Do you HAVE to give your name and address when asking for a refund in a shop.

[OvO]

I’ve noticed it in a few places.

DH was returning a faulty item today (only had it a week). Had receipt, paid originally in cash, so shouldn’t have been a problem but they wanted name and address. He refused to give his details so they refused the refund.

He did eventually get it but it took and hour and they was much drama.

Now of course he could have just given his details, or even fake ones, and saved all that hassle. I just wanted to know if this was a law or official in some way. Not sure what to google to get the right info. Clearly the shop WAS able to process it without his details.

So, in short, can I refuse to give my name and address when asking for a refund on a faulty item and expect no hassle from the shop?

yes, surely it's down to the banks, not the store. And clearly, as some places don't ask for this, isn't not the banks' policy to need these details.

It's just mindlessness. 'We've always done it so we're not going to stop now even though there isn't any need for it.'

Spread, but if someone refuses to give their details is it not illegal to refuse a refund on a faulty item? That’s all I want to know.

I don’t care why they have the policy, I’ve read about it and understand why, but they need to not try to force people to give info they don’t want to. And don’t NEED to. The company might prefer the info but so what.

Sorry if I'm cross posting but I work in retail head office.
It's a fraud prevention thing but not about your fraud. More so we don't get conned by people buying things and using it and then returning it and doing that repeatedly.
There was a story of a man banned from John Lewis as he kept buying TVs using them and then returning them as faulty in 3 months. In the end JL got specialists to go to his house to check the power wasn't blowing the TVs and recommended a few options to him about what TVs would suit his property but didn't listen, continued to buy TVs and return them in perfectly fine condition with no faults. He was eventually banned from shopping with JL as they were losing a lot of money from him doing this.
The only way they could prove it repeatedly happening is because they had requested his name and address when doing refunds in cash. His card details were enough proof on other occasions x

I work in retail. Companies are not obliged to refund unless its faulty. Some companies require address as it links up if there are a lot of refunds etc to an address.
If you don’t want to give it, refuse politely but don’t be an arse at the till to the person just doing their job. Not saying this to a particular post but just in general. Sometimes the way people speak to people in the service industry is pretty grim,
I don’t give my address if I don’t want to and have never been pressured to do so.

Splish, I do understand why companies want the info and how it helps catch the dodgy buggers but I don’t want to give my info anyway. And hopefully legally don’t have to. But I need a lawyer to come on the thread and tell me if I have the law on my side!

yes, surely it's down to the banks, not the store. And clearly, as some places don't ask for this, isn't not the banks' policy to need these details.

RiverTam It’s absolutely nothing to do with the bank why we need the details; it’s for our own auditors to prove it’s a genuine refund.

Spread, but if someone refuses to give their details is it not illegal to refuse a refund on a faulty item? That’s all I want to know.

OvO As I said, I don’t work in retail but a related sector where sometimes refunds are needed. I don’t know about the legalities concerning faulty items as that is irrelevant to us; we don’t sell anything that could be faulty and all our refunds are at the discretion of management.

Mrs Windsor. SW1A 1AA. Sorted 😂

I used to work in retail management and twice caught other managers doing fraudulent refunds, partly because of the names and address they'd used on them.

One of the times I was on the lowest rung of management and wiped out the 3 tiers of mmt above me as they were all in on the racket together!

I'm always very polite as I’ve worked in shops and know that often
People Are Idiots. . But I wasn’t, and neither was my DH. I know you weren’t specifically aiming it at me but we are always polite and still get arsey staff at times.

I’ve been pressurised many a time. I even had the member of staff at Mamas & Papas on the till. refusing to sell me maternity clothes unless I provided my details! I assume she was just wrongly trained on the matter but that doesn’t change the outcome.

Westminster, SW1 1AA . 07770 774 914

It’s not to prevent fraud by customers, but fraud by staff. Processing a cash refund would be the only way for a staff member to steal cash and still balance their till.
For a courtesy refund, where the article is not faulty, I don’t see why shops shouldn’t request this.

It’s not to prevent fraud by customers, but fraud by staff.

Which is manifestly not the customers problem.

We return to the legal question I was asking : Is a company allowed to invent T&Cs for refunding a customer under statute?.

To which the answer I understood (not being a lawyer) was an emphatic "no". I really don't GAS what your store policies are, I do care about the law.

With all of that said, it seems impossible to sensibly enforce.

I'm sure the staff get a hard time if they don't manage to get customer details.

I'm sure that fraud is one reason for needing this, but I'm sure it isn't the only one.

Customer data is hugely valuable, and companies will do whatever they can to get hold of it, the people whose data it is have no control over what happens to it. Legislation is badly needed to clamp down on this sort of thing.

Customer data is hugely valuable, and companies will do whatever they can to get hold of it, the people whose data it is have no control over what happens to it. Legislation is badly needed to clamp down on this sort of thing.

We have legislation - lots of it. What we don't have (yet) is any acknowledgement in the legal system that personal data is worth anything to the person. So when Megacorp Mixup Ltd. manages to spaff your details all over the web, you aren't entitled to any redress. We also don't really have an effective system for dealing with outfits that play fast and loose with the laws we do have.

Quite amusing this crops up the day MN admits to a possible data breach ...

and in the meantime, as this thread shows, we have all been brainwashed into thinking that this is fine, there's always a good reason, and only 'that' kind of person would object. And Megacorp carries on gathering our data and rubbing their hands with glee.

In an age where it is possible to gather a huge amount of data about us and our habits digitally, do you really think there is someone sitting there going through these receipts and manually inputting the limited and scrawled information you put down when refunding an item? 🙄

I'm often given a recipt thing to sign when getting a refund. I just sign and pass back, never put address, sometimes just put postcode.

Of course, I’m happy to fill in your form. My name’s Minerva mouse. 😉

We have to ask for a name/address but if someone declines it's not a problem. I do have to ask though - it's a mystery shop criteria! And yes, we are sometimes mystery shopped on how we handle returns/faulty items/refunds!

There's no legal requirement for it though.

We have to ask for a name/address but if someone declines it's not a problem

For CEX it was. Store policy apparently trumped contract and consumer law

I know you can give false details. But why should you have to ? Bearing in mind there is some sort of charge of "obtaining pecuniary advantage by deception" which arguably might apply to giving a false name to achieve a refund. Even if it's one you are fully entitled to.

and all that depends on people realising that they don't have to give that information. I bet you don't say 'please can I take your name and address but you don't have to give them to me'.