Should Have Checked The Small Print

(I work in the children’s department, but since we are right next to a door, we often get people doing returns from other departments. It’s usually not an issue, especially if we’re slow. A woman and her husband come in with two bags.)

Customer: “Hi, can we do returns here? One is from men’s and the other is from the home department.”

Me: “Absolutely. Do you have your receipt?”

(She hands me the bag with men’s clothes and I start the return process.)

Customer: “As you can see, I paid off the charge with a check.”

(She has stapled the receipt from her account payment to the top of the receipt, which I know a lot of people do to avoid carrying a balance on their store card while still earning their rewards. However, she did pay for the items with her store card, and our return policy is to refund on the original form of payment, or give in-store credit.)

Me: “Okay, that return will be [amount]. Do you have your store card with you?”

Customer: “No, I should get cash back. I paid with a check, see?”

Me: “Well, no, you paid with your store card, and then paid the bill with a check. They’re two different transactions.”

Customer: “But I paid with a check, so I should get cash back. I’m thinking of closing my card, anyway.”

Me: “Well, I’m sorry to hear that, but I can only refund the money to the original form of payment or to in-store credit. I can get you the in-store credit, if you would prefer, but the system won’t let me return it any other way.”

Customer: “I don’t believe that. I paid it off with a check, so I should be getting cash back.”

(After a few more minutes of this, she and her husband decide to go back to the other departments to do the returns there and presumably complain about our return policy. I help a few other customers and clean up, and fifteen minutes later the customer returns with the men’s clothing.)

Customer: “I guess I understand now. Just go ahead and do the return.”

Me: “Not a problem.”

(I’m still not sure how she thought the two separate transactions would have been linked that way.)