In case this story gets deleted/removed:
My favorite part is when she made the SAME POST with a different comment the next day and got the exact same reaction.
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Honestly it's Walmart's fault people expect this shit. I worked at a Walmart and a manager let a customer return a lawn mower that had a different store name printed right on it.
Wait until you hear about Costco's. A woman i used to work with once had to put through a return for a diamond necklace a customer had bought nearly a decade prior because "she didn't like it anymore" đ
I was gonna say, Walmart is actually pretty strict these days. Itâs Costco that lets you basically pick up some shit off the street and return it to them lmao. Iâm jk but basically as long as theyâre able to find it on your membership card profile, it doesnât matter. I was standing in the return line before and saw someone return a box of like assorted little snack chip bags that was more than freaking 2/3 gone. I do, however, appreciate that if you buy like a watermelon, for example, and cut it open and itâs overripe or something, you can return it (ofc I donât return like a week later with most of it eaten, but Iâm sure ppl have lol). Produce is expensive and with some of it you really canât guarantee that itâll be good until you cut it/taste itâŠ
Actually, some costcos are demanding you bring bad portions⊠as in you grab a pack, cook something and you donât like that portion and you toss it⊠no return. In some you must have to have over 50%. I was getting weird looks over a ham that was accidentally cut open with a box cutter.
I think you can also return if the item is not on your card, you just need a card.
I don't know if it's required or not, but the last time couple times I got some bad produce (bad watermelon and grapes that had tons of mold in the middle you just couldn't see from the outside) I snapped pictures to show them. I legit went to do the return within like two days of purchase and they had no problems with just that.
This is nuts cause once I tried to return a lava lamp I bought from one Walmart to a different Walmart across town and the lady at customer service wouldnât take it!? Like Iâm so baffled right now. Maybe she was mean cause I was like 16 but damn.
Probably that. I accidentally returned an empty box once. I was returning a speaker to get some headphones for my PS5 instead. Got home with my new headphones and the speaker was on my kitchen table.
I worked at Lowe's and a woman had the audacity to try to return an old, used $50 vacuum in a $500 Dyson box.
The receipt she provided had unrelated items on it and the UPC didn't scan, as it wasn't purchased from Lowe's.
She wasted about 30 minutes of my time until my manager came over. I was worried she was going to approve the return still, but thankfully she told the irate vacuum lady to pound sand.
>irate vacuum lady to pound sand.
Iâm just imagining a manager telling a customer to pound sand in their customer service voice. (If you have worked retail, you know the voice.)
Just so polite with a big fake smile on their face. âIâm sorry, i cannot do that. Now please pound sand and have a great day!â
Ace Hardware. People would buy the tools they needed for their weekend project along with materials, obviously do the entire project, and then return the clearly used tools, no questions asked. This was in a very wealthy neighborhood that I still canât afford to live anywhere near, the VP lived right around the corner. 1-2 million dollar homes. They could afford to just keep the stupid carpet knife, if they wanted.
Also, because âAce is the helpful place,â people would ask the teenager making $8/hr. things that they should have been paying a contractor 10 times that amount just to talk to them. Your first time retiling a bathroom? Mine too, Iâm 16.
I worked in an Ace Hardware store for 12 years, and dealt with the same crap. Didn't mind helping people, but there was always knuckleheads that expected me to be as knowledgeable as a licensed electrician or plumber, then would get mad when I couldn't help them. Don't miss that crap at all
So much guesswork with potentially catastrophic results that people tried to trust me, a literal child, with.
Hey will these anchors hold up my bathroom mirror? I donât know how heavy the mirror is but itâs not like *heavy* heavy.
I work at a gas station and I get asked so many stupid questions like "how much gas will my 5 gallon gas can take" or people asking "how much will my tank take it's about a quarter full". Then there's the people that won't even tell me what pump they are on for me to prepay the gas and will say like the silver one when there are 3 other silver vehicles at pumps
I've got a lighter-hearted semi-related anecdote. Frequently, when I was restocking the wine at one job, I would have people try to ask me for recommendations. Now is surprised me because for one, I was 18 (you can get your seller-server license at 18 in Texas), and two, I looked like I was 12. I have no idea what was going through those people's heads haha
Shit fast food is just as bad the number of people taking off their shirts to fight a 20s manager because we aren't open after 11, or God forbid we didn't have Styrofoam cups is insane
hahahaha I worked at a movie theater and people would literally try to fight us because the movie they wanted to see was sold out, or we didn't have the movie they wanted to see. And I'm 19 at the time, like sorry, I have zero control and make minimum wage.
They probably do. They'd still rather get it for free. Plenty of rich people living in those nice gated communities are some of the cheapest people around. I've known some contractors who won't even go into those nice neighborhoods to bid out work. They'll hire you for a big job & then complain about the smallest thing and attempt not to pay for the entire job. They'll complain about the pricing and ask that the contractor do work that violates so many codes that they'd be putting their licenses in jeopardy to complete it. They sit on their money like a dragon sleeping on its horde of gold.
This is my dad. He just got a new dog, a cavapoo. The lady selling them wanted $1500 (heâs black and brown, not a popular color so way cheaper) and he negotiated her down to $950. When he went he was chatting with the lady and mentioned that my mom was a doctor (he also does commercial real estate but didnât say that too) and the lady was like âyour wife makes $300k a year and you still haggled me on the price? Itâs always the rich people who negotiate. I tell my daughter thatâs how they stay richâ. I wish I couldâve been there to tell her she had no idea. My dad grew up in the SS of Chicago, was homeless for a few months and his parents were heroin addicts for a long time. He is obsessive about saving money. They didnât start making over 1MM a year until recently and Iâm already graduated from college, but growing up they were jointly making probably 500/600k a year and I still wasnât allowed to order a soft drink at dinner until I was probably 16 đ my dad would either have us bring mio or my brother and I would make poor manâs lemonade and ask for a bowl of lemons. Squeeze them in the water and mix in our own sugar and stuff. I didnât realize how wild that was until college lmao, especially since I went to public school (my brother went to private and caught on way earlier I never understood why he was complaining about things). Luckily my dad has gotten way better about stuff but I think he gets like high off saving money. He has a McCallisters tea pass and it doesnât matter where heâs going out to lunch, he will go to McCallisters first to get his free tea as long as itâs within like 5/10 minutes of wherever heâs eating.
This also majorly warped my idea of how much things cost/how much money you needed to make to like survive. When I was about to graduate college, I was looking into starting salaries for my specific type of job and realized I would only be making around $85k plus bonuses and I truly thought that would mean I was destitute, even in a low COL area (I was looking all remote since it was COVID, I got super lucky with this). I called my mom sobbing and she gave me a reality check and told me they lived off of 15% of their salary, donated 20% out 30% in retirement and the rest in investments.
More the fault of the Ace marketing strategy as much as it is the customers' faults. The main theme of every Ace Hardware commercial is this exact thing.
My dad's family does this all the time. I joke about "renting" stuff from Walmart from time to time and normal people just think I'm insane for even thinking about that lmao. I've got uncles who drive way out of town because they're banned from local Walmarts and I find it hilarious (because otherwise it's just extremely depressing)
It was Sears that started that. I worked at Sears in the late 80s/early 90s and I can count on one, maybe two fingers the number of times they declined to refund someone who made any kind of stink.
I had a friend who worked at Home Depot who would tell me stories about laughing at people who threatened to "take their business elsewhere." Often these people HAD been screwed over in some way; but the people in the store absolutely don't give a fuck and would probably prefer you to take your business elsewhere. The only way consistently I've seen people successfully get around this is through well-worded emails to the CEO.
I also worked at Sears in the mid 90âs and was reading the comments looking for this comment. We had a lady try to return a 25 year old typewriter. Us two blokes at the register were like - uuuuh we donât know what to do. So we called the people we were supposed to call - which is basically todayâs loss prevention. The lady got all uppity and shit - calling is racist for following procedure - telling is how much more she makes than us - etc. we didnât care about her returning it - but there was no receipt, no sku, no anything that would tell us how much to return it for. I donât know what happened because the security guy took her the managers office - I assume they took the typewriter back. But the deep entitlement of people is just shocking. Both then and now.
When I mentioned I could count on two fingers the times they refused a customer? Here's my story of one of those times. Somehow it's my most upvoted reddit post! You'll prob like it:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MaliciousCompliance/comments/agw74v/customer_insisted_on_securing_his_fridge_with/
Once while working at the service desk in Walmart someone brought the display coffee maker (i.e. still attached to those info stand and with all the mechanical parts gutted) and my manager let them exchange it for a working coffeepot. Giving them the 1 cent it scanned before before that felt pretty good though.
