Danke.
Unfortunately, objective journalism is a bit hard to come by as we are emotional creatures. Even with objectivity somewhat reduced, however, people can make a positive difference in cases like this, and if someone had a hard on for the BCF because of their treatment of customers, they would be justified in taking up the torch for other consumers treated like shit.
Sam
What the hell are you talking about? The major “newzines” do expose’ type shows on crap like this all the time to “Right a Wrong”.
Not to mention there are lots of “Andy Rooney” types who do little “why is it” type segments on local news stations in many cities.
Hello, MasterVisaAmex? … 0012 3456 7898 7654 … 12/06… Yes, I need to dispute a charge. You should show a charge entered for Burlington Coat Factory on or in the vicinity of 12/14? Yes, that’s the one, that’s right… well, I’m standing in their store right now and they are holding the referenced items in their hands right now and will not release them to me. … Yes, that is correct, I paid for the items and brought them back into the store to exchange them and now they believe that the transaction never took place. … No, I appreciate that, and thanks for offering to speak with them, but at this point I’d like to simply cancel the transaction and never deal with them again. … Thank you… yes, thank you… OK, very good, and thanks again.
::click::
Brilliant. Hopefully, done loudly (except for the card #, of course) And with that, I would imagine you waltz out of the store with a superior grin from ear to ear as the manager is looked upon derisively by customers and employees alike.
Oh, sweet revenge. 
Well, Amberlei, I got my winter coat two days ago.
At Macy’s.
So they lost at least one sale over this. Good luck.
Man, you must really hate Nelly Bly and Ida Tarbell.
Gotta agree with that. I’ve got to file that gambit in my arsenal of tactics to deal with annoying companies should I ever get stung in such a situation. Though not at Burlington Coat Factory, of course, since I’m too smart to ever deal with them again.
A damn impressive idea. Who said loud cell phone calls in public are annoying? 
Ya know? Something occured to me this weekend. What if WE all wrote letters too? Emailed our friends with copies of this OP, and so on?
Dear BCF: a friend of mine experienced [situation in OP] in [insert OP’s city here]. i’m SO angry over this outrage that I’m quite content to shop at any other retailer than BCF from this point forward. And so are my friends in MY hometown [insert name of your hometown here].
I will be making sure that all of my friends hear about this incident and about BCF’s lack of customer care. etc etc etc.
I was once accused of shoplifting. It was in a card shop. A friend and I were standing at the candy display carefully considering which kind of gum to buy. The proprietor very rudely accused me of stealing the gum. I said that I hadn’t taken anything, but apparently, I looked “suspicious.” He ordered me to empty my pockets. My instinct was to just walk out. But since I was a teenager wearing a winter coat with very large pockets, I said “what the hell.” My pockets were chock full of all the crap that a slobby teenager would have in her pockets–gum wrappers, kleenex, stubby pencils, scraps of paper, rubber bands, etc. etc. etc. I started piling it on the counter. After a few seconds, they said, “That’s okay.” I kept pulling crap out of my pockets. They said “It’s okay. You can stop.” But I pulled everything out of my pockets, put in on the counter, and offered to empty my bookbag. They declined, and I walked out, leaving all my junk on their counter.
That was a very satisfying experience.
Part-time lurker here. I would be most happy to do this. We have 2 BCF here in the KC area, and they do indeed have a rep for being assholish on returns.
As for the OP, your story infuriated me as well. I believe I’ve been to BCF only 3 times in my life, but your story combined with the accounts of a couple aquaintances has turned me completely off ever shopping there.
Returning things to BCF?!? :eek: I had so much problems buying things at BCF that I don’t go there anymore.
They were also sued by Burlinton Industries (the dudes who make coats, fabric, etc) years ago, and BCF has to include a tiny disclaimer that BCF is not associatedwith Burlington. That’s the kind of assholes BCF is run by- they deliberately picked a name of a well respected Company to try and associate with. So- note that BCF (the assholes) are not related to Burlington Industries.
My thought was to call the store manager and tell them not to reuse or destroy the surveillance tape from that day as it may be needed for a defamation suit. You may also want to note to them that destruction of evidence has resulted in court penalties reaching into several millions of dollars. That’ll put some fear of God into the manager.
Why would something so absolutely silly put the fear of anything into the manager?
Because it would alert the manager that his prior actions are possibly going to cause a lawsuit against the store which will probably put his job on the line. Would make me nervous. It will also cause them to save the tape in case a lawsuit is filed against the store. That’s material evidence that you don’t want overwritten. Maybe the manager will even be really stupid and delete the tape anyway which would definately be in favor of the claimant.
First of all, no it wouldn’t alert the manager to his actions. Secondly, a videotape with no audio could never prove defamation-so it’s existence as “material evidence”, is about as valuable as a piece of used chewing gum. Thirdly, retail managers hear this crap all the time, and it just causes their eyes to roll.
Getting deeper into your idea that a person in the OPs position has been defamed, you must prove a couple things in court. 1- the Manager’s intent was malice aforethought. 2- THe customer suffered losses to be recovered in civil court.
The manager was a moron, but he can always say that the OP looked familiar to him, or that security identified her(even if incorrectly), and he was looking out for the best interests of his company-I.E.- he was acting to protect his company, not doing it simply to inflict willful injury on the OPs reputation.
On to losses, what are the OPs losses? SHe got her exchange(I think, right?). She had to endure what were probably some of the most embarassing 15 minutes of her life. But where is the loss? She was pissed and embarassed, understandably, but has she been irreparably harmed by the incident? Everytime she passes a BCF, does she exhibit signs of PTSD? No. She’s a pissed off and pissed on customer who will no longer shop BCFs stores.
In fact, the opposite is true-BCF has suffered the irreparable loss. People in this thread refuse to shop there because of this and other examples of shittiness on the part of the managerial staff. The OP in this case comes out ahead, truly.
Sam
From http://www.faceintel.com/defamation.htm#DEFAMATION:
Sounds like that may be enough grounds for a suit. I don’t see there has to be malice. From webster
It makes no mention of malice.
Her losses were emotional and no she never did get to exchange her merchandise.
The video tape proves that she didn’t steal the articles of clothing as well as shows actions of the manager even if it doesn’t have sound.
The fact that the manager said that she “probably” stole the articles proves that he didn’t have beforehand knowledge that she had stolen the clothing.
Yes she did.
Not that that makes BCF right in any way, of course. But she was able to do the exchange.
[QUOTE=TellMeI’mNotCrazy]
Yes she did.
My bad. I misread this
as she didn’t make the exchange.
Hey JD-
You have to prove injury, and you have to prove intent to cause the damage or malice by your comments. The damage may be assumed, but what are the damages that can be assumed? AFAIK, there is no set dollar amount for defaming someone, and as such in a civil court you would have to show what your damages were due to the incident.
So as I said before, she got her merchandise returned/exchanged, and the only person whose reputation is soiled in this case if BCF. Not hers. Whether you agree or not, she comes out on top in this game.
Sam
I was hoping we’d hear an update on this one, I was serious about the suggestion of US, as in we dopers, writing the BCF headquarters etc. Any new word on your letter to the BCF?