Poor Customer Service by Policy
Whereas good customer service and focus should be rewarded (see my list of the best retailer return policies), poor customer service and focus should be called out and not disguised as anything else. Today, we’ll take a look at the worst retailer return policies. These retailers typically make it a pain to return things, to help boost their profit margins.
How much business do they lose to competitors because of their policies? Only time will tell. In some cases, these retailers have little competition to worry about, which has allowed them to get away with a poor customer focus. But this only leaves the door open for their competitors down the line. Show these retailers what you think about their return policies by shopping at competitors who are more generous with theirs.
Apple’s Return Policy
# of Days to Return Item: 14
Receipt Required: Yes
Commentary: Despite the fact that the product is their own and they know their own product release dates, Apple will only let you return unopened items within 14 days. After 14 days? You’re screwed. Open the item? 10% restocking fee. Your products are good, Apple, but that doesn’t mean they are always perfect. Why not stand behind them?
Best Buy’s Return Policy
# of Days to Return Item: 15 days on all “eligible” items, but it doesn’t clarify what items are “eligible”. 14 days on activated items (e.g. phones).
Receipt Required: Yes
Bonus Negative Points: Don’t even think about returning the following items – Best Buy does not allow it:
- Labor, delivery and/or completed Geek Squad® installation services
- Some prepaid cards, digital subscriptions or services
- Consumable items such as food, drinks and batteries
- Ink/Toner cartridges that have had their factory sealed packaging opened
- Items that are damaged or abused
- Items that are missing accessories such as remote controls, cords and cables
- Etched or otherwise personalized items
- Opened computer software, movies, music and video games can be exchanged for the identical item but cannot be returned for a refund
- Downloadable digital content (such as games and movies)
- Microphones, harmonicas and similar products
- Marketplace items
- Non-defective special orders
- Return and exchange shipments from outside the country
Commentary: Best Buy’s return policy in both prohibitive in the number of days you have to return and also complex in what items you can return within those time frames. Throw in re-stocking fees, and you provide a very poor all around customer experience. I’m not sure how long this particular policy has been around, but with Circuit City closing shop, Best Buy has a dominating market position in brick & mortar consumer electronics that has allowed them to institute/keep this type of policy without losing ground to the competition.
As I highlighted last week, Costco’s return policy, allows 90 days on all electronics and unlimited on everything else. Simple, customer friendly, and reasonable. All of which, Best Buy’s return policy is not.
Amazon’s Return Policy
# of Days to Return Item: 30 for Amazon shipped items.
Receipt Required: QR code or return label.
Commentary: Amazon does a lot of things right, which has allowed them to become the clear #1 online retailer. However, their return policy really depends on who you buy from. You can find Amazon’s return policy here. It’s solid for Amazon purchased items (though you do have to pay a fee for some types of returns).
Where it gets confusing is when you have purchased and received shipment from another retailer on Amazon. There are thousands of retailers, and each has their own return policy (and you almost always have to pay your own shipping).
OfficeMax /Office Depot Return Policy
# of Days to Return Item: Between 14 and 90.
Receipt Required: Original receipt required.
Commentary: OfficeMax has a prohibitive time frame for returns, for starters. ‘Technology’, software, and furniture must be returned within 14 days with the original receipt. Ink and toner get 30 days. ‘Technology’ returns are subject to a 15% restocking fee. Don’t have the receipt? You’ll have to settle for store credit.
Slightly better is Staple’s return policy, which can be “any time” for many items, but with a long list of exceptions that have a 14-day return limit.
Poor Return Policy Discussion:
What is the worst return experience you have had?
Related Posts:
Just a quick note in favor of Amazon. While their return policy may be confusing, their customer support is some of the best I’ve dealt with, and have heard many other stories of the same. For example, my Kindle’s case was slightly off and they overnighted me a brand new one, with a shipping label to send my old one back. This was 2 months after purchase.
Also had a friend just get refunded their shipping cost from Amazon when UPS screwed up the shipping (it came a few days late). Most other retailers would have told you to talk to UPS about it.
I’ve returned dozens of things to amazon without paying a shipping or restocking fee. Much of it is just a matter of common sense. If I buy a pair of shoes, take the tags off, wear them to an important business meeting and then come back and return them because I don’t need them anymore, I should pay a restocking fee. That same pair of shoes if I try them on and they don’t fit and I leave the tags on them, I’ve gotten free return shipping every time.
I just checked and last year I placed 64 orders for 181 items and returned 16 items. I paid shipping on one and restock on that same one. And it was a 3rd party seller that had that policy clearly posted.
