Returns and Exchanges - Know Your Rights

Unlike the joyfulness of Christmas, returns season is usually characterized by a feeling of disappointment. Not so much in the gifts that didn’t work out but of frustration with retailers who aren’t as accommodating as people would like. Woe betide the salesperson who has to work this season, dealing with customers who are completely uninhibited in expressing their dissatisfaction with retailers who won’t give back cold hard cash when faced with shoppers without receipts or original packaging, or whose item was marked “final sale”.

All over the Island, the familiar refrains: “But this was definitely purchased here!” “No, I don’t have a receipt- it was a gift.” “Yes, I opened it, but then I realized I already have this one.”

There are many misconceptions that need to be cleared up about returns and exchanges in order to lesson the frustration between consumers and retailers about what is legal and acceptable this season.

Most notably, consumers are under the misguided impression that retailers have to accept a returned product if they have a receipt. The fact is, there is no legal reason that stores have to accept any returns, unless the product the store sold was defective. The law protects consumers from faulty or unsafe products, but not from buying the wrong item. In other words, it’s up to each store to determine its own return or exchange policy. That policy may stipulate that you can return a product with a receipt, but ultimately, this falls in the area of providing good customer service.

Consumers also expect that retailers have to display their return policy in writing, either on the wall, the register, or on the receipt. Again, the law does not demand this of stores. Ultimately, it is beneficial that the store does this in order to educate their customers on what the store policy is regarding returns, but there is no law that requires this of them. It is up to the customer to ask before the purchase is made.

If there’s one thing that all consumers agree upon, we do not want to be charged money to return an item. However, some stores do just this, charging what is called a “restocking fee”, particularly on electronic items.

But let’s just consider this for a second: who else is going to cover the cost processing the order and then the return, cleaning and re-boxing the item, or shipping it back to the manufacturer? If the individual who has changed his mind or doesn’t want the item for some other reason isn’t charged, then the retailer is going to have to pass this cost on to its customers in other ways, usually by marking higher prices. And that’s not fair to the rest of us, is it?

Finally, there’s the issue of gift certificates and credit notes gone bad. Many people think it is unfair that they are told these have expired before they got around to using them. However, putting a reasonable expiration time on a gift certificate or credit note is a perfectly legitimate condition set by a retailer. After all, if you hold onto a gift certificate for a dinner for two years, most likely that dinner is now being sold at a higher cost after all this time, meaning the retailer will lose money for you to redeem it at such a late date. Similarly, retailers need to account for credit being used within a certain budget period.

This is not to say that we need to flip around the expression “the customer is always right” and refer to the retailer instead. Just that consumers need to be mindful of their rights and responsibilities before they purchase an item, to lesson their disappointment later if a return is in order. Most importantly, know the store’s policies. Keep your receipts, original packaging and warranty papers; check for expiration dates; read the fine print. Make this returns season your most joyful one yet!