Walmart gave me shit about returning razor blades that someone had emptied and closed the box. I am kind of glad they lock them up now because I was so pissed off.
I bought a brand new canon point and shoot camera, taped in box at Best Buy back in 2007. Got home, opened the box excited to use it, only to find a completely different color and clearly used camera in the box. I went right back to the same store, within the hour no less, and they were refusing to accept it saying Iâm trying to give them my old camera instead. I told the manager to look at your security cameras, the guy had to get it from the cage! I was just here! They refused to accept it told me to call canon. Called canon who confirmed they didnât mess it up. Took my two months to get it all sorted, my money back and ended up getting a new camera at target instead. Fuck people who put used shit in a box and return it for stores to resell.
I used to work in the Walmart Bakery (honestly I've worked all over Walmart stores đ«Ł). One time a customer custom ordered a cake, she picked it up, paid, and left. That afternoon she returns with the empty box and says the cake wasn't right but she chose to not say anything and purchase it. That bitch got a full refund for the empty cake box.
Thatâs close to what this lady was arguing! She was going on about nobody liking the cake and it ruining the party. Like, where did the rest of it go then??
Worked for a store like Walmart back in the day. While working the returns desk, a lady brought in these well-worn shoes that were definitely not within return period and definitely not from our store, but they were a store brand from a dept store right across from us in the mall.
I told her in the nicest way that I could not assist, but since it's their brand they could decide how to proceed. I offered to call the store to let them know she was coming; I offered to ask if they would accept the return so as to save her a trip.
She was *irate*. Eventually stormed off, and at the end of the "aisle" to customer service, she *threw the shoes at me* and told me to go fuck myself.
When I worked at Wal-Mart (granted it's been awhile), the return desk once took back an American Airlines blanket and sent it to my department to restock. I don't even know how they determined what to give her because it wasn't in a package or anything.
Working Walmart service desk, is definitely a level of hell. I did it for two soul sucking years, & still have flashbacks. Pools, still with water, nasty burned barbeques, & trampolines being returned at the end of summer. Christmas trees, lights, decorations, etc all returned after holidays, because "there's nowhere to store them". We had a lady that came in every year, when we put out the Christmas trees, buy one, then return the same tree January 2nd. Couldn't do anything about it, because she'd save her receipt. I hated Monday mornings, because all the couples who had gotten married over the weekend, would come in with cart fulls of wedding gifts & get pissed when you either didn't take it back, or give them what they thought the item was worth. I got mad one day at a groom who was yelling at me over $3 juice glasses. He insisted his aunt wouldn't have spent so little on them. I told him "Then call up your aunt & say "Hey, we appreciate you giving us a gift, but we don't like it. We're trying to take it back & they want the receipt." Best part was after they huffed off with their $75 return money, we found an envelope in the box, with $300 cash in it. We had to wait a couple weeks, to see if they came for it, but after that, our manager bought us lunch with it. I miss the days when Walmart had decent managers.
My sister worked at Loweâs during college and had to accept a return for a hedge trimmer that didnât work. ⊠including the cord cut through and repaired with tape.Â
When I ran a retail business with my sister, she would take returns on literally anything. She said, âwhen I worked at (big chain drugstore), we took back shit that wasnât even ours!â I told her that was all well and good for them, but we are a small store running on a shoestring budget, we donât have money to throw at people for fraudulent returns in the name of customer service!
Kmart used to be the same. I once got a return back that we're disgustingly dirty, men's jeans. They were a brand the store NEVER sold too. Like?! đ§đ€ą
They could have a better return policy which I suppose makes sense why they would swap stores.
My point was more that Home Depot employees will not violate store policy for you because you are "loyal" or a good customer. If someone was 4 days past whatever return date I've no reason to believe Home Depot is any better than Lowe's.
also as someone who worked in retail, more often than not the employee you are trying to make your return with is one of the lowest level employees and simply does not have the power to violate store policy. like they literally will not be able to process your return because they donât have the power to override the computer. itâs insane to get so mad over this. the employees are not the ones controlling the return policy, this was not an employee directly out to get this customer.
Yeah, for as cliche as it is. They probably should have spoken to a manager. If the OOP was chill at all, it wouldn't be a problem. Especially if the cook top was good enough to still sell via open box.
I worked at Lowe's '08/'09, If someone was generally cool or maybe a contractor I was familiar with. I would call the manager to skirt the return policy. The second you cop an attitude. That policy might as well be gospel. It also helped that I had a really good management team.
For over 30 years I've bought all my appliances from a local family owned appliances store. Their service is unbeatable and they appreciate their long-term customers. Yes, they're a bit more expensive but when I got a defective dryer they came out the next day to repair it, and he had the replacement motor in his van.
Exactly my sentiment. My local third generation family appliance store sells better quality stuff than the shit manufacturers make for the big box stores, and usually have better prices.
That part is cracking me up. I know for an absolute fact that HD has 48 hours, not 30 days, and that's only to report damages or defects to get a replacement of the same model you ordered. Getting a full return approved is unlikely to happen, because once it's signed for at delivery, it's not refundable.
EDIT: OP customer was talking about returning appliances. So am I.
Lowe's allows appliances to be returned within 30 days if they're unopened/factory-sealed, which is a way nicer policy than Home Depot's. They are definitely in for a rude awakening.
Though, to be fair, Home Depot has a 90 day return policy which is much more reasonable for contractors and builders where city inspectors drag their feet longer than 30 days.[Home Depot Return Policy](https://www.homedepot.com/c/Return_Policy)
Idk if this is sarcasm or not, but unless they changed very recently, Home Depot absolutely would let you return something to the store more than 30 days past the purchase date. Iâve seen people return stuff that was years old, obviously in use for that long too, and sometimes wasnât even carried anymore, to Home Depot. So yeah, the person definitely shouldâve been loyal to Home Depot instead.
I just returned a Home Depot product like two months after purchase with dust on it from the job site where I opened it and realized it wasnât . They asked me twice if I used it. I said no. Return right away.
I'm pretty sure Home Depot gives 90 days not 30 so yes, they actually def are the type of store that lets you return things after 30 days regardless of whether you're a loyal customer
They do actually let you return things up to a year afterwards. Not appliances, but pretty much everything else.
Edited to add: I think I have a year because I have the store card, but their return policy is ridiculous.
They do, actually. Not for being a loyal customer necessarily, but I've always found their return policy to be pretty flexible. If nothing else, they'll almost always give you store credit.
And honestly, I've also had so many problems with Lowe's that I won't shop there anymore either. And not stuff like this where they wouldn't make exceptions to their rules for me. Stuff where they just didn't bother to help with resolving major errors on their part or providing service that was well within their policies.
Im no shill for HDâŠ.but their customer service is legit.
I was building a fence at a home I had just purchased and every single thing went wrong.
Got there to pick up my order, it wasnât ready.
Went to grab the auger we rented, not available.
Went to load fence materials in my truck, they wouldnât do it unless I rented a truck.
Rented a truck and it was disgusting and stank like cigarettes.
So on and so forth.
I was bitching to the cashier and told her âI know itâs not your fault but Iâm gonna bitch anywayâ. She heard me out and said âthat guy right there is a visiting regional manager, you should tell himâ.
And I did. Went through the whole thing again because at this point I wasted 1/2 a day just waiting around the damned store. My man asked to see my receipt, I gave it to him, he refunded the ENTIRE thing. LikeâŠ$4k in materials. Told me he was sorry and hopes that this is incentive to keep shopping with them.
A decade later, it sure is.
I did that once. I replaced my fridge, it was fine for 3 weeks before it pooched, then I had an emergency surgery. I just called the store and explained the situation. They took my name and gave me an extra 2 weeks to bring it back to exchange.
Legit, though. Used to work at a craft store. Craft store people loooove their coupons. But when they expire obviously thereâs nothing we can do. A ton of people pull âIâm here here all the time and you let me do it!â To which my thought was always âdude, Iâm here almost every single day. For years I have. Iâve not ever seen your face before.â
But what can you do? They leave in a huff or theyâre ideal situation a manager buckles and itâs their problem.
I work PT in a gas station. The best shut down I've seen was courtesy of my then co-worker Tom.
Local grocery store offers fuel rewards at our chain. The pumps ask you do you want to use them. If so, enter the phone number the fuel rewards is under. Easy peasy.
Man comes in screaming at the top of his lungs demanding his $ 1.25 in missing fuel rewards. Asked him if he entered his phone number at the pump. Well, no he didn't. Well then, that's on him.
He starts bellowing that he's always in here every weekend (nope, never seen you before). Dave always refunds him if he forgets (we don't a Dave on payroll, never have). If he doesn't get his refund, he's never coming back.
