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Jewish World Review Jan. 23, 2008 / 16 Shevat 5768 Gift refund made him feel cheated By Vicki Lee Parker
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | (MCT) Two weeks ago, Adam Orentlicher of Cary, N.C., did what many consumers do after the holidays - he returned a gift. Armed with a gift receipt, he expected to get a full refund for the Adidas jacket his mother-in-law had bought him for Christmas. Instead, he got a shocking retail lesson. The original price was $55. Orentlicher got $10 less because he only had a gift receipt. The policy at Dick's Sporting Goods is to refund items at their current price if you don't have the receipt showing the amount paid. Retailers are free to set their own refund policies, and they're not all the same, said Scott Krugman of the National Retail Federation. Target, for example, will give a refund for the original price with a gift receipt. Krugman could not say how widespread policies like the one Dick's uses are. He suggested that shoppers take the time to check each store's policy. Unfair? You bet. Especially when retail experts for years have encouraged customers to get gift receipts to ensure easy returns and refunds. Plus, what are retailers doing with all that extra money? At first Orentlicher only had a hunch that his mother-in-law paid more when he noticed the same style of jacket in the store - on sale. A manager told Orentlicher that Dick's had no way of tracking the original price with just a gift receipt. Without the original receipt, he said he would refund him the current price of the jacket. Orentlicher wrote to Dick's customer service and got the same answer in an e-mail message. "This is not some small company," Orentlicher said. "It's a billion-dollar chain listed on the New York Stock Exchange. How can they not have the capability to look up past purchases?" Attempts to reach the Dick's spokesman were unsuccessful. Fortunately, Orentlicher was able to get the original receipt from his mother-in-law, after an awkward explanation about why he was returning the jacket and needed to know the price she had paid. He said Dick's is issuing him an additional $10 refund. But it's another rude wake-up call for consumers. About 40 percent of us return holiday gifts, the National Retail Federation said. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that many shoppers don't feel comfortable asking someone what they paid for a gift. So what's a consumer to do? In the future, if you get a gift receipt, make sure the store's policy is to refund at the full purchase price. If not, make sure you get a receipt that lists the price, too, and tell the gift recipient you have it. Or complain - and then shop at another store. Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Vicki Lee Parker is a columnist for The News & Observer. Comment by clicking here.
Previously:
7 gifts to build wealth © 2007, The News & Observer Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Arnold Ahlert | |||||||||||
