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why don't electronic stores do something about false returns

D

draggoon01

Senior member
so i'm standing in return line at fry's and while waiting i notice person ahead of me returning motherboard. for life of me it looked like he was returning the wrong one for the box it was in. worker calls over another worker, both look at it, then slaps on the return sticker for the box.

not just that, but i hear about people doing this or other similar stuff all the time. especially using stores as their free personal rma center (let's NOT discuss details). what gives. this bugs me because, like theft, the cost gets put on the good customer. don't stores ever smarten up? isn't this crime or do customers just claim "oops" on bringing wrong item when caught.
 
Just because a few attendants don't do their homework and actually pay attention at work like they're supposed to doesn't mean that stores in general don't give a crap. There are lots of people out there fighting this kind of bull from shady customers, but when the enforcement (return sales associates) doesn't do their job, the management's work is pointless.

You should have gone and told a manager at the store or something.
 
Originally posted by: chiwawa626
At frys the customer can get away with anything...well even the csr at frys..lol.
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the workers are frys just dont seem to care when it comes to returning a product, they just glance at it and give you a refund slip.
 

I've seen harddrives on the shelves of Office Depot that's missing the capacity label + UPC. How someone managed to return those after wrecking the box I'm not sure. Also puzzling is why OD still puts these return drives back on the shelves. It'll definitely save the rest of us consumers if the companies started to tighten up their return policies.
 
Awhile ago I bought an open box modem from best buy and found out when I got home, they took it back no problem, but a pain in the ass for me. everytime I've returned something at best buy they have a tech come over and they've checked model numbers
 
Originally posted by: Fiveohhh
Awhile ago I bought an open box modem from best buy and found out when I got home, they took it back no problem, but a pain in the ass for me. everytime I've returned something at best buy they have a tech come over and they've checked model numbers
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see, i'd never buy open box now because, if someone else messed with it, and i have to return it, store may think i did the something.

and i remember reading someone mention fry's having the lowest employee theft rate. yet they seem to have highest return fraud rate.
 
Wally-mart is another bad one. Burn and return has always been easy there since they only check the top of the box for evidence that it's been opened, not the bottom, which is just stupid. Half the time there's a competent manager on product returns who knows what's up, but as far as official policy goes they just have to do a superficial inspection. I haven't gotten any Wally-mart software home that was empty however, so I guess it isn't too big a problem.
 
Originally posted by: yukichigai
Wally-mart is another bad one. Burn and return has always been easy there since they only check the top of the box for evidence that it's been opened, not the bottom, which is just stupid. Half the time there's a competent manager on product returns who knows what's up, but as far as official policy goes they just have to do a superficial inspection. I haven't gotten any Wally-mart software home that was empty however, so I guess it isn't too big a problem.
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Walmart only lets you return a certain amt of times in a certain period of time though.. So atleast they are doing something about it. They have a tracking system that goes to all the stores so you cant even turn around and go to the one down the street.
 
YUP, my buddy got burned at frys. he bought some dvd burning software crap and got home opened the box, am wham the box was empty. he went back to fry's waited in their long line and they said that they can't do anything about it. the top of the box was fine, but the bottom was cut with a fine razor.
 
I bought an open box MX700 mouse from BB cuz it was the last one they had (the PM and rebate deal). Turned out the mouse didn't have the batteries, which wasn't a big deal, but it didn't CHARGE batteries either. So I ended up just taking it to another BB that had em in stock and exchanging.

As long as there are un-knowledgable employees that don't care, there will be thieving little bastards that will take advantage of it.
 
Originally posted by: TwinkleToes77
Originally posted by: yukichigai
Wally-mart is another bad one. Burn and return has always been easy there since they only check the top of the box for evidence that it's been opened, not the bottom, which is just stupid. Half the time there's a competent manager on product returns who knows what's up, but as far as official policy goes they just have to do a superficial inspection. I haven't gotten any Wally-mart software home that was empty however, so I guess it isn't too big a problem.
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Walmart only lets you return a certain amt of times in a certain period of time though.. So atleast they are doing something about it. They have a tracking system that goes to all the stores so you cant even turn around and go to the one down the street.
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Unfortunately that only works if you put things on credit card or something similar, or if they ask for ID. (Have they started asking for ID? It's been a while since I've returned anything to Wally-mart) Besides, if you have a group of friends you can just take turns, and personally back when I actually did burn and return I would purchase 4 titles at once and do it. (Though I usually wound up keeping at least one of 'em because they were what I deemed buy-worthy)
 