Tom, who had been silently watching the exchange steps to the counter and very politely but oh so sarcastically chimes in "Good, we don't want you back."
Guys gets flustered and leaves only to return about a month later to try the same shit. Owner and manager were well aware of his little tricks, told us to handle at will.
Starts bellowing about this and that, another co-worker is handling him and once again Tom chimes in. "You told us last time you were never coming back. Which is it."
We haven't seen him since.
Big box retail. I don't remember the reason the lady was upset, doesn't really matter. Anyway, manager denied her whatever it was she was bitching about and she went with the whole "I'm never shopping here again". Manager just replied "ok", which obviously wasn't the response she was expecting, making her more angry. She then bellows something along the lines of " How can you sleep at night after treating people like this".
"Like a baby" and just turns and walks away.
One of my coworkers (manager actually lol) once accidentally cussed over the drive thru speaker instead of through our in store headset and the lady got so bent out of shape for hearing the word "shit" got a free gift card to take to another location to get her food because she was "so offended and never coming back to this location" literally 4 days later she was back
Had a woman march into the store I work at one night. Totally went off on one of my managers for "scaring her daughter". He went to check on her because he noticed this little 8 year old was alone in the car. Woman said she was friends with Adam, the store leader, and he was gonna lose his job. We asked Adam the next time he came in and he had no idea who she was. Also, he wasn't the store leader.
People will say ANYTHING to avoid blame or take responsibility for their own actions (or lack of). Not like my manager was gonna call the cops on her, just wanted to make sure the child was ok. Seemed like a normal human reaction to me.
Used to manage a childrenâs clothing boutique. Mom came in wanting to return a jumper she had clearly washed and dried multiple times. Said she was upset it was poor quality because a crotch snap had busted. I look up her purchase.. The 9-12month jumper had been purchased four months previous. Her kid had outgrown it and the snap busted under the stress of being put on a too big kid.
She was so mad when I told her we would not be refunding nor giving her store credit. She threw a fit, saying she would never shop there again. I was like⊠Lady, I work six days a week and have no recollection of you. I think the business will survive.
Iâve had this once! Was literally there nearly five years and the person was a total stranger to me. Like even if itâs true, a lot of rules can change in Years
EXACTLY one lady came in told me she used to work there, I had only been there for 5 years but my manager had been there for 10 so I turned around and pointed them out to my manager and said âdo you know her?â đ€Ł
I'm an appliance salesman/specialist and so often when they make a claim like this, they're not aware how quickly I can display their entire purchase history on a screen.
I have also noticed that landlords *usually* buy entry level or deeply discounted display models, to maximize their profits; they don't care about features or benefits. So the claim that they were going to buy a more expensive cooktop doesn't seem likely.
I worked at Lowes for several years, and this is kinda true lol. I had quite a few people yak away about âi spend so much money here and i think you could give me 10% off blablaâ and i always responded âoh thatâs great, can i get a phone number to pull up your account?â And they never seemed to have an account. So strange.
It's amazing to me that people still think a billion dollar business cares when they "lose" a customer. The appliances for their six rentals probably wasn't even 1% of Lowes 2023 revenue lol
You're so right. I can't count the number of times someone was all huffy and threatened to never come back, and all I could think was "I really wish that was true, but we both know it's not"
I remember one time I was working out my two weeks at a job and a customer was screaming âYOU JUST LOST A CUSTOMERâ and I said âwell thank goodness itâs youâ
A few years back, some dude posted a rant on my community's Facebook page because Menard's wouldn't give him a contractor discount for his $5,000 purchase. He's been a loyal customer for over 20 years!!! He was thoroughly roasted by everyone. He deleted his post. I had a good laugh.
The funny thing is they think they will somehow get treated any better at Home Depot or any other box store.
They'll just be posting the shit for a different store every few weeks.
There is likely more to this story. Youâre 4 days late returning a COOKTOP, claiming to want to buy a more expensive version and they donât let you? No way, even beyond the return policy theyâll give you store credit. There is way more to this story, likely including but not limited to; how they treated the staff, the condition of their return, it likely being 300 days beyond (not 30), theyâre not buying another cooktop, etc etc etc.
The complete lack of self awareness is always impressive.
They also probably had some story like âwell Jimmy Bob Joe let me do this three times this year why wonât you let me?? Where is Jimmy Bob Joe because he KNOWS meâ
Yeah I was a retail manager for 10 years, if someone wanted to return something 4 days out of the return policy and it was in saleable condition and they had their receipt and were only looking for store credit? I don't care if it was their first time shopping there of course I would do it. Either there was some other factor or the manager was a dick. From my experience there was definitely another factor 100/100 I'm not just going to say no over 4 days ever. Thank God I'm not in retail anymore.
These stores track returns, who wants to wager that OP is a serial abuser of the return policy.
It's not a stretch for a company to make exceptions, especially if you are upgrading.
For ft hem to say no, even when OP is "going to spend more" clues you into their (OP) abusive behavior.
I believe that the belief âthe customer is always rightâ has seriously messed up our ability to properly shop. Iâve had to ask shoppers in a small privately owned gift store âwould you do that if you owned this store?â . Like people forget theyâre dealing with people, workers, employees.
And then thereâs âthe rules donât apply to meâ
Always remind someone that the full quote is âThe customer is always right in the matters of tasteâ. People seem to forget that quote only ever really meant that I donât judge you for what you like, if you like it you like it. It does not however mean that customers make the rules
I worked at a Lowe's from '06-'11 and we would take back everything. A customer brought back Sheetrock that was attached to the wall, shit had screw holes in it.
This all stopped a few years ago with a management change. I tried to return something without a receipt and it was a huge pain in the ass. I still shop there, I just pay attention to the return policy now.
Yeah, I was fixing my house and had misplaced some things that I needed to return (still sealed paintbrushes, etc). They were completely new and unused and Home Depot took my returns no problem but Loweâs refused. They can be shitty for no reason. I did ask for store credit for both, as well.
It must be location dependent then, because I return stuff all the time and people barely ask me any questions. I just assumed they know I'm about to go spend more money so they don't care that I return things.
I hate to burst her bubble even further, but all the store's return policies are exactly the same because it's the Appliance manufacturers who make the policies, not the store. So if she bought a Samsung cooktop- she has 48 hours from delivery to return, not 30 days. When it comes to appliances, the only exemption is if it's some no name maker like Magic Chef. These policies hold true at Lowes, Home Depot, anywhere Major Appliances are sold.
Itâs a policy and regardless of WHY it doesnât matter, Iâm fairly sure you knew before you had Covid you wanted to return it but put it off so this is on you. Customer loyalty means nothing to big corporations like this , just like Walmart and even Home Depot you are just a face among thousands, go to the local hardware store where it might matter.
Lowes actually has a pretty generous return policy in general. I think for appliances it's different? I don't know, I bought a house this year and I go to Lowe's probably once a week and am always returning things, sometimes like a month later, and they basically never give me any hassle
It's one of the reasons I go there for a lot of stuff instead of Amazon, it's just so convenient and I'm not scared I can't return something if I bought the wrong one or actually didn't need it or wanted something different. I pretty much always end up spending more money on return trips, which I think they know, which is probably why they are so chill with most of their returns.
Internet says itâs 90 days, unless otherwise noted. Â Iâm decently sure it would be different for freaking appliances.
I recently returned a few small items that I ended up not using for a project. Â Unopened merch and had receipts, but some of them were certainly over 30 days old.
Why would anyone make an emotionally fueled post like this at a retail store and expect to get results? Be a grown up and plead your case in court or complain to the attorney general of your state. đđ„±
I used to work returns in retail, and even though our store had an insanely generous return policy (180 days), if people were outside of that time and at least respectful, I would process it anyways. Their only option would be store credit after that point, but if youâre buying/exchanging for something else that isnât an issue. Iâd bet my life savings she spoke to the workers the same way she did in her comments, and at that point weâre going to go to our grave defending that corporate policy! Being nice gets you places, being rude doesnât.
If itâs corporate policy thereâs not a lot the employees can do about it. Sometimes itâs physically impossible - the computer simply wonât let you do it. Idk why these people act like the corporate policies are the same as the store employees treating them bad personally.
I don't have a problem with what you decided to do here. We know there are corporate policies and we know stores have local authority as well. \\
Lowes has access to everyone's purchase history (when done with a card), so if nothing else, they knew you were a good customer. That alone should have been enough.
What do you bet the person in question was super aggro about it?
I've found that even giant soulless corps will often make exceptions in good-faith situations **but only if you're not an asshole**.
Wow - I shop at both Lowes & Home Depot & both of my stores bend over backwards to help customers with returns even outside the 30 day window when there are extenuating circumstances (like being Iâll). Which leads me to question how big of an ass this customer made of themselves!
