Grrr Primark

[WinterKitchen]

A friend gave me a birthday bag with lots of stuff in which included some slippers and flip flops from Primark both of which were too small. I took them back today obviously unworn and they refused to change because I didn't have receipt.

After explaining several times that no I don't have a receipt because someone else bought them for me they asked did I have a gift receipt or a photograph of one. Of course not. I wouldn't ask for that and I didn't tell my friend I was returning the items as I didn't want to upset her or ask for a receipt.

I know the assistant can't do anything, and she offered to fetch a manager but I didn't see the point as they clearly wouldn't change the items. I told them to keep them as they're no good to me and that I would not be returning.

Just frustrating really. Only talking about £10 maybe, and I've already got far too many flip flops and slippers anyway. But I'm just annoyed.

It’s childish because no one tells a store assistant they are not returning and leaves their items behind with a friendly attitude. Instead op clearly had a strop like a child because she didn’t get what she wanted.

I think that’s different. Primark are hardly likely to donate surplus stock to the school fair tombola. It would have just gone in a bin behind the till for all the faulty or broken stuff that can’t be sold.

Yes but how does that negatively affect the environment in a way that’s worse than OP throwing them away?! They’re being reused. That’s a good thing!

Then they need the receipt for proof of purchase.

If you’ve got a receipt why do t you take that to the till with the new item so they can do the exchange to keep their stock levels correct?
Also if you’ve got a receipt for the item you paid for that’s not the new item you’ve picked up in primark because they all have their own codes, so it would look like you stole it

@ButteredRadish figuratively speaking not literally

I used to work at Primark.

People would walk in, grab two pairs of slippers and bring them both to customer service asking to swap one size for the other. (This was when they used to allow exchanges without the receipt).

They then walk out with the slippers they want "as an exchange" but haven't actually paid for either pair. How was the person at the desk meant to know they had been paid for in the first place without a proof of purchase?

I get that
But doing exchange for another size seems reasonable.

When I worked at m and s exchange desk, people used to steal and damage items to get the cash back as no receipt was needed for faulty items..

This. As if she cares if the op will be back or not.

Edit, quoted wrong person

@Coconutter24No, you’ve made that assumption yourself. OP didn’t say that. All of what she said could quite easily have been said politely. That’s why I’m defending her as I would’ve done exactly the same thing. It’s far better to resell them to somebody else than for them to be tossed in the bin.

This new trend of fabricating gaps in a story to fit a preferred narrative, seems to be happening on every single thread these days and is getting ridiculous now.

You have no right to a refund without proof of purchase, OP, so I don't understand the fuss.
Just buy some replacements, if you really want them, and give the originals to someone else, or a charity shop.

I didn't have a tantrum or a strop. I said that calling the manager wouldn't achieve anything so you may as well keep them and put back on the shelves. I know the assistant didn't do anything wrong and I told her that, but I also said I wasn't very impressed and wouldn't come back. No raised voices. People are making that up

I told them to keep them as they're no good to me and that I would not be returning.

In other news, I threw my rattle out the pram today and it travelled six feet before boomeranging back and smacking me on the nose.

They do if you have a receipt! Which you claim you do - otherwise you're basically stealing if you take things off the shelf.

I once returned broken lights without a receipt, genuinely faulty, less than a few days after purchase. I thought stores had to replace faulty items with no receipt, seems not. I had lost the receipt which is unlike me, as I store them in a box.
They didn’t want to replace with a new item, which is fair enough. Then a helpful manager asked what time and day did I think I’d bought them, checked the till records and said yes, that matches our system and replaced the item.

I hope you get reprimanded for doing this.

Every item in Next has a Unique ID number so when you scan it back to return it knows all the details of when it was last sold, so as long as it has the Pos label attached the store can offer a return without reciept. 🙂

They do. As long as they have the receipt, which in your "swap it yourself" example you have, and which in the OP's "unwanted gift" example she does not.

Not difficult to understand the key difference here.

Slightly off topic but I wish people would stop buying gifts like this for adults. My adult children get these sorts of gifts from their mates. Loads of socks and tops and fleece blankets and soft toys and mugs and bottles and slippers and on and on. They don’t want or need any of it.

Exactly this.
OP of course YABVU.
Also living under a rock. Everyone knows you need a receipt these days. And it wasn’t like you mislaid it. Just tell your friend the size is wrong and ask for it. Literally the easiest thing in the world.

It's because there's so much social pressure to buy sh**e for the sake of it.

You have no right to an exchange or a refund even if you did have the receipt as the items weren’t faulty. YABU.

I rarely return stuff and rarely to Primark, so it wasn't really on my radar, but I can definitely understand their policy.

Faulty items is a completely different situation. You don’t need a receipt if the item is faulty but it can be helpful.