I’d be inclined to contact their head office if that’s an option. That’s how customers get around us when we try to follow policy.
You may be right on that. I’ll have to check the receipt. But in either event, it’s been less than fourteen days anyway.
If this policy exists, the store employees I spoke with are apparently unaware of it. They all agreed I could get a refund if I wanted one.
The guy I was speaking to said he was calling his manager and I talked to the guy who showed up. That happened three times. Maybe they were just calling in other people who had the same title. Heck, maybe they called in a clerk from another department. I assumed they were calling in somebody at the next level because that’s what they said they were doing. But I didn’t ask for ID.
Can’t think of any important details I’ve left out. Would you like the location of the store or the names of the DVD’s?
I don’t see why people are assuming there was some deceit involved here. I wasn’t lying to anyone in the store and, as far as I know, nobody in the store was lying to me.
I didn’t claim that the DVD’s were defective or anything like that. I told them the truth that I was returning them to take advantage of the new sale.
And they all said I could return them and get my money back. And I could then walk away with my money or I could buy some DVD’s. Except not those DVD’s.
They would sell those DVD’s to anyone who wanted them. Except not to me.
So, once again, I’m not saying their policy was deceitful - I’m saying it was irrational. And I wasn’t trying to trick them - I was trying to make them see reason.
I’d rather pay a cheaper price as well. But if I buy something one week, and then next week its on special, the last thing on my mind would be to use a company return policy to get a discount. And I can’t think of a company over here that would allow this transaction to take place.
…in general, over here in NZ anyway, you can return something under the consumers guarantee act (the goods are not acceptable quality, cannot be reasonably repaired, are not as described, or do not comply with what was promised), but most stores do not have open return policies: especially for DVD’s.
For example, here is the returns policy for NZ’s largest retailer, the Warehouse.
http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/content/homepage/customer-services/returns
By American-centric: its like “running up the score in basketball is bad” or “its easier to pay rent by cheque than by direct deposit” or the “right to bear arms”. In other words: something quite normal for American readers, but culturally difficult for others to understand. The responses that you have had in this thread seem to indicate that what you have done is commonly done and normal: for me I’m literally shocked that someone could even contemplate this.
On preview, I note that hazel-rah has mentioned that the deal you bought was quite specific: and the fourteen days return policy jibes with what I have googled. So yeah, it appears that by its own policy that Barnes and Noble are not crazy at all.
I’m American and had the same reaction. It would never have occurred to me.
I don’t work for B&N but I’m pretty sure they don’t price adjust, which is what you’re asking them to do. I did work in a no adjustment store and the few customers who got angry did just what you suggested: Returned the item and came back up 2 minutes later with the sale priced item and bought that at the lower price. Obnoxious, but that’s how it had to be done.
Also, we had a standard clause on all our sales that said, “does not include previous purchases” which is the no price adjustment policy. I’d check if B&N has that, too.
Well, yeah. That can be important. If I were the clerk, I wouldn’t accommodate you if you had bought The Best of Myron Floren and Lawrence Welk. It would be wrong. 
I’ve noticed a few of them even tout in in advertising, e.g. “If you see a lower price anywhere within 30 days, we’ll refund the difference (only applies to brick and mortar stores, not online)”. Based on my (possibly faulty) recollection, it seems like it’s mostly the big box electronics stores that do this (here’s Best Buy’s). I definitely pay attention to the next few weeks of ads whenever I buy a >$100 piece of equipment.
So if, say, you bought a Kindle and the next week they reduced the price by sixty bucks you wouldn’t contact them and ask for the lower price? (That’s what happened to me, and they happily issued a refund for the difference.)
As I said, the idea that (in the absence of a specific store policy saying otherwise) such a request would ever be granted would never have even entered my mind. Now that I’ve learned that this is apparently a common practice I guess I would ask, but it would feel strange and I wouldn’t be upset if they refused.
Quite the opposite. If you tried pulling this on me at Barnes & Noble, I’d not only tell you no, but using my charisma I’d charm you into buying 5 more DVDs and a couple of paperweights and have you leaving thinking you got the deal of a lifetime.
