Disney Store Refund Policy is upsetting to me.

[maxiesmom]

Do you know when their spring merchanise comes out? December. That's right - their spring clothing items, the "spring trans" lines are released in December.

Summer clothes? The first summer lines??? February. Tank tops and beach wear in February.

If retailers wanted less returns - let me buy seasonal clothes within the season that they will wear it, so I'll know that they fit.

That has been the case for years now, and it ain't about to change.

Part of the reason they put tank tops and things so early is for all of those people lucky enough to head someplace warm during the winter. And there are plenty of them! At the store I work at we actually had people complining that we didn't have a big enough selection of sandals and shorts in February.

The only thing you can do is shop at stores who have a return policy you can live with.

 

[TheDisneyGirl02]

Trying on a costume over clothes w/ a little kids isn't necessarily a big deal. But as an adult, I really don't want to try on a shirt over top of my other shirt even in the back of store. It's really not going to give a proper idea of if it's going to fit correctly. KWIM? When they sell adult clothing on a regular basis, I really think it warrants a 'fitting room'. And kids clothing warrants one too. It's kinda tough to have a little girl try on jeans over her existing shorts or pants.

\

I see what you mean - trust me! However I doubt the Disney Stores will add dressing rooms until the particular stores are renovated. There is a lot of talk about the stores being renovated in the near future, so it may happen!

When I worked at The Disney Store (2003-2006), every return required an I.D. It made filling out the name and address of the person returning the merchandise much easier than asking the person for that info.

I recall one time when I am pretty sure a customer shoplifted one item, then paid cash for another. Within an hour she returned the item she bought. I told her I needed to see her driver's license to process the return, even though I certainly remembered her buying it that day! I wasn't surprised that she didn't produce one, and therefore I wouldn't return the item she bought. I hope she enjoyed the item she bought as much as the one she stole!

I do agree that when I have to take information from a person during a return, it is much easier to see it rather than having to ask "Can you spell that for me?". It's not required, but it can make the process easier.

As far as the shoplifter -

 

[dsny1mom]

Couldn't be value for price now could it?

And yes return policy does make or break a store. Goody's is an example. In business 55 years and now gone. I am not so ignorant as to think that return policy did them in all by itself, it did contribute to it's downfall. It is the reason I never purchased another thing there after the first time when I bought something for DH and had to return it and was issued a store credit.



Big Box or low end, make up your mind! or maybe they are just bottom feeders.

Again not around here!

Right. sure you did.




Yes our business is retail, we sell antiques, 7 days. We have been in business 25 years and actually very seldom does anyone bring anything back.

We actually had a decorator bring something back after 6 months and we took it back without a receipt, no restock fee, no id.

So what store do you manage?

It's nice that you deal with a product that increases in value with time. Unfortunately antiques are one of the few products that do.

If you owned a clothing store your views might change. Clothing has a short selling season. If it's bought, held out of stock and returned just before it is marked down then the busniess looses money. Unlike antiques where the product becomes more valuable the older it is.

I manage a high end apparel store. We also have internet and catalog divisions. I could buy a new lap top for the price of some of our blazers. LOL

I didn't mention this before but just recently we were contacted by the internet division. They wanted us to scan our customer base for specific names. They were looking into excessive returners and wanted to know if any of the internet customers that lived in the area of my store shopped at my location and if they did did they return most of what they bought. As it turned out none of them did. When I asked what they were looking to do with the people they indentify as excessive returners, I was told they were not going to fill orders for them in the future. IDK if that is the smartest move but seeing as this company has been around for 100 years I guess they know when to cut their losses.

At my location we don't have a huge return rate. Our refund rate is even lower than our return rate. Most people that do return do so for a change in size. IMHO good customer service and a quality product are what keep most return rates low.

dsny1mom

 

[Blue.Fairy2]

It's nice that you deal with a product that increases in value with time. Unfortunately antiques are one of the few products that do.

If you owned a clothing store your views might change. Clothing has a short selling season. If it's bought, held out of stock and returned just before it is marked down then the busniess looses money. Unlike antiques where the product becomes more valuable the older it is.

I manage a high end apparel store. We also have internet and catalog divisions. I could buy a new lap top for the price of some of our blazers. LOL

I didn't mention this before but just recently we were contacted by the internet division. They wanted us to scan our customer base for specific names. They were looking into excessive returners and wanted to know if any of the internet customers that lived in the area of my store shopped at my location and if they did did they return most of what they bought. As it turned out none of them did. When I asked what they were looking to do with the people they indentify as excessive returners, I was told they were not going to fill orders for them in the future. IDK if that is the smartest move but seeing as this company has been around for 100 years I guess they know when to cut their losses.