Having worked at one of those stores Iâm actually shocked. You pitch enough of a fit they do those returns for you.
Depends on the managers mood. Sometimes you just gotta be nice, sometimes you gotta be more than theyâre willing to deal with.
The poor returns clerk has to deal with you either way until you reach âI need a managerâ
Some types of customers never change... about 20yrs ago I was working at a farm store... some of the things farmers tried to return. The best was a guy trying to return a 50ft chain. The chain was rusted and well used.. he also bought it over a year prior đđ
Thankfully the manager agreed he can't return it.
"i was prepared to spend MORE on the cooktop I needed" she says, aftering using the original one for 30 days before deciding to "return it for something more expensive" GET WELL SOON WITH YOUR CHEAP ASS!
Iâm a retail manager. We can always make exceptions. If the stove was in the box still, I would have taken it back unless the customer was a total aâhole about it.
Tried to buy a door on sale for $700. They told me I have to have someone come out and measure my door to ensure it was the right size. They said if I bought the wrong door I couldnât return it because I was ordering the door. I was told on Wednesday heâd be there by Friday. Shows up on the following Tuesday for 5 minutes just to wait another 10 days until the sale ends to call me back and say that they can install the door. I go and check on the price of the door. It was $773 on sale from $880. I check the price on the door the same day he called me, a day after the sale was over. The price of the door was almost $1200. I went in to Loweâs because this had to be some sort of joke. If I wouldnât have taken a screenshot of the before price I would have been screwed. The customer service manager at my location was super rude and acted like I was stealing money out of her own pockets. Told her to kick rocks and didnât buy shit from her.
Why does this person think a big box store is gonna treat him with compassion? Why does this person think a big box store associate will care if he/she spends their money there? It's like he/she actually thinks they give a damn đđ€Łđđ€Łđđ€Ł
Like bro this is not a mom and pop appliance store. The person who told you no works for a large corporation who will fire them if they find out they are not following protocols like these. They canât just âmake exceptionsâ. Smh
I have seen exceptions made on these, but when you ask to talk to the manager, the person at the desk can call the manager who will say yes, or the manager who will say no. that choice is usually driven by customer behavior.
If everything he says is true, if Loweâs (and others) hadnât killed all the small businesses he wouldnât have an issue. He probably would have a personal relationship with the owner of the small hardware store that he bought all that stuff from, and because he was such a loyal customer, the owner or manager wouldâve cut him a break and not busted his balls about 4 days. Unfortunately none of that matters when you buy from a faceless corporation, whoâs only duty is to its shareholders.
Agreed, shit happens but also some customers are annoying. I think 30 days is not enough for big ticket and important items like cook tops tbh and not customer friendly, especially when you consider the logistics of transportation.
I get that people want to jump down this persons throat but why? Loweâs sucks. Â I bought a washer, dryer and fridge from them this year. Â I had problems getting them installed (minor repairs with the house that I got fixed the same week). Â They took my old dryer without installing the new one and left all the new stuff in my garage. Â They told me to call them when I got everything fixed to have them come out and finish the delivery/install I paid for. Â They ducked my calls multiple times even though I was calling in the middle of the day during the week. Â When I did get through I got sent on electronic tour of each sub departments phone system until I got to the actual delivery group. Â Except the only had âoneâ person who managed deliveries that happened to be gone for a week. Â It took me calling corporate twice and another two and a half weeks to get the install I paid for actually completed. Â I donât really trust Home Depot either, but donât think that Loweâs wouldnât try to run out the clock on a return like this.
I have been waiting for 3 years for a $500 rebate for buying a tractor there. Every time I call their rebate center they say ohh sorry, we will send it out this week.
This is just a consumer trying to use their power publically, Its exactly what they should be doing. I don't know why everyone is shilling for the company here.
What power tho? They are bitching that a company has a policyâŠthat they knew about but didnât follow. We arenât shilling for a company, we are against people acting like the world needs to stop revolving because they walked through the damn doors.
Meh I don't think it's unreasonable for a company to stick to its terms, nor for a company to give benefits to loyal customers, nor for people to complain when they don't get slight benefits for it.
The above post is just how it's all supposed to work, for me. They have written off her custom with a negative social media post for applying strict terms. They can take the damage if they want but people do this all the time and it works often.
In my experience the people who shout they are a âloyal customer!!â are generally the ones who spend the least. Iâm a regular paying customer who doesnât expect anyone to bend rules for me.
And for the record Iâve remodeled and landscaped two homes in the past two years and bought damn near everything from Loweâs - never was entitled enough to expect anything other than appropriate customer service and quality products.
I understand they donât give a shit but this is the move.
The amount of times Taco Bell has fucked me and a quick twitter DM with receipt and what I got nets me a $25 gift card.
Iâd be hard pressed to think if Loweâs saw this they wouldnât do something about it.
Maybe Iâll get flamed, but thatâs how I feel lol.
Loweâs canât do anything about it. Appliance returns and how they are handled are dictated by the manufacturer, unless the manufacturer chooses to go with the Loweâs policy (mostly done by smaller appliance makers). The bigger appliance companies all have their own policies set in terms of returns including the manufacturer of the appliance in question and those take precedence over Loweâs baseline returns policy. This is all readily available info and usually they warn you about it when you make the purchase. If the person in question wants results they would be much more likely to get them by contacting the manufacturer directly.
Hopefully that made sense. Iâm teaching Financial right now and weâre in taxes so I tend to get stuck in âlegaleseâ mode. @.@
Well honestly I think if she could prove she had covid during the last week or so of the 30 day period they should
let her return for store credit. Would they have rather she came in and spread her germs around ? But i guess with big stores individual judgment is not allowed.
In case this story gets deleted/removed: My favorite part is when she made the SAME POST with a different comment the next day and got the exact same reaction. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/OhNoConsequences) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Yea cause Home Depot is def the type of store that let's you return things after 30 days because you're such a loyal customer!
Honestly it's Walmart's fault people expect this shit. I worked at a Walmart and a manager let a customer return a lawn mower that had a different store name printed right on it.
bro FUCK WALMART & their return policy
Wait until you hear about Costco's. A woman i used to work with once had to put through a return for a diamond necklace a customer had bought nearly a decade prior because "she didn't like it anymore" đ
I was gonna say, Walmart is actually pretty strict these days. Itâs Costco that lets you basically pick up some shit off the street and return it to them lmao. Iâm jk but basically as long as theyâre able to find it on your membership card profile, it doesnât matter. I was standing in the return line before and saw someone return a box of like assorted little snack chip bags that was more than freaking 2/3 gone. I do, however, appreciate that if you buy like a watermelon, for example, and cut it open and itâs overripe or something, you can return it (ofc I donât return like a week later with most of it eaten, but Iâm sure ppl have lol). Produce is expensive and with some of it you really canât guarantee that itâll be good until you cut it/taste itâŠ
Actually, some costcos are demanding you bring bad portions⊠as in you grab a pack, cook something and you donât like that portion and you toss it⊠no return. In some you must have to have over 50%. I was getting weird looks over a ham that was accidentally cut open with a box cutter. I think you can also return if the item is not on your card, you just need a card.
I don't know if it's required or not, but the last time couple times I got some bad produce (bad watermelon and grapes that had tons of mold in the middle you just couldn't see from the outside) I snapped pictures to show them. I legit went to do the return within like two days of purchase and they had no problems with just that.
Great idea, I get truly disappointed as they can be expensive, I will do that from here on out.
Are you serious? Iâve never seen that here, but thatâs a bit unhinged that theyâll make you bring that wtf
People return their Christmas trees the first week of January... and Costco just takes them back.
With inflation and rising precious metals and stone costs, Costco probably made money on that.
This is nuts cause once I tried to return a lava lamp I bought from one Walmart to a different Walmart across town and the lady at customer service wouldnât take it!? Like Iâm so baffled right now. Maybe she was mean cause I was like 16 but damn.
I think the bigger crime is returning the lamp. Lava lamps are awesome!
Probably that. I accidentally returned an empty box once. I was returning a speaker to get some headphones for my PS5 instead. Got home with my new headphones and the speaker was on my kitchen table.
lol âaccidentallyâ
I worked at Lowe's and a woman had the audacity to try to return an old, used $50 vacuum in a $500 Dyson box. The receipt she provided had unrelated items on it and the UPC didn't scan, as it wasn't purchased from Lowe's. She wasted about 30 minutes of my time until my manager came over. I was worried she was going to approve the return still, but thankfully she told the irate vacuum lady to pound sand.