I completely agree. Sure, Amazon’s return policy may not be spelled out clearly. But Amazon is one of the most customer-centric companies in the world. Especially if the item is marked as “Sold by Amazon”, they will back it up and send you a replacement for free in some cases. If it’s sold by another seller, they will still take it back with free return shipping if it’s defective. Also, a lot of items have free return shipping as mentioned on the item’s page (shoes, clothing, etc). I’ve never had to pay return shipping for anything I’ve had to send back.
I think Amazon deserves more than just a little mention that “their customer service is great”…it’s not just “great”, it’s top-notch in my experience.
Sorry, but Amazon’s customer support isn’t that great- you always get someone with a heavy accent who can never answer your questions. I got shifted around when inquiring the status of a return I sent out 9 days ago (dropped it off at the Amazon store). They could provide me no tracking info and they couldn’t even give me a correct ETA! First I was told up to 7 days, then I got transfered and I was told up to 2 weeks! If you think about it, 2 weeks to process a return is a bit ridiculous and after the return is processed you have to add another 2 to 3 business days for you to even get your money back. They then told me that there was nothing they could do for me and that if it went beyond the 2 weeks that I needed to call them back. Amazon use to have great customer service, but I find it typically is based on who you get because now it is really hit or miss. Costco hands down has the best return policy and they have the best customer service.
I completely agree in regards to Anazon, I’ve made many returns to Amazon for various reasons and have never paid for return shipping. Never any issues and more than a few times they reimbursed me and let me keep the product for free. They are very customer service oriented.
Agreed. Amazon is the only company I have ever dealt with whose customer service peeps call _me_
Yeah, I’ve returned things to Amazon before and even though it didn’t meet the return “guidelines” for my situation, I still got a FULL refund. I doubt that they always have someone checking every product. Just saying.
Also, having worked at Best Buy customer service, I will agree that their policy is confusing, but there are reasons. The restocking fee is in place most because the company was having issues of customers “renting” the product. Purchasing a camera, taking it on vacation, and then returning it. You forgot to mention that if your product is indeed defective there is no restocking fee.
We can return labor under extreme circumstances and with manager permission. Think about it, if you pay for labor, and the labor is preformed, you can’t unperform the labor. Just saying.
And yes BB doesn’t take back phone cards or music cards because if you were to buy an itunes card for instance, and then wanted to return it, for whatever reason BB does not get the money back from Apple, so that is not BB’s fault.
Also, you are forgetting a MAJOR return policy that is HORRIBLE. Forever 21 offers a 21 day return policy and you can ONLY get STORE CREDIT, that is it.
I’d like to point out that in a world of e-bay and craigslist, most retailer’s return policies are a lot better than what most people need.
The only bad experience I can remember lately is with Amazon. I received some gifts for my baby shower and I couldn’t return duplicates because it was over 30 days. I still have the items in my closet, unopened. I called and talked to customer service, but they just said if I couldn’t print a label it was too bad. I’m still a little peeved because there is no way I could have returned items from a baby shower before the baby was born. I had no way to know what I would need and Amazon was unwilling to listen to (what I thought were) reasonable mitigating circumstances. Despite this I love Amazon, and I probably buy more stuff there than everywhere else put together so it’s more likely I will have trouble there too.
Side note, I don’t think that a return policy is bad in and of itself, especially at an electronics store. However, it’s important to know what the policy of the store is before you shop so you don’t get a nasty surprise if you try to return late.
Has anyone else taken note of whether company’s return policies have gotten better or worse since the “Great Recession” Started. I do not return nearly enough items to know, but I am curious if there has been an effect.
I beg to differ on Apple’s policy. I’ve had a couple of MagSafe Power Adapters die outside of the warranty period, and both times an Apple Store employee replaced them free without me even asking.
I can’t blame retailers for having strict return policies. An earlier commenter complained that she had duplicate baby shower gifts that she wanted to return. Seriously? So there’s nothing defective about them, you’d just prefer the cash and would like Amazon to forgo their fair profit and reduce your clutter for you by taking the items off your hands? Sorry, but unless something you buy (or worse yet, get free from a friend) is broken or fundamentally different than what you expected, suck it up and sell the stuff you don’t want on eBay or Craig’s List.
Just a quick note in favor of Amazon. While their return policy may be confusing, their customer support is some of the best I’ve dealt with, and have heard many other stories of the same. For example, my Kindle’s case was slightly off and they overnighted me a brand new one, with a shipping label to send my old one back. This was 2 months after purchase. Also had a friend just get refunded their shipping cost from Amazon when UPS screwed up the shipping (it came a few days late). Most other retailers would have told you to talk to UPS about it.
