'The grin slid off his face': Employee outsmarts customer trying to exploit returns loophole

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

Jun 26, 2023 6:00 PM EDT

Navigating some companies' return policies can be an unnecessarily difficult experience that may drive you to look for ways you can circumvent their requirements and get a fair go at returning your unwanted item. At times it can feel like these policies are unnecessarily specific and cryptic: "Customer must return an item only when the thrush knocks on the last light of the third day of the second new moon—whilst wearing a hat made of cabbages." After a while of wondering what in the Tolkien you've gotten yourself into, you begin to realize you're stuck with that item you wanted to return.

It's important to realize that these policies often exist for a reason, and they're often not for you or for me but rather for these fringe customers who will take every opportunity to exploit anything and everything for their own gain and in order to get free things or get their money back for things that they themselves have ruined. It's surprising how dishonest people can be when seeking to make a return or claim a warranty, and it can be challenging for a retailer to work out who is telling the truth. Of course, this leads to things being needlessly restrictive and untrusting toward those who are telling the absolute truth.

This employee shared their story of outsmarting a customer who was trying to exchange a "faulty" item for a new one. The employee deduced that the customer had ripped a copy of the DVD they were exchanging and was going to return the new copy once they had it in hand. So, the employee decided to unravel (or unwrap—if you will) their scheme.

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