Some customers have an unfortunate story behind their reasoning for returning an item.
Adorable Old Man At The Disney Store…
“I used to be a manager at a Disney Store. We had a regular old man come in with his wife regularly. They were a SUPER cute couple, I mean – matching outfits, holding hands, just cute as could be…
We used to sell these HUGE stuffed animals (like, ginormous). The couple came in about once a week and would just walk around, laugh and smile, buy things here and there.
One night he came in on his own and bought one of these gigantic Mickey’s we had (it was $300 I think). He was SO excited. He told us all about how he was going to take her out to dinner and it would be sitting there on the bed to surprise her when they got home.
Anyway, two days later he walked back in, carrying the gigantic Mickey Mouse plush to return it. He had bought it to surprise her for her 75th birthday. She passed away in her sleep the day before her birthday.
He thanked us and said goodbye, and that he would not be coming back because our store reminded him too much of his wife. We found out he passed away a week later. It was just 7 days from the day his wife passed.”
Horrifying Reason For The Car Return
“I work in customer relations for a luxury car dealership. Basically, I get paid to interact with customers and make them feel more at ease during the buying and servicing of their vehicle. That being said, I get to know and like a lot of our customers.
So last year, around Halloween, we had a young family come in looking for an SUV since the wife was pregnant and the husband had just gotten a huge promotion. They had a kid already that was around 4, if I remember correctly, and were just actually cool people. I actually spent a lot of time getting to know them through their buying process and was excited to have this family get their dream car.
Fast forward to this August and I see their SUV out in the parking lot (when you work at a dealership you learn your favorites plates and cars, or I’m a freak, both are possible). I ask around and no one in service is working with them, so I ask our sales manager thinking they’re switching into the redesigned model of the SUV (we’d talked about it when they’d bought their car), he gave me an uneasy look and said it was the wife’s mom and I should talk to the sales guy. Weird, but okay.
I find the sales guy and he’s also uneasy, but after a few minutes he tells me to go to the back office and he’ll fill me in. Apparently, the husband lost it and ended up shooting himself and his wife a few months prior. She had just had the baby and I suppose that stressed him out. Her mom was called when the toddler went to a neighbor and said his parents were ‘messy and still sleeping.’
Basically, the mom was there to see if we could buy the vehicle back after getting everything else taken care of, which we did.”
He Didn’t Get To Enjoy His Brand New TV!
“I used to manage the warehouse at an electronics store and occasionally sold stuff and did returns and whatnot. A younger guy came in, about 19 or 20, said he just got his first real job and wanted to buy a big screen TV to celebrate his first paycheck. So I sold him a good TV, did the normal testing for him, gave him a slight discount on warranty and whatnot cause I’m cool like that. He was super happy. I packed everything up for him and put it in his hatchback.
A week later, I saw the TV in my warehouse with a return tag on it. I asked around a bit but nobody really knew, until our usual customer service girl came in to start our shift.
What I was told was that after I sold the TV, he was on his way home when a deer jumped out in front of the car and went through the windshield. The guy was killed instantly. The TV was undamaged because I had laid it down on the floor in the back all wrapped up in bubble wrap and the box.
His dad had come in and returned it.”
Sad Man At Subway
“I worked at a Subway for a year, and we shared the building with a jewelry store. It was a small business and we always made a salad for the owners, free of charge.
One day a customer at their store is incredibly enthusiastic about buying an engagement ring for their significant other. He told the entire Subway crew how he met her after his mother died, and that they’ve been seeing each other for almost 5 years. He kept saying how he was happy that he found someone who makes him truly happy and that all the challenges in his life were necessary for him to find true love.
He came back a few days later. The light from his eyes was gone. He was returning the ring. I talked to the owners later that day after he left, and apparently, she broke it off with him because she fell in love with someone else.
It was really sad to watch.”
iPhone Scam By The Instagram Girl?
“I had a gentleman come into my store one day to buy an iPhone.
After talking with him for less than a minute, he opened up and told me about how he had just been through a divorce where his wife cheated on him and left him with nothing. But somehow he seemed pretty joyous about buying a $950 phone. He then explains to me that the phone isn’t for him but his girlfriend! My spirits lift a bit thinking, ‘Wow, thank goodness he found someone. I hope things are on the up for him!’
However, after talking about how kind she is and how she travels the world, buying art for different art exhibits at museums, he decides to show me a picture of her.