I work as a customer service representative at a department store. I greet a customer and start the return process. I scan the receipt and the item.

Me: “You’ll be getting $10.60 back.”

Customer: *Taken aback* “That is not how much I paid for these jeans! I know that I paid full price; just look at my receipt.”

I look at the receipt and there is exactly one item on it, so there is no mistake. She paid $10.60 before taxes for the pants. It says, “Clearance,” in bold with the clearance price printed next to it. There is a clearance sticker on the pants. My total matches the receipt total. I show her, and she can’t find where it says, “Clearance,” even with me pointing. I pull out my highlighter and highlight all the relevant information.

The customer looks at the receipt, now with the clearance price and total highlighted in bright yellow.

Customer: “I know I paid full price!”

Because, apparently, the word clearance doesn’t mean anything.

Me: “Well, this is the receipt, and these are, indeed, the pants you purchased.”

After I spent fifteen minutes explaining receipts, clearance prices, and how totals work, she agreed to take her refund back for the amount that her receipt said… which is what I offered her to begin with.

I am an assistant manager at a large retailer. A customer has come in for a refund on a smartphone still in the packaging. Unfortunately, she has no receipt, it’s a big-ticket item, and it looks like she ran it over with her car. We can look up sales on items like cell phones, but we need information from the packaging. She has refused to speak to anyone but management, which makes me the lucky associate called to help her.

Me: “Ma’am, if you’ll give me the phone, I can—”

Woman: “Just give me my money back! Look at this!” *Shaking the shattered phone* “Does this look like something I did?”

Me: “We cannot do a refund on a cell phone without a receipt.”

Woman: “So, what am I supposed to do?”

Me: “You can contact the manufacturer or try to find someone to fix it. [Phone Company] does have a protection plan, but I don’t know what is covered on it.”

Woman: “Or you could give me back my f****** money!”

Me: “I need the receipt, as I’ve told you.”

Woman: “No, you don’t.”

Me: “I can look it up by the—”

Woman: “No.”

Me: *Sigh* “Then there’s nothing I can do for you. I’m sorry.”

Woman: “You self-righteous b****. I bet you get off on robbing honest, hard-working people!”

Me: “Okay. I’m calling the police.”

I reached for my phone. The woman made a run for it, knocking several other customers out of her way. I never did find out what happened to that phone, but I hope nobody gave in to her demands.

I used to work at a small, family-owned scrub shop. Though we were the only shop in town, we had a great stock. Our return policy was very strict, and we could do it with a 10% restocking fee within thirty days or we could do a free exchange for a similar item. Occasionally, the owners would bend the rules if the customers talked to them, so my coworkers and I would often refer customers with problems to them. This was the strangest phone call I ever had regarding an exchange.

Me: “You’ve reached [Scrub Shop], [My Name] speaking. How may I help you?”

Customer: “Hello. I’d like to return some scrubs.”

Me: “Certainly. When did you purchase them?”

Customer: “November.”

It’s now January.

Me: “Unfortunately, ma’am, that falls outside our thirty-day window on returns, so I can’t do much for you, but if you call back tomorrow and ask for [Owner], maybe they can help.”

Customer: “Well, I really can’t wait. You see, I’ve just moved to a different state, and I need to mail my old scrubs back and get some new ones.”

Me: “Is there anything wrong with them?”

Customer: “Oh, no, they’re just the wrong color. You see, the hospital I used to work at required navy scrubs and the one I now work at requires grey scrubs.”

I start taking down notes for the owner.

Me: “So you’d need to ship them back? What brand and size are they?”

Customer: “Large [Brand].”

We do not carry that brand.

Me: “Ma’am, are you sure you meant to call [Store]? We have never carried [Brand].”

Customer: “Oh, I know. I got these online. I just want to exchange my old scrubs for new ones.”

Me: “Ma’am, I can’t take back scrubs we’ve never sold and just give you new ones for free.”

Customer: “Well, you just listen here now! I will send you my old scrubs and you will send me new ones in the proper color!”

Me: “We don’t ever carry the brand of the scrubs you’d be sending us. We couldn’t sell them. You’re welcome to discuss this with [Owner] tomorrow, but I can’t just send you free scrubs.”

Customer: “I will call [Owner] and I’ll complain about your attitude.” *Hangs up*

She really did call the owner the next day, and she was laughed off. Seriously, who tries to send a random product back to a store in hope of getting free items? Scammers are getting nuts!

Related:
Doesn’t Understand The Custom Part Of Customer, Part 20
Doesn’t Understand The Custom Part Of Customer, Part 19
Doesn’t Understand The Custom Part Of Customer, Part 18
Doesn’t Understand The Custom Part Of Customer, Part 17
Doesn’t Understand The Custom Part Of Customer, Part 16

I work as a volunteer for a charity shop that helps people in other parts of the world. During lockdown due to the health crisis, we had a new till system put into our building. We’re all still trying to get the hang of the receipt printing options and the new till in general. This morning, I’m working on till for a bit while we wait for another volunteer to be available. A woman approaches with a dress.

Customer: “I’d like to return this, please. I just bought it yesterday and it doesn’t fit.”

Me: “Can I see your receipt?”

Customer: “I wasn’t given one. They said I could return it anyway.”

I internally groan.

Me: “Without a receipt, I can only do an exchange, I’m afraid. Sorry that the till didn’t give you one. We’re still getting used to the till.”

Customer: “Well, that’s not my fault. I won’t be accepting an exchange. I want a refund.”

I repeat what I said again and offer the exchange.

Customer: “You’re breaking your promise. I know my rights. I deserve a refund as it was your fault I didn’t have a receipt!”

She is starting to get angrier. I’m not good with confrontation, so I try again to respond nicely.

Me: “Again, I’m sorry that you weren’t given a receipt, but as I’ve explained, we have a new till and are having a few learning difficulties with the first few runs of a day while we figure the printing out.”

The lady begins to tell me off as she believes I am in the wrong. At the end of her rant…

Customer: “I am the customer and the customer is always right. Give me my refund.”

By this point, there was a small queue forming with the other four customers that had been allowed in and a queue growing longer outside to come in. My boss was at the door that morning, so she suggested that we switch places as she could tell I was starting to get a bit worried with the woman yelling at me.

My boss ended up giving her a refund to get her out of the shop, and as she walked past, she smiled at me and was as sweet as possible, as if nothing had just happened!

I work at customer service at a home improvement store. I am training a coworker. He and I have been processing returns and we’ve been really busy. I notice there is a problem with the return he is processing, so I stop what I am doing to find out what’s going on.

The customer and her husband paid with their store credit card. Immediately after their transaction, they paid off the bill. They want cash back for the return, which is a little over $600.

Me: “Sorry, ma’am, we can’t do that because it has to go back to the original tender.”

Customer: “I don’t understand.”

Me: “You can’t get cash for the return; it was paid with the credit card.”

She keeps repeating that she doesn’t understand.

Me: “Would you like to talk to a manager?”

Customer: “No. I don’t think that’s how it should be.”

The return is processed, and they stand off to the side and call someone. They talk for a couple of minutes and leave, thank goodness.

A couple of hours later, we’re slammed. I’m coming back to customer service when who do I see? The same lady and her husband. They are also joined by another woman and a toddler.

I don’t have the pleasure of dealing with them. The seasonal/outside supervisor gets called because he is the only available manager. It goes back and forth for a while. He calls the credit center to find out what can be done, which is nothing! All four of them finally leave after wasting time and gas because they thought they could get a manager to override it.

Don’t expect cash back on a return just because you paid off the bill. There are some things that not even managers can do.