Posted on 02/18/2008 11:02:07 AM PST by Cagey
Jimmy Deignan's first time was with a $500 portable DVD player.
He bought it a few years ago at Best Buy for a Boston-to-Los Angeles flight, knowing he would return it for a full refund when he got back. More recently, in November, rather than spending $600 to rent a LCD projector for a business presentation, the Holden resident purchased one at Staples, then returned it a few days later and got his money back.
The way Deignan sees it, he is just a smart shopper: He gets the things he needs, uses them for as long as he wants, and saves money. But to retailers, this is wardrobing, a practice they say is unethical, damaging to their bottom line, and increasingly common.
Nearly two-thirds of merchants had items wardrobed in 2007, up from 56 percent the year before, the first year the National Retail Federation started tracking the trend. Merchants blame tough economic times and a "customer-is-always right" mentality gone too far. They say a growing number of shoppers feel entitled to return used items they no longer want, and probably could not afford in the first place - from costly cocktail dresses for big events to pricey plasma televisions bought exclusively to watch the Super Bowl. So, they are striking back, instituting more restrictive return policies, imposing restocking fees, and keeping a blacklist of serial wardrobers.
"The economy drives people into this behavior - going through their closets and looking for things they can return, regardless of when they bought it or how many times they've worn it," said Dan Doyle, vice president of loss prevention at Bealls Department Stores, a retailer based in Florida with stores across the Sun Belt.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
I purchased an air conditioner a few years back...got it home, opened the box only to find that it had been used, I could see pine needles and dust on top of the a/c when I took it out,,,the a/c did not work, when I tried to return it they accused me of breaking it and trying to return it,,,,it got ugly,,,,I had the receipt to show I had purchased the a/c about an hour earlier, I showed them the pine needles and the dust that still remained on top of the a/c, of course I was dealing with someone who shall we say was a couple of bottles short of a six pack,,,I ended up getting the manager who right away could piece together what had happened,,,,,,he apologized profusely for his employee and told me to get another a/c, he told me I could upgrade if I wanted to in order for his store to make up for the aggravation his employee had put me through.
I check everything now, doesn't matter what it is, clothes, electronics, anything, hell one day I was buying a can of nuts, it had a plastic top on it, you had to remove the top and pop the pull tab,,,,for some reason just before I was going to check out something told me to take the plastic top off, good thing I did, someone had opened the pull top and had eaten about 1/2 of the nuts,,,,
“People wouldn’t return stuff in such a manner if stores did not allow for unconditional returns of non-defective merchandise.”
Ew, I guess you’re “one of those people”.
The Retail Equation, which maintains these databases for many merchants, says on its website that the database is intended to identify consumers whose behavior indicates return fraud or abuse, including wardrobing, and alerts the shops when the store's return limit is exceeded.
Why no connection? Liberals believe less in personal responsibility and accountability than conservatives do, and more in their entitlement to things at the expense of the overall society. I will bet you lunch that 98% of the people who do this sort of thing are liberals.
So you’re still saying Jimmy is not responsible for his actions, therefore, he’s a victim...it’s not his fault, it’s the retailers fault for having this policy in place....so much for the ten commandments and Thou Shalt Not Steal.
No hate the player, people like that are why in the 90s stores didn’t do unconditional returns of non-defective merchandise, and why stores will go back to that. Thus these people make our lives more difficult, they’ll make it more difficult to return mistakes. The same way shoplifters spawn magnetic tags and systems that treat us all like criminals. Bad apples spoiling the barrel.
Best Buy is notorious in my parts for offering various “mail-in” type rebates, etc. that require a purchase first and end up being nearly impossible to claim.
So this guy is treating Best Buy like it treats its customers.
Other people can have it, I can too (if only for awhile).
It's my right!
/sarc
Nice find. I’ll check it out.
And the way Slim see it I agree with, lowlife thief. But what do you expect from people who think it is ok to copy music they haven't paid for.
And there was a movie called “My Date with Drew”, actually, a reality kinda movie where on a limited budget some guy “buys” a camera to create it. Actually, an enjoyable movie, where the guy makes some bet to get a date with Drew Barrymore. But the bottom line is that he “buys” an expensive camera knowing he’ll be returning it, and the day for the return is the time limit for getting the “date”.
This type of behavior really irks me. They shouldn’t buy it if they don’t plan on keeping it. Another thing that people do that really bothers me is in grocery stores. They will go pick up some frozen food item or refrigerated item and walk around the store with it. Then they will decide they don’t want it anymore and leave it sitting on a shelf. Other variations on this is putting refrigerated items in the freezer or putting produce like lettuce in the freezer to ruin.
Again, where did I make this statement?
Refunds on items still in the condition they were purchased. Labels, sealed boxes, etc, have to be in place for full refund.
Any item returned in less than premium condition will be subject to a restocking fee of no less than half(50%) of the original price.
I’m with you there. BB customer service stinks.
That made me laugh out loud. Probably not a return though--probably somebody snacking throughout the store. I see this a lot in Wal-Mart with our friends from south of the border. Diapers, milk, candy--just helping themselves.
Another thing I'm seeing all the time now, is meat at Wal-Mart and Sam's in the strangest places. In the children's section, in with cleaning products. I'm always finding meat where it shouldn't be. I don't know if someone is doing this to cost Wal-Mart money, or a PETA nut perhaps, or people are just that lazy they can't put things back in the proper place.
Speaking of nuts, I did return some cinnamon flavored almonds to Sam's after Christmas--I guess it was a couple of Christmases ago. Just didn't sound like they would be good. I knew exactly where my brother probably got them and I was correct. They were unopened and the lady doing the return made sure they were unopen before she took them back.
The clerk at Home Depot told me that everytime we get flooding in this area, people come in and buy all the pumps to pump water out of their basements.
He told me 1/3 to 1/2 will get returned a couple days later.
I guess it happens with snowblowers too.
This is Liberalism in action in everyday life. Conservatives know more what they want and tend to stick by their decision.
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