Unfriendly returns
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27 Dec 2008
As if Toys R Us were not quickly fading from relevance already, they’re failing at the customer service game, too.
A relative bought a small gift for my son—something that I thought he wanted, but apparently something he already had. It had a Toys R Us sticker on the side, so on December 26 we headed over to the nearest Toys R Us to return it.
We were greeted with the following sign.
No Receipt
No Return
No Exchange
No Exception
Toys R Us are certainly within their rights to establish whatever return policy they’d like. Unless the item was misrepresented or defective, they don’t have to take returns at all. Most stores accept returns mainly because if they didn’t, they’d have no customers at all.
Consumer friendly return policies help stores attract customers. Nordstrom famously has a liberal return policy and once allowed a customer to return snow tires to the store—and Nordstrom doesn’t even sell tires.
When I worked at Macy’s as a teenager 20 years ago (wow, was it really that long ago?) we had a decent enough return policy. With a receipt, we’d take anything back for cash 30 days after purchase. Without a receipt or after 30 days, we’d give an exchange or store credit. We once took back an item that hadn’t been sold in the store for years. The couple of days following Christmas, we relaxed this policy even further, mailing checks to anyone without a receipt and giving cash refunds for items under a certain price.
The easier you make it for a customer to purchase from you, the more they’ll buy from you. Smoothing over customer objections and concerns will help them feel more comfortable buying from you.
Toys R Us has increased my concerns. What if I buy something from them and it turns out I don’t need it. Will they take it back? What happens if I misplace my receipt?
Toys R Us can do whatever they want with a return policy. They’re well within their rights to reject returns for any reason. But I also have choices where to shop. You can bet I’ll do all my shopping at a store with a friendlier return policy in the future.