Grrr Primark

Oh, you're singing my song. This kind of shopping really cannot be sustained. Literally.

Well I don’t know as I don’t support fast fashion.

But I’m assuming if it had the security tag they might cotton in to the fact it hadn’t been purchased yet.

I hope you weren't rude to the assistant. It's absolutely normal to provide a receipt as proof of purchase.
You could have asked your friend to exchange them for a large size, or just given them to a charity shop.

The real problem is the scale of cheap disposable production where the items are sold off at prices that people can afford to bin them months later ( if they even last that long) and they can’t pay their staff properly. Or don’t want to.

Its money at the back of the issues. We need to go back to a world where purchases were thought out, significant, and lasting.

but If I’ve taken an item that I haven’t paid for straight to the till, then the new item the assistant will take a tag off….. but never have I had an item from primark with a tag on

Many shops don't have security tags or they have the ink ones (so they don't beep).
Primark doesn't have tags.

I meant efficient for both op and the item.

She may not be close to a charity shop; I’m not.

Because they don't leave the shop. They browse, steal the item, then ask for money back.

That’s what the security tags are for surely?

It's not! Give the item to charity.

Aren't you the little Princess.

I don't get how somebody can pick up an item and make out they were returning it, without security beep going off at exit.

That's horrible. Imagine being so selfish and lazy.

But what if I walk into a shop pick up an item take it straight to checkouts for a refund or exchange on an item I haven’t actually paid for? It’s a trick some people do hence the need for a receipt

But surely if it has the tags on they can scan the tags and the “system “ must be sophisticated enough to figure out if told “ returning this item.”

I think it’s just about profit. If they had their way noone would return anything. Limiting the window (when stock is still in season) and requiring receipts is simply about reducing the number of returns by counting on the fact people might be unwell/ on holiday/ not like to ask for recipe from donor of gift etc.

I was chuffed today when I returned a dress to Tu at Sainsbury's. Had the wrong receipt (other things I'd bought another day), no idea where the correct one was. Staff member was going to put the amount on a gift card (minus 20% as they now have a sale on) until she suggested we look on my Nectar card. There it was, proof of full price & the date, so I got full refund to my card.

I wouldn't have thought of that, so it's worth having the card just for that!

They can’t resell them. They will likely end up in ‘lost and found’ and after a period of time either sent back to warehouse for disposal / given to charity depending on their specific policy.

This happened to me in Zara this week - I tried to exchange a top (a gift) for a different size. It was obviously brand new with the tags on, and identical to the one I wanted to swap it for.

I was genuinely surprised they wouldn’t exchange it; I’ve done this in the past with no problem (though possibly in different shops). So I kept the original one and will have to donate it. I don’t blame you OP for being pissed off; I thought it was poor customer service but if that’s the policy there’s nothing you can do.

Was it?

They can resell them.

I thought it was an efficient manner of disposal.

An entire month is ample time to check the fit, realize it’s wrong, and make your way back to the store to swap it. If you don’t bother to do that in a month then it clearly wasn’t that important anyway.

Deterring shoplifting is part of it, but inventory is a big factor. Some people don’t seem to understand that every single specific item that a company owns, down to each size and colourway and each store location, is tracked by their systems. So if you want to just swap a small navy top for a medium one without using the till, that store’s inventory is now thrown off and the medium will be counted as loss (theft) during their next check. This bumps up the loss statistics which reflects poorly on the store, the management, and the profitability of that location.

Their system will continue to say that they have a medium navy shirt even though they don’t, and any customer wanting that shirt is going to have employees running around the store checking the stock room and the displays looking for it. It is absolutely not worth the hassle for a customer that wasn’t responsible or reasonable enough to have a bloody receipt.

I’ve never worked retail but I do partake regularly (read: prolific shopper) and I’m always baffled when someone is holding up the line because they still somehow don’t understand this.

Not after 30 days, they don’t swap without a receipt.

Faulty goods still sometimes need a receipt if it's a branded item
Eg if you buy a vacuum cleaner from Argos that turns out to be faulty.
If it's an argos only brand then fine but if you try to return a Henry hoover you could have bought that in any number of places and Argos needs actual proof you purchased it from them.
Some customers can't seem to understand this and we cannot just take your word for it.
One other thing, a bank statement is not proof of purchase either unless it can be matched up with a receipt (which is a time consuming ball ache to find usually!).
A bank statement only shows you spent X amount at a store not what you bought.

You can't return things to a shop or exchange them without a receipt, that is standard. Could you not have told your friend that you need a different size and asked for a receipt?
Sorry you're feeling unwell and grumpy.