"Would you like your receipt?"

[AlanRickmanslovely]

I'm asked over and over again in stores if I would like a receipt. I understand the thinking as far as not using resources unnecessarily, saving the planet by saving paper etc and try hard to do what I can to reduce my carbon footprint and save resources wherever possible.

BUT, the following questions spring to mind:-

1. If stopped when leaving the store and accused of shoplifting how do you prove your innocence?

2. If the item needs to be returned because it is faulty when you get it home, breaks in an unreasonably short time, or doesn't fit (and the shop has a returns policy to cover this), how do you prove when and where you purchased it?

3. If you pay by credit card and a dispute arises, how do you prove to your card company what, how and where you paid?

If you leave the store accused of thievery, a quick return to the tills and their order history should fix the problem, plus the checkout person should at a vague at least recollection of serving you a few minutes before.

Don't decline receipts for items you may want to return. I refuse a receipt for stuff I'm using straight away, as I'm not planning on returning my costa, lunch etc. And for small things, like stationery and stuff.

If you do end up with no receipt, they can technically go back and find your proof of purchase, although they will huff and puff. As long as you have a small window in which you purchased it (a few hours not a couple of weeks) and the price you paid for everything on your order they should go back through their transaction history and locate it.

Many stores will have a little goodwill in exchange without a receipt, but a refund may be harder especially if you paid by cash.

Technically your bank statement proves you made a payment and when to the store, and it's not an unreasonable assumption that that would suffice as proof of purchase although they won't like it.

This amazes me too. For them even to ask, there must be a lot of people who don't want the receipt. As you say, do these people never need to take the item back if faulty etc??

I keep all receipts at least for a month or so, just in case, and keep any receipts for larger/important items indefinitely, at least for a couple of years, more often 5 years or so. It's meant I've been able to get returns/refunds for all kinds of things that have gone faulty.

I also choose where I buy things from if there is a choice. Some retailers are a lot more amenable when it comes to returns/refunds for faulty items. If I get the "little miss stroppy" attitude from the staff at a store where I'm trying to legitimately return a faulty item, I remember that and would try to avoid it in future.

There was a particularly bad manager at Lancaster Argos a while ago who point blank refused to let me return a pan set where the handle had broken off, despite having proof of purchase. I wrote to their head office and got a letter back telling me to take the set back and show the manager the letter for a full refund - talk about the "little miss stroppy" attitude - she started banging things around, spent about an hour checking the pans and after lots of eye rolling, sighing, etc., couldn't think of a way of refusing, so without a word processed the refund. Needless to say, I've never bought a single thing from Lancaster Argos since as there are alternatives!

Some stores are so bad at dealing with returns/refunds even with your proof of purchase so I can't imagine them happily refunding if you don't have your receipt. Perhaps people can't be bothered to take things back????

I always ask for a receipt for the reasons you have given, plus not using a store's carrier bag could also look like you are just walking out with the goods.

New look are the worst for this; they ask if they can take your email address and you have to say no thanks I’ll have the receipt

Last time I bought something it set off the alarm because they’d left the tag on

Went back to the tills, got told the back of the queue was that way ——->

Objected and was treated suspiciously until she saw the receipt. The member of staff who served me had gone off the tills

Grrrrr

If you pay everything by card then you don't need a reciept to return it. All you need is proof of purchase; the section of your bank statement showing the payment qualifies as proof of purchase. They can track down the rest from there.

When have you actually had a dispute with a card company over something you paid for in person? It's really unlikely to be an issue.

I take receipts for big items, but if I'm just doing a food shop in the coop then I don't bother. The likelihood of needing to return it is slim and even if I did, the stuff is in coop packaging so it would be pretty stupid if they didnt believe I bought it from there.

What annoys me most is that the till automatically prints the receipt, whether you want it or not so it's not saving resources at all.

If you pay everything by card then you don't need a reciept to return it. All you need is proof of purchase; the section of your bank statement showing the payment qualifies as proof of purchase. They can track down the rest from there.

Whilst legally/technically true, it's not going to be as easy as just showing your receipt. You're almost certainly going to get "little miss stroppy" who doesn't understand and you're going to have to explain to her how it works, and then she's going to have to call her supervisor, and so on. It's so much quicker/easier if you just produce your receipt.

If you think you might need to return an item, you say yes to your receipt or you get an email one. It's a question not a refusal.
If it's a large store and there's a longer distance between tills and door I'm more likely to have a receipt.

I don't need a receipt in Starbucks, or if I'm buying a drink in Spar to drink immediately. If its something like Mothercare where I won't be trying the item on immediately then an e-receipt might work better anyway.

If you want a financial record of everything you buy, just say yes

I only want receipts for clothes/gifts/big purchases and these tend to be made online. Things I'm buying in person are usually going to be used/consumed right away, so I don't usually want a receipt.

