Target’s Hidden Return Policy

Why isn’t Target forthcoming about its return policies for customers without a receipt? That’s the subject of this weekend’s Bottom Line column.

 

Target says it understands when people change their minds about a purchase. “No” and “problem” are among the first words of its return policy.

Target pledges to scan a receipt or packing slip to ease each return. For those who have lost the receipt, it will look up the purchase on the customer’s credit-card records.

No problem. But what happens when a customer does not have a receipt and Target cannot find a record of it using receipt look-up process? That’s a problem.

When Jan Angelillo of Rocky Hill attempted to return a duvet without a receipt to the Newington Target in June, she says the store could not find the corresponding charge on her credit card. It then offered her $53 in store credit for the $59.99 bedspread, which represented the store’s recent lowest price on that item.

“Fine with me,” says Angelillo. “I asked for a gift card so I could pick up a few other things I needed.”

That’s when a store representative told her it wasn’t possible, that the $53 credit must be used in the same department for at least that amount.

“Ridiculous,” says Angelillo. “There was nothing I needed in that department for $53. I carefully read their return policy posted, and nowhere does it state that rule, which I pointed out to the clerk.”

The Bottom Line couldn’t find it, either, even after being referred to a specific link on the Target website by a company spokeswoman. Angelillo says a store clerk cited “some exceptions.”

More . . .