to take something back to a charity shop

[SquareholeRoundpeg]

And asking for a refund?

I do regularly donate to charity and have been involved in various fund raising events-just to set the scene!

I was in a charity shop recently and found a beautiful designer shirt for DH for £15. I took it home for him but it did not fit unfortunately. So the following week I took it back.

They said they did refunds but I was made to feel most unwelcome and the manager doing the refund even made a comment on my ring - but not in a nice way.

It made me think I was out of order to return it, given that it is a charity.

Wibu?

[SquareholeRoundpeg]

Thanks all, it is nice to know most of you didn't think I was completely unreasonable. It is a bit of a grey area one I agree.

I have bought lots of things from charity shops and never taken anything back, even if it was not suitable. But because the shirt was £15, designer and could easily be resold I thought it was be ok.

For the record, I had the receipt, label still intact and I knew from asking on a precious visit that they did refunds (I remember being surprised).

[Seeyounearertime]

I wouldn't have taken it back, I'd have tried to ebay it and make profit.

[neighbourhoodwoes]

Ours do refunds and encourage you to bring it back if it doesn't fit. Usually i just re gift to them but at £15 I might be tempted to return as I couldn't afford to waste that much.

[AlpacaPicnic]

We always emphasised the fact that we would happily refund items if you wanted to return in a sellable condition, it with tags still on and with receipt.

Because if you see something and you think 'oh that's perfect for DH but I'm not sure on the size' knowing you can return if it's not quite right means you might take a chance. DH works when the shop is open so can't go in and try it on himself, so you buy it and try it.
If there is no chance of a refund, then I'm not risking £15 if it might not fit.

[SquareholeRoundpeg]

Well said alpaca!

[Trills]

Shops are not obliged to give refunds for that reason - I would not have expected a charity shop to do refunds and wouldn't even have tried to give it back.

However, if their policy is to give refunds then the staff should do so with good grace.

[BombadierFritz]

Charity shops get so ripped off on refunds for items never bought. None here do refunds. But if they do them, they should do it with good grace
(Regardless, i'd redonate not ask for a refund unless i couldnt afford to eat, but then i wouldnt be spending that money on a shirt)

[bigbuttons]

Charity shops make shed loads of money. Their prices are ridiculous. I would have no qualms taking £15 item back.

[MackerelOfFact]

I wouldn't take something back to a charity shop, it's the risk you take with charity items - but if they said they would, they should honour their word without fuss!

[slithytove]

Why do refunds rip them off?

[BombadierFritz]

Charity shops are targeted by fraudsters because they have volunteers working on old cash tills. Its very easy to produce a cash til receipt or to steal or make a label, or just to pick up an item in the shop. You then ask for a refund and get given cash. Its a very common type of scam and why no charity shops near us give refunds. Charity shops are also more often targeted for theft because of the lack of security

[AlpacaPicnic]

The last time I bought something from a charity shop, it was on a fancy electronic till that was operated by touching a computer screen. Basically it was fancier than the one I now use in work. And it printed a proper identifiable receipt and everything.

All that for a 50p plush Zingy. I love my Zingy!!!

[AlpacaPicnic]

Aaaaaand when I was a volunteer, I was also doing my A levels so don't assume volunteer = incapable of operating till or spotting scam.

[notamummy10]

I'm going to tell a little story about charity shops and refunds.

A few years ago I volunteered in a charity shop that sold furniture, a customer bought a £300 two seater sofa and had it delivered to them with no problems. A few days after the sale, she came in demanding a refund because the sofa smelt of smoke (absolute bullshit - if it smelt of smoke, it wouldn't have been on the shop floor.

After complaints to the area manager, which led to them coming to the shop and arsey visits and phone calls they got the £300 back. It took a while though as the till only had a certain amount of money and we weren't meeting targets.

So a £15 refund for a shirt that doesn't fit is reasonable, £300 refund for an impulse buy isn't!

[Spandexpants007]

My charity shop always tells me to return stuff if no good

[Spandexpants007]

£15 is a lot if money to throw away

[BombadierFritz]

alpacapicnic go tell that to the people who try to scam charity shops, not me. I am telling you how it is. Maybe not at your charity shop but it is a fact that is how it is at the ones near me and is the reason why none of the charity shops near me offer refunds. Its not a rich area. The charity shops are mostly for small charities. They were regularly targeted in this way so they stopped offering refunds. Its quite common elsewhere too from what i hear.

[Earlgreywithmilk]

I would never return something to a charity shop, however I am relatively well off and if I didn't have much money maybe I'd feel differently..

Actually no, I still don't think I would

[mathanxiety]

I agree with your approach to returns to charity shops, Grey's (and others too).

I wouldn't bring something back. If £15 was a lot of money for me then I would wait until I could have the intended recipient try the item on or until I could bring in an existing shirt of his to compare sizes. Sometimes a shop will set an item aside if you pay a deposit, or at least they would do that for you in my local charity shop. In this case, a designer shirt could be sold on on eBay too.

[frumpet]

I wouldn't return items ( as mentioned earlier the suit was my only return anyway) to the little independent charity shop , only the ones with the shiny shop fittings and Brand , but as said earlier they actually tell you their returns policy when making a purchase .

I was really shocked the other day when someone ( a dealer apparently ) came in and tried to haggle on the price of something !

[NoahVale]

I find you have to pick your words when asking for a refund.

[frumpet]

I spend far too much time -and money- in charity shops , they are my favourite retail experience

[thecatsarecrazy]

I bought my dh some trousers from a charity shop. He's an awkward size and its hard to get them anywhere plus we didn't have much money. They were only about £2.50 but when I got home they had all bleach stains on them.
I took them back and she said cant he use them for gardening or something? I said no he has enough trousers for that. May well be a charity shop but I still want what I paid for.
When I left school I did a few months in one and plenty of people asked for refunds.

[WhyCantIuseTheNameIWant]

Charity shops are businesses.
They have their own rules.

We used to shop in a nice one until the company sacked the manager. For being nice to customers. By doing sensible things like letting them use a little side room to try things on. Or let a supervised toddler use the toilet. Or giving an upset child a random little toy (not sellable as part of incomplete set)

I got a couple of things for dd over the years that had to go back. Their policy was clear. 2 weeks for refund with tag and receipt. Else exchange.

Most times we just exchanged. Once we had a refund as there wasn't anything suitable to swap.

If you still had tag and receipt and asked nicely, yanbu.

If you had taken them off and demanded refund instead of swap, months later, yabu.

[SquareholeRoundpeg]

No I went in the following week after I bought the shirt