Yeh I find this weird too. I have just started saying ''yes''
To begin with I felt a bit apologetic that yes I do want my receipt. I was saying 'oh um, yes if it's no trouble''
But situation like @Ilovetolurk describes is exactly why we still need receipts.

I take receipts for big items, but if I'm just doing a food shop in the coop then I don't bother.

I usually shop at Morrisons and find myself needing to take something back every couple of weeks or so, usually fresh produce items which often don't last long enough to reach their use by date before going mouldy, or bakery items which aren't baked properly (soggy hot cross buns, fruit scones with no fruit etc).

I don't like it either... I quite often buy something in a cheaper shop, then go up to, say, Wilko, to get extra bits. How else could I prove to them that I actually got that item before entering this store?!

if I'm buying a drink in Spar to drink immediately.

I always ask for the receipt in my local village Spar so I can check what they've charged for each item. They're notorious for over-charging their "offers" and the writing on the till screen is too small to see. Only yesterday, they charged £2 for a pack of corned beef with a shelf-edge price of £1.50 and charged £1.80 for a multi pack of Seabrook crisps with a shelf edge of £1. That's an overcharge of £1.30 on just two items.

I usually only take a receipt for gifts, clothing and household stuff . I don’t bother for smaller things like a cup of coffee that I know I’m not going to return.

If you do lots of transactions in one shop, it's much easier to have a receipt for the one thing you may need to return. Also sometimes the payment process goes wrong and you get debited twice. It's much easier to trace things of you have proof of purchase. I keep all receipts until they've cleared from my account and for big purchases indefinitely. I have bought things like playstations and then forgotten where I bought them from after a while.

Food and drink items consumed immediately, fair enough, I don't need a receipt. I bought a pile of sale clothes in New Look, paid, got my receipt and walked out of the shop thinking it had come to more than I expected it to. I was able to check my receipt straight away, and saw some of the sale items had gone through at full price, so I'd been over charged by £20. If I'd accepted an email receipt, I probably wouldn't have checked it straight away, and it would have been such a hassle to go back to the shops.

@AlanRickmanslovely - the one thing that I was fully expecting to be top of your list wasn't even there...

If you pay on a card/phone/watch how do you keep track of your spending? How can anyone budget if they don't know what they buy? Does no one check their CC bills, bank statements? No wonder the country is in debt up to their eyeballs!

Just ask for the receipt then!

If you're that worried, say "yes please" and take the receipt

I always take a receipt. Even the coop has occasionally charged me incorrectly when there has been an offer or something is discounted. When buying several items you might not notice.

I hate receipts lying everywhere so always say no when they offer. I've not had a problem being accused of shoplifting or returning something (but I'd be happy to accept a gift card)! It's usually at lunch places etc, where you're unlikely to want to return.

I take the point about needing (or rather that it’s handy to have)the receipt if you’re returning faulty goods. I never take one when buying my newspaper - does that mean I couldn’t return yesterday’s when it didn’t print my letter and I didn’t agree with an editorial?!!!

Seriously I use contactless where possible and the amount comes up on my app on my phone immediately.

If you pay everything by card then you don't need a reciept to return it. All you need is proof of purchase; the section of your bank statement showing the payment qualifies as proof of purchase. They can track down the rest from there

I was really impressed when I had an issue with some gift cards I bought from Morrisons. I should have had them activated, but just paid for them at the self service till and when I came to use them, they didn't work (it was getting Now TV at a discount, not actually giving them as gifts luckily).

I'd lost my receipt but could show them the credit card transaction on my phone in online banking. From that, they went into the till and got a list of everything I'd paid for in that transaction, saw that I'd paid for the gift cards and then activated them for me.

I would use email receipts more, except that I don't trust the shops not to use this to bombard me with marketing crap, even though it's illegal to sign people up without permission, they all seem to do it.

I also can't be arsed to be constantly spelling out my email address so that they enter it correctly, because my first name has two spellings and while to me, my last name is easy to spell and pronounce, being the same as a fairly well known place, even when I say it and spell it, people always take it on themselves to spell it in a variety of different ways and pronounce it differently when they say it back to me , so the chances of someone taking my email address down correctly is quite slim.

Although I do like the screen in Uniqlo, where you type in your own email address to get a receipt.

If you pay on a card/phone/watch how do you keep track of your spending? How can anyone budget if they don't know what they buy? Does no one check their CC bills, bank statements? No wonder the country is in debt up to their eyeballs

I don't budget because I naturally spend less than I earn. If I want or need something, I just buy it, looking around for the best price, and thinking about whether I actually do want/need it and can afford it if relevant. Using a card (credit card for cashback and purchase protection, paid off in full every month) is just a payment method and separate to any decisions about whether or not to buy the thing.

I do check my statements to make sure that there's not been any fraudulent transactions, but I don't add up how much I spend on X, Y or Z or think about whether I have a budget for any particular purchase.

But st Ikea they do spot checks on the way out, look through your bag and study the receipt