No receipt? You don't exist at these retailers, dahlink
DD1 received a GameBoy game for Christmas, the Incredibles, that she already has, so we told her she could exchange it at a store. DD2 received a non-electronic item that she is a little old for now, so she wanted to exchange that also.
In 'the good old days' you could return a gift, even something from the electronics department, if it was unopened. Especially right after Christmas, the stores would be extremely flexible and at least allow you to exchange for a store credit or another item.
Kmart - wouldn't allow it today. Ok, I figure - they're fighting to stay afloat. If I was one of their shareholders, I would be upset if the store took back items without receipts, under those circumstances. Allowance made for Kmart.
Target - No go - no receipt, too bad.
E mployees at the 'service' desk will treat you like you're some kind of scammer.
When I worked in a store, (11 yrs) I always considered people who returned things as current and/or potential customers, and they were. Usually when they were allowed to exchange things, they'd end up spending more money! As in our case, we were going to buy additional items, but we didn't because we wanted to wait to buy from whoever we exchanged with.
Back in my store days, maybe the item being returned came from a competitor...who cares...? The customer came to our store, and if we treated them right, they would (and did) return again.
This kind of thing is why more and more I do my business with work at home moms.
Service is better, and I am helping a local family out.
Anyway, when I see on CNN the financial reports that retailers didn't do very well this year, and they try to blame it all on the war, give me a break. It is more in the retailers FAILURE TO SELL and PROVIDE SERVICE that have gotten them into this bind. When salespeople give up, and when shoppers are treated like pieces of furniture instead of the real people they are, businesses are going to have trouble.
It's pretty simple, treat people right, and they'll beat a path to your door. Yes, there will be some fraudulent returns/exchanges. In my view, 90% of people are honest, and 10% are dishonest.
So you lose on the 10% so you can GET the 90%. Don't piss off the 90% to protect your company from the 10% !!! (DUHHHH!!!!)
More corporate losses result from crooked executives and employees overall. They have more opportunity to do real harm to a company.
I know my family will think twice before we buy from these big retailers again.
They really need to wake up, read Thriving on Chaos
by Tom Peters and really understand it, don't just quote the catchphrases, but really put it into practice - and there's tons of business for everyone.
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