Is it Wrong

[sinkingbeach]

Lets say you go to Lowes and purchase a trash can($40 Brute), you used it once to mix water and now realize you'll never need it again. Is it wrong to clean it out and return it?

 

[debfife]

Nope, it's not wrong. I'm pretty sure we've done it.
Those things are too expensive to keep when you only need to use it one time!

Heck, we just returned a TV, for a full refund, that was 5 years old.

 

[concept3]

Heck, we just returned a TV, for a full refund, that was 5 years old.

At Lowes?!?! Wow!


Hey Francis, what did you think happened to all those 25 gallon rubbermaid totes I used to trasfer the corals/water over, LOL

 

[RichT]

Well, the question was "is it wrong"?
In the pure sense of the question, of course it's wrong.
People do it everyday but does that make it right? (mothers voice recanting "if everybody jumped off a bridge")
Asking the question leads me to believe your subconscious already knows it wrong but if someone else says it's ok then you'll be ok with it. But then again, I could probably live with taking back a one use trash can, but a 5 year old TV! (unless it was under an extended warranty or something)

 

[mfisher2112]

Hey Francis, take it from a retail manager.

It's a trashcan (heck, I've taken open dog food back!). It's within the return policy. It can be resold. You don't have a need for it, or are unsatisfied with it. That all being said, no it isn't wrong. Had you bought the trashcan, and then returned one that was 5 years old, beaten to heck with scratches and holes in it, yes, that would be wrong. But, retailers have return policies for a reason.

I think that people of good conscious are made to feel that way, even if they have a valid return, by big box retailers that take the wrong approach to customer service and the return policy. Returns are part of sales. It is the job of the staff to recover those sales, not make the customer feel like a thief and wonder if they will be looked at strangely for returning it, in order to avoid the return. By taking the return, and assisting the customer, you recover and often times gain additional sales. By making someone question whether they should return it, and then feel guilty about it, you often lose additional sales and thus the return becomes a loss.

 

[Phyl]

If the company's policy is to take back an item, no matter how old, you better believe I'm returning that 5yo TV!

 

[mfisher2112]

Agreed, Phyl. I think the distinction needs to be between utilizing the return policy for what it is, and taking advantage of or circumventing the return policy. So many of us in retail are held hostage by customers who like to threaten the "corporate complaint" as a means to an end. I avoid that alltogether and just take a "whatever" approach. I don't make the customer feel like I'm doing them any favors, my return policy is a service my business offers. And as such, it develops loyal relationships with customers. Which lets face it, that's the life blood of any retail sales or services business. And anyone who thinks they are in the sales business and NOT the service business, is mistaken.

I think if the return policy is clear, and you are within it, it is another SERVICE the retailer offers YOU the customer. It should never be taken any other way. Too many retailers get stuck in the "defend the fort" mentality, and it only leads to disaster eventually.

The short of it: Return it, brother, that's what the service of return policies is there for! And if the store makes you feel any other way, they don't diserve your business! ;D

 

[kathainbowen]

The short of it: Return it, brother, that's what the service of return policies is there for! And if the store makes you feel any other way, they don't diserve your business! ;D

Agreed! If the policy covers it, don't feel bad.

Case in point, have you ever heard of the Rennie-Return-Policy?

Most WalMarts in America within 10 miles of a renaissance festival have grown to loathe the traveling performers of their usage of the return policy. WalMart has an unconditional 90 day return policy, which, conventiently, is about how long a festival runs. Travelling renaissance festival workers (rennies, or also boothies, depending on their profession within the festival) will often purchase a few frivolous items, like televisions, radios, etc, when the first arrive at a faire grounds. At the end of the run of the show, before hitting the road, they'll return the items, still covered by the return policy, so they have money for travelling.

As long as you are acting within the confines of the return policy, and aren't being a total jerk about it, I say go ahead and return it. And don't feel bad.

When you should feel bad, is when you absolutely ruin the product, yell at the staff, cause a scene, etc. I worked in a pet shop, and I've seen all kinds of bad returns. I had a woman abandon five clown loaches on our front step an hour before anyone arrived at the store, two hours before opening, in the middle of a Georgian August (*picture 80 degree MINIMUM everyday) and attempt to insist we give her a refund for them. They were still alive and struggling along when we discovered them an hour after the abandoning.

If it makes you feel any better, I'd like to share with you a story.

The worst return EVAH!
A woman purchased a coral cat shark from us that had been in house for 30 days and eating well on a variety diet, even engaging in their normal behavioral patterns of being dusk ambush feeders. When it died, two weeks later, and well outside the return policy, that's when all our issues began.

My manager was out of town for a funeral, so I had to deal with all this mess- in between getting ready for my college portfolio show that! The woman sent her boyfriend to the shop, the ONE DAY, that whole week I had to work on my print files, while I wasn't there, and an floor staffer with fish experience was manning the fish room. Poor Kevin, he got chewed up by that man. The water sample was piss-poor at best (1.018 SG, 7.4 pH, NO3 through the roof, NO2 surprisingly good!), and terrible for a shark. However, they continued to insist and brought the corpse in. When the water sample results came across the phone lines to me, I had no choice but to decline refund (*they killed the thing, afterall). The gentleman shouts at both Kevin and I over the phone and demands to see me in two hours time. I agree, and went to the shop, putting my portfolio on the line to smooth this all over.

They never arrive. In fact, I had enough time to perform a basic necropsy on the animal (*noting obvious burns all over the stomach- a classic sign of excessive nitrates- and discolored gills). I also had enough time to putz around, hanging out up front, doing some minimal tank scrubbing, feeding, etc.

The woman calls, and asks how we're going to "resolve" the situation. Translation: how am I going to kiss her butt. I explain the situation with the water quality and how I cannot refund the animal. I was about to explain how we can fix the issues with the tank and make it more suitable for future specimens. She suddenly decides that, now, we have to refund her tank, equipment, liverock, and sand, because it is all "ruined" by the death of the shark. However- she would be keeping all of that.

*sigh*

I suppose you can guess what happened.

Danny came home and stood by me, saying he would have done the same thing in my shoes. ;D

 

[Subliminal]

If the company's policy is to take back an item, no matter how old, you better believe I'm returning that 5yo TV!

Gosh damn I love Costco!

 

[ham]

hey i bought a shirt once left the tag on adn took it back the next day i was never going to wear it again seemed ok to me

 

[Brian]

If the company's policy is to take back an item, no matter how old, you better believe I'm returning that 5yo TV!

Gosh damn I love Costco!

So do we! I still can't believe they took back that TV!!

But they have changed their return policies now. They no longer offer the lifetime unlimited warranty on TVs.