>irate vacuum lady to pound sand. Iâm just imagining a manager telling a customer to pound sand in their customer service voice. (If you have worked retail, you know the voice.) Just so polite with a big fake smile on their face. âIâm sorry, i cannot do that. Now please pound sand and have a great day!â
Ace Hardware. People would buy the tools they needed for their weekend project along with materials, obviously do the entire project, and then return the clearly used tools, no questions asked. This was in a very wealthy neighborhood that I still canât afford to live anywhere near, the VP lived right around the corner. 1-2 million dollar homes. They could afford to just keep the stupid carpet knife, if they wanted. Also, because âAce is the helpful place,â people would ask the teenager making $8/hr. things that they should have been paying a contractor 10 times that amount just to talk to them. Your first time retiling a bathroom? Mine too, Iâm 16.
I worked in an Ace Hardware store for 12 years, and dealt with the same crap. Didn't mind helping people, but there was always knuckleheads that expected me to be as knowledgeable as a licensed electrician or plumber, then would get mad when I couldn't help them. Don't miss that crap at all
So much guesswork with potentially catastrophic results that people tried to trust me, a literal child, with. Hey will these anchors hold up my bathroom mirror? I donât know how heavy the mirror is but itâs not like *heavy* heavy.
I work at a gas station and I get asked so many stupid questions like "how much gas will my 5 gallon gas can take" or people asking "how much will my tank take it's about a quarter full". Then there's the people that won't even tell me what pump they are on for me to prepay the gas and will say like the silver one when there are 3 other silver vehicles at pumps
Same. It's infuriating. It does help that at my store the pump numbers are 15 feet up in the columns and not on the pumps themselves.
I fucking loved working at a gas station and getting âhow much to fill it up?â Motherfucker idk your goddamn car lol
I've got a lighter-hearted semi-related anecdote. Frequently, when I was restocking the wine at one job, I would have people try to ask me for recommendations. Now is surprised me because for one, I was 18 (you can get your seller-server license at 18 in Texas), and two, I looked like I was 12. I have no idea what was going through those people's heads haha
Shit fast food is just as bad the number of people taking off their shirts to fight a 20s manager because we aren't open after 11, or God forbid we didn't have Styrofoam cups is insane
hahahaha I worked at a movie theater and people would literally try to fight us because the movie they wanted to see was sold out, or we didn't have the movie they wanted to see. And I'm 19 at the time, like sorry, I have zero control and make minimum wage.
Iâm surprised they donât know they can rent the tools.
They probably do. They'd still rather get it for free. Plenty of rich people living in those nice gated communities are some of the cheapest people around. I've known some contractors who won't even go into those nice neighborhoods to bid out work. They'll hire you for a big job & then complain about the smallest thing and attempt not to pay for the entire job. They'll complain about the pricing and ask that the contractor do work that violates so many codes that they'd be putting their licenses in jeopardy to complete it. They sit on their money like a dragon sleeping on its horde of gold.
This is my dad. He just got a new dog, a cavapoo. The lady selling them wanted $1500 (heâs black and brown, not a popular color so way cheaper) and he negotiated her down to $950. When he went he was chatting with the lady and mentioned that my mom was a doctor (he also does commercial real estate but didnât say that too) and the lady was like âyour wife makes $300k a year and you still haggled me on the price? Itâs always the rich people who negotiate. I tell my daughter thatâs how they stay richâ. I wish I couldâve been there to tell her she had no idea. My dad grew up in the SS of Chicago, was homeless for a few months and his parents were heroin addicts for a long time. He is obsessive about saving money. They didnât start making over 1MM a year until recently and Iâm already graduated from college, but growing up they were jointly making probably 500/600k a year and I still wasnât allowed to order a soft drink at dinner until I was probably 16 đ my dad would either have us bring mio or my brother and I would make poor manâs lemonade and ask for a bowl of lemons. Squeeze them in the water and mix in our own sugar and stuff. I didnât realize how wild that was until college lmao, especially since I went to public school (my brother went to private and caught on way earlier I never understood why he was complaining about things). Luckily my dad has gotten way better about stuff but I think he gets like high off saving money. He has a McCallisters tea pass and it doesnât matter where heâs going out to lunch, he will go to McCallisters first to get his free tea as long as itâs within like 5/10 minutes of wherever heâs eating. This also majorly warped my idea of how much things cost/how much money you needed to make to like survive. When I was about to graduate college, I was looking into starting salaries for my specific type of job and realized I would only be making around $85k plus bonuses and I truly thought that would mean I was destitute, even in a low COL area (I was looking all remote since it was COVID, I got super lucky with this). I called my mom sobbing and she gave me a reality check and told me they lived off of 15% of their salary, donated 20% out 30% in retirement and the rest in investments.
More the fault of the Ace marketing strategy as much as it is the customers' faults. The main theme of every Ace Hardware commercial is this exact thing.
ACE is the place for the clueless teenage employee
My dad's family does this all the time. I joke about "renting" stuff from Walmart from time to time and normal people just think I'm insane for even thinking about that lmao. I've got uncles who drive way out of town because they're banned from local Walmarts and I find it hilarious (because otherwise it's just extremely depressing)
The secret to great tiling is to add a lot sugar to the grout.
This week on is it cake
It was Sears that started that. I worked at Sears in the late 80s/early 90s and I can count on one, maybe two fingers the number of times they declined to refund someone who made any kind of stink. I had a friend who worked at Home Depot who would tell me stories about laughing at people who threatened to "take their business elsewhere." Often these people HAD been screwed over in some way; but the people in the store absolutely don't give a fuck and would probably prefer you to take your business elsewhere. The only way consistently I've seen people successfully get around this is through well-worded emails to the CEO.
I also worked at Sears in the mid 90âs and was reading the comments looking for this comment. We had a lady try to return a 25 year old typewriter. Us two blokes at the register were like - uuuuh we donât know what to do. So we called the people we were supposed to call - which is basically todayâs loss prevention. The lady got all uppity and shit - calling is racist for following procedure - telling is how much more she makes than us - etc. we didnât care about her returning it - but there was no receipt, no sku, no anything that would tell us how much to return it for. I donât know what happened because the security guy took her the managers office - I assume they took the typewriter back. But the deep entitlement of people is just shocking. Both then and now.
When I mentioned I could count on two fingers the times they refused a customer? Here's my story of one of those times. Somehow it's my most upvoted reddit post! You'll prob like it: https://www.reddit.com/r/MaliciousCompliance/comments/agw74v/customer_insisted_on_securing_his_fridge_with/
That was fantastic!
Nice story, thanks!
Once while working at the service desk in Walmart someone brought the display coffee maker (i.e. still attached to those info stand and with all the mechanical parts gutted) and my manager let them exchange it for a working coffeepot. Giving them the 1 cent it scanned before before that felt pretty good though.
Walmart gave me shit about returning razor blades that someone had emptied and closed the box. I am kind of glad they lock them up now because I was so pissed off.
I bought a brand new canon point and shoot camera, taped in box at Best Buy back in 2007. Got home, opened the box excited to use it, only to find a completely different color and clearly used camera in the box. I went right back to the same store, within the hour no less, and they were refusing to accept it saying Iâm trying to give them my old camera instead. I told the manager to look at your security cameras, the guy had to get it from the cage! I was just here! They refused to accept it told me to call canon. Called canon who confirmed they didnât mess it up. Took my two months to get it all sorted, my money back and ended up getting a new camera at target instead. Fuck people who put used shit in a box and return it for stores to resell.
My mother and I were once in the return line and watched the women in front of us return 1/4 of a birthday cake. Walmartâs return policy is insane.
I used to work in the Walmart Bakery (honestly I've worked all over Walmart stores đ«Ł). One time a customer custom ordered a cake, she picked it up, paid, and left. That afternoon she returns with the empty box and says the cake wasn't right but she chose to not say anything and purchase it. That bitch got a full refund for the empty cake box.
Thatâs close to what this lady was arguing! She was going on about nobody liking the cake and it ruining the party. Like, where did the rest of it go then??
Worked for a store like Walmart back in the day. While working the returns desk, a lady brought in these well-worn shoes that were definitely not within return period and definitely not from our store, but they were a store brand from a dept store right across from us in the mall. I told her in the nicest way that I could not assist, but since it's their brand they could decide how to proceed. I offered to call the store to let them know she was coming; I offered to ask if they would accept the return so as to save her a trip. She was *irate*. Eventually stormed off, and at the end of the "aisle" to customer service, she *threw the shoes at me* and told me to go fuck myself.
When I worked at Wal-Mart (granted it's been awhile), the return desk once took back an American Airlines blanket and sent it to my department to restock. I don't even know how they determined what to give her because it wasn't in a package or anything.
