When Will They Be In Receipt Of The Knowledge That They Need A Receipt?

Customer: “I want to return this item. The guy who sold it to me said I could return it if I didn’t end up needing it.”

Me: “Okay, do you have your receipt?”

Customer: “No.”

Me: “Unfortunately, without a receipt, I can only give you store credit for the lowest price it’s ever been sold at.”

Customer: “No, that’s ridiculous. The guy said I could return it!”

Me: “Did we email you the receipt, maybe?”

Customer: “NO! You have to return this; you can look it up with my debit card!”

(In the past, we could look up all debit and credit transactions with the number from a card, going back one year. Since getting new debit/credit machines, we can no longer do that. I can, however, look up receipt information in our inventory system, so I try to do that. I ask him what date he purchased it, and I find two transactions from that date: one paid with cash and one paid on debit. However, it does not show me the last four digits of the card, so I can’t be sure it’s his card.)

Me: “Did you purchase anything else with it?”

Customer: “Yes, I purchased [item] with it.”

Me: “I’m sorry, the only receipt I can find on a debit card doesn’t have anything else purchased with it.”

Customer: “But it says it was on my debit card so it’s proof that I bought it!”

Me: “No, it’s proof that someone bought it, not you.”

Customer: “But it says it’s my debit card!”

Me: “No, it says it was bought on a debit card. I can give you the full amount back if you like, but I have to put it on store credit.”

Customer: “No way. I can’t believe you’re not returning it!”

Me: “I just said I would, for the full amount, even though we don’t know if this is your receipt. But I can’t put it back on your card because I don’t even know what card was used, or if this was yours.”

Customer: “The guys said I could return it!”

Me: “You can, but if you want to return it to your card, you need a receipt.”

Customer: “He never said anything about my receipt!”

Me: “Well, everyone generally needs a receipt to return something. But I can return it for you, just not to your debit card.”

Customer: “No, that guy will remember me; he said I could return it!”

Me: “You certainly can return it. But without a proper receipt, I can only give you store credit.”

Customer: “Fine, I’ll just come back another day when someone else is working!”

(He then went and yelled at my manager about me, who ended up returning it to his card. BUT he did tell the customer that this was a one-time thing and that I was correct in saying we had to give him store credit. I like that he at least told the customer I wasn’t wrong, so I didn’t look or feel like an idiot.)