Instead of getting his money back, one Radio Shack customer got a sock in the jaw when he tried to return something. According to the police report, the employee wouldn’t let the customer return the item. When the customer asked to speak to a manager – kapow! And you thought the worst thing you had to worry about was if you kept your receipt!
returns
By 4.28.09
../../../..//2009/04/28/if-youre-seeking-a-price/
If you’re seeking a price adjustment on your Gap clothes, don’t put it off. Heather writes in to warn that the price adjustment period at the Gap and Banana Republic has been reduced from 14 days to 7. Old Navy remains at 14 days.
"New" Phone Bought Off EBay Turns Out To Be Used, Porny
By 4.22.09
Lillian bought what she thought was a new phone from an eBay seller with a lot of great feedback. The longer she has it, though, the more evidence she finds that it’s probably not new. Sometimes buying electronics off of eBay is like slowly peeling an onion.
Virgin Mega-Liquidation: All Sales Final, Even On Defective Merchandise
By 4.7.09
Regular readers of the site already know this, but we will tell you again anyway — in a liquidation “all sales are final” means just that. You will not get an exchange if your item is defective. Period. You lose. Good day, sir!
Walmart Violates Company Policy, Pretends Not To Accept Bike Returns
By 3.28.09
The Walmart in Norman, Oklahoma refused to accept bike returns until a district manager, acting on a reader tip, reminded the store that they were violating company policy. Reader Keia tried to return the “shoddily constructed,” “dangerous piece of garbage” for a bike that Walmart sold him, but an employee, backed by the store manager, explained that since Walmart could repair the bike, their return policy didn’t apply. That didn’t sound right, so Keia went over their heads…
Best Buy Goes Above And Beyond To Make Up For Selling Busted Camera As New
By 3.11.09
Michael is happy to report that he got a really great resolution from Best Buy, who had sold his grandma a broken camera as new and then accused them of breaking it themselves. The shots of Best Buy employees Michael found on the camera, and the repugnant attitude he encountered when they tried to return it and disinterest when he complained to corporate multiple times, only made the story that much juicier. After Micheal’s story went up on Consumerist and hit Digg, Best Buy contacted him. Here’s what they did to make nice:
Guitar Center Ships Broken Guitar From Another Store's Inventory, Says Too Bad, Now It's Yours
By 2.12.09
Did you know Guitar Center, Musician’s Friend, and “a few other online music retailers” all share the same centralized distribution center? That’s the explanation a Musician’s Friend CSR gave Mitch when he tried to solve the mystery of the dented, twisted-neck, not-even-from-the-right-store Fender Telecaster. It looks like Guitar Center shipped him another company’s returned item. That’s bad enough, but now Guitar Center says they won’t make good on his order because it’s beyond the 30 day return period. Hey, Guitar Center: What return period? Mitch never got the product he ordered in the first place.
Update: Musician’s Friend has responded with an apology.
That Baby Outfit Macy Is Selling For $19.98? You Can Return It For $2.50
By 2.7.09
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!”
Samsung Stalls And Lies For A Year Over Broken Photo Frame
By 1.22.09
Dave bought his mother a Samsung digital photo frame for Christmas—Christmas a year ago, and it stopped working after just a few weeks. Since then, Dave has tried regular customer service and executive customer service, he’s waited on hold for up to 2 hours at a time, and he’s waited patiently for RMAs that are promised but never sent. Now it looks like he’s throwing in the towel: “I no longer have the time or energy to waste with them.” You win this battle, Samsung! But you do realize that Dave—a small business owner who has made large Samsung purchases in the past—will never buy another one of your products, right?
Understanding Circuit City's "End Of Days" Return Policy
By 1.19.09
Returning something to Circuit City? All sales are final during the liquidation, but if you bought it between January 1st and the 16th, you have a 14-day return window. However, if you bought it before January 1st, the original 30-day policy still applies. Your cashier might not know this, though, and try to deny the return. That’s what happened to Jason today when he tried to return a hard drive.
Why Can't You Understand That Hobbytron Does Not Want To Talk To You?
By 1.17.09
Hector ordered one product from Hobbytron and received something else. He tried to contact them to arrange a return, but every avenue they offered didn’t work, or funneled him to an alternative method. He finally recieved an RMA from them, but no instructions or description of what happens next. Hobbytron is really busy right now, Hector! They don’t need your guff!
L.L. Bean Refuses To Let You Be Unhappy — Even Though It's Your Own Fault
By 1.12.09
L.L. Bean just wants you to be happy, ok? Even if your unhappiness is entirely your own fault because you ordered the wrong size shirts and had them monogrammed. They don’t care. You will be happy or else.
ALDO Refunds My Sunglass Money
By 1.8.09
A few weeks ago I wrote a peeved post about how I was mad that ALDO wasn’t refunding my money after sending me the wrong pair of sunglasses, broken. Instead, they seemed to be giving a sucker’s prize of only free shipping. My finger was quivering on the chargeback button, I said. But thanks to a few of your comments, I realized that while their wording was unclear about what the next action was supposed to be, ALDO had approved my return, I just needed to either ship it back to them or take it into a store. I did the latter, and they processed my refund promptly. Hooray.
How Do You Reach Hasbro's CEO Brian Goldner?
By 12.24.08
Hasbro promised to replace a Nerf product that broke within minutes of being removed from its package, but that was back in October and Ed still hasn’t received anything.
WISdomestics Blames Competitors For Its Own Misleading Vibrator Copy
By 12.23.08
Jen ordered a product on Amazon, but what arrived in the shipment was significantly less than what was promised.
Every Christmas Target Execs Fight Over Auto-Printing Guest Receipts
By 12.18.08
Regarding this story, turns out, every year at this time, Target has an internal clash of the titans over whether or not to automatically print guest receipts, according to a former employee.
Target No Longer Automatically Prints Gift Receipts?
By 12.15.08
Reader Jennifer reports that Target doesn’t seem to be automatically printing gift receipts at the bottom of the receipts. Clever way of discouraging holiday returns? Target’s official policy is no returns without a receipt…
