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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

It's okay to wear clothes then return them for a refund

383 replies

KeyLimePies · 31/01/2022 09:26

Kay Burley on Sky News mentioned an article in one of the papers covering what happens to clothing purchased online and returned (not sure which retailer). Apparently they go to a big warehouse to be sorted and are given a 'sniff' test - to which KB said "c'mon, we've all done it"

AIBU to think that the majority of people don't order clothes, wear them, then return items in a smelly state for a refund? I have never done this unless the item has developed a fault after wearing it - and I've definitely never returned clothing smelling of sweat or anything else.

YABU - it's perfectly okay to wear something then return it for a refund, even if it's not faulty - it's one of life's perks.

YANBU - the majority of people don't do a KB!

OP posts:
milveycrohn · 31/01/2022 10:16

I never take the tags off until I am satisfied that the item is suitable, etc.
I would never return anything worn (apart from trying it on)

speakout · 31/01/2022 10:17

It's stealing.

lottiegarbanzo · 31/01/2022 10:18

Yuck, no. There are places you can rent party dresses from, so it's all above board.

minipie · 31/01/2022 10:19

Not ok.

Not just for hygiene reasons but

a) every time you buy something and return it, you’re adding to vans on the road and wasted packaging

b) if enough people do this rather than buying the item, the retailers make less money and have to push the price of clothes up for those of us who do actually pay.

ferneytorro · 31/01/2022 10:20

I don’t like Kay burley (sure she’s devastated!). I’ve always felt bad about it as I didn’t know why other than finding her style quite aggressive/abrasive. Now I know about this I don’t feel bad so thank you. Bit like when the Sunday times tells me periodically that I’m having dinner parties and snorting coke. Nope I’m not.

deathofastrawberry · 31/01/2022 10:20

No never done this, it's basically stealing. If everyone did this their favourite clothes shops would all be shut down due to not making any profits Confused

cavalierkingc · 31/01/2022 10:22

A lot of young people do, who want to keep up with trends on instagram but cant afford new clothes for every weekend.

Toolsand · 31/01/2022 10:22

Before online shopping, if you wanted to return a worn item, you’d need to face a shop assistant and you’d have to be very brazen and thick skinned.

Now with online shopping, you just pop it in the post, there’s no one to eyeball you and no possibility of feeling shame. So the amount of people returning used clothing has skyrocketed.

This is making clothing more expensive for us all. Not to mention having a huge environmental impact.

I would never do it myself.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 31/01/2022 10:24

i dont think i like kay burley

AlternativePerspective · 31/01/2022 10:25

Well I’d expect nothing less of Kay Burley.

This is the same woman who asked Steve Wright’s wife “do you think he would have been less likely to have gone with prostitutes and murdered them if you’d had sex more often?” Vile woman.

viques · 31/01/2022 10:25

@lborgia

I remember being at the back of a very long queue for customer returns at Marks in Oxford Street. I think it would've been around 1988...

The woman at the front who was being this HUGE hullabaloo, was trying to return a lot of stuff and arguing that it had worn badly, and was terrible quality, and she wanted a refund.

I thought the nightie looked familiar because it looked like one my mum had worn when I was about 4...

The Mark's employee said very loudly that the kind of product number it had no longer worked with the new machines, and so she went and got this huge folder, and suggested it was circa 1973. Which would've been spot on by my calculation Grin.

The woman had absolutely no shame and ended up coming out of it with a very small gift voucher.

Barking.

Thanks for the reminderSmile

Back in the day there was a rumour that if you ever found yourself without money, say you had your purse stolen or something, you could walk into any MS and return an MS item you happened to be wearing for cash..... I don’t know if it was true, but they were certainly less bothered about producing receipts for refunds.

We had an old uncle who must have had several suitcases full of MS American tan tights, for years every woman in the family got gifted pairs for Christmas, I don’t think any of us had the nerve to return them though. Though that was probably more due to the imagined shame of being seen in public in possession of such naff tights!

HaveringWavering · 31/01/2022 10:26

@TooMuchPaper

Yes people do it. Hence why clothes are sniffed by the staff when being checked. I've seen Marks and Spencers staff sniff the crotch of trousers and the armpits of t-shirts.
I think that people are disgusting and probably will do this. However I also think that it must be a gross breach of employment rights to force a member of staff to do this as part of their job.
Cantleave · 31/01/2022 10:26

@SoupDragon

My opinion is that only twats do this.
Agree with this. That will be why some clothes are so expensive, to cover the costs of these returns!
phishy · 31/01/2022 10:27

If that is her excuse it wasn't said in the context of the news piece.

Excuse? Do you have a vendetta or something?

It sounds like it was about doing the sniff test in clothes before wearing them.
Mask it it with good grace.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 31/01/2022 10:27

I don't know who these "we" are that have "all done it" - I know I never have.

It's a dreadful thing to do - unless the item is faulty, then there are no genuine grounds to do this.

phishy · 31/01/2022 10:27

*Admit it

Doveyouknow · 31/01/2022 10:27

Having worked in retail it's not uncommon to have people return worn clothes. Suits bought the weekend before a wedding and returned the following weekend, dresses after a night out etc. It's grim...

I only know one person who does this personally and he is very entitled!

CaMePlaitPas · 31/01/2022 10:27

People will return anything. I worked in a sweet shop and a woman returned a half eaten packet of sweets because she didn't like them. People do it because they know retailers don't say no.

StopStartStop · 31/01/2022 10:28

I've never returned anything I've worn. That would be dishonest.

Maireas · 31/01/2022 10:28

@Toolsand

Before online shopping, if you wanted to return a worn item, you’d need to face a shop assistant and you’d have to be very brazen and thick skinned.

Now with online shopping, you just pop it in the post, there’s no one to eyeball you and no possibility of feeling shame. So the amount of people returning used clothing has skyrocketed.

This is making clothing more expensive for us all. Not to mention having a huge environmental impact.

I would never do it myself.

I think that's absolutely what's happened.
Bringsexyback · 31/01/2022 10:29

I know of somebody who is never bought a pair of shoes in 10 years he wears them until they develop a fault which they obviously do goes and buys the same shoes again so he’s got a receipt that shows these shoes are now within a month state of wearing and takes them back to the shops for a refund. Because there’s no actual physical barcode on the shoe they literally just give him his money back without question

AlternativePerspective · 31/01/2022 10:30

webofevil.livejournal.com/368020.html

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 31/01/2022 10:30

I just had to look up who she was and discovered that she was guilty of a covid breach too - clearly she's one of those who think she's above the rules that apply only to "other people". Hmm

Bringsexyback · 31/01/2022 10:31

That absolutely was true back in the 90s and lots of people did it but even worse than that the item didn’t even have to have been one that they were wearing at the time, it could’ve been one that they picked up on their way up to customer service is put it that way.

FurbleSocks · 31/01/2022 10:31

People who do do it drive up costs for the rest of us so it's not a victimless crime.