A Thief at Target

I love Target. I mean LOVE it. I shop there for most of my family’s essentials – clothes, diapers, household items, sometimes even food. I love their commercials. I love that they use Badly Drawn Boy’s music in them. I even love that I am a sucker for their advertising because I think it is just that good. When I worked in the evil business development job, we made a sales proposal to Target. While I hated that job, I loved working on Target as a prospect.

When we need something around the house, my first thought is, “I bet we can get that at Target.” And when we do go to get that one particular item, we usually leave with at least five more unplanned items. Thus, I spend LOTS of money at Target. When I got married, I opened a registry there. When we had our baby, we had another registry there. So, other people have spent lots of money at Target on my behalf. I prefer Target to Wal-Mart (for several reasons). I even prefer Target to Babies R Us baby items. I love Target.

On Sunday, we went to Target to exchange some baby clothes that my son received as birthday gifts. He received two of the same pair of shorts and some of the sizes were too big. We really just wanted to switch these items out. Fast and easy. No problem. So I thought.

When we arrived, I waited patiently in the returns line while only one associate handled returns. Only one person was there to help the line of people, myself included, wanting to return, exchange, etc. Did I mention it was Sunday? At noon? Right at the moment when almost all southerners get released from church and head to do some quick shopping before going out to lunch? Yes; only one. “But this is Target,” I thought, knowing that there must be a reason for this small glitch in their customer service efforts. So, I waited without huffing or rolling my eyes and was finally able to make my case to the associate. I had five clothing items that I needed to exchange. They were gifts, and I do not have receipts. But I only plan to switch the sizes and colors. She sternly explained to me that without a receipt, I could only exchange two items. And, if the items had been on sale within the last six weeks, I would only receive the amount of the sale price that the items may or may not have been in the last six weeks. Wha??? Only two items per person per 12 month period? What? It’s not like I was trying to return the Bose iPod speakers or a Dyson vacuum. I was exchanging approximately $20 worth of merchandise for almost the exact same items. Even though I was a little frustrated, I was okay on the anger scale. I could exchange two items, the Professor could exchange two, and the fifth item can just wait until the baby gets a little bigger. No problem.

Meanwhile, the Professor had gone to check on something so I had to wait for him to come back and help me with the exchange. Once he returned, I explained the situation and got back in line while he went to find the right sizes of clothes to exchange. I waited patiently again for the one lone associate to help me with the exchange. When I finally got to the counter, she looked at me and said, “You both have to be present to exchange. I have to first return the items before you can get the new items.” The look on her face told me that she was getting annoyed with my inability to follow these invisible directions.

The Professor had not come back with the goods yet, so I had to get out of line, AGAIN, and go find him. He was nowhere near the children’s clothes but in the Everything’s a Dollar aisle, just a few steps from the not so courteous customer service desk. I explained that we both had to return two items each before exchanging, so we went back to wait in line AGAIN. At this point, I was pissed. The whole point of making this “quick” trip to Target so near to the baby’s feeding and nap time was because it was to be well, quick. We had already spent almost 20 minutes dealing with Target’s inane return policy.

Finally, after several more minutes in line, we were able to get to the counter and “return” the clothes. We went and found our “new” clothes and made the purchase. I was so sick of the situation and annoyed that I didn’t even question them when I somehow had to pay an addition $2.18 for the supposedly equal exchange – it must have been that whole sale price thing that screwed me. But at this point, I was beyond caring about $2. I just wanted to get out of their before Charlie (or I) started screaming.

I have to say that I have never had such a horrible Target experience and that my once fond feelings for this corporate giant are now marred. From now on, I will think twice about making Target my automatic choice for my household goods. While I understand that such refund (REFUND) policies are in place to protect themselves against fraud, I do not understand how such a policy can be so hard-ass that it does not protect me, the consumer, the one who makes Target Corporation a success. Target’s refund policy made me out to be a thief. Me, the one who easily drops at least $100 in their stores on a weekly basis. Well, Target Corporation, you may have just lost yourself a loyal customer. And I was definitely loyal with a capital L.

Target’s website posts their return policy on line. On this page, they say, "We're Not 100% Happy Unless You Are." Well, I'm not happy. The language below is for merchandise other than electronics and big ticket items.

If you return items to Target without your receipt, we will offer you an exchange coupon that can be redeemed at any Target store, or (where applicable) a repair of the item. This coupon can be used to replace the returned merchandise with either the same item, or an alternative of your choice. The value of the exchange coupon will be the system price of the returned merchandise on the day of the return. You will be requested to produce suitable identification such as a Driver’s Licence or any other form of identification that contains your name, address, signature and photo will also be accepted.

I think the part in bold above has changed since this was published. I was only able to get a sale price for the item (from 1-6 weeks ago) while it was not on sale this particular day.

This link details how Target’s return policy can screw you when purchasing gifts.
http://www.breakthechain.org/exclusives/target.html

I am very disappointed in Target Corporation and I am certainly not 100% happy. I'm not even close.