I also raised my eyebrows over the “three levels of management” deal but let it go, Now I’m curious:
So, you really didn’t talk to “three levels” of management. If I have this story straight, you spoke to:
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The clerk (probably with several people in line behind you patiently waiting to make their legitimate purchases)
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The “guy who showed up” after the clerk made a call
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The “guy who showed up” after the clerk (or the first “manager”) made a second call
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The “guy who showed up” after the clerk (or Manager 1 or 2) made a call (there’s no female managers at Barnes & Noble, apparently)
So, in other words, after the first manager said “no”, you made these poor bastards call for three other managers at the same level? Or your just assuming that Manager #2 outranked 1 and 3 outranked 2?
How many levels of management can there possibly be at one Barnes and Noble? I need more details, this sounds obtuse.
How long did you hold up the entire store over this? I imagine the now, probably 20 other people in line were getting pissed at you about this.
Typically, you don’t get refunds on opened “copyable” media (although if you know what you’re doing with software, you can) here, either. The OP didn’t open them up, though.
Why is it so odd to you that the transaction would take place? And, of course they would in NZ, even though you may not think about it in those terms. There’s nothing that prevents you from returning the item “because you didn’t like it” and then immediately walking back into the store and buying it anew (I mean obv’s you have to be a bit discreet about it in some cases). Which is why most stores won’t parse that out and will just do the price difference.
As for the opened items receiving a price discount, think of that as customer service. I would hazard a guess that the US retail market is far, far more competitive than the NZ market, so they are almost forced into doing this stuff to keep customers happy (and it’s not like they lose on the deal, anyway, I’m sure sales prices still give them profit)
If you tried doing this to me as a customer, you would be threatened with a lawsuit for violating the terms of the sales contract you had with me, a call to the State Attorney General’s office, and a letter to your corporate office detailing the above which would probably yield me a coupon or trinket gift card (no comment on these special provisions that apparently no one knew of in this particular transaction, and that were apparently verbally modified by the clerk in the first transaction when he said that they could be returned)
what exactly is a “scam” about a customer utilizing the return policy to their maximal benefit?
There is no guarantee that the item will be available then the sale hits as people tend to swoop in when an item goes on sale. Buying it in anticipation of a sale then going back and getting the difference credited back to your credit card if it goes on sale within the return period is something millions of Americans do, including myself WRT non-food retail items, if the amount is worthwhile. To me anything over 10 - 20 is worth doing this. Virtually all retailers have their cash registers set up to handle these transactions as a matter of course.
Let me understand that retail is different where you are. If an item goes on sale within the return period and you can save (say) 20 euros by getting the difference back, that people where you live will not do that?
Really? Because I was under the impression charisma was your dump stat.
As for your other questions, the people I was talking to asked me if I wanted them to call their manger. I didn’t make the suggestion. And I didn’t hold anyone up, much less the whole store. This was the CD/DVD department and there were no other customers waiting.
yeah, I raised the eybrow at this too, but just chalked it up to the morally superior puffery that I note goes on ad nauseum from Oceania.
SUUUUUUUURE you would, tough guy.
This practice has indeed become more common here. I too find it strange. We see it often in ads for travel booking services (plane tickets, hotel rooms), where people are assured by various means that somebody else won’t be able to get a better price–if the price drops, the difference will be refunded, sometimes automatically without further action on the first customer’s part.
It is as if we saw shopping as a competitive sport between ourselves and other shoppers. The important thing is not the actual price paid (we were happy with that, to make the purchase in the first place) but where we stand relative to other buyers. If somebody else gets a better deal, by god we want it too. Even retroactively.
I wonder how far out this feeling is now expected to extend. Suppose the product goes on “sale” six weeks later rather than one. Should we still feel like losers (or whatever it is), that other people are now getting a better price? Where is the line? How does it make sense to draw this line of expectations at any arbitrary point, other than the moment of the transaction that we chose to make in the first place?
much charisma, yes.
care to take a stab at the substance of the post?
p.s. the amount of free stuff I have received from writing letters to companies that acted less-than-properly is decently high. Free cell phones, refunds on tickets, new pairs of shoes. To people that have bona fide griefs with asshat in-store personnel, I highly recommend writing letters to corporate.
I’m starting to think you were played by a pack of bored clerks amusing themselves at your expense.