Yeah, I’ve returned things to Amazon before and even though it didn’t meet the return “guidelines” for my situation, I still got a FULL refund. I doubt that they always have someone checking every product. Just saying. Also, having worked at Best Buy customer service, I will agree that their policy is confusing, but there are reasons. The restocking fee is in place most because the company was having issues of customers “renting” the product. Purchasing a camera, taking it on vacation, and then returning it. You forgot to mention that if your product is indeed defective there is no restocking fee. We can return labor under extreme circumstances and with manager permission. Think about it, if you pay for labor, and the labor is preformed, you can’t unperform the labor. Just saying. And yes BB doesn’t take back phone cards or music cards because if you were to buy an itunes card for instance, and then wanted to return it, for whatever reason BB does not get the money back from Apple, so that is not BB’s fault. Also, you are forgetting a MAJOR return policy that is HORRIBLE. Forever 21 offers a 21 day return policy and you can ONLY get STORE CREDIT, that is it. I’d like to point out that in a world of e-bay and craigslist, most retailer’s return policies are a lot better than what most people need.
Have you bought used items from amazon and returned them? I want to know if i would get my FULL refund. I am currently trying to get my full refund NOT 15% stocking
Just a quick note in favor of Amazon. While their return policy may be confusing, their customer support is some of the best I’ve dealt with, and have heard many other stories of the same. For example, my Kindle’s case was slightly off and they overnighted me a brand new one, with a shipping label to send my old one back. This was 2 months after purchase. Also had a friend just get refunded their shipping cost from Amazon when UPS screwed up the shipping (it came a few days late). Most other retailers would have told you to talk to UPS about it.
I disagree with your criticism of Apple, they do stand behind their product. I just had a 3.5 year old laptop’s hard drive, keyboard, and casing all replaced for free. Even though the hard drive was from another manufacturer, Apple still stood behind their product two year’s after the warranty expired. I suppose it is an easy target for criticizing return policies, as they have a limited selection of products all of which would be basically worthless if return after use.
I have also never had issues with Amazon’s policy and their 30-day TV return policy is better than most anywhere as it includes shipping. The Zappos model is a bit ridiculous if you ask me, though I have certainly used their services.
BEWARE OF AMAZON MARKETPLACE ITEMS. I bought an item from one of these sellers and it was not what I wanted. I returned the item, unopened and in pristine condition. The company is giving me a hard time about refunding me my money. I just read their return policy. They charge a 15% restocking fee on all returns. I paid $800 for this item.
Unfortunately, I did not think to read their return policy before purchasing the item.
A bit sneaky I believe.
Most ppl assume that if they return the item in a timely manner, and it is unopened and in perfect condition, the company will fully refund your money.
NOT SO.
BEWARE.
THIS IS A SCAM IMO!!!!
Outrageous! Corporate America at its worst!
Shame!
Blue Velvet Vintage has the worst return policy I’ve ever encountered. Here’s a cautionary tale for anyone considering buying from this website – only purchase their product if you’re willing to take the risk of losing your money if the product looks different in the light of day than on their website. My daughter bought a prom dress from them. It didn’t fit well and the dress looked tacky in real life. The store’s policy requires that you get a return authorization within 3 days of receipt and return the item within 7 days. Even if you successfully jump through those hoops, they will only allow you to exchange for a different size or take a store credit that expires in a year. I tried to return my daughter’s dress after the 3/7 day limit and asked for a store credit (accepting that they wouldn’t give a refund), and they wouldn’t budge. To add insult to injury, the customer service rep was incredibly rude and obnoxious, telling me basically that we were stupid not to follow their policy to the letter and that they didn’t want customers like us anyway. Ah well, live and learn.
Buy with AMEX, you can return almost anything within 90 days (subject to a cap). This will definitely cover restocking fees, however. Look up AMEX return protection
To the writer of this article, you might possibly need to research the return policy for Best Buy just a little bit more. Your article is grossly inaccurate and really should be re-edited to improve said inaccuracy, since you’ve chosen to bash such a large retail corporation on such a public domain. Here are the points I’d like to argue:
First —
You said:
“Don’t even think about returning the following items – Best Buy does not allow it:
Labor, delivery and/or completed Geek Squad® installation services
Some prepaid cards, digital subscriptions or services
Consumable items such as food, drinks and batteries
Ink/Toner cartridges that have had their factory sealed packaging opened
Items that are damaged or abused
Items that are missing accessories such as remote controls, cords and cables
Etched or otherwise personalized items
Opened computer software, movies, music and video games can be exchanged for the identical item but cannot be returned for a refund
Downloadable digital content (such as games and movies)
Microphones, harmonicas and similar products
Marketplace items
Non-defective special orders
Return and exchange shipments from outside the country”
Many of the items that you have listed cannot be returned at any store, whether it’s Best Buy, Target or even Wal-Mart. Consumable items such as ink cartridges and pre-paid cards (including Microsoft Office) cannot be returned due to Federal Laws that have been put into place. They can’t be legally returned. The same goes for opened media (cd’s, movies and video games). Best Buy is bound under Copyright Laws. We cannot return in-ear headphones, microphones and harmonicas for reasons of hygiene. We can’t accept something once it’s come into contact with ear wax and saliva. We also cannot return Marketplace Items because they are not Best Buy’s items. They belong to the third party that nearly leased space on our website — like some merchants do on Amazon. Defaced and abused items can’t be returned because well, I do believe that’s a given. Special Orders CAN be returned.
