Returning an item

DivingDuck

First Up wrote: »

If a shop has a refunds policy, it should honour it by giving the customer back what they paid.

As others have pointed out, you don't seem to know what their refund policy is, and seemed uninterested in finding out.

However, I'm assuming their staff do know it, and that what you were told is their policy. They have the right to set it as they see fit, and add whatever conditions and caveats they like, especially when it is generally in line with the policies of other retailers.

The reason I asked you for an example of a different policy was because I am curious to know if all your previous experience has been contrary to this one. Mine certainly hasn't been.

Duckjob

L1011 wrote: »

I'd be willing to lay money that if they have a published returns policy they were following it to the letter.

Retail staff have customers throw strops all the time in front of them - they rarely carry through their "never shopping here again!" threat though.

You may be right, but then again you may be surprised at how shaky some retailers can be regarding the selling laws that affect their business.

For example, there are retailers who still believe that they can put up a "No returns, no refunds" sign on sale items and then refuse to deal with defective items sold from this area. Not only are buyers rights under the Act immutable regardless of any such signs, but the retailer can actually be fined for engaging in this sort of misleading carry-on.

Oryx

First Up wrote: »

What is costly about giving someone their money back?

You could return the book. Get €15 back. Re-buy the book for €7.50. You win. They lose. Why would they do that? Cos it wouldn't be just you. Loads would try this and they would reduce the profit they made at Christmas, which is bad business. Sales are there to reduce existing stock and create finance for fresh stock and keep the wheels turning.

eeguy

First Up wrote: »

If an item can be returned, the refund should be for the amount paid. Mark downs are temporary selling ploys and prices go back up. In real terms the item was worth the same today as last Thursday.

This is generally the case.

This is why most places won't refund ANY items during a sale, unless they're legally obliged to.

However when you have shop that constantly puts certain items on sale you're in a grey area.

IMO I think they're right to offer only the sale price. You could have waited until the book returned to its presale price and got a refund then.

You may be out of their refund period but that's just bad luck and maybe a chat with the manager could fix it.

At the end of the day it's only 15 quid, I would have given the book to a charity shop.

Duckjob

As regards the OPs case, its generally helpful to go in -
1) knowing your correct rights
2) starting with the right attitude (ie. assuming the people you are talking to want to help you)

When faced with a customer with the right attitude, most retailers are helpful. It generally makes good business sense for the retailer to oblige their customers in these situations, as in the goodwill gained is usually more valuable than the € value lost.

Tigger

DivingDuck wrote: »

How are you defining "properly", when this is what all shops do?

Out of interest, do you (or does anyone) know of any shop where a customer can return non-faulty goods after they've been reduced and obtain the original purchase price?

I've never experienced this, and if there is such a place, I would be interested to shop there.

Tesco, lidil or aldi
or my shop but i'm in a small county town so customer service is very important to me

eeguy

Tigger wrote: »

Tesco, lidil or aldi
or my shop but i'm in a small county town so customer service is very important to me

Can't speak for your shop but these are different beasts to other retailers.
A customer can easily spend thousands a year in these shops so they're not going to argue over a few quid.

Tigger

Duckjob wrote: »

As regards the OPs case, its generally helpful to go in -
1) knowing your correct rights
2) starting with the right attitude (ie. assuming the people you are talking to want to help you)

When faced with a customer with the right attitude, most retailers are helpful. It generally makes good business sense for the retailer to oblige their customers in these situations, as in the goodwill gained is usually more valuable than the € value lost.

agree; but we make a call as to whether you will be happy that we were nice to you or think that you are entitled and not feel treated well no matter what

Tigger

eeguy wrote: »

Can't speak for your shop but these are different beasts to other retailers.
A customer can easily spend thousands a year in these shops so they're not going to argue over a few quid.

i'm only answering the question

First Up

DivingDuck wrote:

As others have pointed out, you don't seem to know what their refund policy is, and seemed uninterested in finding out.

They told me the refund policy. The question was if it was printed on the sales slip.

First Up

davo10 wrote:

Full amount is refunded then customer buys 2 books at 50% of normal cost. Shop has lost one book on the transaction. That costs.

A refund is a refund. Discounting is the shop's decision.
Losing customers costs too.

L1011

First Up wrote: »

They told me the refund policy. The question was if it was printed on the sales slip.