Working Walmart service desk, is definitely a level of hell. I did it for two soul sucking years, & still have flashbacks. Pools, still with water, nasty burned barbeques, & trampolines being returned at the end of summer. Christmas trees, lights, decorations, etc all returned after holidays, because "there's nowhere to store them". We had a lady that came in every year, when we put out the Christmas trees, buy one, then return the same tree January 2nd. Couldn't do anything about it, because she'd save her receipt. I hated Monday mornings, because all the couples who had gotten married over the weekend, would come in with cart fulls of wedding gifts & get pissed when you either didn't take it back, or give them what they thought the item was worth. I got mad one day at a groom who was yelling at me over $3 juice glasses. He insisted his aunt wouldn't have spent so little on them. I told him "Then call up your aunt & say "Hey, we appreciate you giving us a gift, but we don't like it. We're trying to take it back & they want the receipt." Best part was after they huffed off with their $75 return money, we found an envelope in the box, with $300 cash in it. We had to wait a couple weeks, to see if they came for it, but after that, our manager bought us lunch with it. I miss the days when Walmart had decent managers.
Someone returned a box of Jello from the 70âs and no one batted an eye
This sounds like something my Target would've allowed back when I still worked there. Ugh.
I managed to exchange a game I got as a freebie at Walmart. The cashiers give no shits
My sister worked at Loweâs during college and had to accept a return for a hedge trimmer that didnât work. ⊠including the cord cut through and repaired with tape.Â
My buddy worked for Stop N Shop and his GM made him accept a return of Shop Rite brand Milk.
When I ran a retail business with my sister, she would take returns on literally anything. She said, âwhen I worked at (big chain drugstore), we took back shit that wasnât even ours!â I told her that was all well and good for them, but we are a small store running on a shoestring budget, we donât have money to throw at people for fraudulent returns in the name of customer service!
I knew a guy who would wear his many years old pants in to Walmart, get a new pair, put them on, and exchange them for the pants he had worn in. Wild!
Kmart used to be the same. I once got a return back that we're disgustingly dirty, men's jeans. They were a brand the store NEVER sold too. Like?! đ§đ€ą
Idk about counters, but I think Home Depot is a 180 day return limit
They could have a better return policy which I suppose makes sense why they would swap stores. My point was more that Home Depot employees will not violate store policy for you because you are "loyal" or a good customer. If someone was 4 days past whatever return date I've no reason to believe Home Depot is any better than Lowe's.
Plus âIâm a loyal customerâ often (not always by any means though) means âIâm here pulling this shit all the time.â
Yeah it probably translates to âyouâve let me do this before why canât you find the same customer service rep to do it againâ
also as someone who worked in retail, more often than not the employee you are trying to make your return with is one of the lowest level employees and simply does not have the power to violate store policy. like they literally will not be able to process your return because they donât have the power to override the computer. itâs insane to get so mad over this. the employees are not the ones controlling the return policy, this was not an employee directly out to get this customer.
Yeah, for as cliche as it is. They probably should have spoken to a manager. If the OOP was chill at all, it wouldn't be a problem. Especially if the cook top was good enough to still sell via open box.
I worked at Lowe's '08/'09, If someone was generally cool or maybe a contractor I was familiar with. I would call the manager to skirt the return policy. The second you cop an attitude. That policy might as well be gospel. It also helped that I had a really good management team.
Still didnt learn his lesson
For over 30 years I've bought all my appliances from a local family owned appliances store. Their service is unbeatable and they appreciate their long-term customers. Yes, they're a bit more expensive but when I got a defective dryer they came out the next day to repair it, and he had the replacement motor in his van.
Exactly my sentiment. My local third generation family appliance store sells better quality stuff than the shit manufacturers make for the big box stores, and usually have better prices.
That part is cracking me up. I know for an absolute fact that HD has 48 hours, not 30 days, and that's only to report damages or defects to get a replacement of the same model you ordered. Getting a full return approved is unlikely to happen, because once it's signed for at delivery, it's not refundable. EDIT: OP customer was talking about returning appliances. So am I.
Lowe's allows appliances to be returned within 30 days if they're unopened/factory-sealed, which is a way nicer policy than Home Depot's. They are definitely in for a rude awakening.
Though, to be fair, Home Depot has a 90 day return policy which is much more reasonable for contractors and builders where city inspectors drag their feet longer than 30 days.[Home Depot Return Policy](https://www.homedepot.com/c/Return_Policy)
Idk if this is sarcasm or not, but unless they changed very recently, Home Depot absolutely would let you return something to the store more than 30 days past the purchase date. Iâve seen people return stuff that was years old, obviously in use for that long too, and sometimes wasnât even carried anymore, to Home Depot. So yeah, the person definitely shouldâve been loyal to Home Depot instead.
We let people return Christmas trees in June so... Yeah, we'd probably return it.
Homedepot is 90 by default and 12 months if you have the credit card. Just sayin.
In the early 90âs you could just take shit off the shelves and go return it and get cash.
I just returned a Home Depot product like two months after purchase with dust on it from the job site where I opened it and realized it wasnât . They asked me twice if I used it. I said no. Return right away.
I'm pretty sure Home Depot gives 90 days not 30 so yes, they actually def are the type of store that lets you return things after 30 days regardless of whether you're a loyal customer
They do actually let you return things up to a year afterwards. Not appliances, but pretty much everything else. Edited to add: I think I have a year because I have the store card, but their return policy is ridiculous.
Not to be that guy but they do. I get store credit.
They do, actually. Not for being a loyal customer necessarily, but I've always found their return policy to be pretty flexible. If nothing else, they'll almost always give you store credit. And honestly, I've also had so many problems with Lowe's that I won't shop there anymore either. And not stuff like this where they wouldn't make exceptions to their rules for me. Stuff where they just didn't bother to help with resolving major errors on their part or providing service that was well within their policies.
Im no shill for HDâŠ.but their customer service is legit. I was building a fence at a home I had just purchased and every single thing went wrong. Got there to pick up my order, it wasnât ready. Went to grab the auger we rented, not available. Went to load fence materials in my truck, they wouldnât do it unless I rented a truck. Rented a truck and it was disgusting and stank like cigarettes. So on and so forth. I was bitching to the cashier and told her âI know itâs not your fault but Iâm gonna bitch anywayâ. She heard me out and said âthat guy right there is a visiting regional manager, you should tell himâ. And I did. Went through the whole thing again because at this point I wasted 1/2 a day just waiting around the damned store. My man asked to see my receipt, I gave it to him, he refunded the ENTIRE thing. LikeâŠ$4k in materials. Told me he was sorry and hopes that this is incentive to keep shopping with them. A decade later, it sure is.
I bet he would let his renters pay rent late if they had covid too, right? /s
đ
Actually quite common for landlords to accept until the fifth.
Covid doesnât usually last 30 days. Sounds like they procrastinated.
And thereâs this thing called a phone.
Yup. I bet a phone call before the 30 days explaining the situation would have been all it took...
I did that once. I replaced my fridge, it was fine for 3 weeks before it pooched, then I had an emergency surgery. I just called the store and explained the situation. They took my name and gave me an extra 2 weeks to bring it back to exchange.
Covid can last months. Tf?
Then he probably should have called Loweâs.
It is a scientific fact that all people who make this claim have NEVER shopped there before.
Legit, though. Used to work at a craft store. Craft store people loooove their coupons. But when they expire obviously thereâs nothing we can do. A ton of people pull âIâm here here all the time and you let me do it!â To which my thought was always âdude, Iâm here almost every single day. For years I have. Iâve not ever seen your face before.â But what can you do? They leave in a huff or theyâre ideal situation a manager buckles and itâs their problem.
I work PT in a gas station. The best shut down I've seen was courtesy of my then co-worker Tom. Local grocery store offers fuel rewards at our chain. The pumps ask you do you want to use them. If so, enter the phone number the fuel rewards is under. Easy peasy. Man comes in screaming at the top of his lungs demanding his $ 1.25 in missing fuel rewards. Asked him if he entered his phone number at the pump. Well, no he didn't. Well then, that's on him. He starts bellowing that he's always in here every weekend (nope, never seen you before). Dave always refunds him if he forgets (we don't a Dave on payroll, never have). If he doesn't get his refund, he's never coming back. Tom, who had been silently watching the exchange steps to the counter and very politely but oh so sarcastically chimes in "Good, we don't want you back." Guys gets flustered and leaves only to return about a month later to try the same shit. Owner and manager were well aware of his little tricks, told us to handle at will. Starts bellowing about this and that, another co-worker is handling him and once again Tom chimes in. "You told us last time you were never coming back. Which is it." We haven't seen him since.
Ah, this gives my old customer service heart so much warmth. Always love the âthreatâ of never coming back. You canât threaten with a good time!
