miffed at what she was told was Macy’s return policy. She says employees told her she couldn’t receive cash back for items she returned, even if she had paid for them with cash.

She writes:

Maybe we’ve been in the dark for a long time about Macy’s return policy, but in case others are as unaware as us — here it is. There is no scenario in which Macy’s will refund cash for a purchase. We were told this yesterday by several Macy’s employees, including the supervisor we ultimately involved in our situation.

My husband received some white wine glasses from my mother for Christmas, gift receipt enclosed. She knew when she bought them that he really wanted the bigger, red wine glasses from the same line, but the store she was shopping at was out of stock. No big deal she thought, he can exchange them later when the Wine Glass Truck makes another delivery of inventory.

We tried to exchange them yesterday at our nearest Macy’s only to discover that the line of wine glasses was not on display any more. According to the associate “what we have out is what we have in stock, we don’t have those anymore”. I knew that Dillard’s also carried this line, so we asked for a cash refund so we could skip down the mall to Dillard’s to try our luck.

That’s when we learned about the policy. If it was purchased on a credit card, the refund goes back on to the credit card. If it was purchased with cash, you get a Macy’s gift card. If it was a gift, you get a Macy’s gift card. No cash refunded, ever. You’re stuck with giving Macy’s your money.

Ultimately we were taken care of when the supervisor and a more experienced department employee realized that they indeed had the wine glasses we wanted in the back room. Exchange made, problem solved. But in the future…..no more Macy’s purchases as gifts for anyone unless we are CERTAIN that it’s the exact item the recipient wants! And who can ever be that sure…

I take this as a challenge. Now I want to buy something at Macy’s in cash and return it immediately after I buy it to see if I can get the store to break its strange policy.

What’s your most frustrating return experience?

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