At my location we don't have a huge return rate. Our refund rate is even lower than our return rate. Most people that do return do so for a change in size. IMHO good customer service and a quality product are what keep most return rates low.

dsny1mom

with the bold I do agree.

As far as antiques, in a perfect world that is how it would work but that is not the way the antiques business works.

Things come into fashion, prices go up, things go out of fashion, prices go down. In the antiques world things can go out of fashion just as fast as in the clothing market.

Economy in the crapper the bottom falls out of the antiques market.

Eventually they will go back up, so not a total lost but you have to sit on it.

I do not think so.

In the clothing world you open a catalog and order new product. In the antique world we have to hunt down our product.

 

[Dancemom03]

I manage a high end apparel store. We also have internet and catalog divisions. I could buy a new lap top for the price of some of our blazers. LOL

I didn't mention this before but just recently we were contacted by the internet division. They wanted us to scan our customer base for specific names. They were looking into excessive returners and wanted to know if any of the internet customers that lived in the area of my store shopped at my location and if they did did they return most of what they bought. As it turned out none of them did. When I asked what they were looking to do with the people they indentify as excessive returners, I was told they were not going to fill orders for them in the future. IDK if that is the smartest move but seeing as this company has been around for 100 years I guess they know when to cut their losses.

My mother just closed her Talbots acct this winter after a phone rep suggested perhaps she should shop in store instead of returning catalog items that didn't fit. Their loss... she'd been a loyal customer for ages and the woman's annual Talbot's bill could probably support a small third world nation.

Mom's older and, like many senior Talbots customers, rarely goes out to the mall but prefers catalog/phone ordering. Often she'll call the store and they'll suggest items, then mail them, sight unseen. While she's a very fashionable woman, she also relies a lot on the saleswomen to tell her what's popular or looks to be her style. Let me tell you, those ladies hear her voice and know they've got a good sale so they'll convince her to try all sorts of styles/colors even though she usually knows what will work and what won't.

Items that need to be returned are sent back immediately with item number/details circled on all invoices/receipts to make it easy for whoever processes it. Because she loses quite a bit in postage cost, she's more likely to keep things that may eventually get donated to charity with tags firmly attatched.

I usually get roped into giving an opinion when packages arrive, and she really doesn't return all that much in comparison to what she keeps, but apparently it was enough that a customer service rep commented on it when she called to check on a refund for a return she sent. As mom understood it, the rep insinuated that they might close her acct for excessive returns if she sent much more back.

She was offended and a bit intimidated, so she closed her account and now shops elsewhere. My aunt, who did shop at the store in the mall, closed her Talbots acct last year (before this happened with my mom) after they elminated their children's shops. She used to buy all her grandchildren's clothing there and was really disappointed by the closings.
Talbots is always empty these days when I pass by in the mall... their customer base is aging and with this drastic change in their service it's no wonder longtime customers are now shopping elsewhere... bet they'll wonder what happened though and blame it on the economy when they're locking the doors for the last time.

 

[dsny1mom]

My mother just closed her Talbots acct this winter after a phone rep suggested perhaps she should shop in store instead of returning catalog items that didn't fit. Their loss... she'd been a loyal customer for ages and the woman's annual Talbot's bill could probably support a small third world nation.

Mom's older and, like many senior Talbots customers, rarely goes out to the mall but prefers catalog/phone ordering. Often she'll call the store and they'll suggest items, then mail them, sight unseen. While she's a very fashionable woman, she also relies a lot on the saleswomen to tell her what's popular or looks to be her style. Let me tell you, those ladies hear her voice and know they've got a good sale so they'll convince her to try all sorts of styles/colors even though she usually knows what will work and what won't.

Items that need to be returned are sent back immediately with item number/details circled on all invoices/receipts to make it easy for whoever processes it. Because she loses quite a bit in postage cost, she's more likely to keep things that may eventually get donated to charity with tags firmly attatched.

I usually get roped into giving an opinion when packages arrive, and she really doesn't return all that much in comparison to what she keeps, but apparently it was enough that a customer service rep commented on it when she called to check on a refund for a return she sent. As mom understood it, the rep insinuated that they might close her acct for excessive returns if she sent much more back.

