I went to Ann Taylor LOFT today to return something. It was the only Christmas present I bought that I didn't still have the receipt for. During Christmas I always have a whole envelope and organization situation so that I (or the gift-getter) is always able to return the present. This receipt somehow didn't make it into the bunch!
So, I go into the store and say I don't have a receipt, hoping I can at LEAST get store credit. The girl informs me of their return policy: "Without a receipt you would get store credit for the lowest amount it was ever on sale for. If it is currently a final sale item, they can't return it at all." She rings up the necklace that I paid $55 for, and she says the lowest ticket price is $12.95 that I would receive in store credit. Insane.
That's my story, and here are my thoughts. Receipts made sense a long time ago, but have since become out-dated. With the advancing technology we have now, there have become better methods of keeping track of purchases. Nordstrom is a great example, or even Apple. The technology is there, and stores that don't advance are just creating further problems for themselves as buyers become more and more frustrated. Making it difficult to return or exchange is actually very poor customer service.
You better believe I never plan on shopping in their store again. Just curious if it was worth the $30 to them to have an unhappy customer walk out the door because there was "nothing they could do" when in reality there IS something they could do! The technology is there, the stores just need to implement it. Some examples would be: store the information of the purchases in the database, program the barcodes to match the actual amount paid, or even e-mail me the receipt!
All these new companies such as, Twitter, Facebook, Digg, Google, etc. are making it easier for people to get information and do things more efficiently. The key words there are "easier" and "more efficiently" and it is about time stores followed suit and came up to the standards we are all becoming used to these days. Stores need to get smart about advancing with technology and
think about it from your site's point of view. if you sell something to someone in December, do you want them returning it 2 months later? I used to work in retail and people would try to bring things back months and months later. Clothing is a very trendy and cyclical industry, so a store doesn't want to take back boots in May or summer sandals in October.
ReplyDeletejust sayin'...
Ya very true-and they can still have a cut off of 30 days or whatever works out. But, the concept of receipts is something I can't get by.
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