Customer service and return policy
Complaint
Dianne
Country: Canada
To whom it may concern:
I recently had a gift purchase for me at a zellers store, and did not have a receipt to take it back. When I called the zellers in simcoe ontario canada to see how I am to go about returning my gift no one answered the phone so I tried three more times until finally the fourth time someone answered. When I got to the store to return the products which were curtains the sales person told me I was only going to get the last sale price on the item which is not the accural price of the curtains. My mother purchased the curtains as a gift for me and told me she had misplaced the receipt but told me what she paid for them which was over $140.00 and your store was offereing me less then half of that. What can we do about this situation? I feel that I should be reemburst for the full price of these curtains. Please get back to me as soon as possible.
Dianne
I recently had a gift purchase for me at a zellers store, and did not have a receipt to take it back. When I called the zellers in simcoe ontario canada to see how I am to go about returning my gift no one answered the phone so I tried three more times until finally the fourth time someone answered. When I got to the store to return the products which were curtains the sales person told me I was only going to get the last sale price on the item which is not the accural price of the curtains. My mother purchased the curtains as a gift for me and told me she had misplaced the receipt but told me what she paid for them which was over $140.00 and your store was offereing me less then half of that. What can we do about this situation? I feel that I should be reemburst for the full price of these curtains. Please get back to me as soon as possible.
Dianne
Comments
what is zellers return policy on opened makeup?
As for not keeping receipts, it never hurts and it's only for a month. The easiest thing is to keep a jar and empty it out once a month.
Claudia, as far as returning used makeup, your jar should be filled with clues which you can check out 30 times a month.
What were the supposed to do...sell the used bed to the next unsuspecting customer?
First, to Kerryjoe, when you buy something on November 13th and get a receipt that clearly states on the back of it the return policy, you should not assume that you would be getting an extension for Christmas. The holidays are the time of the year where many crooks try to scam us. If you had bothered to read the policy first, you could have returned the item before the deadline if you weren't happy with it, and then repurchased it right there and got a 30-day extension. Gee, sounds too hard.
To Bill Pullman, that is not allowed -- all returns must go back to the original tender. The reason for this is simple. Why should you get money for something that you didn't buy? If a friend of yours bought it as a gift, then that friend wanted you to have a GIFT. If they wanted you to have cash, they would have given cash. Instead, you didn't like their gift so you are given a gift card to buy the gift of your choice.
I agree fully with Terry O, but I would have returned the dog bed without a fuss. I follow the policy to the T (I always go by the book) and there is nothing that states that it couldn't be returned. If there is an issue with it, we can send the product to a refurbishment location for a partial refund (at our loss, obviously since we can't resell it).
To Aaron (23 December 2010) -- by the book you will be able to return your nerf gun at the lowest sale price that scans in the system. This includes any cashier initiated mark downs of items. This amount will go onto a gift card. The reason for this is because a customer (not saying you, but I have caught people doing this) may buy something and negotiated a discount because of minor damage. Then, they purposely return it without the receipt and try to get the full price back. People try to do this all the time and many get away with it at places without this policy. I know that some stores modify the policy slightly, and it is their right. These stores will either have signs up about any differences, or put it in a note on the front of a receipt.
To claudia. I had one like this the other day. Remember you must return cosmetics to the cosmetics counter, not the service desk (not on the receipt, but it is official policy). You can return open cosmetics WITH a receipt. Sometimes the store will charge a restocking fee for open items like this. The official policy doesn't say what items are subject -- just that SOME items are subject to a restocking fee. Personally, I would (and did with the one I had recently) return the items with no fee, and send them to a special company since we can't resell them. The return policy is in place essentially as a product guarantee -- if you don't like the product, you have 30 days to return it for a refund.
To everyone else who's usernames I can't remember. Please think this way. You have to be able to prove that you paid what you paid in order to get a full refund. That is why a receipt is also known as your "proof of purchase." If you don't have a receipt, you have no proof, so you get back the lowest sale price just in case you bought it at that price. It's not about trust, but about trying to minimize loss. How would you feel if you ran a store and got blatantly ripped off by a customer because you trusted them? This is the only fair way to do returns without a receipt. Now here's one I get a lot, and it is very frustrating for me. People want to EXCHANGE an item without a receipt and not have to pay any extra. I feel for you, I really do, since with a receipt I would always adjust the price of the new item to the price of the old item. But the OFFICIAL POLICY states that without a receipt, you receive the lowest sale price back -- then you must pay the difference. This is the only part of the return policy that I am not in full agreement with, but that's what it is. I suspect the reason is that someone may have bought an identical item at a different store (not a Zellers) at a lower price, and is trying to get the Zellers one to return later for a higher price.
As for the Wendy person who took her item back to Walmart because Zellers wouldn't return it, just be sure you know that what you did is fraud. You ripped off Walmart. I'm just glad you didn't rip off Zellers. It is all these kind of people, and the people that REFUSE to shop at Zellers anymore just because they lost a couple bucks that many Zellers stores are converting to Target in a couple years. I hope Target can get a handle on these things, because if I am still working there, I don't want to have to deal with customers that purposely rip the store off for a couple bucks.
Just so you all know, working at the Customer Service desk is considered a fairly senior position, and for many is the next step to becoming a supervisor. You have to be able to handle irate customers. I am often given compliments about my service, and about the clarity of my PA Announcements because I care about my job. I have received complaints, but it is only people that like to complain that complain about me. I (we) am not out there to get customers -- we are out there to help run a profitable business and make a living.
I hope you all take my comment to heart, and please remember that we are people too. There are rules to follow, and whether we like them or not, we have to follow them. The world is not all about money. A couple bucks different is not going to be the difference between being rich and being poor.
Example: You buy a shirt and take it home. You rip the tags off and throw them out, and try on the shirt. Oops, it doesn't fit. You find your receipt and take the shirt back without the tags. How are we supposed to know that you didn't take a shirt off your shelf and claim that it is the item on your receipt? The number on the barcode is also on the receipt. The same applies with items in boxes, but can be more complicated.
There is no policy that covers this issue, so it is pretty much to the discretion of the employee (or management, if necessary) to decide what to do. Generally, if the item is in good shape, and is clearly the same as the one on the receipt, I will process a return with no fuss, and then write the barcode number on a slip of paper and attach it to the item. I had a person just yesterday that clearly tried to return a different item and claim it was the one on her receipt. Since when is "Womens 12 Rainboo" (meaning rainboots, but not enough space) a pair of jeans? I mentioned that the item she was returning is not on the receipt, and asked if she had another receipt. She said she didn't have another, and that the item on the receipt is correct. I called my manager (without her asking) and asked them what to do. Suddenly I got a call from the Loss Prevention Officer and they asked me what she was returning. When I told the LPO it was the jeans, he said that she took them off the shelf to return with a receipt she had found on the floor just outside the store. Gee, now do you know why we sometimes make a fuss about returning items? Again, think about this from the perspective of owning your own store. You would hate getting ripped off, and it would make you angry. I got angry inside, and had to come up with a unique way to stall in order for the LPO to secretly come down and get the person. Then people in line got angry because I was stalling. Now you know what we go through. Please, just please try to remember when you return items that you must have proof of purchase. FYI, all the people in line soon realized why I was stalling when the LPO came down. I had nothing but compliments for keeping my cool, even though I was ticked off.
needless to say this is my last time going to Zellers.