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Christmas Returns Warning (Especially WH Smith)
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Radojo excellent points.
I have had pretty good experiences of returns - I rarely keep receipts but I ALWAYS buy on card and just bring my statement in if necessary.
Four occassions of note:
1. ARGOS - bought a vacuum cleaner, then about 6 months later it broke down. It had hardly been used as we'd moved house in between, and only have carpet in one room, but with all the moving etc we didn't have the receipt. Argos explained that as it wasn't the exclusive seller they needed to find it on the system. By husband bought it (stupidly) paying in cash, but by some miracle I remembered some of the other items and the total amount. They spent ages but found the transaction and happily provided us with another - EXCELLENT SERVICE!
2. TESCO wanted to take a dvd player back which we thought was a digi box - i know, how can anyone be so stupid??! It was on the right shelf and we were in a rush, buying it on behalf of someone else. We didn't have the receipt but bought it on card. However as we bought some other stuff the statement obviously didn't show the exact amount = no refund, no exchange. Understood but thought this a little mean, especially as we shop in there at least twice a week and we even bought our house from one of the managers there!
3. BOOTS got some unwanted gifts from my brother, and instead of keeping them decided for first time in my life to take them back. Went first thing (ie half an hour upon opening) on 27th Dec (ie first day of opening after Christmas) and explained. They wre happy to give me a gift card. I later found out they they had given me only half the value - obviously the items were now on sale. If they had mentioned this to me I would have either kept them or plucked up the courage to ask my bro for the receipt but they didn't, and as I had no idea how much the items cost originally, I had no way of knowing the credit note was reduced - very unfair!
4. PHASE 8 IN DEBENHAMS the HORROR story! This is massively long, but to summarize, bought a coat at Phase 8 concession in Debenhams in Oxford on a day trip. Went to local store to return it with receipt, but they didn't have the concession. Shop girl repacked coat into my bag. So treked up to Oxford St, by which time lost receipt, however bought on Debs credit card so didn't think it would be a problem, and only wanted to exchange, which thought would be fine as no exceptions were advertised in Phase 8 bit. Phase 8 girl MASSIVELY rude, asking me why I went to Oxford, why I couldn't go back there to return it, said I had shoved the coat in a bag, and was all wrinkled and so couldn't be resold - when I explained that the shop girl packed it she basically called me a liar! (And there were no wrinkles - kept asking why it couldn't be sold - looked as brand new as when I bought it - she refused to answer). Then said as it was bought in Oxford they couldn't return it. Eventually sorted it out at Customer Services - I kept saying track the purchase - I knew the date and time I bought the coat, and kept pointing out that I thought it highly unlikely that anyone else bought the same coat at this time - the Phase 8 bit was empty when I bought coat, but they said they couldn't track it cos it was bought in Oxford! Anyway 2 hours later exchanged goods (never even asked for refund - was quite happy to exchange, and only ever asked for this) after being made to feel like a thief! Wrote a letter of complaint to which Debs weren't sympathetic, cancelled Debs card and haven't set foot in there since.
At the end of the day PHASE 8 were the evil ones, but Debs still could've been better - the month I bought the coat my husband and I spent just over a £1000 in the store, all on their store card - they just don't seem to care about losing good customers. :mad:If you don't have anything nice (or constructive) to say... DON'T SAY IT!0 -
worldwide3rider wrote:Also, in Waterstones trying some returns *WITH THE RECEIPT* they would not credit cash back because my family had paid with a debit-card. It has to go back onto the EXACT SAME DEBIT CARD. Apparently this is in case someone finds a receipt in the street, goes home to get the exact same books and takes them back fraudulently(!) Idiotic - but also you are essentially penalised for paying by debit card. I assume the same would apply to Creidt Card or vouchers - so the only way to get cash on returns is if the buyer paid cash. I managed to sort out an exchanged in the end.
Beleive this is the same for all shops!
Yeah, you need the card you bought the goods on for a refund."Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, But beautiful old people are works of art."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt0 -
People do look for receipts on the floor ,then steal gooods that match.Usually those people dont have credit cards though.0
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