High street shops just won’t refund or exchange anymore?

[Chumbibi]

Has anyone else found this? Two examples recently:

• Marks and Spencer’s - baby cardigan received as a gift - all tags on and style of cardigan still on sale in stores. No gift receipt but asked if I could exchange for next size up as too small. Lady scanned it through the till and said it was outside of 30 days so nothing they could do.
• Whistles - purchase the exact same style and size of jeans in different colours. Tried one in store, ordered the other online. The pair ordered online are about three inches bigger. Ripped the tags off and threw them on and then realised after an hour they were falling down. My fault I should have checked but was told, there was absolutely nothing they were prepared to do. The woman told me in the shop ‘I had probably stretched them’ which was nice 🙄

So AIBU? It seems customer service is non-existent these days. I appreciate they have policies but it seems once something is sold they don’t want to know?

@Rosehugger thats exactly it. It’s not like they were different styles, exact same style of Jean, in the exact same size, just different colours, and one pair is three inches wider in the waist and legs! That’s ridiculous! the ones I tried on in the shop fitted perfectly and I would have bought the other pair in the shop but they were out of stock.

Like someone said upthread it would be strange for me to have shoplifted a £12 cardigan when I was buying £60 worth of other stuff. I’m lucky I don’t have to shoplift!

Yes sorry you're right about that

They used to...they don't now it didn't work for their business so they stopped it. Many shops don't sell the same stuff all year round and the range changes the next season. That bikini top (or anything) would have to be reduced to clear or more likely written off. Selling space is at a premium, a lot of shops have reduced the size of their stockroom to make the shop floor larger because of this. As I said further down the thread your contract with the shop starts when you make a purchase, the policy is the contract you agree to when doing so. The shop does not have to return anything, excepting your statutory rights of course

I completely get it if items are out of season or now on sale. But if items are still being sold for the same price it was purchased for I don't understand the logic in refusing to exchange. All it does is cause frustration and ill feeling towards the store.

@mummyh2016 a few years ago I had a colleague chuckling about keeping the tags on and wearing items then taking it back to the shop. She soon dropped the smile when I told her what I thought of her.

I spent over a decade dealing with returns and some people are frankly swindlers, con artists and, very often, grim.
People like that push prices up for the rest of us. No business wants to constantly have to waste items & lose money for returned items that may smell of smoke, be covered in pet hair, perfume, make up or are grubby. It’s about time stores took a stand. People who return items as per the policy-on time with the receipt and tags attached-will have no issues. Hopefully the scammers will lose out and stop making a profit out of stores, many of which are struggling.

But your colleague could still do that very easily and just return before the 30 day limit is up.

The store 'clamping down' on someone legitimately swapping one size of an item for another literally benefits no one. Not even them. In fact they lost custom.

If we want shops to respect our legitimate returns, we have to adhere to the basic rules - you need to have a receipt, or a gift receipt; items must be unworn and tags have to be on (unless the product is faulty in some way); and within correct time limits. Sorry OP, YABVU.

You sound like the spokesperson for all shops. Yes they all do things differently and they still need to attempt to keep the customer happy (by applying some common sense to 'rules') if they're to stay in business over the next few years. Shops are not doing us a favour by allowing us to buy from them. The other way around. They need to strike a balance and at least offer some level of customer service and indeed not piss people off too much that their shops become empty.

As a 16 year old sales assistant I was able to see which exchanges and refunds would affect the store's profits and shrinkage and which would make absolutely no difference (ie. The goods could still be sold at full price) I was also able to spot a shoplifter a mile off and actually the vast majority of people were totally honest.

The basics of stock levels, shrinkage etc still apply. There are still some exchanges that would make no odds to the store and which would leave the customer satisfied so that they would return and spend more of their dwindling hard earned cash.

I used to think this was the sort of common sense that any junior shop assistant could apply after basic training. Having been a part of this thread though I'm beginning to have my doubts.😂

What I'm finding weird is this: by scanning a barcode the shop assistant can tell you when and where the item was purchased. The system no doubt also contains the information on the transaction (which card was used etc). So why do they still need a receipt? The details stored on the system SHOULD also benefit the customer and become the proof of purchase.

I’ve never had a problem getting refunds. But that might be because I abide by the policies of the store or company. Try to push your luck by all means, but if you don’t get, don’t grumble.

Where has ever exchanged without a receipt!?

In the past M&S were far too soft and got caught with all sorts of scammers. I used to work there and had to refund a pair of genuine 1970s flares as they still had tags on! The cheeky bloke suggested I'd sold them to him last week! Since I wasn't born until the late 70s that was unlikely!

Then there was the bloke whose mother has died in a care home. Like lots of older people she'd been given stuff that she's never worn and still had tags on. He brought her whole case in (could t even wait to take it home and sort it out) and it had her letters and jewellery inside. He said 'Sort that lot out love and give me a refund - I'll then be off to Littewoods'. Awful man!

I'm glad they've changed the rules now.

How did M&S know the cardigan had been bought over 30 days ago if you didn't have a receipt?

@mewkins are you me, I feel like you're reading my mind

When they scan the item to do a return it tells the server when it was purchased. Nexts tills do the same however I've never had issues with returns there.

That’s strange I thought they were usually very generous or flexible with baby clothes as tbh you can get excited and go on a spending spree only to realise you don’t need it anymore. I think maybe do these admin tasks when you have time as you can ask to speak to someone - that comment about stretching the pair of trousers was uncalled for and unkind. As for the baby M&S I’ve known them to do exchanges so for the next size up would be ok even with covid when people had to isolate etc there was some flexibility with time lapsing.

Can you try a different M&S? May be a different outcome.

As for the jeans, YABU. You wore them for an hour, they're now a used product. That one you just have to suck it up and learn from it.

My peeve: stores do nothing without a receipt… but they no longer give you one automatically.

I got a mood on in M and s cos I said no to receipt and realised before leaving shop I’d have to change it - tottered back to the till.

Manager said NO cos no receipt - I had to get the sales lady to say she’d seen me paying, which was faintly embarrassing. Then I realised that the transaction under question was a) on their till b) on my phone, so hardly unprovable.

Hrumph. I love m and s and live next door to a food one, so in my mind they’re perfect but for this.

My in-laws always buy clothes for my DD for Xmas but buy them in October so we can never take thr clothes back if they are the wrong size.

Waitrose still operates the return anything, in any condition, bought 10 years ago, half eaten without a receipt and they'll refund you, give a replacement and a bottle of Prosecco thrown in for good measure (exasperated Welcome Desk 'partner' here).

You always needed a receipt. Don’t wear them if you are not sure. No one wants your worn clothes. And no one wants to pay extra for someone being entitled either, as the cost has to be picked up by someone.

M&S wouldn’t exchange to bigger size or give me a credit note for a sale item that was just out of 14 days even though I had the receipt and it was given to me as a gift, so obviously time would elapse faster by the time it was gifted.

unfortunately this seems to be happening more and more. You need to return things, unworn and with tags still on pretty much immediately if you want a refund. So I have told my family not to bother buying anything unless they can gift it immediately.

alai some shops don’t offer refunds at all, just exchange or gift note so they don’t lose that money. Surely illegal?

Almost all shops offer a return to 31 January for purchases made in October for this reason.

Actually completed legal they only have to refund if faulty. Any exchanges are at the disgression of the business. Check notes by the till your receipt or ask before you pay as each shop has their own policy.

They don’t have to offer refunds at all for something bought in store unless it’s faulty.