I work for a large retail and grocery company. And like most grocery stores, we have a deli section.

I am working the returns desk, which I am still fairly new at, and a customer rolls up with a cart that has two cardboard boxes full of half-eaten fried chicken. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that much fried chicken before.

Me: “Hello, how can I help you?”

Customer: “I would like to return this fried chicken.”

Me: “What’s wrong with it?”

Customer: “I ordered this for a family reunion this past weekend. I took it home to my family and when we got to eating it, it was all burnt and nasty. We weren’t satisfied, and I’d like my money back.”

I’d like to note that she’s still wearing her family reunion shirt.

She’s quoting our fresh food policy, which is 100% money-back guarantee. So, I decide to follow through with the return, although in my head I’m trying to figure out why anyone would buy fried chicken from us, ever. Of course, it is going to be bad; our deli food is known for being nasty.

The customer hands me her receipt and it says she bought two orders of seventy-five pieces of chicken, totaling about $100. I do the return and give her her money back, and I come around to grab the cart of chicken.

It doesn’t end there.

Later, I’m taking returns and claims back to their respective sections: bakery to bakery, frozen to frozen, etc. I roll the chicken cart over to deli, and the workers greet me, confused.

Deli: “What’s this?”

Me: “Claims. A lady came and returned these. Said they were burnt and nasty.”

Deli: “And you took it back?”

Me: *Shrugs* “Yeah, it’s policy. 100% money-back guarantee.”

At this point, they’re now visibly angry. I have a mini-freak-out and start to doubt myself. Is that the policy? Did I do it wrong? I am still new at returns, so it’s possible.

Me: “Was I wrong?”

They tell me no and sigh. They ask what the customer looked like and I described her to them. They get angrier.

Deli: “She came in last weekend to pick up that big order of hers. It took us all day to make it. She came in and didn’t have enough money! She told us she didn’t know it would be that much. She told us about her family reunion and how much it meant to her. She started crying. She only had about $80 on her, so we — the deli and bakery workers who were in that day — decided to chip in and help her pay for the rest.”

All three of us look down at the cart and cardboard boxes filled with half-eaten nasty chicken.

This is why I have trust issues.

I am working at a famous fast food chain and am serving a customer who ordered multiple burgers, fried, drinks, and one pack of shrimp worth 35€.

Me: “Sir. Unfortunately, we don’t have the shrimp that you ordered. We just ran out of stock a few minutes ago and I wasn’t notified yet.”

Customer: “I want my money back.”

Me: “Of course! Since you will not receive any shrimp, you don’t have to pay for them, either.”

I proceed to give the customer his 3€ something back and close the cash register again. I give the customer the rest of his order and end the order on my screen.

Customer: “No, I want all my money back. I will not buy anything here.”

Me: “You want to cancel your whole order because we don’t have shrimp?”

Customer: “Yes! You lied to me. I will not buy something from a person who lies to me!”

After ending an order, you cannot cancel it in the system. My manager had to take out the money manually to give it back to the customer. Later that evening, I had to explain to my store manager why my cash register was over 30€ in minus.

Related:
No Shrimping Violet

I am working at the customer service desk so my day primarily consists of handling returns, for which you need either your receipt or the card you purchased with. It’s pretty standard.

Customer: “Good morning. I’d like to return this.”

Me: “Okay, sir, do you have the receipt or the card that you paid with?”

Customer: “I paid in cash, but here’s the receipt.”

The customer promptly hands over a receipt. I look at it and see that it’s not only not a receipt from our store, but it’s not one from a home improvement store.

Me: “Sir, this is a [Pet Store] receipt.”

Customer: “So? Use it anyway. I want my money!”

Related:
Not In Receipt Of The Receipt

I work at a major retail store where I’m the department manager over infants. My associate approaches me about a customer on the phone who’s trying to compare strollers. We’re pretty sure we’ve found the one she’s looking for and I take over the phone call.

Me: “Hello, ma’am. I’m the manager in infants and I believe I found the stroller you were asking about. Did you need me to hold it for you?”

Caller: “Oh, good! You do carry it!”

Me: “Yes, we do, ma’am.”

Caller: “Well, you see, I got that stroller at my baby shower and I don’t need it, so I would like to return it.”

I am thinking, “Okay, just bring it in, then?”

Caller: “But you see, my family member bought it on Amazon. I can still return it to your store, right?”

Me: *Rubs eyebrows* “No, ma’am. You cannot return an item you didn’t purchase from our company to our store.”

Caller: *Rudely* “I don’t understand. It’s the same item.”

Me: “You cannot buy something from one store and return it to another. It works the same way with things bought online. And you would need a receipt to prove your purchase in order to return it.”

Caller: *Curtly* “I see.” *Hangs up*

Me: *To myself* “I cannot believe I just had to explain common sense to somebody.”

Related:
Exploring The Amazon Gets You Nowhere

A woman comes up with a bag full of books and plunks them down on the counter.

Me: “Hi, how can I help you today?”

Customer: “I need to return these.”

Me: “All right. Do you have your receipt?”

Customer: “No, but I brought this.”

She pulls her credit card bill out of her purse, showing an amount charged at our store several weeks ago.

Me: “I’m sorry, but without a receipt, I can only issue a store credit for the lowest sale price of each of these books.”

Customer: “No, you don’t understand. This is what I paid for these books. It shows right here! *Points to bill*

Me: “Yes, it shows you spent a number of dollars, but it doesn’t tell me what you spent it on. The books aren’t itemized on your credit card bill, see?”

I hand the bill back to her.

Customer: “This is outrageous! You are trying to rip me off! I demand to speak to your manager!”

Me: “Certainly. Let me page her up here.”

I page the manager, who comes up, but before I can explain the situation, the customer jumps in.

Customer: “I have my receipt and she won’t give me my refund on my card! She said she’d only give me a store credit!”

Manager: “Oh, no, if you have your receipt, of course, we can issue a refund on the card.” *Turns to me* “Seriously? You’ve been here how long? You know better!”

Me: “She does not have a receipt; she has a credit card bill. It doesn’t show what she bought, only that she spent money here a few weeks ago.”

Manager: “Oh.” *Turns to customer* “She’s right; that’s not a receipt. We will have to issue a store credit.”

Customer: “This is outrageous! You are trying to rip me off!”

Manager: “Actually, no, we’re trying to prevent being ripped off! We have no way of knowing what you bought.”

Customer: “If you add up those books, it will be the same amount as on the credit card receipt! You’re just trying to rip me off!”

I look at my manager, and she looks at me and shrugs and mouths to go ahead, so I look the books up in the inventory system. The amounts are close, just a few dollars off, but accounting for the lowest sale price makes it around $10 less than what she says she paid. I report this back.

Customer: “You will refund the entire amount back to my credit card. Right now!”

Manager: “No, actually, we will give you a gift card for the amount she told you. Or you can go home and find your receipt and come back.”

Customer: “I’ll do that! And get you all fired!”

She snatches up her bag and takes off. A few days later, I’m cashiering again and I see her return and my heart sinks. She marches right up to my register and slams down her bag of books and a receipt.

Customer: “There! You remember me? Refund my money right now!”

She’s practically screaming at this point, and people are staring. I quickly take the receipt and look; it’s about $50 less than the credit card bill she previously showed me. I open her bag and find that none of the books match the receipt. I report this back to her with no small amount of trepidation.

Customer: *Completely losing it* “You didn’t say it had to be the receipt for these books! Just a receipt!”

I immediately got my manager, and we ended up having to have her escorted out by security.

Related:
Not In Receipt Of All The Facts, Part 2
Not In Receipt Of All The Facts