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

[KeyLimePies]

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!

I hate that people do this. I bought a coat in a sale recently. Online, and I knew it'd be a return as it was in and out of stock. That's fine. I expect it have been tried on briefly and returned.

What ISN'T fine is the fact it came with a little free gift of somebody's used face mask in the pocket. So some twat has obviously worn it out and then returned it.

Never

@gelatodipistacchio

What a disgusting person. It shows a lot about KB's character that she thinks this is normal.

I’d never do this - and I’m sure KB will have been put straight by more than a few. Maybe it’s a journalist thing, to assume they think/speak for everybody.

I remember some female journo writing, ‘Let’s face it, we’re all obsessed with celebrities.’
Er, speak for yourself! I immediately shoved her in my mental pigeonhole labelled ‘Silly Bitch.’

well kb is hardly full of morals is she

and no ive never done this

I would never do it.

I've sometimes had clothes with a tag in an obvious place, like the sleeve, saying clearly that if this tag is removed, no refund. Think this needs to become standard. No more hiding tags inside collars and waistbands.

@N0Name

I suppose if you had no morals or understanding of common decency then it would be fine.

It is a shitty thing to do.

I agree. Even if you had absolutely no money but needed a suit / dress for an interview / funeral it wouldnt be great morally. But to earn what KB must, & to 'legitamise' this in a time of a highly contagious pandemic is awful.

A close friend of mine did this in her 20s and then quoted Sale of Goods Act as item had been 'faulty' but I knew she'd worn the item (I was with her), she was a legal executive.

@Gonnagetgoing you’re mixing up two things here. If something is genuinely faulty then you have the right to return it even if you have worn it and/or washed it. In fact, faults often don’t show up until after a couple of wears. However the retailer would need to be shown the fault and agree with you that it was a fault. (Could be something like a seam has come undone, it has bobbled or faded more quickly than expected when worn and washed according to instructions, or shoes where the soles come unstuck etc. there is a grey area the longer after purchase the fault appears because the consumer does take the risk of reasonable wear and tear.

On the other hand, some retailers allow you to return simply because you have changed your mind, or the item doesn’t fit. (NB this is discretionary, not a statutory right). However this will usually be in the condition that the item is unworn.

So your friend was in the right if the item was faulty. If the item was not faulty then there would be no fault to show the retailer. So either she deliberately damaged it and tried to pass that off as a fault, or there was no fault and the retailer said so, and she then tried for the “changed my mind” refund and lied about having worn it.

I have no idea who Kay Burley is but she sounds like a grubby entitled twit with little self awareness.

Also I have never done this and i don’t know anyone who does!

That's just bloody disgusting!

Can anyone on this thread who works in retail confirm that they are instructed to sniff return clothes? This sounds highly unsanitary, I can’t see how workplace health and safety would allow it.

Such a selfish and grim thing to do.

People should t but they do.

So I'm sure those that think it's ok are happy to buy 'new' clothes that someone else wore then returned.

Or do they think shops just throw those clothes away?

I never have done or would do this. It’s disgusting and particularly so from someone who earns a shed load of cash. Not that being poorly paid excuses it.

I've no vendetta against Kay Burley at all - I've rarely seen her on TV and don't know much about her. I just happened to have Sky News on this morning and she made the comment that "we've all done it". I thought she was talking about returning clothes that might smell less than fresh.

I do feel sorry for retail staff who are tasked with carrying out 'sniff' tests, by the sounds of it a lot of people do take the piss (hopefully they don't return items smelling of it though)

People do it quite brazenly.
Wear something to rags, sometimes, and return it to the shop saying it hasn’t washed well.
Our manager would just give in to them. She said if she argued and they complained to head office, she would always be blamed, so it wasn’t worth the aggro.

@cheekychaplin

Anyone who has ever worked in retail will tell you customers are brazen and will attempt to return anything. It's much more common than you would think.

Totally. Knew of a customer who tried to return some pots and pans after using them for 15 years!

@SoupDragon

My opinion is that only twats do this.

This.

Also squirt a drink on an item and ask for a discount because it is damaged now.

I have never done this.

I once bought a variety of outfits for an event on a Friday and took back the ones I didn’t like on the Monday morning. I was challenged by the sales assistant in one store who took it out of the plastic wrapper and sniffed it and tried to say that I’d worn it. They refused a refund.

I got the store manager over who did the same. It was only when I showed them the items from the other stores and the receipts and pointed out the one I kept (which was three times the price of the item I was returning) AND showed the the photo of the one I kept they actually refunded me.

I never bought anything again from Warehouse as a consequence!

I wonder if Meghan Markle does this, there was a picture of her wearing a dress with the label still attached

I've never done this and I only know of one person who has/does. I guess that like shop lifting, the loss is factored into pricing and the rest of us are paying for the bad habits of the few.

I've never done this, but was upset once in a nice kids clothes store when I returned a jacket that didn't fit my son after trying at home and the shop assistant thought it had been worn. I think I got it on sale and something wasn't adding up on the register. I didn't have much money and one of the few things I bought DS new was a nice winter coat. It made me feel like she thought I was too poor to be in that shop, she was pretty rude to me. Now I realise it's something that people do I feel better about it (and she changed her tune when her machine starter working properly!)

Lol I wouldn't work anywhere that was in my list of duties to sniff the crotch of a pair of returned trousers. Yuk.