To return a dress i will wash

[SugarUpyum]

Hi,
I bought a dress from a well-known clothes shop in my usual size.
Ofcourse with the virus rules, we cant try clothes on so I bought it yesterday.
I tried it on this morning and it fits me terribly - much too big on the shoulders and very bulky.

However, I took it off after i tried it on and noticed it had a lipstick stain (very small but noticeable)
What do i do?
Do i wash it?

It cost £40 so dont fancy keeping an ill-fitted dress for that price

I'm not referring to in shops, I said things bought online, it's different and yes they really do. I can only speak for where my relative works but they definitely get cleaned, repackaged and resold

The BBC Earth article I linked is about online returns. Vast majority ends up in landfill.

We need to be aware of the impact of our choices.

You could keep your mask on or

It's a shame online returns that can't be resold can't be donated to charity shops, rather than sent to landfill.

No wonder shops like Oasis are going under! shops will have enough profit margins to allow for loss on returned clothes. Online sales are where the big profits are, it's the cost of operating on the high street that cripples businesses.

I regularly encounter clothes in shops that are stained with makeup. Especially necks and collars of tops with foundation marks. I doubt many women would offer to pay for an item they had tried on and didn't like just because they had marked it. It goes on all the time and I think shops budget for these damages, and expect it, just as some clothes get knocked on the floor and trodden on or dirtied on the shop floor.

In order to give you a refund, the ship needs to have the ability to re-sell the product, if they choose to. A soiled product cannot be re-sold, so the shop will be out of pocket.

Why should the shop bear the loss of £40 when YOU and not they damaged the product?

It is fine to return goods if they are in sellable condition or if they were damaged when they arrived. It is not okay if YOU have damaged them.

How can anyone with a sense of morality consider it is okay to return goods they have personally damaged and expect a full refund? Why should a firm be exacted to pay for the damage you caused?

I recall buying some jeans back in the 90's. Got them home and notice they were absolutely filthy at the bottom and ragged. Clearly been worn for some time. To this day I don't know how I didn't notice them in the shop.

Returned to store immediately. Refund refused. Apparently I'd done it. I asked how I'd done it given I'd bought them an hour ago. Still, she refused.
I was young and pig headed at the time so positioned myself by the doors and every potential customer I showed the ratty jeans. Most turned around. After 15 minutes or so the manager could see I wasn't giving up here so came out and threatened to call the Police. "Please do, I'd welcome their input" was not the response she was expecting.

A further 5 minute stand off ensued when eventually she came outside, virtually threw the cash at me and told me I was banned from the store. I laughed and asked if she really thought I'd want to come back.

I learned a lesson though, I check everything very carefully in store now.

Ah, I remember the days when posh shops used to put chiffon scarves in each changing room to address the make-up issue, not plastic bags.....

shops will have enough profit margins to allow for loss on returned clothes.

They often don't have the margins, though. Online shopping has a massive impact on "bricks and mortar" profits. People shop online because it's easier/quicker/more convenient - but they don't know their size or what the colour will look like, so they go and buy maybe 2-3 different sizes and several colours of the same item. However, they return things in store - presumably because it means they get their refund more quickly and they don't have to pay postage.

So, out of a shop of maybe 5-6 items, they only keep a couple. So out of a £120 shop, they maybe keep £40 worth of stuff. The shop then has to take that refund of £80 off their sales for the day. Repeat 5-10 times a day and that's a large portion of your takings gone. But it's not just that - online returns are time consuming - both at the till point and in the backroom as the clothes need to be refolded, often re-priced/tagged, bagged back up again and then put away again.

Online shopping does have it's benefits and yes, it makes money - but it only turns a consistent profit if people keep what they buy, and a lot of people don't. Before I left retail, I also saw a massive increase in people ordering stuff to be delivered to store - and the vast majority admitted it was so they could try it on and return what didn't fit/they didn't like. They're exceptionally open about the fact that they plan to return over 50% of what they've bought.

I've worked in a clothes shop and I never had a customer come to the counter and offer to pay for something they'd marked with makeup after trying it on. I'm not sure where all these morally correct honest shoppers are? I never saw them.

Slightly different but I once knocked over a huge glass ornament off a Christmas display in a shop and when I confessed, was told not to worry, damages happen, I wouldn't have to pay.
I think a lot of places are prepared to absorb some damages for a good name, to encourage repeat customers etc.

@SmileyClare

I've worked in a clothes shop and I never had a customer come to the counter and offer to pay for something they'd marked with makeup after trying it on. I'm not sure where all these morally correct honest shoppers are? I never saw them.

Slightly different but I once knocked over a huge glass ornament off a Christmas display in a shop and when I confessed, was told not to worry, damages happen, I wouldn't have to pay.
I think a lot of places are prepared to absorb some damages for a good name, to encourage repeat customers etc.