She was offended and a bit intimidated, so she closed her account and now shops elsewhere. My aunt, who did shop at the store in the mall, closed her Talbots acct last year (before this happened with my mom) after they elminated their children's shops. She used to buy all her grandchildren's clothing there and was really disappointed by the closings.
Talbots is always empty these days when I pass by in the mall... their customer base is aging and with this drastic change in their service it's no wonder longtime customers are now shopping elsewhere... bet they'll wonder what happened though and blame it on the economy when they're locking the doors for the last time.

I truley feel bad for your mom. But I can't sat I'm surprises as IMHO Talbots has abandoned their core customer base in just about every way possible. Many of our customers no longer shop at Talbots based soley on the fact that they no longer cater to the more mature customer. Ladies that are 60+ aren't interested in slacks that ride low on their hips or tops that cling and are low cut.

We do a sizeable phone order buisness at my store. We know what our phone order customers like and what they don't like. We NEVER push merchandise on them as that would the beginning of the end of a nice relationship. Once we establish what they like we seldom see a return for any reason from our phone orders.

My understanding is the excessive return customers my company was looking at were the ones that order thousands of dollars of merchandise in one order then return it all on a consistent basis. Not those that keep a sizeable amount of merchandise but do some returning.

Like I said earlier I'm not convinced that cutting off any customer is a good idea, but excessive returning has reached such a level that I bet more and more companies follow Talbots lead and cut off those that do excessive returns. It's a shame they lumped your mom in that catagory.

dsny1mom

 

[A Mickeyfan]

When I worked at The Disney Store (2003-2006), every return required an I.D. It made filling out the name and address of the person returning the merchandise much easier than asking the person for that info.

I recall one time when I am pretty sure a customer shoplifted one item, then paid cash for another. Within an hour she returned the item she bought. I told her I needed to see her driver's license to process the return, even though I certainly remembered her buying it that day! I wasn't surprised that she didn't produce one, and therefore I wouldn't return the item she bought. I hope she enjoyed the item she bought as much as the one she stole!

 

[dawnball]

And I guess I just don't understand how just showing your drivers license would provide more info, They look at the picture, and sure some one can produce a fake ID, but in this case I think it would have helped.

I suspect you're right - and you're never going to understand what I'm saying, but I feel compelled to try one more time. You assume that they look only at the picture. I assume that they can look at the address and zip code. Do you understand how address and zip code are more information than no address and no zip code? And do you understand that zip code is currently used as part of the standard authentication set? $50 of electronics and a decent memory (or a good cover for making inconspicuous notes "here, let me check to make sure this pen works") can get a cashier enough information to scam an awful lot of goods and services - the customer wouldn't know until their credit card's fraud department catches it, and knowing the zip makes fraud slower to catch on.

Do I have any reason to believe the cashier I'm handing my card to is going to attempt to capture my credit card data and use my zip code for fraudulent purposes? Nope. And they don't have any reason to believe I'm an impostor, either. I'm not sure what makes me inherently untrustworthy and what makes them inherently trustworthy.

I think anyone who has a problem with the store simply looking at a picture for ID has a lot of issues, and maybe needs to lighten up. Who gives a rats behind about a contract when all they are trying to do is protect you, Peopl like you don't make any sense. Any y ou never convince me otherwise, and it is people like you and others like you that keep me from dealing with the public.

I've tried to be polite even though we disagree. I'd appreciate it if we could limit the instances of "people like you", "has a lot of issues", "isn't very bright", etc. If you believe there are examples of protection that outweigh the risks - I'd be glad to hear them! Insulting my putative intelligence isn't going to cut it, though.

If it actually protected me - it would be part of the merchant agreement. It doesn't actually protect me. It actually makes me less safe under the guise of protecting me, and that bothers me on a philosophical level. It also encourages ethnic and socio-economic profiling, which I object to on a more political basis that probably doesn't belong here.

I for one, do care about contracts. Contracts are how people agree on what will be done. And if the credit card company (who has the most to ultimately lose) thinks that ID doesn't add to safety - why does a store manager with no training in identity theft issues, limited applicable training in fraud avoidance and no information security background get to decide they know better than the experts? Really - that's like listening to the guy at the meat counter say "Oh, you don't really need to cook chicken thoroughly - I've been eatin' it raw my whole life, and I'm still here! Just ignore that label!"

Some people are so unreasonable.

I completely agree. And in this case, we seem to both believe that the other is completely unpersuasive, so there seems to be little point in continuing.

 

[dawnball]

I won't shop at a store that doesn't let me return. Period.

