Ratty Refunds
Hmm, you gotta be kiddin' me...where to start! This is a great topic Rebecca!
When I worked at Ann Taylor their return policy was if you had a receipt we accepted your return. They now have time limits, merchandise must still have tags and so on, but at the time we accepted ALL returns with a receipt. This led to some very interesting returns.
There was one woman who came in the store every Thursday when we did markdowns and received new merchandise. She shopped the sale racks habitually, which would be fine if she had kept anything she bought. Each week when she came to the store she had at least three-fourths of what she had purchased the previous week. And she expected us to call other stores to find sale items in her size. When your work schedule is based around your sales, you do not want to spend three hours finding sizes at other malls around the country and requesting items through the mail, only to have them returned to the store the next week.
And then there were the people who wanted to shop at Ann Taylor who were on a Dollar General budget. Nothing wrong with Dollar General, but you probably shouldn't pay $120 for a pair of pants if that's where you can afford to shop. I frequently wanted to refer women to financial counseling. They would enter the store, well dressed, Coach bag on shoulder, jewelry flashing and peruse the racks. When it was time to pay, the transaction often went something like this.
"M'am, I'm sorry, your credit card was denied. Would you like me to call the company for you?"
"No, that's okay, I'm probably at my limit. Let's put twenty dollars on that card and put the rest on another."
I once rang up over a thousand dollars worth of clothes for a woman who proceeded to use six credit cards to pay for her purchase. Six credit cards. If you have that many cards that are at their limit, YOU DON'T NEED NEW ANN TAYLOR PANTS!!!
But back to the point, probably my favorite you gotta be kiddin' moment about working there was when a lady entered the store and approached the counter with a shoe box and receipt. Remember, if you have a receipt we accept returns. I entered her personal information and began entering the required fields from the receipt. The purchase was made over two years ago. I was annoyed, but I didn't say anything. As wealthy as some of these women were, many of them still saved their receipts, and when they cleaned out their closets, if there was an item they had not worn, they would return it years after the sale date.
So I open the shoebox expecting a pair of shoes wrapped in tissue, cardboard shapers still in toe. Instead I found a pair of strappy dress sandals, sole worn through, straps dangling, and toe imprints to show where her feet had saturated the leather with sweat. When asked why she was returning the item-
"They didn't hold up as long as I expected."
And yes, I had to refund that lovely lady her $159, plus sales tax for a pair of shoes she had worn to near nothingness. You gotta be kiddin' me.
When I worked at Ann Taylor their return policy was if you had a receipt we accepted your return. They now have time limits, merchandise must still have tags and so on, but at the time we accepted ALL returns with a receipt. This led to some very interesting returns.
There was one woman who came in the store every Thursday when we did markdowns and received new merchandise. She shopped the sale racks habitually, which would be fine if she had kept anything she bought. Each week when she came to the store she had at least three-fourths of what she had purchased the previous week. And she expected us to call other stores to find sale items in her size. When your work schedule is based around your sales, you do not want to spend three hours finding sizes at other malls around the country and requesting items through the mail, only to have them returned to the store the next week.
And then there were the people who wanted to shop at Ann Taylor who were on a Dollar General budget. Nothing wrong with Dollar General, but you probably shouldn't pay $120 for a pair of pants if that's where you can afford to shop. I frequently wanted to refer women to financial counseling. They would enter the store, well dressed, Coach bag on shoulder, jewelry flashing and peruse the racks. When it was time to pay, the transaction often went something like this.
"M'am, I'm sorry, your credit card was denied. Would you like me to call the company for you?"
"No, that's okay, I'm probably at my limit. Let's put twenty dollars on that card and put the rest on another."
I once rang up over a thousand dollars worth of clothes for a woman who proceeded to use six credit cards to pay for her purchase. Six credit cards. If you have that many cards that are at their limit, YOU DON'T NEED NEW ANN TAYLOR PANTS!!!
But back to the point, probably my favorite you gotta be kiddin' moment about working there was when a lady entered the store and approached the counter with a shoe box and receipt. Remember, if you have a receipt we accept returns. I entered her personal information and began entering the required fields from the receipt. The purchase was made over two years ago. I was annoyed, but I didn't say anything. As wealthy as some of these women were, many of them still saved their receipts, and when they cleaned out their closets, if there was an item they had not worn, they would return it years after the sale date.
So I open the shoebox expecting a pair of shoes wrapped in tissue, cardboard shapers still in toe. Instead I found a pair of strappy dress sandals, sole worn through, straps dangling, and toe imprints to show where her feet had saturated the leather with sweat. When asked why she was returning the item-
"They didn't hold up as long as I expected."
And yes, I had to refund that lovely lady her $159, plus sales tax for a pair of shoes she had worn to near nothingness. You gotta be kiddin' me.
posted by blindsi at
8:45 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home