I think in-store damage is different and most shops have a contingency in place for that - after all, accidents happen. I often had to faulty/second stuff that was marked by pricing guns or make-up. If it happens in store it's not so much of a problem.

Where I was, the "cost" of faultying/seconding an item was cheaper than the cost of refunding it as well. Presumably because they knew accidents would happen.

mandalorian I LOVED your post. It really made me smile. I work with teens, can almost picture the indignant, crosses arms posturing!! 😆

I wouldn't try to return an item I had damaged myself.
It wouldn't matter if I thought they factored such costs into their profit margins, I would just think it's wrong.

We need to expect decent consumer rights but also to take responsibility for our own actions too.

I expect to be able to return damaged goods for a full refund and that most stores will refund if I change my mind within a short period (realise they are not obliged to do the latter) but I also take responsibility and know if I damage something, it's down to me. We've all done it (there's another thread running about damaging items you've just bought) and isn't it just a disappointing reality that when we damage something ourselves, we are disappointed but don't try to foist the cost of that onto someone else?

be grateful that you only have this problem to think about from the virus.
rather than how to plan a distanced funeral
For feck sake.

I shop mostly online and have sometimes received an item which somebody has clearly tried on before me - slight makeup smudge or similar.

It doesn't bother me tbh. If I like the garment then I will keep it anyway and just give it a wash. Where's the harm? If I bought it in a shop then someone might well have tried it on before me anyway.

I wouldn't accept a torn or dirty or otherwise badly used garment, but it seems a bit OTT to be writing off a garment as unwearable or unsaleable because of a minor smudge that will wash out. I think the OP should just return the dress as normal.

@vanillandhoney

The head office must have way of dealing with this? It’s not rocket science to work out impact on individual stores’ P&L due to online shopping being returned.

[quote Cadent]@vanillandhoney

The head office must have way of dealing with this? It’s not rocket science to work out impact on individual stores’ P&L due to online shopping being returned.[/quote]
Of course they know the impact, but it doesn't take away from the fact that it means the shops are taking less money compared to previous years, despite footfall being the same. They don't really care whether the refunds are due to online ordering, faulty goods or size swaps - all they want is to keep refunds to an absolute minimum.

When I was there, we were expected to turn refunds around into exchanges and we got pulled up if we had too many refunds to our name. The impact of online returns on shop sales and shop staff is huge sadly.

I got out of retail recently and I'm so thankful I did. It's not a very positive environment to work in these days!

The shop assistant is more likely to realise you've washed it than realise a small lipstick stain tbh. I wouldn't take it back either way as it just feels unfair but if I had to take it back I wouldn't wash it

But if there was no online shopping then the company probably wouldn’t get that money anyway?

It’s very bizarre that they tried to make you turn online returns into exchanges. I’ve never had that happen. Which shop was it?

@Cadent

But if there was no online shopping then the company probably wouldn’t get that money anyway?

It’s very bizarre that they tried to make you turn online returns into exchanges. I’ve never had that happen. Which shop was it?

I don't really want to say the company because it's not an especially big chain and combined with my other posts it could be fairly outing - sorry!

But yes, a large number of returns against your name was seen as you not doing your job properly - it was one of the big reasons I left. The pressure from head office to sell, sell, sell and to turn refunds around was immense and it led to an awful atmosphere in the shop.

What have you lost £40. It's nothing.

Well maybe in your world miss Money bags. Meanwhile here in the real world that most of us have to live in......................

Those of you who would take it back, knowing you'd damaged it, at what point do you decide that it is too late to return an item or that the wear/damage you've done to it is now your responsibility and not that of the firm?

So some will return after washing or after trying on and damaging/soiling....what about 2 or 3 washes, or making a small hole or a big hole after 1 wear or 2 wears or 5 wears? Or is it simply that the firm is fair game and you think they don't deserve your money even when you've had their product in good faith and any damage is done by yourself. I just wonder where you draw the line.

I shop online mostly and would assume that they have quality control on the way out but check for the tag on, on the way in.

Except for shoes maybe as it’s about soles not tags.

Actually they might remove it as it comes in but either way the online sites which were set up to be really good at online shipping (NaP etc) I’d say they check it’s all fine before packing,

What about returning it after 2 or 3 washes, 5 wears and with a hole? Where do you draw the line? well that's being a bit silly

I don't think it's possible to be given a refund unless all the cardboard tags are in place and within the time period on the receipt. I think most people suggested trying to dab a small stain off and return it? Not sure why people have started talking in hyperbole lipstick smeared all down the front, a destroyed garment and so on.

I would return the dress if I'd successfully managed to remove the lipstick mark with a cloth.

YABU. And people should think about how these items of clothing are made before buying them at all. Unlikely it's organic and ethically made, so pesticides have further destroyed an ecosystem and harmed the farmer applying them, and someone in a sweatshop has laboured over that for 10p and it is now going to be destroyed if you return it (when you avoidably damaged it).

You can't send it back if you damaged it