When you return a defective item at a store where does it go? What do they do with it?

[steppinthrax]

Just curious. I've returned items before and I imainge if they are good it goes back onto the shelf. But what about a bad digital camera or a broken laptop? Does it simply go back to the manufacture. Does the store lose track of it afterwards????

 

[nonameo]

It gets sent back to the manufacturer for credit. At least where I work it does.

 

[Finalnight]

depends on the item. Some get destroyed at the store, some get sent to a processing depot to be disposed of, and some get sent back to the manufacturer and often resold in other channels as refurb.

 

[Kalvin00]

Walmart puts it right back on the shelf...at least the one here did.

 

[Exterous]

depends on what it is. sometimes companies send people out to repair them onsite, sometimes they are shipped to a repair depot, others they go back to the manufacturer

 

[rh71]

i had a thread here saying Babies R Us takes back returned items and sells them as new. It was obvious from the time the box was opened... parts were not bagged and free-floating... wheels were dirty and food particles and hair were stuck to the parts. Nasty.

 

[Skeeedunt]

Fry's just wraps it with a nylon tie and puts it back on the shelf for 3% off.

 

[murphy55d]

if its defective it gets sent back to the MFG in most cases.

 

[SKORPI0]

If the store get credit for the damaged item & manufacturer does not want them returned, it is disposed off (thrown in the garbage compactor). There is a certain $$ pricepoint, if it is big ticket items it is sent back to be repaired at manufacturers cost. If it is deemed too expensive to fix ($ to fix vs. $ value), it is sold for parts only. If it is fixed, it is sold at a loss.

 

[Locut0s]

Originally posted by: steppinthrax
Just curious. I've returned items before and I imainge if they are good it goes back onto the shelf. But what about a bad digital camera or a broken laptop? Does it simply go back to the manufacture. Does the store lose track of it afterwards????

Depends on what you mean by "defective". If the customer returns it and mentions it's broken and it obviously is then it probably gets sent back to the manufacturer to be refurbished and latter sold at a reduced cost. That is if the manufacturer takes the item back. If not then the store may attempt to sell it "as is" if it mostly still works. If not then it will get written off and thrown out. Often though such an item may go back on the shelf if there is nothing obviously wrong with the item. Most retailers don't have the time to go over returned items thoroughly and if the customer doesn't mention very specifically what's wrong they might just plug it in and give it a few runs around the track. If it passes they might box it back up and sell it again.

 

[Eli]

Depends on the store, but in general it would be sent to the manufacturer for credit.

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Skeeedunt
Fry's just wraps it with a nylon tie and puts it back on the shelf for 3% off.

IF they mention it at all...the one in Fremont used to be notorious for repackaging products then sticking them back on the shelf for some un-suspecting customer.
Buyer Beware at Fry's.

 

[2canSAM]

Originally posted by: Kalvin00
Walmart puts it right back on the shelf...at least the one here did.

They do that here too. They claim they never put returns back out, even if it is returned just as "didn't need or want". Walking through the store here you can see numerous items that we returned. The funniest thing was when we needed a new clothes iron and ran into walmart to get one. 2 of the four of this particular model on the shelve still had the "defective" return tags taped to them. Needles to say we got another model.