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!

it's disgusting, dishonest and totally unfair on retailers

Completely agree with this. Awful thing to do. That said I used to work in M and S in the 90s and we were just told to take everything back. That was a long time ago though?

I’m sure plenty of people do it, but it’s disgusting and totally immoral. Doesn’t matter if you think the store “can afford it” - the money they lose is ultimately passed on to honest customers.

This is why I wash everything before wearing it.

I hate it when Influencers do hauls. Loads of items that you know they aren’t going to keep.

Fling the clothes about, pull them on with faces covered in make up, dance about sweating in them.

Some of them continue to pull on clothes that are clearly too small, thinking it’s hilarious, stretching them.

And then they send them back.

Grim.

@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.

This

My next door neighbour anno 2000 used to order boxes and boxes of clothes from mail order catalogues and spend the long winter months doing 'fashion shows' in her sitting room with her 5 year old daughter She never had any intention of buying the clothes .She was bonkers anyway .

Surely she means we have all done the sniff test not we have all returned worn clothes?

Returning worn clothes if not faulty is dishonest and essentially fraud. The sniff test is fine, saving energy and water while extending the life of your clothes.

I fucking HATE that behaviour!

@HaveringWavering

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/style_and_beauty/4197374-Oasis-Warehouse Thread about returns processing.

@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 .

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

Barking.

Thanks for the reminder

I can confirm that M&S used to have a goodwill returns policy which meant that we basically took everything back. At the beginning of the 90s I worked at the Marble Arch M&S and dreaded doing my shift rotation on the refunds tills. We handled some absolutely grim stuff. Couldn't believe some of the stinky, ancient, well-worn clothes our supervisors let us sign off. Always quite keen to wash my hands after!

It's theft.

I saw this on the news and they were on about repairing returned clothing and removing stains. But if it’s clearly been worn and not returned in saleable condition they should be refusing the refund?

twitter.com/joelycett/status/1248697983769739264?lang=en-GB Joe Lycett on Boohoo

I had a summer job in a returns warehouse, we used to repack the clothes after close examination - the ones that didn't pass the exam went to another department so that the matter could be taken further with the returnee! It was mostly make up round the neck, and lipstick anywhere We had to examine & repack about 25 dresses an hour, which was tough. And the ones we rejected didn't count towards that total.

I think it def happens. I got a pair of leggings from SHEIN recently. They were defo used and were pretty gross! For a start they were inside out, not folded nicely, had a small mark on them and covered in dog hairs! Maybe they were only tried on but the dog hairs were the worst! Especially as I'm allergic.

I did keep them but washed them right away, gross! If I worked in the returns dept I wouldn't have accepted them.

@Alayalaya no, refunds are issued without quibble. It’s the returns staff who click that button that says ‘issue refund’, not a supervisor, manager or higher echelon. Returns staff don’t care about their job enough to chase a clearly worn or deliberately damaged garment up the manager chain to investigate.

I’m sure regular returners of deliberately damaged goods are flagged in the system. They must be....

@FusionChefGeoff

See now this fits into my vision of what shopping will be in the not too distant future to combine all the benefits of online shopping (more choice, shop from your living room, all the sizes etc) with the bad bits removed (fucking about with returning everything.

You order all your stuff as normal - but for delivery to a 'shopping warehouse' type space. Possibly with only a small deposit to pay so you can order as many diff sizes / styles as you want.

Then you visit that when convenient, colllect your order and take it all to the beautifully designed changing rooms. Then you try everything on.

Then, everything you don't want goes to the returns area - easier for shops to repackage immediately and DEFINITELY no wearing of clothes!

You take what you want to keep to the tills and pay the balance.

We already have this system it’s called a high street. It’s how it all worked years ago before the internet. Stores carried large amount of stock so you didn’t need to preorder and have delivered to the store. Same with food, when I was growing up most of our food was delivered. We shopped locally and food was locally sourced. Then supermarkets arrived. Now supermarkets are downsizing and closing because we are all reverting to home delivery. Sorry bit of a tangent pp.

@WhistPie Boohoo doesn’t have a department like that. And the rates are up to repack up to 100 an hour so you can see why returns staff just don’t bother checking, and sometimes don’t even open a cellophane package at all if the return is neatly folded inside.

Stingy and skanky. You are both of these things if you do this.

I work for an online fashion company. We have huge problems with people buying loads of clothes, wearing them for fashion shoots/Instagram pics and such, and then returning them all afterwards. It's something that we're actively trying to cut down on because the costs of processing all these returns from people/"influencers" taking the piss is huge. It's far more common than you think.

It's gross. However, I used to work in an very upmarket department store and we were asked to wear stock on a occasion for our shift then it was put back on the rails.

A former colleague of mine was banned from Debenhams for this very thing, she used to buy on a Friday, wear at the weekend and return on the Monday, she was fuming when they told her to never darken their door again!

I have a well off friend who went to lots of smart events - I do know she has at least once bought a dress and worn it to the event and returned it because " she was careful with it . "

It really is bad behaviour to do this. A return because the item is faulty after you have worn it - fine - to try to get a free outfit for a night out absolutely not fine.

I did this once when I was about 18/19. I needed a smart coat for an interview. Took it back after. I know, very bad but I wouldn’t do it now. And I’ve definitely received worn items I’ve ordered online.

Once, in my entire life. I only wore it for a couple of hours. My boyfriend had finished with me but wanted to meet up to discuss things and say goodbye. I wanted to look drop dead gorgeous but when I got to the town we were meeting in i was very cold in my dress so went to M&S where I bought a cardigan, the wearing of which turned my appearance from siren to total frump. I took it back before I went home, and blamed it for his indifference.

Somebody did this with the outfit they wore to our wedding. I was horrified then (30+ yrs ago) and I still am