Walmart Continues To Short-Change Customers On Gift Receipts

[Filliam H. Muffman]

Walmart Continues To Short-Change Customers On Gift Receipts

The Consumerist wrote:
It's been six months since reporters in California first caught several Walmart stores offering insufficient refunds on items returned with gift receipts. And then they confirmed two months ago that it was still going at Walmart's across the country.

[Paul F.]

If true, they should be prosecuted, of course...
But I don't trust "reporters" to be able to add, so theres gonna neeed to be something else to back it up.

[$tevie]

I saw the word Sale and I figured it out. Some chains do not refund the price that was paid for a gift, but the current price. So gift receipt items that are now on sale are refunded for the sale price. The Gap does this, too. When my friend raised a stink about this (they ended up having her escorted from the store!) she was told that people will return gifts for full price, get the refund, and then buy the same item at the sale price and pocket the difference. That is the Gap's story at any rate.

My point being, Walmart is not short changing arbitrarily. They are refusing to honor the original price of gift receipts items now on sale. They are not the only chain that does so.

The employees' confusion stems from not knowing store policy.

One should get the skinny on a store's gift receipt policy before buying a gift there. Caveat emptor.

[Black]

$tevie wrote:
I saw the word Sale and I figured it out. Some chains do not refund the price that was paid for a gift, but the current price. So gift receipt items that are now on sale are refunded for the sale price. The Gap does this, too. When my friend raised a stink about this (they ended up having her escorted from the store!) she was told that people will return gifts for full price, get the refund, and then buy the same item at the sale price and pocket the difference. That is the Gap's story at any rate.

My point being, Walmart is not short changing arbitrarily. They are refusing to honor the original price of gift receipts items now on sale. They are not the only chain that does so.

The employees' confusion stems from not knowing store policy.

One should get the skinny on a store's gift receipt policy before buying a gift there. Caveat emptor.

Maybe, but the alleged statement from Wal-Mart does not support that assessment:

Walmart, per article wrote:
It's our expectation to refund the original purchase price when returning an item with a gift receipt... We are reviewing that process to look for ways to make it more efficient and reliable for our customers.

[silvarios]

Black wrote:
Maybe, but the alleged statement from Wal-Mart does not support that assessment:

[quote=Walmart, per article]
It's our expectation to refund the original purchase price when returning an item with a gift receipt... We are reviewing that process to look for ways to make it more efficient and reliable for our customers.

Yep. Walmart itself seems to contradict that conclusion.

[$tevie]

According to this article, the Gap refunds full price, too. As I said, my friend was made to leave a Gap while arguing this policy.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/08/15/some-...-returned/

So all I can figure out is there's a lot of stores that say one thing and do another until caught. Again, not just Walmart.

[Filliam H. Muffman]

$tevie wrote:
According to this article, the Gap refunds full price, too. As I said, my friend was made to leave a Gap while arguing this policy.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2011/08/15/some-...-returned/

So all I can figure out is there's a lot of stores that say one thing and do another until caught. Again, not just Walmart.

It has been a problem in many chain stores but I see there is a difference in that Walmart* has been exposed multiple times in different regions over several months in identical situations and has not fixed the problem. Walmart* also had the largest percentage of overcharges on scan errors for a couple of years in a row.

[ADent]

We were told this was policy years ago at one of the department stores that became Dillard's.

So now if I think the gift is fishy I just pay cash and give the real receipt.

[gabester]

Thus a reason to never get a gift receipt... just give them the real one!
g=