Is this Barnes & Noble crazy or am I?

  • Thread starter Thread starter bengangmo
  • Start date Start date
...is this another one of those bizarre American-centric things? Let me get something straight: you bought something on special, found out that it would be cheaper next week, bought it anyway, then went back the week after to get a bigger discount?
 
El Presidente said:
HO HO HO, another joke with the word "charisma" in it, HO HO HO.

I take my last post back. "Nitwit" is a much better term to describe your comedic skills.

Have any more one liners using the word "charisma" or are you done being boring?
Click to expand...


I thought charismatic people were unboring enough for the whole party.

How's that?
 
...is this another one of those bizarre American-centric things? Let me get something straight: you bought something on special, found out that it would be cheaper next week, bought it anyway, then went back the week after to get a bigger discount?
Click to expand...
I didn't buy it twice if that's what you're asking.

I bought the product.

I was then told that product was going on sale next week.

The store policy is that you can return any unopened product with a receipt for any reason within thirty days.

If the clerk had told me about the upcoming sale before I bought the DVD's I wouldn't have bought them. I would have waited until the sale started and bought them then.

I considered returning them all right then. As I said, the store's policy allows you to return them and get your money back - this is not something I made up. But I decided to wait a week. Maybe the clerk was wrong about the upcoming sale. Maybe I wouldn't be able to get to the store next week.

Nor did I somehow secretly trick the store into having a sale. They decided to have a sale on their own and decided when to schedule it without my input.

So I'm not trying to "scam" anyone. I'm just trying to use the store's own policies to pay a lower price.

I don't see how there's anything bizarrely American-centric about deciding I'd rather pay eighty dollars for a product rather than ninety-five dollars. Do people in other countries intentionally pay more for what they buy? Why is that? Are they worried that the store won't be their friend?
 
cosmosdan said:
Because you pissed them off by not accepting a polite no or two and continued to argue the point. It's aggravating when customers think that by insisting and nagging they can eventually get thier way. Sometimes hoops are just to let them no it can't be all thier way.


If you determined that a customer was going to be a persistent pain in the ass then it's okay to say "Here's your refund, now take your business elsewhere" and it feels good to.
Click to expand...
Listen, I don't think that's what happened, but if it did, that I can understand at least a little better. "Sorry, sir, I wish we could do more," with a shit-eating smirk on one's face could be a very satisfying conclusion to an exchange with a royal-pain-in-the-ass customer. But I would still think that the response to a real smacked-ass customer looking for an exception would be a politely worded, "screw off--nothing for you." Granting an exception, then attaching a non sequitur of a qualifier to it doesn't seem likely to me, not with the facts as presented. (And, again, it doesn't seem to be an exception at all, and I don't want to suggest I think Little Nemo was a pain-in-the-ass customer.)
 
Little Nemo, whatever you do, I hope that you returns those DVDs.

In a way, the policy makes sense for them to make it difficult to do what you're doing. Because they know that there will be some amount of people who won't want the hassle of returning it and then purchasing it again later. That's why companies do mail-back promotions. The amount of people who are willing to mail back information for a cash back is surprisingly low. I remember a statistic that I read about it (that I can't find right now).

I just had a similar thing happen to me at Border's a couple weeks ago. At Border's, they send you discount coupons all the time, pretty much every week. I took a 40% off coupon and bought an item. For some reason, that I can only attribute to fatigue and hunger, I also bought an item at full price at the same time, even though I knew that I could just wait another week for another coupon. And sure enough, the next day, there was another 40% off coupon in my e-mail. So I called the store and asked if I could return the item (and I asked if I could return it when I bought it and they said yes) and then re-buy it at the 40% off price. And they said I couldn't. Of course, I could do what you're suggesting which is to return the item and come back later and bring the 40% off coupon to get the discount. I also know that Amazon has the same item at 32% off, so I could just return the regularly priced item and buy it at Amazon for 32% off. And I seem to recall that Amazon owns Border's, so I'd just effectively be doing the same thing -- returning the item to the store and buying it from another part of the store.

But alas, I did neither of these things. I just kept the book. It was just a few dollars, and at the end of the day, I couldn't be bothered. And that's how Border's made a few dollars off me and lost some good will. I'm not happy about the outcome, so I wouldn't suggest you doing the same.
 
Little Nemo said:
The store policy is that you can return any unopened product with a receipt for any reason within thirty days.
Click to expand...