A refund policy does not need to be printed on receipts to be in place.

Its pretty clear they followed their refund policy, and the law; and you still aren't happy. I'm sure they'll dreadfully miss your 15 quid of business.

First Up

L1011 wrote:

A refund policy does not need to be printed on receipts to be in place.

No, and I'm not the one who brought the receipt into it.

L1011 wrote:

Its pretty clear they followed their refund policy, and the law; and you still aren't happy. I'm sure they'll dreadfully miss your 15 quid of business.

They got my €15 - and their book back. Its my future business they will miss.

davo10

First Up wrote: »

No, and I'm not the one who brought the receipt into it.



They got my €15 - and their book back. Its my future business they will miss.

What you have to ask yourself, will they miss you? They may or may not but you are now out of pocket for the full amount you paid. You have cut off your nose to spite your face. Why didn't you just exchange it for another book? You would have got another read and not felt out of pocket.

First Up

davo10 wrote:

What you have to ask yourself, will they miss you? They may or may not but you are now out of pocket for the full amount you paid. You have cut off your nose to spite your face. Why didn't you just exchange it for another book? You would have got another read and not felt out of pocket.

As I said before, I had no interest in doing business with a shop with that attitude. The €15 (or €7.50) was neither here nor there.

I have plenty to read; I went to another bookshop and spent considerably more than €15.

L1011

First Up wrote: »

They got my €15 - and their book back. Its my future business they will miss.

There's three chain bookstores in the country (Eason, Waterstones/Hodges Figgis, Dubray) and a dwindling number of independents. You're rather limiting yourself for zero benefit to you.

Shop had return policy, shop obeyed return policy. You had a strop - dumping the book and posting repeatedly on here shows said strop even if you deny it. Shop is not the one being unreasonable here.

First Up

L1011 wrote:

There's three chain bookstores in the country (Eason, Waterstones/Hodges Figgis, Dubray) and a dwindling number of independents. You're rather limiting yourself for zero benefit to you.

I'll cope.

ben.schlomo

DivingDuck wrote: »

That's not an example. That's your opinion.



That is an example, and I am incredibly surprised to hear it!

Many retailers have obvious return policies where the original price paid is refunded e.g M&S, Topshop, Schuh etc etc etc. In this case if no returns policy applies then the OP had no option to accept or act the wally.

First Up

L1011 wrote:

You had a strop - dumping the book and posting repeatedly on here shows said strop even if you deny it. Shop is not the one being unreasonable here.

Depends what you call a strop. No voices were raised - the whole encounter took under a minute.

My query related to the the shop arbitrarily reducing the value of my purchase by half because they had decided to put the item on sale.

Now that you have all so kindly explained why they were perfectly within their rights, I will exercise my right to give my business to where it is appreciated.

davo10

First Up wrote: »

Depends what you call a strop. No voices were raised - the whole encounter took under a minute.

My query related to the the shop arbitrarily reducing the value of my purchase by half because they had decided to put the item on sale.

Now that you have all so kindly explained why they were perfectly within their rights, I will exercise my right to give my business to where it is appreciated.

With no book and no refund. Does this really make sense to you? Also, for future reference, a lot of shops offer nothing at all for change of mind returns, if you boycot those shops you are severely limiting your shopping pool.

Minderbinder

How long will the sale last? I might have waited until the last day a refund is accepted to see if the item returned to the original price.

Perhaps that won't happen but it's just a thought. I certainly wouldn't have given them the book back.

Anyone know Dunnes Stores policy as I bought a few things in there before Christmas and returned today feeling quite silly.

First Up

davo10 wrote:

With no book and no refund. Does this really make sense to you? Also, for future reference, a lot of shops offer nothing at all for change of mind returns, if you boycot those shops you are severely limiting your shopping pool.

As I explained in the OP, I had two copies of the book (bought in the same shop). The few euro was not the point; I just chose not to do any more business with them.

As for the future, I'll shop around.

A Dub in Glasgo

It is very clear that customers are not legally entitled to refunds for change of mind or wrong item bought returns in a shop. However, most shops will have some kind of return policy and it makes sense to know that return policy before attempting to return an item as this will save time and embarrassment. In this particular case, the shop offered a refund as per the current price of the item and is presumably their policy. The OP did not like that and gave the shop the €7.50 he could have got with a vow not to shop there again, this is an irrational decision and comes across as a strop. I would have accepted the money and then vowed not to shop there again.

