There are some customers who will do anything for a refund. Retail employees remember the most ludicrous things customer tried to return to their store. Content has been edited for clarity.
It Was The Right TV, But Why Didn’t It Fit In Its Box?
“My sister-in-law worked in Customer Service at a Walmart in Pennsylvania in the early 2000s. One customer brought in a large TV in an open box with a recent receipt. They said there was nothing wrong with it, but it didn’t fit where they had planned to put it. But, the TV didn’t seem to fit in the box either.
It’s not easy to get many products back in the original packaging, but this TV stuck out more than usual.
My sister-in-law looked inside and verified it was the proper TV. Then she noticed a large crack in the side of the case and opened the box further to check. Through the crack, she noticed that the interior was very dusty. When she attempted to pull the TV out, all she got was the case, because it wasn’t attached to the actual TV.
Turns out the ‘crack’ was just a gap where the case didn’t quite fit. The customer had taken the case off the new TV and used it to conceal the fact that they were attempting to return their old TV.”
Christmas Return
“I once saw a guy try to return a Christmas tree in a store in Britain. He came up to one of the cashiers and said he got the tree earlier but had now changed his mind and wanted a refund. The lady at the till asked him for his receipt, but he said he has lost it. The lady then called her manager for a refund authorization.
The manager arrived and asked the man to wait a few minutes, then went to check the store CCTV. Upon viewing the CCTV, he saw how the man had come into the store empty-handed and had picked the tree from the display and brought it to the cashier, he confronted the man with the evidence, upon which the man ran out of the store.”
What Could Be Wrong With A Reeses Peanut Butter Cup?
“I was working behind the counter at a drug store that day. When a lady wanted to return a Reeses Peanut Butter cup. I asked her if there was anything wrong with it. I was thinking that it was a hot day and she might have left it in her car where it melted. The wrapper she was holding looked kind of rumpled like a candy bar would if melted.
I nearly started laughing when she told me how she didn’t know it was made with peanut butter. But she had to sample it to make sure. I was trying to keep a straight face when I was handed the wrapper because she had eaten it all! I explained to her that I couldn’t give a refund without the product. She went away miffed.”
“A FEMALE Like You Wouldn’t Understand”
“I worked at the Big Orange Hardware store in the early 2000s. You would think that basic sanitary issues would keep this from happening, but nope.
I was about to clock out from returns when a man walked in with something wrapped in a big plastic garbage bag. He was struggling, so it was obviously heavy and unwieldy.
He dropped it on the counter, and said, ‘Here’s my receipt.’
Me: ‘What is this?’
Man: ‘It’s the toilet we bought yesterday. It doesn’t fit, so I’m returning it.’
Me: ‘Ok. Let’s see the receipt.’
Man: ‘Hurry up. I have to get the right one installed asap. We close tomorrow.’
I looked at the receipt and indeed, he had purchased a toilet yesterday. However, we had a STRICT policy about NOT allowing returns on porcelain that had been removed from the box. The Health Department MORE than frowned on this. The man was NOT happy to hear this, and yelled for the manager because ‘a FE-MALE like you wouldn’t understand.’
By this time, the odor had made people move out of the store. My manager was already on his way up; Customer Service had called him as soon as he struggled in. Seems he had used {and I mean USED) the offending porcelain before the wax seal was in place, and now had his wife cleaning the bathroom while he ATTEMPTED to get a brand new porcelain chair. When the bag was removed, we opened MANY cans of air freshener to clear the smell. Evidently, his dinner didn’t agree with him for about an hour or so.
He was so unhappy with the answer the manager gave him (a RESOUNDING ‘NO’) that he had to be escorted from the store by the police – without the refund – OR a replacement.”
“He Emptied The Contents Of A Small Paper Bag Into My Hand”
“I used to work at the returns department of our local Kmart while I was in college. I had a long line of people that day waiting to return things so I was working full speed.
There was a young boy in the line and when his turn came I looked him in the eye asking, ‘What was wrong with this?’
At the same time, he was emptying the contents of a small paper bag into my hand.
‘It died,’ he said
I was holding a dead mouse. Yes, the animal.”
How Old Is That Printer?
“A couple of years ago I went to Costco to return an item. I don’t even remember what I had bought – it was the wrong item and I had not even opened the package. Waiting in line, in front of me was a man, probably 10 years younger than me, carrying a Hewlett-Packard Deskjet printer. I knew that model well because it is old – over 15 years old, and it looked it. I am a computer nerd, and I know most models of Hewlett-Packard printers – be it Laserjet, Deskjet, Designjet, Office Jet, or whatever. Since I was right behind him, I could hear everything he was trying to tell the Costco employee.
He said had bought it from here at this store and it stopped working. I looked at the employee because she looked up at me and I just grinned.
When something is bought from Costco, they keep a thorough record of it and this man did not even have a Costco membership (that gave it away), but he insisted he bought it from here.
The young lady was intimidated by him so I interrupted him and I said, ‘Give me a break. That printer is over 15 years old and they never sold that model here and when it was made, this store hadn’t been built!’
The guy argued with me and said he bought it here.
I said, ‘No, you didn’t. You either bought it for $10 from a thrift-shop, or got it out of your garage. What you are trying to do is committing fraud and I will call the police right now to have you arrested!’
It took him a couple of seconds before he ran out. I was a little afraid of him waiting for me outside but it was in the middle of the day when I was leaving the store and by then, he was already gone.
Cheating is wrong, and the guy was a complete idiot who tried to circumvent their generous return policy and he was not even smart enough to come up with a good story.
The young lady thanked me for helping her. I made a joke and said I was in a hurry to buy a Costco hot-dog and he was holding up the line.”
“I Haven’t Worn The Dress”
“While I was shopping for prom dresses with my daughter, I was talking with the salesperson. It was a busy time of year with girls shopping for dresses for proms and cotillions. Apparently, it was also the time of year when women shopped for dresses for fancy dinner parties.
I asked the saleswoman if anyone ever tried to return a dress that they had worn (once to a prom, once to a dinner party, etc.) She said it happened quite often.
Her ‘favorite return’ was from a woman trying to return a beautiful ball gown. The woman stated she decided she didn’t want that dress after all. The saleswoman asked her if she had worn it.
‘Oh, no! I haven’t worn it, I just found a different dress that I liked better, so I don’t need this one,’ the woman said.
Busted!
The saleswoman went to the counter, pulled out the newspaper, and there on the ‘Social Page’, upfront and center was a picture of that woman at her ‘fancy party’ wearing the dress she said she had never worn!
It turns out that the saleswoman had just happened to see this woman’s picture in the newspaper with the dress she had sold to her and kept a copy of the paper ‘just in case’.”