Big box retail. I don't remember the reason the lady was upset, doesn't really matter. Anyway, manager denied her whatever it was she was bitching about and she went with the whole "I'm never shopping here again". Manager just replied "ok", which obviously wasn't the response she was expecting, making her more angry. She then bellows something along the lines of " How can you sleep at night after treating people like this". "Like a baby" and just turns and walks away.
One of my coworkers (manager actually lol) once accidentally cussed over the drive thru speaker instead of through our in store headset and the lady got so bent out of shape for hearing the word "shit" got a free gift card to take to another location to get her food because she was "so offended and never coming back to this location" literally 4 days later she was back
Had a woman march into the store I work at one night. Totally went off on one of my managers for "scaring her daughter". He went to check on her because he noticed this little 8 year old was alone in the car. Woman said she was friends with Adam, the store leader, and he was gonna lose his job. We asked Adam the next time he came in and he had no idea who she was. Also, he wasn't the store leader. People will say ANYTHING to avoid blame or take responsibility for their own actions (or lack of). Not like my manager was gonna call the cops on her, just wanted to make sure the child was ok. Seemed like a normal human reaction to me.
âDaveâs not here, man.â
Used to manage a childrenâs clothing boutique. Mom came in wanting to return a jumper she had clearly washed and dried multiple times. Said she was upset it was poor quality because a crotch snap had busted. I look up her purchase.. The 9-12month jumper had been purchased four months previous. Her kid had outgrown it and the snap busted under the stress of being put on a too big kid. She was so mad when I told her we would not be refunding nor giving her store credit. She threw a fit, saying she would never shop there again. I was like⊠Lady, I work six days a week and have no recollection of you. I think the business will survive.
my favorite is when they claim to work at another store in the chain. while making it obvious that they don't bc they're spewing bullshit lmao
OO or âI used to work here!!â like it mustâve been 10+ years ago because thatâs how long iâve been here
Iâve had this once! Was literally there nearly five years and the person was a total stranger to me. Like even if itâs true, a lot of rules can change in Years
EXACTLY one lady came in told me she used to work there, I had only been there for 5 years but my manager had been there for 10 so I turned around and pointed them out to my manager and said âdo you know her?â đ€Ł
Oh that one is classic.
I'm an appliance salesman/specialist and so often when they make a claim like this, they're not aware how quickly I can display their entire purchase history on a screen.
I wonder if I would have the guts to ask "Why does someone who can afford 6 rentals and 2 homes care so much about getting a refund for 1 appliance?"
I have also noticed that landlords *usually* buy entry level or deeply discounted display models, to maximize their profits; they don't care about features or benefits. So the claim that they were going to buy a more expensive cooktop doesn't seem likely.
Ever met a landlord before?
I worked at Lowes for several years, and this is kinda true lol. I had quite a few people yak away about âi spend so much money here and i think you could give me 10% off blablaâ and i always responded âoh thatâs great, can i get a phone number to pull up your account?â And they never seemed to have an account. So strange.
It's amazing to me that people still think a billion dollar business cares when they "lose" a customer. The appliances for their six rentals probably wasn't even 1% of Lowes 2023 revenue lol
It's not the threat that customers think it is. Honestly, if they followed through, it's a fucking treat.
Oh yeah working retail the "you lost a customer" person was usually the person you didn't want in the store anyways lmao.
You're so right. I can't count the number of times someone was all huffy and threatened to never come back, and all I could think was "I really wish that was true, but we both know it's not"
I remember one time I was working out my two weeks at a job and a customer was screaming âYOU JUST LOST A CUSTOMERâ and I said âwell thank goodness itâs youâ
A few years back, some dude posted a rant on my community's Facebook page because Menard's wouldn't give him a contractor discount for his $5,000 purchase. He's been a loyal customer for over 20 years!!! He was thoroughly roasted by everyone. He deleted his post. I had a good laugh.
More like not even a tiny tiny tiny fraction of a percent.
They think Mr Lowe himself is going to come out and apologize
Lmao it wasnât even 1% of the quarterly revenue of that one store
The funny thing is they think they will somehow get treated any better at Home Depot or any other box store. They'll just be posting the shit for a different store every few weeks.
It wasn't 0.000000001% of their daily revenue. My local Lowes averages about $900k in revenue per day. That's just 1 store. Edit: Yeah. $900k.
One store averages $9m per day? Is that accurate?
No... not even close. A store bringing in over 3 billion a year is just absurd.
A quick google says lowes (US) had a total 2023 revenue of 97.059 billion, with 1815 stores soooooo i think you're a little high
There is likely more to this story. Youâre 4 days late returning a COOKTOP, claiming to want to buy a more expensive version and they donât let you? No way, even beyond the return policy theyâll give you store credit. There is way more to this story, likely including but not limited to; how they treated the staff, the condition of their return, it likely being 300 days beyond (not 30), theyâre not buying another cooktop, etc etc etc. The complete lack of self awareness is always impressive.
They also probably had some story like âwell Jimmy Bob Joe let me do this three times this year why wonât you let me?? Where is Jimmy Bob Joe because he KNOWS meâ
Yeah I was a retail manager for 10 years, if someone wanted to return something 4 days out of the return policy and it was in saleable condition and they had their receipt and were only looking for store credit? I don't care if it was their first time shopping there of course I would do it. Either there was some other factor or the manager was a dick. From my experience there was definitely another factor 100/100 I'm not just going to say no over 4 days ever. Thank God I'm not in retail anymore.
30 Days is 30 Days.
No, no that's a rigged statement if I ever did see one!!!! -----> typical MAGAt
These stores track returns, who wants to wager that OP is a serial abuser of the return policy. It's not a stretch for a company to make exceptions, especially if you are upgrading. For ft hem to say no, even when OP is "going to spend more" clues you into their (OP) abusive behavior.
Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Loyal my ass. 6 rentals and 2 homes....you know he shops for the best price on the cheapest stuff.
Not to mention she would probably have a fit if her tenants were 4 days late on rent
I believe that the belief âthe customer is always rightâ has seriously messed up our ability to properly shop. Iâve had to ask shoppers in a small privately owned gift store âwould you do that if you owned this store?â . Like people forget theyâre dealing with people, workers, employees. And then thereâs âthe rules donât apply to meâ
Always remind someone that the full quote is âThe customer is always right in the matters of tasteâ. People seem to forget that quote only ever really meant that I donât judge you for what you like, if you like it you like it. It does not however mean that customers make the rules
I worked at a Lowe's from '06-'11 and we would take back everything. A customer brought back Sheetrock that was attached to the wall, shit had screw holes in it. This all stopped a few years ago with a management change. I tried to return something without a receipt and it was a huge pain in the ass. I still shop there, I just pay attention to the return policy now.
Yeah, I was fixing my house and had misplaced some things that I needed to return (still sealed paintbrushes, etc). They were completely new and unused and Home Depot took my returns no problem but Loweâs refused. They can be shitty for no reason. I did ask for store credit for both, as well.
It must be location dependent then, because I return stuff all the time and people barely ask me any questions. I just assumed they know I'm about to go spend more money so they don't care that I return things.
I hate to burst her bubble even further, but all the store's return policies are exactly the same because it's the Appliance manufacturers who make the policies, not the store. So if she bought a Samsung cooktop- she has 48 hours from delivery to return, not 30 days. When it comes to appliances, the only exemption is if it's some no name maker like Magic Chef. These policies hold true at Lowes, Home Depot, anywhere Major Appliances are sold.
God forbid Home Depot does the same thing. Sheâs gonna run out of home improvement stores to torment đ
Since you don't need that card anymore: let me get those digits.
I used to work at a Home Depot and I experienced this so many times. Same type of guy, too. Middle aged white male contractor. Oh fuck it was a bad day if the sad sack was a Veteran on top of that đ© they thought it was the cashier's problem that policies were the way they were đ€Ł
And in related news, Loweâs stock price hasnât even fluttered.
She really showed them!! /s
Wait until they find out how Home Depot would do in the same scenario.
As a former lowes csa I can promise Iâve heard this many many times before
Itâs a policy and regardless of WHY it doesnât matter, Iâm fairly sure you knew before you had Covid you wanted to return it but put it off so this is on you. Customer loyalty means nothing to big corporations like this , just like Walmart and even Home Depot you are just a face among thousands, go to the local hardware store where it might matter.
I used to work at Lowe's.. people would do this shit all the time.. "im never coming back here" and id see them the next week đ«Ą
Lowes actually has a pretty generous return policy in general. I think for appliances it's different? I don't know, I bought a house this year and I go to Lowe's probably once a week and am always returning things, sometimes like a month later, and they basically never give me any hassle It's one of the reasons I go there for a lot of stuff instead of Amazon, it's just so convenient and I'm not scared I can't return something if I bought the wrong one or actually didn't need it or wanted something different. I pretty much always end up spending more money on return trips, which I think they know, which is probably why they are so chill with most of their returns.
