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Here’s my story, after reading all these stories about returning without a receipt, and realizing it’s the holiday season, I thought, what the heck. Why not try to return my items. Instead of being a pussy bitch, I decided to dedicate my day to returning my Windows Vista, and a my other Microsoft products sitting there.

1. I was afraid stores wouldn’t let me return the item if they notice the alarm go off, so I planned to go to walgreens. I went to walgreens with Vista and was going to ask the clerk if they could demagnitize it for me. The sensors didn’t go off, so I didn’t wanna look like a thief and leave with a vista, so I bought two bubble wraps to make it look like I’m trying to find supplies to mail Vista. 2 for 1 dollar was still a bargain.

2. I pick up my friend, and head to the first Best Buy. Alarms went off, they put a sticker on product that said Best Buy. I took it to customer service desk and attempted to return it. The Best Buy clerk said if I have no information on who gave it to me, such as phone number or receipt, they can’t return it.
Best Buy #1: FAILED.

3. I go to the neighbor store and try to attempt it. Office Depot. I tell them it was a gift and have no receipt. They apologize and said it was a new policy to not take returns without a receipt. I asked if the policy applied to all Office Depots, clerk confirmed it was, and no other Office Depot should take it.
Office Depot: FAILED.

4. I go to Staples, asked the clerk at the copy center if I could return. He said sure, and I said I didn’t have receipt, but called in and heard I can exchange for store credit. He told me to go to the main checkstands, and I did. The lady was surprised the software was worth around $400, she asked her neighbors that she may need more cash. She was about to give me a cash refund! The manager told her she can’t refund me without a receipt. I was scared, I replied, but I asked if they could do store credit, and they said they were in the process of doing that. After the clerk finishes, she gets an authorization override key from her manager and gives me the card and receipt. We’re all happy, Staples staff lenient. Got my $347.19 gift card.
Staples: PASSED

5. I go to Best Buy to return the desktop 6000. The CSR was a chick, but decided to open up my product without telling me to inspect it. So I thought I was good. She then scans the item and tells me the store no longer sells those, and they are unable to give me a refund. I asked her if there were any other Best Buys that has that product in stock, and should accept a refund, she looked it up and gave me a place in SF I didn’t yet go to. I thanked her even though she opened my package first before checking the product.
Best Buy #2: FAILED

6. I didn’t go to the Best Buy she mentioned because I called ahead of time, and the CSR told me they don’t take returns without receipts. It was also back to where I came from, downtown SF, and decided not to. I decided to go to Staples again, a different one, to return a keyboard. I recalled that it was 2 returns per year until you’re locked out with your drivers license. The staff questioned me about how I got it, I told them it was a gift, and they told me they could only give me store credit. I agreed. They tried the return, and I got declined from a computer alert. They told me to call the number on the receipt to see what’s wrong. I leave, then realize it may be limited to one no-receipt per year, so I walk back in, and asked the clerk to use my friend’s ID. Worked like a charm, staff were laid back, manager just approved, got my gift card for $108.24.
Staples #2: PASSED

All in all, I’m going to keep trying with best buy, but ahead of time look out to see if the item is in stock. If it’s an expensive item like Vista, I’ll do it with Staples with a different identity.

Is this return fraud? I wouldn’t say so. The staff were lenient, and didn’t care where I got the product from, they didn’t ask if it was from Staples. No-receipt returning may be hard for such items, but Staples’ slogan is still true. That was easy.

Here are the screenshots:

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 4:23 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.