(My store sells an extended warranty on select products in the store. However, the warranty is through a different company than the store. Whenever I sell it, I explain that you have to activate it on their website and then contact them if anything is wrong, not the store. We can’t do anything unless it’s within our return policy: thirty days for electronics.)
Woman: *to her daughter, who is about five* “Here.” *hands her a tablet that has a broken screen, with the receipt and warranty pamphlet* “Give it to that lady and she’ll fix it.”
Daughter: *running up to me* “Can you fix this for me?!”
Woman: *to me* “We called earlier to make sure you have it in stock. And someone said you do. We need to exchange it. We called [Extended Warranty Company] and they said to exchange it.”
(I examine the receipt; it’s from February, and it’s currently July. We can’t return the item in the store since it’s over thirty days. Also, there’s a return receipt stapled to it saying the item was already returned.)
Me: “Well, I used to work at the service desk, and we never did any returns for the extended warranty in the store after our return policy days end, which is thirty for electronic items. They usually want you to ship the item to them, and they’ll replace it by giving you money back.”
Woman: “They said it would be $100 to mail it and it would take six weeks to get a check!”
Me: “Huh, that’s weird. Well, let me call the service desk and ask them what to do.”
(The woman’s husband has since arrived, and chimes in.)
Husband: “They let us return it before if it was under warranty!”
Me: *on phone with the desk* “Hey. I have a customer here that called [Warranty Company], and they said to return it in the store, but they bought it in February and there’s another receipt that said it was returned.”
Service Desk: “They have to go through [Warranty Company]. If it was still within thirty days, no problem. But it’s not.”
Me: “All right, that’s what I figured. Thank you.” *to customers* “I’m sorry, but they informed me that since it’s over our thirty-day return policy, we can’t do anything in the store. You have to go through [Warranty Company], but it’s been under a year since you bought it, so it should still have a manufacturer warranty on it. It might be easier to replace it that way.”
Woman: “But they told us we can return it here!”
Me: “Did you tell them when you bought it?”
Woman: “No! Why would I?!”
Me: “Well, they wouldn’t have known that it’s been over our policy for returns. You only have thirty days for electronics, unfortunately, and this was purchased in February.”
Woman: “What do I do, then?!”
Me: “I would contact the manufacturer, and then [Extended Warranty Company]. They will replace it for you.”
Daughter: *to mom* “Will we be getting a new one?”
Woman: *to daughter* “NOPE. Because this woman said no!”
(They stormed off.)