Read the back of your receipt. It's fourteen days. Has been for about a year now. Of course, the general return policy is irrelevant to your purchase. Read up on the terms and conditions of the in-store Buy 2 Get 1 Free DVD/Blu-Ray promotion. During said promotion, and for 14 days following it, there are NO REFUNDS on DVDs purchased as part of the promotion. This has been the case for the last four or five years that the sale has taken place, and the signage states this. Not clearly, but you're an American consumer and the concept of fine print is surely not new to you.

If a manager agreed to give you a refund on your DVDs, they were making an exception for you. This would have been clearly communicated to you during the refund procedure, but for some reason you don't mention it in the thread. If your dilemma really involved "three levels of managers" there is simply no way the "no refunds" aspect of the Buy 2 Get 1 Free promo would not have been (gently) pointed out to you.

I'm also curious as to how you managed to work your way through three levels of managers when there are only two levels of management in a B&N retail store, assistant managers and the store manager. If for some reason there was a district manager present who was involved with your customer service issue, they would have caved instantly to all your demands and apologized profusely to you, because they have that kind of power.

I'm skeptical. I think you're not telling the whole story.
 
Stratocaster said:
Listen, I don't think that's what happened, but if it did, that I can understand at least a little better. "Sorry, sir, I wish we could do more," with a shit-eating smirk on one's face could be a very satisfying conclusion to an exchange with a royal-pain-in-the-ass customer. But I would still think that the response to a real smacked-ass customer looking for an exception would be a politely worded, "screw off--nothing for you." Granting an exception, then attaching a non sequitur of a qualifier to it doesn't seem likely to me, not with the facts as presented. (And, again, it doesn't seem to be an exception at all, and I don't want to suggest I think Little Nemo was a pain-in-the-ass customer.)
Click to expand...

Now that Nemo has responded I don't think that's what happened either. I have no idea why any retailer would do a legitimate reurn and then refuse to sell something else. If it's an exception return that makes a little more sense to me.

Maybe it's as one poster suggested, that they were either just entertaining themselves at the customers expense or an employee decided they wanted those moveies and created a policy on the spot. It's a bizarre thing alright.
 
Little Nemo said:
Isn't that what the free market's all about? As long as there's no deceit or coercion, people are supposed to maximize their own advantage. It seems sort of lopsided if the idea becomes that businesses are supposed to maximize their advantage and customers are supposed to just take what they're offered without question.
Click to expand...

First off, I agree with your OP, I think you should have been able to get your money back, or at the very least return it and rebuy the items.

But WRT this post, the free market is still at play. You could have returned the items and walked out. Instead of making some money, now they're making none. Enough people do this and either they'll change their behavior or one of the other stores (like Boarders) is going to pick up the slack. From their POV, you kept the movies, right. So they got to keep your money which is really what it's all about for them.
 
I'd be inclined to contact their head office if that's an option. That's how customers get around us when we try to follow policy.
 
Read the back of your receipt. It's fourteen days. Has been for about a year now.
Click to expand...
You may be right on that. I'll have to check the receipt. But in either event, it's been less than fourteen days anyway.
Read up on the terms and conditions of the in-store Buy 2 Get 1 Free DVD/Blu-Ray promotion. During said promotion, and for 14 days following it, there are NO REFUNDS on DVDs purchased as part of the promotion. This has been the case for the last four or five years that the sale has taken place, and the signage states this. Not clearly, but you're an American consumer and the concept of fine print is surely not new to you.

If a manager agreed to give you a refund on your DVDs, they were making an exception for you. This would have been clearly communicated to you during the refund procedure, but for some reason you don't mention it in the thread. If your dilemma really involved "three levels of managers" there is simply no way the "no refunds" aspect of the Buy 2 Get 1 Free promo would not have been (gently) pointed out to you.
Click to expand...
If this policy exists, the store employees I spoke with are apparently unaware of it. They all agreed I could get a refund if I wanted one.
I'm also curious as to how you managed to work your way through three levels of managers when there are only two levels of management in a B&N retail store, assistant managers and the store manager. If for some reason there was a district manager present who was involved with your customer service issue, they would have caved instantly to all your demands and apologized profusely to you, because they have that kind of power.
Click to expand...
The guy I was speaking to said he was calling his manager and I talked to the guy who showed up. That happened three times. Maybe they were just calling in other people who had the same title. Heck, maybe they called in a clerk from another department. I assumed they were calling in somebody at the next level because that's what they said they were doing. But I didn't ask for ID.
I'm skeptical. I think you're not telling the whole story.
Click to expand...
Can't think of any important details I've left out. Would you like the location of the store or the names of the DVD's?

