Target’s return policies are driving me crazy. We just had a baby and we registered at Target so I’ve had to deal with them quite a bit, here’s some of my very frustrating experiences:
We receive dozens of onesies that fit the baby for 3 months.
Well we just can’t keep every onesie because there aren’t that many days to even dress him, so sometimes we have to return a few. And not everyone gives us gift receipts. So guess what Target’s policy is? You can only get an item from within the baby section. Oh, and right that day. And the new item has to have the EXACT same price as the original. We tried to return a $8.99 and $5.99 item, and they said we couldn’t just get one $15 item, we had to get 2 items for those prices.
We get a $200 gift certificate.
Well it’s nice, and it pays for a ton of diapers, but some of the cash back as change at the end would be nice. Nope. Not even 50 cents. You have to spend the entire gift card, in the store, which means you have to purchase more than the $200 to use it all.
We return a baby sling.
My wife didn’t like it. Well they wouldn’t let her return it without a receipt of course so I took it in, and I get “has this been out of the box?”, “no”, “it hasn’t been out of the box at all?” “no I want my money please” (not an interrogation). Well of course guess what - I paid for it partially on credit card, and partially on gift card. And yes, they put the gift card money back onto a gift card, for me to use at a later date. ARGGGG why can’t I just get my freaking money back?
I really thought Target was supposed to be a classier store, above a lot of the rest. Well I can go into those other stores, like Walmart, and take something that’s been out of a package and even used and it gets taken back no questions asked, and they give me back cash. But being stingy with their gift cards and return policies will cost them a lot more money in the future, because I will not be shopping there again, ever. And it doesn’t appear to be just me, I found many other instances of this and even worse stories. Good game, Target.
I can see how some of these things could be abused, but the exact value on return items? It doesn’t make any sense to me. So, dopers, your mission is to come up with a scam which utilizes the oh so clever “buy two items for $10 each and exchange them for one item of $20” gambit.
Their return policy is one of the reasons that Target is a classier store. For all of the bad stories you’ve read about Target’s return policies, I’ve read tales of people returning items to Walmart that are grimy, years-old, obviously abused by the purchaser, or even never sold by Walmart at all, but their managers tell the workers they have to accept them. Policies like you mention are designed to cut down on this kind of abuse, on theft of items which are then returned without a receipt, on people “renting” baby items for the short term and then returning them once baby is done, and on people attempting to game the system in other ways. I understand your frustration, but they have good reason to do this.
The reason that most businesses now use credit-card type gift cards is so that they don’t have to give you your change in cash. They want the entire amount of the gift card spent in their establishment. In my experience, **no ** store will give you cash back when you use a gift card.
This, on the other hand, is ridiculous, and I’m certain it’s not a company-wide policy. Did you ask to speak to a manager?
As someone already mentioned, return policies have changed for many companies because of abuse by irresponsible and dishonest people. I’ve worked retail for years and it’s pretty unbelievable what people will pull. Some are just crooks but many are otherwise decent folks who have convinced themselves it’s not unethical to take advantage of existing policies for their benefit. Besides, the big cooperate stores can afford it. When that mindset becomes so mainstream that it makes a significant difference in profits then policies get stricter and less convenient.
I have to say I don’t quite understand this one. Usually an in store credit is just a total amount and it doesn’t matter what you get. My only question would be if these items were opened. It would make some sense in preventing people from using items and then returning them for something else which may be a problem in baby items. If they were in a sealed unopened package then it shouldn’t matter.
That seems a little strict. Usually there’s a limit to how much change you can give back. Under 5 dollars or something. We used to get a lot of kids right after Christmas buying the cheapest item they could find and wanting the rest back in cash. It doesn’t help the store to offer GCs and go the the expense of handling them for money that doesn’t stay in the store. We used to give the difference back in GC form if someone with a $200 card made a $100 purchase. They didn’t have to spend it all at once.
Returns without receipt are getting stricter and IMHO they should. Consumers have been spoiled by policies that were too relaxed and stopped taking responsibility for their purchases. If you buy something keep the receipt until you’re sure you bought the right thing and you’re keeping it. Many companies can and will look it up in their computer system under a phone number.
The GC thing is exactly what I mentioned above. It’s interesting that you saw the GC as “my money” It isn’t. They gave you back what you gave them. That seems reasonable to me.
WalMArt has changed its return policies too but people can usually get around them by complaining. The problem is not the stores but those who abuse the policies. As more stores change their policies the ones that don’t attract more of the policy abusers and will eventually change theirs or pass the cost of abuse on to the consumer in other ways.
AFAIK, this is now standard procedure with gift cards. Back in the day, gift certificates were just paper, it was more common to give some small amount of change in cash. With a card, the computer automatically deducts the money from the account, so there’s no terrible inconvenience with just leaving whatever small amount is left on the card.