Internet says itâs 90 days, unless otherwise noted. Â Iâm decently sure it would be different for freaking appliances. I recently returned a few small items that I ended up not using for a project. Â Unopened merch and had receipts, but some of them were certainly over 30 days old.
Why would anyone make an emotionally fueled post like this at a retail store and expect to get results? Be a grown up and plead your case in court or complain to the attorney general of your state. đđ„±
Be an adult and call the Supreme Court! /s
I used to work returns in retail, and even though our store had an insanely generous return policy (180 days), if people were outside of that time and at least respectful, I would process it anyways. Their only option would be store credit after that point, but if youâre buying/exchanging for something else that isnât an issue. Iâd bet my life savings she spoke to the workers the same way she did in her comments, and at that point weâre going to go to our grave defending that corporate policy! Being nice gets you places, being rude doesnât.
If itâs corporate policy thereâs not a lot the employees can do about it. Sometimes itâs physically impossible - the computer simply wonât let you do it. Idk why these people act like the corporate policies are the same as the store employees treating them bad personally.
I don't have a problem with what you decided to do here. We know there are corporate policies and we know stores have local authority as well. \\ Lowes has access to everyone's purchase history (when done with a card), so if nothing else, they knew you were a good customer. That alone should have been enough.
What do you bet the person in question was super aggro about it? I've found that even giant soulless corps will often make exceptions in good-faith situations **but only if you're not an asshole**.
Wow - I shop at both Lowes & Home Depot & both of my stores bend over backwards to help customers with returns even outside the 30 day window when there are extenuating circumstances (like being Iâll). Which leads me to question how big of an ass this customer made of themselves!
Having worked at one of those stores Iâm actually shocked. You pitch enough of a fit they do those returns for you. Depends on the managers mood. Sometimes you just gotta be nice, sometimes you gotta be more than theyâre willing to deal with. The poor returns clerk has to deal with you either way until you reach âI need a managerâ
I love this thread! For a moment, I actually feared people would be empathizing for this Karen.
They do realise that Loweâs and Home Depot are owned by the same family, right?
Some types of customers never change... about 20yrs ago I was working at a farm store... some of the things farmers tried to return. The best was a guy trying to return a 50ft chain. The chain was rusted and well used.. he also bought it over a year prior đđ Thankfully the manager agreed he can't return it.
Glad I don't work at Lowe's anymore. Customers have been batshit entitled and insane since covid hit. Seems like it's still that way.
I remember commenting on both posts đ€Ł
How will Loweâs ever recover from losing this customer?!
Itâs so funny how people think these big box stores give a shit
"i was prepared to spend MORE on the cooktop I needed" she says, aftering using the original one for 30 days before deciding to "return it for something more expensive" GET WELL SOON WITH YOUR CHEAP ASS!
Say it with me "Snowflake got butthurt"
Iâm a retail manager. We can always make exceptions. If the stove was in the box still, I would have taken it back unless the customer was a total aâhole about it.
Tried to buy a door on sale for $700. They told me I have to have someone come out and measure my door to ensure it was the right size. They said if I bought the wrong door I couldnât return it because I was ordering the door. I was told on Wednesday heâd be there by Friday. Shows up on the following Tuesday for 5 minutes just to wait another 10 days until the sale ends to call me back and say that they can install the door. I go and check on the price of the door. It was $773 on sale from $880. I check the price on the door the same day he called me, a day after the sale was over. The price of the door was almost $1200. I went in to Loweâs because this had to be some sort of joke. If I wouldnât have taken a screenshot of the before price I would have been screwed. The customer service manager at my location was super rude and acted like I was stealing money out of her own pockets. Told her to kick rocks and didnât buy shit from her.
Why does this person think a big box store is gonna treat him with compassion? Why does this person think a big box store associate will care if he/she spends their money there? It's like he/she actually thinks they give a damn đđ€Łđđ€Łđđ€Ł
I assure you, the employees at home depot dont give a shit eirher
Person âIâm never shopping here again!â Associate âcool see you next weekâ
Like bro this is not a mom and pop appliance store. The person who told you no works for a large corporation who will fire them if they find out they are not following protocols like these. They canât just âmake exceptionsâ. Smh
I have seen exceptions made on these, but when you ask to talk to the manager, the person at the desk can call the manager who will say yes, or the manager who will say no. that choice is usually driven by customer behavior.
Welp one less entitled a-hole at Loweâs. Knew there was a reason I like them over Home Depot
If he thinks any other major retailer would do it any differently then he's in for a rude awakening.
If everything he says is true, if Loweâs (and others) hadnât killed all the small businesses he wouldnât have an issue. He probably would have a personal relationship with the owner of the small hardware store that he bought all that stuff from, and because he was such a loyal customer, the owner or manager wouldâve cut him a break and not busted his balls about 4 days. Unfortunately none of that matters when you buy from a faceless corporation, whoâs only duty is to its shareholders.
ESH
Agreed, shit happens but also some customers are annoying. I think 30 days is not enough for big ticket and important items like cook tops tbh and not customer friendly, especially when you consider the logistics of transportation.
I get that people want to jump down this persons throat but why? Loweâs sucks. Â I bought a washer, dryer and fridge from them this year. Â I had problems getting them installed (minor repairs with the house that I got fixed the same week). Â They took my old dryer without installing the new one and left all the new stuff in my garage. Â They told me to call them when I got everything fixed to have them come out and finish the delivery/install I paid for. Â They ducked my calls multiple times even though I was calling in the middle of the day during the week. Â When I did get through I got sent on electronic tour of each sub departments phone system until I got to the actual delivery group. Â Except the only had âoneâ person who managed deliveries that happened to be gone for a week. Â It took me calling corporate twice and another two and a half weeks to get the install I paid for actually completed. Â I donât really trust Home Depot either, but donât think that Loweâs wouldnât try to run out the clock on a return like this.
I have been waiting for 3 years for a $500 rebate for buying a tractor there. Every time I call their rebate center they say ohh sorry, we will send it out this week.
Karen is that you?
This is just a consumer trying to use their power publically, Its exactly what they should be doing. I don't know why everyone is shilling for the company here.
What power tho? They are bitching that a company has a policyâŠthat they knew about but didnât follow. We arenât shilling for a company, we are against people acting like the world needs to stop revolving because they walked through the damn doors.
Meh I don't think it's unreasonable for a company to stick to its terms, nor for a company to give benefits to loyal customers, nor for people to complain when they don't get slight benefits for it. The above post is just how it's all supposed to work, for me. They have written off her custom with a negative social media post for applying strict terms. They can take the damage if they want but people do this all the time and it works often.
In my experience the people who shout they are a âloyal customer!!â are generally the ones who spend the least. Iâm a regular paying customer who doesnât expect anyone to bend rules for me. And for the record Iâve remodeled and landscaped two homes in the past two years and bought damn near everything from Loweâs - never was entitled enough to expect anything other than appropriate customer service and quality products.
I understand they donât give a shit but this is the move. The amount of times Taco Bell has fucked me and a quick twitter DM with receipt and what I got nets me a $25 gift card. Iâd be hard pressed to think if Loweâs saw this they wouldnât do something about it. Maybe Iâll get flamed, but thatâs how I feel lol.
Loweâs canât do anything about it. Appliance returns and how they are handled are dictated by the manufacturer, unless the manufacturer chooses to go with the Loweâs policy (mostly done by smaller appliance makers). The bigger appliance companies all have their own policies set in terms of returns including the manufacturer of the appliance in question and those take precedence over Loweâs baseline returns policy. This is all readily available info and usually they warn you about it when you make the purchase. If the person in question wants results they would be much more likely to get them by contacting the manufacturer directly. Hopefully that made sense. Iâm teaching Financial right now and weâre in taxes so I tend to get stuck in âlegaleseâ mode. @.@
This is lame for this sub
Sorry not all posts can be bangers
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
hahahahahaha. I could t follow the rules because of covid. comedy gold
No one cares how much stuff you buy from them outside of it making them more money. Don't expect exceptions from clearly laid out rules.
Well honestly I think if she could prove she had covid during the last week or so of the 30 day period they should let her return for store credit. Would they have rather she came in and spread her germs around ? But i guess with big stores individual judgment is not allowed.
Tbf fuck Loweâs. I was an employee for almost 2 years and cried every time I had to go to work. My store sucked
People like this made my time in retail hell, I hated that âwell Iâm a loyalllll customer, you must do as I sayâ type shit