Reminder - gift reciepts will not give you the value of the purchase back when return

[Ishy]

The way a gift reciept works at most stores, when an item is returned, will give you 'sale' price in value back. So mom buys an 80$ sweater that goes on sale to 15$ Dec 26 and darling daughter doesnt like moms tastes, gets a 15$ store credit to use.

You are much better off giving the store receipt for any item you purchased as a gift to someone exchanging the item.

I consider this underhanded fraud, since most people believe that a gift reciept is as good as having the real thing.

If you are unsure, ask the store about its return policy and will you get full credit for the price paid for any item returned within ### number of days of the holiday gift giving or purchase date. And make sure the cashier can answer your question. Most people, even cashiers, assume a gift receipt is like the real thing.

 

[CarolA]

I am not sure where you shop, but I have never had this issue and I have gotten gift receipts. The benefit of the gift reciept is that it does tell the cashier what you paid. I have never had this issue. I have always gotten full credit for the amount paid as have my family members (I know because SIL called me and said "you spent that much on THAT" LOL!)

In MOST cases if you have the orignal receipt you still aren't getting CASH. What you will get is a credit on the purchasers credit or debit card. So if I give my niece the receipt it doesn't help any more then the gift receipt.

If your store is doing this perhaps you should find new stores? I have used gift receipts at Target, Talbots and Macy's and this has never happend. (Nieces "you spent what" was at Areopostal)

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Never heard of this.

 

[SHAYMARAYSMOM]

I have never heard of this.
I give the gift reiepts all the time. I have also gotten gift reciepts and never had trouble

 

[girli565]

I thought the whole purpose of a gift receipt is so that the person gets the full value of the gift at the time it was purchased. I've never had this happen, ever.

 

[taximomfor4]

I only had this happen once, at Dillards. I was furious. I gave up arguing, and contacted corporate after the fact. It turns out the cashier was INCORRECT in only giving me the sale price.

Since then, I worked at several different stores throughout nursing school, and learned each of their procedures. The gift receipts have the amount spent on each item listed there, just encoded as letters instead of numbers. When a return is done, the employee inputs the info from the receipt (just like a normal return), but uses the letter codes to input the numbers. For example, $19.99 could be coded on the gift receipt as CE.EE ... the C is on the #1 key, the E is on the #9 key. So when the cashier types it in, it tells the register $19.99.

Any store that does differently is going against the normal and widely used procedure. If you know of any, please let us know the specific stores. THOSE are the ones we need to beware of.

BTW, some stores I worked at include Dick's, Gymboree, and Disney Store. Oh, and also Kmart but that was years ago. Target and Kohls both credit the correct amount on all returns, because my MIL shops at those 2 stores ('nuff said, lol).

 

[pumpkinfish]

Yeah, I'm sorry but that information is not correct and I used to work retail.

Your gift receipt is coded so that the person receiving the gift doesn't know what the cost is but has the store credit in hand if they ever need to return. The store credit is coded for the exact amount given.

Now...What DOES happen is going to a store without any receipts and returning/exchanging. At that point you will be given the value for what the product is at that point (no matter if the value increased or decreased).

 

[rparmfamily]

I think the only time this could happen is if you bought seasonal merchandise (holiday sweater,etc) and then the item was returned after the holidays. In that case then I'd expect they'd only get the "going" price for it.

Otherwise, I've never hear of this/experienced this and I too am a former Target/Yankee Candle/Pier 1,etc employee. Lots of retail in my background!

Does the OP know of any specific stores that do this?

 

[Shelly D.]

I agree with the other posters. The point of the gift receipt is for them to return the item and get full credit. If you give the recipient the original receipt, they may need to provide a driver's license or credit card to get the refund - so that would do them no good. I think gift receipts are the way to go.

 

[Doesney]

I have never heard of this.

 

[pumpkinfish]

I think the only time this could happen is if you bought seasonal merchandise (holiday sweater,etc) and then the item was returned after the holidays. In that case then I'd expect they'd only get the "going" price for it.

