That is pretty extreme.You couldn’t sell them, and it also would be sketchy giving them away because you wouldn’t know how they had been stored.
Generally caterers take food to the local shelter. That seems preferable to trying to return them for credit.
I can’t even imagine the audacity.
Costco tosses the non-sellable items. They triage the incoming returns on the spot by attaching a label (sellable, non-sellable, to refurbish…).
I saw a lady returning a ratty looking, obviously heavily worn North Face jacket to a local Nordstrom. Her complaint was that the jacket did not meet her expectations! She obviously wore it to pieces and decided that she needed a new one for Christmas. No receipt, no trace of her purchase in the computer, but she got a new jacket! I would never return an item that I altered and wore… But I did return and repurchased a dress and a pair of boots this clearance season because the store would not adjust the price when it came down. The items had tags on, were brand new and were still returnable because I bought them less than 2 weeks prior to return.
I returned a gift to Nordstrom my husband bought me for Christmas and when I asked the clerk if she could just credit our cc she said no problem even though she couldn’t tell which card he had purchased it with - she said she could credit any card. I still haven’t asked my husband which card he purchased it with.
I’ve had problems with Target returns in the past, too. I remember returning a toy one year, only to be told that in order to do an exchange, I had to pick something else from the toy department. Since when did exchanges have to involve the same department?!!
When it comes to issuing credits to a credit card, I find that stores “assume” you’re putting it back on the same card. Often times I’ll just hand them my credit card and they’ll give me the credit.
I had a bad experience last night at Kroger. I went to the customer service desk at 9:30 pm and was told that they don’t take returns after 9pm. If they sell items after 9pm, you should be able to return something after 9pm. They wouldn’t even give me a store credit.
No. As I stated in my OP, the parents brought their own so we never even opened the box and it was returned within a few days.
Nordstrom must not handle returns the same everywhere then. Because I returned something with a gift receipt so they would only give me a store credit. I didn’t object to that although I would have preferred credit to my credit card.
But if an item is unopened, returned within a few days with the original receipt, I would hope it would be handled differently. Then why bother to keep receipts?
I promise to be very careful of where I purchase gifts from in the future and to specify, if asked, where I would like my gifts to come from. We have a large family. There is a lot of gift giving. Not everybody always gets it right although we try. We must not be alone from the looks of the return lines after the holidays this year.
Target was willing to take your return, they just were not willing to give you cash when your son paid with credit. Good luck getting very many retailers to do that and the receipt tells the system how you paid so that’s how you will usually be refunded. Gift receipt returns typically result in gift cards, otherwise you could all just exchange cash and skip the shopping altogether.
I haven’t purchased much from Nordstrom recently but am wondering. Do they have purchase tags that they stick on when you purchase like you do with Macy’s or Dillard’s? I thought they did but I’m not near a Nordstrom and so do not purchase much from them. That tag gives the system how something was purchased and on what tender it could be returned.
I am not a fan of Dillard’s. Unless it changed recently, it was a 30 day return. Period. No exceptions at all. I am happy I no longer live near one as I would not purchase a gift from there due to the return policy.
I’ve worked plenty of retail. You have no idea what people will return. Most of the time, you accept it with a smile on your face.
We have one amazing Women’s Boutique that has a policy that if you buy an item and find it in your closet not worn but with tags on within one year they will give you your money back. It is a mom and pop store and is very very popular even with a mid price to high price range. They claim that you cannot know what works with you existing wardrobe until you take it home. My only complaint is that they do not carry petite pants.
Warning about Macy’s–even tho they have purchase return tags, try to bring your receipt or you may not get the price the original purchaser paid. I have had several returns where the prices different significantly between purchase price and the credit Macy’s offered to refund. It surprised me, as I thought the computer kept track of everything with the return tags, but it appears to have some glitches/bugs.
The return tag does not ensure the purchase price will be refunded, it just means the item was bought not stolen. The best way to make sure you get the price you paid is to put the item on a Macy’s card which will be honored for a year, otherwise without a receipt you will get the current selling price which is usually less.
http://www.snopes.com/business/consumer/nordstrom.asp
Time to pull out the “returning a used tire to Nordstrom’s” story.
Macy’s online is ridiculous. I bought 3 curtains. One had a flaw so I tried to go online and report that and get an exchange. It is impossible to do! So I brought it to the store. They have to refund me and order the curtain again - at the new price! This has happened twice more since the replacement curtain is out of stock but they keep sending me the wrong ones hoping I won’t notice. I haven’t returned the latest one yet since I wanted to avoid the Xmas crowds. Tomorrow, I will try.
Costco doesn’t take Visa or MC, only Amex, so they aren’t dealing with that system. Amex is different in how it charges merchants and its ‘float’ rules.
Target used to be the store that took everything back, no questions asked, but the fraud was outrageous. Target, Walmart, Kmart are different than Macy’s or BB&B. Target sells all kinds of things, from $1 to $5000. They have rules like if you return a toy item without a receipt, you will get credit for an item from that department only. If you have a receipt, you’ll get credit for the price in the same form as the original payment. That is very standard (now) at discount retailers because they are on a shorter margin than BB&B or Macy’s.
But the OP has the right to shop where she wants and Target has the right to its policies.
Costco.com actually DOES take MC & Visa and will refund in those forms at the store if you take the item back there. That was what happened for us when the kids bought things online at Costco.com but they didn’t work out.
I think Target has a generous return policy. The worst are stores that ONLY offer store credit within 7 days with the original receipt.
Nordstroms does not have a stated return policy, it is up to the sales associate.
Most stores I frequent have very generous return policies.
REI for example has a no questions asked policy, so if something breaks, you decide it doesn’t fit right after wearing it or you just don’t like it, you can still return it.
You don’t even need a reciept since it is a co-op and purchases are under your member #.
But I won’t go to Barnes and Nobel again.
I thought I was dong them a favor by shopping there since they had to close most of their stores in my area.
I bought some journals for my D to take on a trip, which were shrink wrapped.
She didn’t want them, but I had not noticed they had just a 30 day return policy.
That’s too hard to remember, so not to have that happen again, I don’t shop there.
My sister gave us a gift from Walmart. It was not anything that we could use. Went to return it today. My sister had given me the receipt. The customer service clerk told me that she could not refund the $ because I did not have the credit card it was bought. Came home with a Walmart Gift Card. I can always spend $ at Walmart but would have liked to have options.
I believe Costco only takes MC and Visa for online, not in-store purchases.
When I have returned things to Costco that I’ve purchased online, they have given me cash, as I don’t have a Costco credit card.
Also at Costco, I’ve used my rebate check to buy something for far less than the value of the check and they’ve handed me the cash difference! Once it was for more than $75.