Explain to me how the put the gift card money back on the gift card when you didn’t have a receipt? Most stores are not thrilled with taking returns without a receipt, usually you can only get store credit.
As to whether or not it’s been out of the box, I’ve bought WAY too many things in my life that have obviously been returns (gee, I wonder why that key part is missing?) to get upset when a store actually takes an interest in having returns be complete and in resaleable condition.
I think you may have misunderstood this one. You wanted to return or exchange the onesies, and they said you had to do it that day, and for the exact amount and only from the baby department?
That doesn’t sound right. I’m pretty sure they could have added the $15 to your $200 gift card, if you’d asked, or given you a new gift card for $15 to be used at any time. There’s no way they would make you pick something out from the same department and use the credit that same day. They can’t hold you hostage and make you use a store credit right then and there.
And as others have said, it’s not really Target’s fault, it’s the fault of people who’ve abused the return policy in the past.
They are going to give you store credit, but they care how many items you purchase with it?
Color me dubious… :dubious:
The real fault lies at the feet of the people who did not provide you a gift receipt. Target offers them, especially with items purchased from a gift directory.
FWIW I bought a $40 bike tire pump at Target last week. Threw the bag and reciept away. It was hard to use, so I took it back to exchange it for a different model. I left it with the exchange counter, and picked out another model that was about $19.99. I picked up a bag of cat litter while I was there…no problem.
Did you give the people at the counter a problem or an attitude? Because , al Clerks, razzing a $8 worker will not help your cause…
I actually appreciate Target’s return policies. As someone who is pretty non-confrontational, it always bugged me to hear the rude screamers getting anything they wanted because the store just wanted to get rid of them. Target’s policies put all the customers on a level playing field, and that makes me keep going back.
Use of the gift card as you described is totally typical at any store I’ve been to lately. I have a Home Depot card around somewhere with 37 cents on it. For returns without a receipt, it helps decrease shrink. If you had stolen that sling, they would be out their cost for the item or whatever other items you buy, rather than the purchase price of it. It seems reasonable.
For the thing with the onesies, that’s just plain odd.
We just returned a bunch of stuff (mostly duplicates) to Target from our baby shower, and had no problems with the returns, even for the couple of items that we had no gift receipt for. I had also purchased a diaper organizer that ended up sucking the big one, and they let me return that, opened and just stuffed into the box it came in (I couldn’t get it to fit the same way).
I find 'em pretty reasonable. And heck, if you don’t have a receipt, they can look it up by credit card or gift card. I’ve never heard that you have to return items for exactly the same price :dubious: . I have heard that it has to be exchanged for something from the same department, though.
Weel, the Target Stores return policy certainly doesn’t make any mention of having to purchase items of identical value, or items from the same department.
You think Target is bad, try Bennetton. They literally look for excuses not to accept returns. I will never shop there again. I have never had a problem with Target but they have never given me ay trouble when I wanted to return anything.
I returned some bath rugs about this time last year. Had the receipt and everything. I had to get something in that department, and I had one hour in which to do it with. I felt like I was on Supermarket Sweep.
The next time I came in I didn’t have a receipt, but everything was in the packaging and I just needed a different size lampshade. The counter girl leaned over like we were co-conspirators and said, “Okay, go get it and bring it back to me.” Why should I have to feel like I’m committing a crime getting a more expensive lampshade and paying for it?
Never been told it had to be the same price, though, that’s crazy. That “you have one hour” thing was just nuts, though. I felt like I had another teammate somewhere yelling “Go go go go go!”
Well, I can’t speak to their policy (which I, too, find dubious) of exchanging things for precisely the same price, but gift cards are, by their very design, not supposed to give change back.
As far as their return policy, I recently purchased a USB cord that was supposed to jump from my digital camera to my laptop, but when I got it home, I discovered that it was the wrong size (damned Fuji). So, I threw everything back into the bag, not even bothering to twisty-tie the accursed thing back together and went to the return desk and said that it didn’t fit. No way in hell that I could have pretended it hadn’t been opened, what with plastic packaging being what it is. The young lady behind the counter said okey dokey, and when she looked up the receipt and noticed that I had purchased it on my debit card, asked me if I wanted my return amount put back onto my debit card, or if I wanted it in cash.
Understanding that “data” is not the plural of “anecdote”, but fuck it, this is the pit, and my instance stands in pretty stark opposition to yours.
Nothing like finding a jacket from the Gap in one’s returns…when one works at Wally World. You have to wonder what the idiot got back for it.
Sure, Target’s policies sound a bit annoying (the “use it in an hour” thing anyway) but the “take it all back, let 'em abuse us and the system” system is even more annoying for us in the stores.