Originally posted by: yukichigai
Wally-mart is another bad one. Burn and return has always been easy there since they only check the top of the box for evidence that it's been opened, not the bottom, which is just stupid. Half the time there's a competent manager on product returns who knows what's up, but as far as official policy goes they just have to do a superficial inspection. I haven't gotten any Wally-mart software home that was empty however, so I guess it isn't too big a problem.
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are you talking about buying a cd/dvd burner, using, then returning? somethin like that is questionable morally, but not really fraud i would think. i remember reading those kids who made that home-made horror movie about getting lost in woods, bought equipment at circuit city and then returned it. they did this 'free rental' a couple times to finish shooting.
 
Originally posted by: draggoon01
Originally posted by: yukichigai
Wally-mart is another bad one. Burn and return has always been easy there since they only check the top of the box for evidence that it's been opened, not the bottom, which is just stupid. Half the time there's a competent manager on product returns who knows what's up, but as far as official policy goes they just have to do a superficial inspection. I haven't gotten any Wally-mart software home that was empty however, so I guess it isn't too big a problem.
Click to expand...

are you talking about buying a cd/dvd burner, using, then returning? somethin like that is questionable morally, but not really fraud i would think. i remember reading those kids who made that home-made horror movie about getting lost in woods, bought equipment at circuit city and then returned it. they did this 'free rental' a couple times to finish shooting.
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i think he's talking about software... that people just copy then return it. apparently the walmart people only check the top of the box if its still sealed.
 
At Best Buy, the return process ALWAYS includes having the Service Techs check the package to make sure all of the contents are there and that it is, indeed, the correct product.

That was probably the biggest pain in the ass of that particular job. You would be amazed though how many dicktards try to return 2-year-old graphics cards, hard drives, and such in the packaging of the newest device. I always liked to watch the look on their face when you tell them that they're returning the wrong product and will call the police if they don't leave the store.

That was one of those little "fun" perks of that job. I kinda almost sorta but not miss it.
 
Originally posted by: draggoon01
so i'm standing in return line at fry's and while waiting i notice person ahead of me returning motherboard. for life of me it looked like he was returning the wrong one for the box it was in. worker calls over another worker, both look at it, then slaps on the return sticker for the box.

not just that, but i hear about people doing this or other similar stuff all the time. especially using stores as their free personal rma center (let's NOT discuss details). what gives. this bugs me because, like theft, the cost gets put on the good customer. don't stores ever smarten up? isn't this crime or do customers just claim "oops" on bringing wrong item when caught.
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In this case about Frys and the motherboard, you had to have been mistaken. Frys records the serial # of every motherboard sold and puts it in the sales record. If the motherboard is returned, the serial # has to match the sales record, or else they deny the return.
Yes, there are fraudulent returns, and Frys does have a very lenient return policy, but they're also better than most about catching the crooks.
 
I work at walmart and I've seen plenty of this stuff. Our store is pretty good about calling electronics and having them come up front to check a return. We have a phone number we can call to see when ps2's have been purchased using the serial number. This has worked great a number of times because it even says what store it was purchased from. I refuse to take back software. I'll talk to the customer and tell them what they have to do to make it work on their computer. Sometimes management will still take it back just to make them happy.
 
Originally posted by: amdskip
I work at walmart and I've seen plenty of this stuff. Our store is pretty good about calling electronics and having them come up front to check a return. We have a phone number we can call to see when ps2's have been purchased using the serial number. This has worked great a number of times because it even says what store it was purchased from. I refuse to take back software. I'll talk to the customer and tell them what they have to do to make it work on their computer. Sometimes management will still take it back just to make them happy.
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You'd be one of the smart people then. Good for you!

However, I believe the return policy is that you can if it is unopened, correct? This is why burn and return has worked in the past.
 
Somtimes though it is accidental. Years ago I bought some ram for my computer at one of the office supply stores. 8mb I think and they wouldn't work in my system. Went back to the store. Turns out I had accidentally put my 16mb sticks from the other bank in the package. Fortunately they noticed it. They definitley would have come out ahead in that return if they didn't notice.
 
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