Do you find yourself in the return line at the store as much as the checkout line? We’ve heard of shopaholics but are you a returnaholic? Be warned: Some stores are taking names and the next time you think you’re going to hear the ca-ching of the cash register and watch the clerk hand you cash or refund your charge card you may hear a big fat NO--because your patterns of bringing stuff back put you on the store’s “blacklist”.
The National Retail Federation, which represents hundreds of stores across the country, confirms some ask shoppers for identification when they bring something back to keep track of “repeat return customers”. Why? To crack down on fraud. It estimates:
- 3 BILLION DOLLARS WILL BE LOST RETURNING ITEMS TO STORES
- 4% OF RETURNS WITH RECEIPTS ARE FRAUDULENT
- 14% OF RETURNS WITHOUT RECEIPTS ARE FRADULENT
But some customers gripe it’s not fair to have to shell out personal information just to make a legitimate return. When Mike Eshelman bought an office chair he says it came with two left arm rests. When he tried to return it he didn’t have the receipt and was surprised the manager demanded identification. “Finally, she said we'll approve it this one time without a receipt but we need your driver’s license.”
Mike says when he asked why he needed to show ID his surprise turned to shock by the manager’s answer! “’We want to make sure you don't do this again.’ As if I was doing something wrong.”
How often do stores demand you fork over your personal info to make a return if you don’t have a receipt? Galtime went undercover and bought: One frying pan, one man’s shirt, one computer mouse and one flower pot from four different national chain stores to find out. Here’s how our return spree went down:
- Two stores scanned our undercover shopper’s driver’s license info into their computer system, in order to return the frying pan and the shirt.
- One store used the shopper’s credit card to link the return and refund the cost of the computer mouse to his account.
- One store allowed us to return the flower pot, without asking for identification.
“They keep track of how much you're returning, how much returns you’re doing, how much in refunds they’re giving you.” Retail insider Robert Smith says our undercover return spree documents what industry experts know—some stores make returns a “swap”—they’ll take your return if you’ll give them the info they want. “If they can see a pattern and a history of you doing that then it is common for customers to be let go or fired.”
The National Retail Federation’s Joe LaRocca says the goal is to strike a balance between keeping shoppers happy and preventing problems. “Do stores need to take a firm stance on policies sometimes? Absolutely. Are they right 100% of the time? Unfortunately they're not.”
LaRocca points out some criminal customers even make fake receipts to return stolen stuff! If stores take down their contact info they can tell police where to attempt to find them. “Very sophisticated criminals actually go into stores and will steal register tape from empty registers in the store or buy register tape over the Internet and they will make near perfect replicas of sales receipts to do these returns.”
Smith acknowledges tracking returns can help stores fight fraud—but he says stores also make money because your person info is also used to push products.”It is used for marketing purposes for that store and other stores they're partners with.”
For shoppers to actually end up on a store’s “blacklist” experts say you would have to return a lot of stuff in a short amount of time, showing up without receipts, without price tags and missing parts to stuff.
The National Retail Federation says stores aren’t trying to make it tough for customer; tracking returns saves everyone money and customer identify data is usually kept in the same secured system where credit card data is stored.
Experts say if you absolutely don’t feel comfortable giving out your personal info to return something ask to speak to the store manager. If you do end up on a store’s returnaholic blacklist you can still shop in the store, it may just refuse to allow you to return stuff. So make sure you really like it and it fits before you buy it.
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