There are many shops out there that has a return policy of refunding the actual price paid as long as you comply with the conditions of the policy. Books are a particular problem though as the items can be used

Finally, it seems to come as a surprised that shops will reduce the price of items after Christmas! First rule of saving money, buy your presents for the next Christmas in the sales after the current Christmas and keep track of what you are buying

First Up

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

It is very clear that customers are not legally entitled to refunds for change of mind or wrong item bought returns in a shop. However, most shops will have some kind of return policy and it makes sense to know that return policy before attempting to return an item as this will save time and embarrassment. In this particular case, the shop offered a refund as per the current price of the item and is presumably their policy. The OP did not like that and gave the shop the €7.50 he could have got with a vow not to shop there again, this is an irrational decision and comes across as a strop. I would have accepted the money and then vowed not to shop there again.

There are many shops out there that has a return policy of refunding the actual price paid as long as you comply with the conditions of the policy. Books are a particular problem though as the items can be used

Finally, it seems to come as a surprised that shops will reduce the price of items after Christmas! First rule of saving money, buy your presents for the next Christmas in the sales after the current Christmas and keep track of what you are buying

If that's your impression, then fair enough. I regarded it as making a point.

Corruptedmorals

Minderbinder wrote: »

Anyone know Dunnes Stores policy as I bought a few things in there before Christmas and returned today feeling quite silly.

Dunnes will refund what you paid once you have the full receipt. With no receipt, it's current value only. When I worked there, their exchange policy had no time limit. I once gave a guy the value of €3.50 against his shopping for an item he paid 70+ for but lost the receipt. Luckily he saw the funny side.

I can see how the bookshops policy is annoying, but considering their turnover compared to the likes of Dunnes and Tesco and the fact that there must be several who get or try to get refunds after reading, it's very understandable.

Flaccus

I returned 2 items of clothing to dunnes the other day. The back of the receipt said they issue a full refund within 28 days and as long as the goods are in as new sale able condition. They even had a counter set up for returns. The 2 items in question were now discounted about 50% but as per policy I was given the full amount back. Couldn't have gone smoother.

gothic_doll

What store was it if you don't mind posting that? Was it a chain or an individual bookshop?

For a chain, with a receipt, it should be the purchase price you get refunded (you need the original card if so usually, otherwise onto gift card or exchange) That's what you paid.
Without a receipt, it's the current price, and usually exchange/gift card only.
Item has to be in new condition, though sometimes exceptional circumstances may apply with manager discretion.

However, in a privately owned place, they may have any kind of policy. But I understand your feelings.

You should have got the €7.50 at least, rather than walking out with nothing. In a shop environment that kind of protest falls on deaf ears- the message is not going to get back to anyone who can change policy.

First Up

gothic_doll wrote:

What store was it if you don't mind posting that? Was it a chain or an individual bookshop?

A chain but one of the smaller ones.

gothic_doll wrote:

You should have got the €7.50 at least, rather than walking out with nothing. In a shop environment that kind of protest falls on deaf ears- the message is not going to get back to anyone who can change policy.

That wasn't the point. I just wasn't prepared to do business with them on those terms. Whether or not they reflect on it doesn't affect me as I won't be shopping there any more.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

gothic_doll wrote: »

What store was it if you don't mind posting that? Was it a chain or an individual bookshop?

For a chain, with a receipt, it should be the purchase price you get refunded (you need the original card if so usually, otherwise onto gift card or exchange) That's what you paid.
Without a receipt, it's the current price, and usually exchange/gift card only.
Item has to be in new condition, though sometimes exceptional circumstances may apply with manager discretion.

However, in a privately owned place, they may have any kind of policy. But I understand your feelings.

You should have got the €7.50 at least, rather than walking out with nothing. In a shop environment that kind of protest falls on deaf ears- the message is not going to get back to anyone who can change policy.

You are being a bit misleading there. In this case it was change of mind so no refund was obligated at all.

A Dub in Glasgo

gothic_doll wrote: »

For a chain, with a receipt, it should be the purchase price you get refunded (you need the original card if so usually, otherwise onto gift card or exchange) That's what you paid.

This only works if the chain has that as their return policy, most do but some will only refund the current price of the item, some will not accept a return unless faulty. There is no should about it, it is particular to the shop