AIBU to think it’s crazy in this day and age to not accept online returns in store?

[Namechange12309]

First world problems - truly.

AIBU to be very surprised at a very well known shoe / clothing brand to not accept online returns in their physical shops?

I got a bit trigger happy and bought some shoes as they were advertised to be quite heavily discounted. Then realised other brands of trainers were equally on sale so thought it was better value to get those instead.

I plonk myself on hot public transport to go to the local shopping centre to make a return and SURPRISE. Online returns only online. In this day and age!

I mean, of course stupid me for not checking the returns policy, and assumption is the mother of all evil and that but to add insult to injury:

YODEL RETURNS.

Even more inconvenience as they only do drop off points in the dingiest of corner shops where I live so it’s a trip in itself to get this returned.

Obviously the heat is making this a bigger deal to me than it actually is 😂

It's practicality. There is much more choice online than there is in store. You can't take back a bunch of random stuff that you don't stock and will have to find space for until you have enough of it to make it remotely cost effective to send it back. Its too expensive to be shipping random stock all over the map.

The online and physical retail businesses of most brands are totally different businesses run by different companies, just sharing the same brand name so returning to the shop is just using the shop as a post office, and they are unreasonably unwilling to do that.

Plus a trip into the shop is probably just as inconvenient as a trip to the post office, so there is a minimal benefit to the customer.

It’s interesting as its ’own brand’ so you’d assume their stock goes in to the same cluster of locations and it would be cheaper for them to bundle their store and online stock together for shipping. It’s stuff you can get in the store easily.

YABU to think even for a second that it’s in the shop’s interest to be serving your “changed my mind” business. You’ve taken their time and goods and cause them a hassle for which they get a negative return (having to put the shoes back in their supply chain, if it’s even possible, some retailers can’t do it and returns have to be written off). In a few years we probably won’t be able to send stuff back on this basis.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t do it. I do it myself. But understand what it means for the shop.

If you were returning it because there was any issue with the product I would feel you had grounds to complain about this but the fact is, thousands and thousands of people buy products then return them for spurious reasons like they just didn’t fancy it after all, what is a physical shop where staff are only paid to sort out their own stock, supposed to do? It’s not a postal hub! You really think you’re the only person today who didn’t fancy the trainers you decided to buy and tried to return them to the shop? The work of picking and packing your order was done, and when you get a refund the company gets no money for that work they did for you, and now you’re complaining that they won’t do more unpaid work for you. In reality people like you have ruined it for everyone.

I think that’s a bit harsh. Firstly, I’m not complaining to a shop - policy is policy. I’m venting on an online forum. Secondly, I’ve paid for postage twice. Once to send and once to return now. Something I’m also not disputing.

Most of the time it’s actually free to return / collect in store and paid postage because the retailer will have several deliveries to that location already, rather than collecting individual packages from multiple locations - I suspect that’s probably environmentally friendlier too.

Everybody has bought something and changed their mind at some point.

Sports Direct staff told me they had to change this as they physically could not handle the returns in their stock room. Their business model is to get everything out on the shop floor and have small back stock area. They were completely overwhelmed and running out of space with the online returns. It’s annoying but made sense to me.

I understand with Sports Direct though - with the volume of sales they do and also re-selling products that aren’t actually manufactured by them

Also to add that many consumers have stopped shopping in SD in store because they got rid of their buyers remorse policy.

Yeah that made sense to me. But if has stopped me ordering from them online unless I’m absolutely certain about sizes.

Argos is the same, and they charge to return as I found out when looking for a new tv recently. I went elsewhere.

Argos are also a nuisance because they won’t let you return if you’ve opened something. So you could open it, it doesn’t look like what you imagined or whatever reason and you can’t return it.

Yes, that was another reason I went elsewhere to a supplier that allowed open box returns for any reason and didn’t charge £25 to return.

How do you know whether something is suitable if you can’t open the box?!!!

Returns cost bus money so the do them in the most cost efficient way which is returning them centrally

Next are really good for this - it’s why I choose to shop with them whenever possible as the returns process in store is so easy and the refund is immediate.

I know it's not what you asked, but legally you are entitled to original postage cost back. You do have to cover the return postage yourself though.

Didn’t know that!

YANBU
i shop a lot in NEXT online, you can return items to any store in real life (for any return reason)
for immediate refund

Honestly most shops do! It’s not even the instant refund for me, it’s just so much easier. This is the fist time I’ve encountered this

Sorry, but this is an issue of retailers own making by going more and more online. Of course people will return - you go into most shops and have no way of seeing the items that you want and have to make a decision from a computer screen.

But also vast majority of the time you will not find your size in the physical store. This is why I do all of my shopping online. I cannot stand going in to a shop trawling through racks trying to find something that fits me. Same with shoes - ‘can I get this in size 5?’ ‘No sorry, but we can order it for you’… well no, I’ll just go online myself.

My company accepts online orders back in store BUT, they can not issue a refund or an exchange.
The item is then brought back to the warehouse for me to inspect and refund.
Most stores can not process online returns in store because they do not have access to the online accounts. Usually a refund has to be credited back to the original payment method. Stores don’t have those records available to them.
In my company, the physical store and the online platform and in effect 2 separate businesses, run on different computer accounting and stock control systems.
It would cause chaos if we tried to mix them up.

Yes, most retailers would issue refunds in that way. They may remove the warehouse person as the inspector and put the trust in to the retail staff to approve but the refund would go back from the online store.

@Namechange12309
I'm fed up with the constantly moving goalposts of companies. Doesn't surprise me in the slightest when I see another one going out of business - it feels to me like we're doing their job for them at times!
I never thought I'd trust amazon more than 'real' shops, but that's the way it's going. I can't remember the last time I bought clothing from ANYWHERE, tbh, just making do with what I've got, so they shoot themselves in the foot..