The Great ‘Store Returns Policy’ Hunt. Who, what, where and when?

royzee28

B&Q Returns Policy

Taken from their website, I can confirm that this is correct speaking as an employee.

Our returns and refunds policy

We're happy when you're happy. If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase, we will happily exchange/refund any unused items.

If you return the item unused, with the original receipt within 90 days we will;

• Exchange the item or issue a refund based on the original method of payment, customer sales forms are an acceptable form of receipt

You will receive a full refund of the price paid (including relevant delivery charges) less any collection charges.

If you return the item unused, without the original receipt we will;

• Exchange the returned product at the current selling price

Orders that have been made to measure, Special order, cut or mixed to your requirements cannot be exchanged or refunded.

If the product you purchased is faulty, or not as described, we may offer an exchange, refund or repair as appropriate.

We reserve the right to refuse a return with or without a receipt.

mollytilly

Sportsworld.

I purchased some hiking trainers for a present last year. Although they were liked and the right size, they did not fit comfortably so tried to take back for a refund as they didn't have anything else to exchange them with.

• Store: Sportsworld
• Can you return goods without a problem? No! Make sure you are buying what you want, in the right size at the time of purchase. Does offer a credit note but no good if there is nothing else you want.
• I had the receipt
• Not sure of time limit
• I was a Customer
• The return policy signs in our store were hung 7ft from the ground above the tills. There were ones stuck to the counter but these were covered by PIN machines, point of sale material, leaflets etc. so not easily noticable. Also, I did ask at the time of purchase if I could get a refund if not suitable and the cashier said that was fine.

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Teebo_2

Argos have a lot of strange exclusions from their returns policy so be careful!

I bought a Freeview box that was absolute rubbish, not faulty but barely fit for purpose. That was excluded and non-returnable. (ended up lieing and saying it was faulty) A friend bough a Dictaphone that wasn't up to scratch, that was also non-returnable. I can understand earrings and software being excluded but electrical goods??

My advice, check returns policy carefully, many things are excluded for no good reason.

T.

Teebo_2

I had problems with Toys R Us. We ordered a cot and wardrobe, the wardrobe was faulty and misdescribed (chipboard described as 'Pine') and over the next 3 months Toys R Us failed repeatedly to fix it. In the end I gave up and asked for a refund but they refused to collect both items of furniture despite them being purchased as a coordinating set.

Customer Service were rude and had no idea of the law, e.g. claiming that disposal of packaging prevented us from returning item.

Haven't bought anything from them since and never will again but backs up others' stories of Toys R Us refusing refunds on faulty goods.

halfpint79

I used to be quite a fan of Ikea, despite the maze like store, hellish parking and long queues their furniture, kitchen utensils etc seem good value. I nO longer shop there due to my experience this year.

In June I purchased a Whirpool Oven from Ikea (around £350). A few days later when my kitchen fitter came to install it we found there was a part missing on the door which held the safety glass in place. The oven was obviously dangerous and unusable in this state. Fortunately I live close to the (Croydon) store so immediately packed it all back up and returned to the store. I had a receipt and due to the obvious fault and the fact it was brand new I didn't expect any problems.

The instant the employee at returns saw what I was bringing back I was told that they don't deal with any returns for Whirpool products and that I must contact Whirlpool. Knowing my rights I explained they should deal with it as I bought it from them. I was told outright no and given the number to phone Whirlpool. I stood my ground and eventually a "supervisor" came out, he was equally unhelpful and simply repeated that Ikea policy is not to deal with any Whirlpool returns, regardless of whether it is a brand new product that was faulty when I bought it.
They refused to get me anyone more senior to speak to so I wnet marching around the stroe and managed to find a Duty Manager. She was very polite etc but I got the same story. I quoted Consumer Law to her and said that as place of purchase they must deal with any faulty items and not fob me off. She said it didn't matter, all that mattered was Ikea policy. I was stunned and kept asking her how come Ikea don't ahve to follow consumer law. I continued plugging away at her for an hour. The best she could offer me was Whirpool's number and taht they would probably be able to come out and fix it in a few days. (clearly not accpetable on a brand new item). She told me that uf she took the oven back she would be disciplined!! I gave up and went home. I printed off the relevant consumer law and put it in a letter to the Store Manager highlighting my plight. I then hand delivered. To this day he has never responded.

The following day I made numerous calls and eventually got through to The Customer Service Manager in branch. I read out the consumer law to him and he eventually caved in. I got a new oven in the end!

angeltoad

dmg24 wrote: »

I would not say that M&S is as flexible as it used to be:

• Marks and Spencer
• Goods can be returned for whatever reason

I was refused a refund at M&S when I returned an item that did not fit because I did not have the receipt - even though the item was still new and in the bag. They said they could only exchange if it was faulty. Things change.... And may indeed have changed since!

angeltoad

Teebo wrote: »

Argos have a lot of strange exclusions from their returns policy so be careful!
T.

