Next refund,staff were rude or was I rude? aibu?

[poolboo]

So today I head into town.
I was returning 1 thing I ordered online from next.
So stood in a long queue and got to the front after 10 mins.
The lady said if you just pop your return in the cardboard box next to the fitting room and we will process it in 30 mins.
She didn't ask for my account number or give me a receipt.
I was a bit wary as I didn't have any proof I had returned it and I was worried that anyone got just take it out of this box and I had no receipt to say I had taken it in.

Anyway she told me that was the return process (even tho I had returned things at the till previously)
She said it would be processed in 30 mins and I would get a email.

3 hours later and still no email or confirmation she had processed refund.
I was about to leave shopping centre so I popped back and explained I hadn't received my refund yet and it was well over 30 mins.

She said they had been busy and if I had put it in the box it would get done by end of today.
So I asked if I got it from the box could she just refund me whilst I was here and give me a receipt so I have proof.

She rolled her eyes and said "your making this very complicated"
"This is our returns procedure "

Anyway she did it whilst I was there.

Aibu?
I would have left the shopping centre with no refund and hope that nobody removed my parcel (I know unlikely ) but you never know.

*could just take it out of the box
(Sorry spell check )

She should have just got on with it. Pure laziness.

I returned a dress the other that I’d ordered online and it was done at till and I got a receipt. Think it was her that made it complicated not you!

YANBU

If that is the system it’s ridiculous anybody could take it and you’d have no proof you took it back , she’s either very lazy or the staff in that branch are on some kind of fiddle .

I (and two others in the queue) return my next online order at the tills yesterday. I wouldn't be happy leaving it in a box.

Nope YANBU, i think the process is completely open to anyone getting hold of your return and taking it. I too would want proof of return.

You were perfectly reasonable. She needs some training.

YANBU, I wouldn't be happy with that either. If you didn't get the refund, you'd have no way of proving that you had returned the item.

That sounds an odd way to do returns. I wouldn't have left it in the box as like you say where is the proof if it goes missing

YANBU - I'd of responded to her with a sweet smile and an "oh dear, can I speak to your manager assuming they're more intelligent that you?".

There's no way I would just leave my returns in a box like that! YANBU - she could have processed it through the till - it only takes a few minutes to put a refund through.

HOWEVER if it's anything like when I was in retail, the refund will go against her name and will impact her KPI and sales figures. If she has to process too many she could end up getting a bollocking.

And yes, that is how some shops work and it's shit.

That’s a terrible system!

So do they just process the returns when they have no customers waiting? So if they have customers all day are the staff really expected to work after their finish time to process returns or more realistically they’ll be left to the next day to process? If they have time

Awful system. You were right to insist OP.

I returned items a few days ago and returned them to a till point. I hope this isn’t a new thing they will be expanding in all shops as I will not be happy.

So was it just a open box? If so surely in the long run that’s going to cause problems with items going missing if anyone can have access to it?

It was basically a cardboard box and it said returns.
It was just at the fitting room,on top of the table.
It's nowhere near the till either.
It took 2 seconds to do the return ,scanned the barcode at the till and that was it.
A simple thing and I've had to queue twice and mess around.
It's put me off if I'm honest.

This is the way it was in our next store during lockdown. Only the box was situated outside the door which wasn't always manned. I always rang the bell and handed it to them. Back inside as normal now tho

I had similar during lockdown. I had returned stuff before and they took your stuff off you at the door and asked the name on the account. You then stood to one side and waited for your receipt.
A little while later I took something else back, same set-up but they took the stuff and said I’d get an email later. I questioned it but got told that that’s how they do it, even though it’s not how they did it previously.
Luckily it was ok, but you have no proof if it goes wrong.

Our Next branch was also doing this whilst they were only doing click and collect. The barcode on the item is all the info they need to process and I've had my account refunded and confirmation email without a problem.

If anything it's probably more open to fraud against them rather than against the customer. They are a huge company and if you insist you have returned something they will likely just refund you.

Not sure if they are still doing this now the branch has opened as I haven't returned anything since.

Our next store does this too but also offers you the option to return at counter. Next systems are amazing they do know that item is yours by just scanning it. However you are right these are just open cardboard boxes ....anyone could lift an item and go off with it. Why don't they have a more secure system ? I would write to complain next are very good at customer service normally. So no YANBU.

Yanbu I have never had this experience in Next or anywhere else. Like you say anything could happen to your return if you leave it in a box. She should've just refunded it.

Oh I'm assuming this is since lockdown then as I never seen this box previously.

she was rude

I love this system. Our store uses it and I’ve never had a problem. I don’t think ywbu to want a receipt though.

I was picking up an order At next last week and ours has the box too, I thought it was so strange. Even more so when I got my clothes and there’s nothing in the packaging To indicate it’s for me. It’s literally a pair of jeans and a dress in a bag. Anyone could pick it up and walk out with it.

I never got a receipt either. You just took them from me and said she couldn’t give a refund as it was done on line. I didn’t actually buy them so I’m going to check that the person who did actually got a refund!