Oh, I so agree! I half think that Lands End may cut me off soon. I'm difficult to fit, and so is my daughter and we both require sizes that the local stores tend to be out of stock on. Plus the closest Sears is 20 minutes away, and DD hates the retail store experience more than I do. So I order them online. This year -nothing- has fit on the first try. The rises have all gotten shorter (on the same pants as last year) and once I finally found DD's size in shorts - the next set I bought in the same size and a different style fit completely differently.

I do always take them back within a week (or else I'd forget completely), and most of them were purchased marked-down to begin with.. but ugh. I finally gave up because I'm too cheap to mail them back, and remembering to take the 1-2 items that needed to go back with me when I was going past the Sears was starting to irritate me.

 

[Lisann]

I can tell you one reason they do it.. to make sure people are actually making the returns. I worked retail and my assistant mgr starting to just scan stuff off the shelf and "return" it for cash. She did this for a few weeks before we caught on.

ETA this was not a disney store i worked at.

Yes, that is the reason. I worked retail for a while as well, years ago, but that is the reason as stated above.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Another zombie thread from 09

 

[Pooh2]

I recently made a return to the Disneystore with my credit card receipt and was asked for my driver's license.
The return was a purchase made at disney online store, I received it 3s week after purchase (apparently sat in limbo somewhere for a couple of weeks).
The CM informed me that I was fortunate it was not an item that they carried in the store as they would have to give me the most recent sale price due to returning it at 32 days past the purchase date on the receipt.
She also insisted on giving me a store card rather than a credit to my charge card due to it being 30 days.
I had not encountered either of these policies in my many purchases made through Disney.
Good thing I usually like the stuff I buy there!

 

[powellrj]

Why do people keep bumping old threads up. The policy may have changed since the thread is so old.

 

[maxiesmom]

Why do people keep bumping old threads up. The policy may have changed since the thread is so old.

The links that now show at the bottom of the pages. Some of the suggested ones are very old. But there is no way to tell until you click on them.

 

[powellrj]

Yes, but once you realize how old they are, why do people still hit post reply? Many times it seems to be the same people that bring up the old ones.

 

[brooke789]

Couldn't be value for price now could it?

And yes return policy does make or break a store. Goody's is an example. In business 55 years and now gone. I am not so ignorant as to think that return policy did them in all by itself, it did contribute to it's downfall. It is the reason I never purchased another thing there after the first time when I bought something for DH and had to return it and was issued a store credit.

Just wanted to say that Goody's is alive & well! They actually bought a regional clothing retailer in my area (actually from my hometown) BC Moore's. All of the BC Moores are now Goodys. They've changed what they sell and are more high end than junk like they'd gotten before the switch!

I'm really surprised by this thread. I've been reading through it over the last few days and I've never had to show an ID unless I didn't have a receipt...and now I see that this thread is years old. Oops. I guess the policy hasn't made it's way to my area or I just haven't run into it.

I do tend to do a lot of returns to Walmart (with receipt)... Costco (b/c it wears out or change our mind, etc) and I feel like I return everything I buy at Lands End, but never run into any problem and I don't think I qualify as a habitual return as mentioned earlier in the thread.

Sorry one more bump on the dinosaur!

 

[here757]

Yes, but once you realize how old they are, why do people still hit post reply? Many times it seems to be the same people that bring up the old ones.

I'm bumping it out of spite!

 

[wendow]

I just don't think we all realize the date of the thread right away. I know for me, looking at the date is about the last thing I see. And these old threads just keep showing up at the bottom...

As for Disney Store policy on returns, seven years later and I still consider them pretty bad. Worse than other stores, imo.

 

[gdrj]

nm

 

[grammakelly]

I wonder if this is the same woman who always bought clothes where I used to work! My store had a very "the customer is always right" return policy, and this woman worked it to her advantage. She was ridiculous, we all hated waiting on her. Eventually the store started to get a bit tougher on returns and made it policy that you had to have a receipt to return at a register; if you didn't have a recepit you had to go downstairs to customer service (this was a big department store). Oh how we all loved being able to tell this woman she had to go to customer service to return all of the stuff she pulled out of her closet that was obviously YEARS old!
/QUOTE]

Yep, my Mom used to work at JC Penney, and they had to take back EVERYTHING.
Example, she processed a return for a pair of jeans that had obviously been worn in an accident. The customer had washed them, but there were still bloodstains. They were cut all the way down one side, and the customer said "They just ripped!" So he wanted his money back, said they were defective.
Another lady brought in a clothes hamper that was about 15 years old, well used, and very dirty. The bottom had come out, and she insisted it was because it was defective.
Yes, they did return money for both of these items.
Ridiculous.
(And yes, this IS an older post, but still interesting.)