Stores weigh paying you not to bring back unwanted items (1 Viewer)

[SteveSBrickNJ]

I'll add that a person in another country made this decision in less than 30 seconds over messaging in a chat window on my browser. That's efficient. There is little doubt it would have been more expensive for them for me to return that mower, give me the money back, send me a new mower quickly, be sure the mower is fixed and working properly before reselling it, repackaging it if necessary. That's a lot of expensive labor just to return my mower.

I saw a tv news report / segment that backs up what you are saying. The current high cost of fuel and the strain on labor resources make some companies feel that it is more costly to receive your return....so...just keep it.

 

[ChrisinNOLA]

I saw a tv news report / segment that backs up what you are saying. The current high cost of fuel and the strain on labor resources make some companies feel that it is more costly to receive your return....so...just keep it.

Yep,

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Speaking of returns, most stores often just throw away returned products and items because their packaging is already open and they cannot reshelve it.

Sending the returned items back to the factory is even more expensive than they are willing to pay. So lucky for you, all of those just go into the dumpster. The best stores to go dumpster diving depend on the kind of items and merchandise you are interested in.

What do stores do with unsold merchandise?

What is this "donate" you speak of?

www.marketplace.org

So many companies choose to shred, incinerate or simply throw away the stuff they can’t sell. That maybe part of the reason nearly 21 billion pounds of textiles end up in landfills each year, though a lot of that comes from us customers.

 

[Merl]

That's not theft. The business voluntarily returned the money and advised them to keep the product. It's not theft because a consumer thought they could buy something and still get refunded. There's no guarantee that they'll get to keep the item. Now, is it ethical? Maybe you can make the argument but that's between you and whatever morality you subscribe to.

Theft is corporations that make billions of dollars and still get subsidies from consumers in the form of taxes that we pay...

If you intentionally purchase an item (knowing the retailer has this policy) so that you can "attempt" to return only to get told to keep it and we are refunding your cost is FRAUD. Fraud is just another word for theft.

 

[MLU]

If you intentionally purchase an item (knowing the retailer has this policy) so that you can "attempt" to return only to get told to keep it and we are refunding your cost is FRAUD. Fraud is just another word for theft.

1) Store makes it policy that customers may keep items for which they request a refund because it cost them more to process a refund.

2) All customers are made aware of this policy.

3) Every customer with this knowledge who gets refunded money and advised to not return the item is a thief.

Is this the line of logic you people are presenting me with now?

 

[SteveSBrickNJ]

1) Store makes it policy that customers may keep items for which they request a refund because it cost them more to process a refund.

2) All customers are made aware of this policy.

3) Every customer with this knowledge who gets refunded money and advised to not return the item is a thief.

Is this the line of logic you people are presenting me with now?

I think in Post 18, @Merl was suggesting that SOME people of questionable morals MIGHT purchase something with the pre determined mindset that they will "return" the item....receive a refund....then the store says: "Go ahead and keep it". Thus with their pre knowledge of this new policy, these hypothetical folks will have a perfectly good item from the store which they did not (in the end) pay for.
I think THIS is the "logic" or scenario that @Merl was presenting to EVERYONE reading this thread.
I agree that most people would not take advantage of the situation but there would logically be a small percentage that would.

 

[MLU]

I think in Post 18, @Merl was suggesting that SOME people of questionable morals MIGHT purchase something with the pre determined mindset that they will "return" the item....receive a refund....then the store says: "Go ahead and keep it". Thus with their pre knowledge of this new policy, these hypothetical folks will have a perfectly good item from the store which they did not (in the end) pay for.
I think THIS is the "logic" or scenario that @Merl was presenting to EVERYONE reading this thread.
I agree that most people would not take advantage of the situation but there would logically be a small percentage that would.

I agree. However, regardless of what some people think may happen that is not theft, which has a specific legal definition.

Shady? Sure, maybe.

Theft? No.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

Grainger has been doing this for a long time.
At work, if they send the wrong item, and i email customer service, most of the time they will tell me to keep it and they'll send the correct item.. Once I ordered an Cordless drill for like $150, they sent 2 of them. The packing slip even showed they shipped 2, but the order was only for 1. I emailed customer service and they told me to just keep the extra one.
My Coworker ordered a roll of rope from Grainger, i want to say it was like $50. They sent her a 250ft roll of CAT 6 wire. She called and told them they sent the wrong item. They told her to keep it and they would resend her the rope. We looked up that wire and it was like $500.
There have been a few times where i've gotten inexpesive stuff from Amazon and when i went to return it because it was broken or not what i really wanted and they have told me to keep it.

 

[Scorpius the Allfather]

several pc component companies, microsoft, asus, supermicro, etc., used to do this. holy moly was this ever abused.

A few years ago I got a hard disk drive that didn't work and they told me to keep it and they sent out a new one. Imagine if I was lying, I could've gotten 2 for the price of 1.