Otherwise, I've never hear of this/experienced this and I too am a former Target/Yankee Candle/Pier 1,etc employee. Lots of retail in my background!

Does the OP know of any specific stores that do this?

Thinking back, I can see if it is past the return date getting whatever the price is at that point. Say you can return up until Jan 15th and Jan 20th you return and have to get what the value is at that point. At that point the gift receipt is voided.

 

[maxiesmom]

A gift receipt guarantees that you will get back the same amount of money the person who bought you the item paid for it. But keep in mind some store will only give you an in-store credit with a gift receipt. If you want to return something and get either cash back, or credit the givers credit card, you will need the original receipt. And no, there is no magic button I can push that will let me do otherwise! If you don't want merchandise from that particular store, you need to go ask for the original receipt.

 

[Kteacher]

I work at Penney's, and our gift receipts are coded so that we know what price to enter if the item is returned, and that price is what the item was purchased for. The only time it gets confusing is when items are part of a "buy 1 get 1 " situation, then the return price is exactly half of the total purchase price for the 2 items.

 

[Ishy]

This weekend I confirmed with the following stores their gift reciept return policy -

Kohls
JcPenny
PacSun
Sears
and
Macys

They count on most people doing an equal exchange or not questioning the price. I put out the warning, you can disagree - I give the real reciept now. Learned this the hard way a few years back and have been on alert since. Just keep both so if you return something with the gift reciept and they dont want to credit the price paid, you have the real thing to revert too.

Again, I encourage everyone to just be aware. I only speak from my own experience. Perhaps state laws can come into play too.

 

[BCV2003]

This weekend I confirmed with the following stores their gift reciept return policy -

Kohls
JcPenny
PacSun
Sears
and
Macys

They count on most people doing an equal exchange or not questioning the price. I put out the warning, you can disagree - I give the real reciept now. Learned this the hard way a few years back and have been on alert since. Just keep both so if you return something with the gift reciept and they dont want to credit the price paid, you have the real thing to revert too.

Again, I encourage everyone to just be aware. I only speak from my own experience. Perhaps state laws can come into play too.

Last year, I returned a purse from Macy's that I received as a gift. With the gift receipt I received the full amount that it was purchased for not the amount it was currently selling for.

Personally, I have never run into this. This is the purpose of the gift receipt.

 

[SHAYMARAYSMOM]

This weekend I confirmed with the following stores their gift reciept return policy -

Kohls
JcPenny
PacSun
Sears
and
Macys

They count on most people doing an equal exchange or not questioning the price. I put out the warning, you can disagree - I give the real reciept now. Learned this the hard way a few years back and have been on alert since. Just keep both so if you return something with the gift reciept and they dont want to credit the price paid, you have the real thing to revert too.

Again, I encourage everyone to just be aware. I only speak from my own experience. Perhaps state laws can come into play too.

I wonder if it goes by state? I Kohls, Sears,JC Penny and Macys do not do that around here

 

[summerrluvv]

I know for a fact Kohls does not do this around here. Actually it seems like it would be fraud and I would contact the Attorney General in your state.

 

[MyZoeJane]

If you have let this happen to you even once then I would march back there and raise holy hell because you got duped by an uninformed salesperson.

This is NOT a legal store policy with a receipt. The ONLY difference between a sales slip and a gift reciept is the fact that the gift reciept hides the purchase price. It does not CHANGE the purchase price in any way. The bar codes are the SAME on both slips.


The ONLY time a store will give the current price in a store credit is when you return the item with NO receipt at all.

 

[Minnie]

Gift giver beware..... I have had the same thing in the OPs post happen to me - total rip off

 

[MyZoeJane]

Gift giver beware..... I have had the same thing in the OPs post happen to me - total rip off

I have GOT to know what state you guys live in so I can research this. I SWEAR you just got a moron for a salesperson. It simply is NOT legal to refund less than the purchase price with proof of purchase!

If this is happening, then it is happening because stores are defrauding customers, NOT because it is a LEGAL policy!