Poll of the Day > customer tried returning shoes from 2005 yesterday

(+) Yeah! (+)

They had a shoebox from our store and inside was a pair of used shoes. They didnt look horrible but the white soles had yellowed a bit and everything. I then look at their receipt, which was not regular receipt stock, it was printed on a piece of paper a little thicker than printer paper. It had a store managers name on it I recognized but only heard rumours of, and it was dated the year I was in 10th grade in high school.

I told the lady(old) I couldnt return this its well beyond our policy, and she went "well, i dont know what I'll do with it" and I said sorry, nope and she walked off.

I dont get what compels people to keep the same pair of semi ratty shoes for 12 years, or even what compels them to return them. I guess "it cant hurt to try!" but half the time its just a waste of my time.

thought it was funny though.

That is pretty funny
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it is funny but at the same time i have a line at the returns desk and somebody wants to waste my time with this bullshit as im the only one over there.

come on.

Zangulus posted...

At least she accepted the refusal. When I worked at Montgomery Wards, our Brings-Back-Ancient-Shit-Old-Lady wouldnt take no for an answer. The problem was the stuff was so old it wasnt even in our system anymore.

Ive heard stories of people at my store bringing back ancient shit per managerial approval.

Like some guy bought a tree, it died(likely because he couldnt take care of it), and returned it NEXT summer.

I even heard a story that some guy was able to return a rusting 10+ year old swingset for...i dont know. just a story i heard.

Hey, it was worth a try =p
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Good Will would likely take them.
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Zangulus posted...

argonautweakend posted...

Zangulus posted...

At least she accepted the refusal. When I worked at Montgomery Wards, our Brings-Back-Ancient-Shit-Old-Lady wouldnt take no for an answer. The problem was the stuff was so old it wasnt even in our system anymore.

Ive heard stories of people at my store bringing back ancient shit per managerial approval.

Like some guy bought a tree, it died(likely because he couldnt take care of it), and returned it NEXT summer.

I even heard a story that some guy was able to return a rusting 10+ year old swingset for...i dont know. just a story i heard.

This lady would show up about twice a year, and those who had dealt with her would disappear as soon as she was seen. Leaving the noobs to deal with her. A hazing of sorts.

She always claimed her husband bought some random thing like 10 years before. It was in the garage, unused, with the receipt and all. We would tell her we couldnt take it back as it was out of a 30 day return policy. Shed argue until she finally asked for a manager. At which point theyd show up, say the same thing. Shed continue arguing. Manager would tell her we cant resell it. We dont even have it in the system. Shed insist. Theyd offer her some small store credit. Back and forth until she got like 30% back cash. At which point we would go and throw whatever it was in the dumpster.

She was legend.

The problem is they keep giving in. Haha. Reminds me of my old boss.
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SKARDAVNELNATE posted...

Good Will would likely take them.

can even write it off on taxes if it has value.
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Zangulus posted...

LinkPizza posted...

The problem is they keep giving in. Haha. Reminds me of my old boss.

From my experience, the Associate is there to tell the customer No. The manager is there to say Yes.

But even the managers werent allowed to just give this woman what she wanted outright. They had to try to get her to leave. She never did until she had cash. She probably spent more getting to and from the damned mall.

Then theres times like when I was at Radio Shack, and a guy came in demanding a $2,000 cash refund for a pair of phones and security deposit... he made at another store.

Why? They told him the security deposit would be in effect in a half an hour (before he got home). When he tried to activate the phones, he was told up to a week.

I was like, well, for one. We dont even have that much cash... but you know who does? The store you bought these from, 2 miles away.

Of course. Even if we had the cash, we couldnt give a refund out like that. Anything over $100 was to be paid by check, mailed in 10-14 days.

Finally had to call the manager at home (and bother him during his nooner). The manager just told me to give him $100 and wed mail the rest. He took it.

The store owner had their signature that once they sold stuff to us, it was ours. I could go toe-to-toe with them. But the manager just said give them whatever they want back and say they can't sell to us anymore. There was just a list of names.
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REI return policy use to be very lenient, something along the lines of accepting returns regardless of how old. I can only guess it was abused too much so they've reduced the return to one year period which is still a long time.

I had a pair of $200 boots that I had hiked in for maybe 150-200 miles when one of the lace hooks tore out. I asked both the manufacturer and REI if they can just repair it but with a waterproof layer in-between, it wasn't really repairable to its previous state. The boots were still within the one-year return period and the associate actually suggested I simply return it for a new pair. I actually felt bad as I wanted to keep the same pair of boots and just repair them but overall was probably easier for everyone for me to just trade-in for a new one.
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Lmao poor old lady. At least she didn't fight over it.
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