WE discovered that we could not return a DVD recorder under the 30 Day guarantee as it was exempt. this was marked by a tiny tiney cross next to the catalogue number which you would nto normally notice. Watch out for this. All these items are exempt from theri much publicised 30 day return policy.

foreversomeday

• Store/Chain Name:
• Can you return goods without a problem? Ie you bought it and changed your mind... is this alloed
• Does it offer a full refund or credit note?
• Did you need to have your receipt/a copy of the credit-card statement?
• Is there any time limit? Is it seasonal?
• Are you a customer or employee/former employee?
• Anything else people should know...

WHSmith
The policies seem to vary from store to store and rely on the manager's discretion but the policy is:
If you bought it, and bring it back with the reciept in original condition within 30 days you can have a refund EXCEPT on certain items, e.g. certain PC Software which can only be registered to one computer. This should be notified to you at the time of purchase (Though in reality we never got trained on this and when the message came up on the till I had to figure it out by myself and inform the customer, my guess is that less customer-services motivated employees would just ignore it.) You also can't have a refund on things like Lottery, Tobacco, gift vouchers etc for obvious reasons.

A full refund is offered but if it was bought on a card it has to be back on to that card, if this is not possible a gift card can be issued instead. Can't remember what the policy is if it was bought e.g. with High Street Vouchers. (Probably gift card, ie, store credit again)

If you didn't have a reciept and it was in the original condition you usually get gift vouchers. It helps if you can remember when you bought it and especially who served you as the store records can been checked. We had to check that we still stocked the item (e.g. in the case of a magazine bought in error, or a DVD that had just slipped off the chart) and we had to refund it at the current price only - even if the item had been reduced when the customer bought it. ()

Over Christmas/New year the 30 day limit was usually extended to the end of January regardless of when the item was bought.

I worked there for 3 years.

It's worth noting that if you're having problems with an employee not giving you a refund you can ask to see the manager and they will usually have more power. Try not to get hostile as the shop assistants are less likely to want to help you. Anything faulty will be returned without question, in one case we had a man bring back a computer game that he said had crashed his computer. I suspected his computer was just not powerful enough to run the game but queried it with my manager and he said to refund it as faulty anyway.

It's also worth trying to see the same cashier that you bought the item from, especially if it's a week/day later or later in the same day. If a child comes in and buys pokemon cards and then he comes back seconds later with an angry parent I'll refund straight away, reciept or not! If I remember you it's up to me to explain that to the manager, so it's my discretion whether to refund it without a reciept. Although I would imagine some managers can be fussy about keeping records.

Oh - one more thing, if you have an item, e.g. a DVD or book that could have been bought anywhere and you don't know where it was bought from, it can still be returned BUT one time we had someone bring a book in saying they didn't know where it was bought from, and it had a price sticker on that I knew WHSmith didn't use, so my manager said she should take it to different shops until she found where it had been bought from!

HTH

dilanroj

if you buy anything that is over 50% off you cant get cash or credit refund, you can only get a 'gift card'. they are supposed to advertise this but it isnt well known or signed up!

i took 2 items back, i wasnt aware of this policy..when i queried the 'gift card' (i wanted my money back as when id bought id checked that i could bring it back and they hadnt mentioned the 50% issue) they said ...'oh its clearly marked on your receipt(!) and at all the tills.' i asked 'where is it clearly marked at this till, for example?' and the assistant pulled up a notice from underneath the counter and plonked in the middle of my stuff...it hadnt however been there before!

its a bit sneaky to say the least.

i checked 2 other till points and it wasnt signed up there either...

dollydaydream07

Store/Chain Name: Bon Marche
Can you return goods without a problem? Ie you bought it and changed your mind... is this allowed: Yes pref with all tags and till reciept within 28 days full refund or exchange, no reciept & no tags = no refund or exchange, tags, no reciept = exchange or credit note at current selling price, after 28 days = exchange or credit note
Does it offer a full refund or credit note? yes
Did you need to have your receipt/a copy of the credit-card statement? depends
Is there any time limit? Is it seasonal? 28 days, at christmas its printed on the reciepts from around mid november that you can echange or refund until end of january if its a gift(which gets wrote on reciept)
Are you a customer or employee/former employee? employee
Anything else people should know... Yeah a really disgusting thing that everyone should email the company about........ we will exchange underwear(yuk yuk yuk) but yet will only exchange swimsuits if they still have the hygiene sticker still in!!!