...to be annoyed about returning these clothes

[Probablyfinebutworried]

Ok. Bought some clothes from a large chain on afternoon of Tuesday 2nd. Decided they weren't right for me. Receipt said "you have 28 days to return any unwanted items to us", no other info. Went back to shop on morning of Tuesday 30th (e.g. exactly 4 weeks later). Cashier refused a refund because "it's more than 28 days, because the day you buy them is day 1". Would only offer a credit note. In my opinion I had had the clothes in my possession for 28 days so was within the returns period (no specific 'return date' was printed on receipt).

YABU - it's obvious that I should have returned them by Monday 29th
YANBU - it's not clear that the day you buy them is day 1 and I should have had a refund

YabVVVVu

Why did you wait so long to take them back?
They dont have to take them back at all if you bought them instore and just changed your mind

Sorry op, I'd class the day you buy them as day 1.

Id expect 28 days to be 4 weeks to the day but then I wouldnt have cut it so fine.

The day you buy them is fairly obviously day 1 to me but if you don't know why would you chance it?

The day you buy them is day 0. Day 1 is the next day.

That's kind of the point, I thought I did know! :) To me the day you buy them is day 0 because I haven't had them for any time yet. The next day, to me, is day 1 because I have owned them for 24 hours and so on.

Useful comment. I was away and this was the first chance I had to get to the shop, which is out of town from where I live. And they do have to accept returns if they say they will on the receipt!

Were you there as soon as it opened on the day you returned them??? No you were not.

Stop chancing it.

What difference would that make? What an odd comment.

Technically I'd say the cutoff was the 30th, at the time of day you bought them.

E.g if you bought them at 11am on the 2nd, then at 10am on the 30th it would be 27 days and 23 hours since you bought them i.e. less than 28 days. Just over an hour later and you'd be too late.

As PP points out though they're not obliged to take them back anyway so it's all academic.

Why can't you name the store, it isn't outing.

You have 28 days to take stuff back. What on earth have you been doing.

While I do agree it was risky leaving it so late I'm with you here OP. If they said you have 2 days to return I wouldn't expect that to be the next day. Personally I think it's a bit harsh of them not to accept the return even if it was one day late even if they don't technically have to.

There’s legal precedent that the day you buy is day 0

Thank you - that's interesting, do you have a link to any more info about that? I just did a Google but getting loads of irrelevant results, not sure what to type in!

Whatever it is to you, you're wrong. It's really that simple.

Why are they not obliged to take them back - in a general sense I mean, for example if I took them back after 10 days, why would they not be obliged to take them back? Surely they are obliged to if that's what they say on their receipt?

That is a weird counting system the shop has. I have to count legislated due dates at work and we'd count 28 days as a Tuesday to another Tuesday. I have had to argue with someone over a due date was and was baffled they had issues over basic counting -- but now I know they were not alone! Store credit's not bad for a change of mind though.

If you bought in store it will be whatever their interpretation of 28 days is as its goodwill, online you have more rights when returning things.

If you had one day to return them, they wouldn't expect them back that same calendar day, would they? (Genuine q)

So if "one day" would mean the next day then you would be fine.

Although as pp said, it's a gesture, not a legal right.

Yes I obviously got it wrong, because I'm stuck with a credit note! I don't dispute that. My point is that I think it's unclear and a third of people who have voted think so too, so I'm obviously not alone.

I'd have thought the same as you I think. If I returned them the next morning then I returned them within a day. If someone said you have one day to return this you'd think oh OK I can bring it back tomorrow, not that it needs returning before shops
shut that same day. So I'd have extrapolated that out to 28 days and reached the same conclusion as you.

That said, I'd also worry about having a margin of error and would have returned sooner!

That was my logic.

I didn't realise it wasn't a legal right, I thought having it on the receipt made it so.

Yeah, so would I normally but I had to be away from home. Taking them back on the day I did was a total pain in the arse too, but slogged there anyway and so it was particularly annoying not to get my money back.

Juggling jelly and unicycling on the moon? Why does it matter, it's totally irrelevant. Does one reason for not taking them back earlier trump another in terms of determining how clear the returns policy is?