Second —
You said:
“Best Buy’s return policy in both prohibitive in the number of days you have to return and also complex in what items you can return within those time frames. Throw in re-stocking fees, and you provide a very poor all around customer experience. I’m not sure how long this particular policy has been around, but with Circuit City closing shop, Best Buy has a dominating market position in brick & mortar consumer electronics that has allowed them to institute/keep this type of policy without losing ground to the competition.”
There have not been restocking fees since the late 90’s.
So I ask you now and with all due respect, where did you get your information?
Thank you.
T-Mobile has to be the worst.
$75. Restock fee on all phones or tablets even if returned under the 14 days.
I find this downright evil, immoral, and
similar to being raped at gun point in the middle of the night.
To be frank, until today I also do not know how to return purchase from Amazon if I am overseas buyer, the courier just come and go, I do not have time to even check my goods.
Apple does NOT charge restocking fees in the US. They were eliminated back in 2011
The worst customer service that I ever got which was totally out now to rip off in fraud fraud that they stole from me was from Zulily. I had called in order got everything complete finish the transaction and within probably I don’t know 7 days or so I got my order and in it they shipped three of everything. The stuff was made pretty cheap some of the dresses I really liked but I called them and told them that they had chipped me and charge me for a triple order they gave me the run-around they asked me all the stuff had me call and call and call, then they said that the reason that they got mixed up with because they had me in Asia instead of the United States and blah blah blah it was ridiculous I mailed everything back to them and continuously called them every three or four days for months and never got my money back. So they stole from me and I got to the point where I just said screw it so don’t order anything from them and if you do put it on a separate card or cash card from Walmart or some place where only has so much money on it and that’s it then they can’t get more out of it but when you talk to them and customer service if you do get their name the department the time and the date you’re going to need it they are known torious for really bad customer service and ripping people off and overcharging them will taking more money out of their account couple of times when you’re not supposed to even after the shipment is paid for they still try to take more money out of your account
To whom it may concern. Best Buy still has a Restocking Fee no matter what anyone says.
I will never purchase anything from Best Buy again. They tried to MAKE me agree via the signature screen during the purchase that the camera I was buying would have a restocking fee of 15% if I returned it!!! Do the calculation 15% of $650 is $97.50. I DID NOT sign this and took my business elsewhere. Costco, B & H Photo, $0 restocking in the event that you wish to return an item. Reply and defend Best Buy all you want. This was my experience today. Mic Drop 🎤
Harold, thank you for taking your business elsewhere. If I was Best Buy I’d rather not have your business in the first place than have to put up with a person buying a camera for an event and then returning it after the event is over. So yeah, go drive up someone else’s erosion. Mic drop.
I think you should add yourselves (Staples Canada) to this list of worst return polices…I paid debit visa and my money was taken out immediately but when I went to return it the same day I had to wait 2 to 5 business days to get my refund…I find this absolutely ridiculous and criminal as you can take my money right away but to get it back it takes up to 5 business days…whats up with that…please reply back
The problem with many return policies, especially in electronics, is that we are bound by the manufacturers and vendors to how long we have to return items. So yes, Best Buy has a restrictive policy, but it is the same policy (14-15 days) as Wal-Mart and Target’s electronics return policy. Costco does business in a vastly different manner than retail stores, so their policy can be different than retail. I’m not sure what they do behind the scenes, so I can’t comment on the why.
Adding Amazon almost completely delegitamized this list.
I have had a horrible experience with best buy. I bought some headphones that broke within a day, so I called support and explained the situation. They told me to send the headphones in the package it came in, so I did. I got them returned, with a note saying there was insufficient evidence that the headphones were broken. The thing is, it was obvious that they were broken. The padding of the headphones fell clean off and the wires were sticking out. I decided to buy some more expensive heaphones, around $80, and again, they broke in around 3 weeks. But since the return policy is only 14 days, I couldn’t return them. In addition to the fact they won’t even replace broken items anymore.