Yesterday, I had to deal with a woman who wanted to return 4 small dead plants for a refund, with no receipt. She claimed that the plants had just up and died.
It had been over 100F for the previous week, and the plants looked suspiciously dry. She claimed she had watered them twice a day, along with her other plants that were all flourishing--and that these 4 were only dry because once they looked dead to her, she had put them in a plastic bag outside. Upon further conversation, she told me that she wasn't completely sure that she had bought the plants at my store; AND that she had kept these small, 4" potted plants in a southeastern exposure: in other words, in full sun. Because the tag on the plants said they liked full sun.
Well, yes. They like full sun when they are larger and planted and not in tiny, tiny plastic pots that dry out in an hour. Young plants should not be in full sun in 100F heat. The customer was shocked to hear this. I was shocked that it wasn't common sense, especially for someone older than me. She still insisted on a refund.
I looked closer at the plants. Two of them were still alive, but heat stressed. The customer was also surprised to learn that when a plant still is fleshy and green at the stems/branches, it's still alive. It would take some good care, but the plant might survive. Still, she wanted a refund.
Then the person working the customer service desk turned to this same customer and handed back a jar of black bean dip. It seems that it wasn't in our system--which means it did not come from our store...or any store of ours in the multi-state region. I'm sorry, but it has always boggled my mind when people who are so particular and have the highest of standards, can't seem to be particular about where they return their products. AT LEAST REMEMBER WHERE YOU BOUGHT YOUR STUFF before you try to return it. I don't think it is unreasonable for me to point out that this is fraud. This customer actually got annoyed at me for refusing to refund her money on a product we don't. even. carry. The hell? She turned the subject back to the plants. "So you're not going to give me a refund?" No. Hell no. No receipt, no care taken for them...stupidity is not a valid defense when you are returning products for refund. And all you get when you then let loose with "This place has CHANGED" and "I mean it, you all have changed" and "I'll just take them back to your other store, they'll give me my money back" and "I'll be taking all of my business to that store from now on, too" is a small crowd of people looking at you like you're off your nut. Don't make a scene. Accept that you got caught lying and move on quietly.
*sigh*
Sometimes you break things, or ruin them. Life sucks that way. It must suck that your parents or guardians didn't teach you to take responsibility for your actions. It really sucks that you're OK with blaming other people and entities for your mistakes. You're making the world a very crappy place for the rest of us, and I wish you would stop it.
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5 comments:
When I worked at the bookstore, we more than once had people try to return books that weren't in our system. We took books (for store credit) without receipts, so we took back some stuff that we hadn't sold for years and were pretty sure wasn't ours, but if it was in our system (and in reasonably non-disgusting condition), we took it. But, yeah. They'd be like, "No, really, I'm pretty sure I bought it here." And we'd say, "It's...really not possible that you did."
We'd be nice and let them pretend that they forgot where they got it. Perhaps that was even occasionally the case.
I think someone also tried to return a CD once, and we had to tell them that we didn't carry any music. Lord.
P.S. FIRST!!!!11! Hee hee.
CB, you are such a dork.
I will freely admit that I have returned books to Borders that I bought at Barnes & Noble and vice versa - it's all about convenience, but I can pretty much guarantee you that I've given both of those places enough money to send a kid to college, so I'm over it. It was also mainstream stuff that would definitely DEFINITELY be carried in both places, so it's not like I would ever have gotten caught.
Oh sure -- I don't see a problem with returning, like, the latest John Grisham to Borders if you got it at B&N. I personally consider that within the "rules." I mean, there's no way to tell, and the staff doesn't care -- you scan it back in, then put it back on the shelf or return it or whatever. You COULD have gotten it there, and you're not trying to claim the store sold you a defective product and asking for restitution (beyond a store credit for the worth of a book that you're giving back to them). But there were some eyebrow-raisers, and then, yes, the occasional "we don't carry this...no, really, you couldn't have gotten it here...NO, REALLY, YOU COULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN IT HERE."
My sister used to work at TJ Maxx and their policy was to take ANYTHING back. ANYTHING. She would get all kinds of crap that they didn't sell, stuff that was stained, stuff that didn't look like it had been sold in this millennium...but that was the policy, so the manager would make up a price for it and give them a merchandise credit.
If the books were in mint condition, at least Barnes & Nobles and Borders can re-sell them. Justifying returning them to whatever location is most convenient by saying you've spent thousands of dollars at each business..? That's not justification. Did you not receive thousands of dollars' worth of books in return for your thousands of dollars in cash?
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