I don't see why people are assuming there was some deceit involved here. I wasn't lying to anyone in the store and, as far as I know, nobody in the store was lying to me.

I didn't claim that the DVD's were defective or anything like that. I told them the truth that I was returning them to take advantage of the new sale.

And they all said I could return them and get my money back. And I could then walk away with my money or I could buy some DVD's. Except not those DVD's.

They would sell those DVD's to anyone who wanted them. Except not to me.

So, once again, I'm not saying their policy was deceitful - I'm saying it was irrational. And I wasn't trying to trick them - I was trying to make them see reason.
 
I meant why didn't you just return them as soon as the clerk said, "oh, by the way, these will totally be cheaper next week" - or ask him to void the transaction, or whatever?
Click to expand...
Bescially my preferences were this:

1. Buy the DVD's for 50% off
2. Buy the DVD's for 33% off
3. Not buy the DVD's

I had already bought them at 33% off when I was told of the upcoming sale so I had #2 covered. So I figured I could either return them that day or wait and return them next week when the new sale started. (I confirmed that I could return them next week.)

So I figured either way I'm going to have to come back next week to get them for 50% off. But what happens if I return them today and then it turns out the clerk was wrong and they don't go on sale for half price? Or what happens if something comes up and I can't come back next week? Or if I return them today maybe somebody else will buy them before I come back. If I can't buy them for 50% off, I'd still rather have them for 33% off than not have them at all. So I'll wait until next week to return them in case there's a problem - that way I'll be sure to have them regardless.
 
Maybe it's as one poster suggested, that they were either just entertaining themselves at the customers expense or an employee decided they wanted those movies and created a policy on the spot. It's a bizarre thing alright.
Click to expand...

If more than one manager was involved, both of these scenarios go right out the window. A single employee, acting alone, might do either of those things. After two or three managers get involved? Not a chance in hell.
 
Little Nemo said:
I didn't buy it twice if that's what you're asking.

I bought the product.

I was then told that product was going on sale next week.

The store policy is that you can return any unopened product with a receipt for any reason within thirty days.

If the clerk had told me about the upcoming sale before I bought the DVD's I wouldn't have bought them. I would have waited until the sale started and bought them then.

I considered returning them all right then. As I said, the store's policy allows you to return them and get your money back - this is not something I made up. But I decided to wait a week. Maybe the clerk was wrong about the upcoming sale. Maybe I wouldn't be able to get to the store next week.

Nor did I somehow secretly trick the store into having a sale. They decided to have a sale on their own and decided when to schedule it without my input.

So I'm not trying to "scam" anyone. I'm just trying to use the store's own policies to pay a lower price.

I don't see how there's anything bizarrely American-centric about deciding I'd rather pay eighty dollars for a product rather than ninety-five dollars. Do people in other countries intentionally pay more for what they buy? Why is that? Are they worried that the store won't be their friend?
Click to expand...

I'd rather pay a cheaper price as well. But if I buy something one week, and then next week its on special, the last thing on my mind would be to use a company return policy to get a discount. And I can't think of a company over here that would allow this transaction to take place.

...in general, over here in NZ anyway, you can return something under the consumers guarantee act (the goods are not acceptable quality, cannot be reasonably repaired, are not as described, or do not comply with what was promised), but most stores do not have open return policies: especially for DVD's.

For example, here is the returns policy for NZ's largest retailer, the Warehouse.

http://www.thewarehouse.co.nz/red/content/homepage/customer-services/returns

By American-centric: its like "running up the score in basketball is bad" or "its easier to pay rent by cheque than by direct deposit" or the "right to bear arms". In other words: something quite normal for American readers, but culturally difficult for others to understand. The responses that you have had in this thread seem to indicate that what you have done is commonly done and normal: for me I'm literally shocked that someone could even contemplate this.

On preview, I note that hazel-rah has mentioned that the deal you bought was quite specific: and the fourteen days return policy jibes with what I have googled. So yeah, it appears that by its own policy that Barnes and Noble are not crazy at all.
 
Little Nemo said:
Bescially my preferences were this:

1. Buy the DVD's for 50% off
2. Buy the DVD's for 33% off
3. Not buy the DVD's

I had already bought them at 33% off when I was told of the upcoming sale so I had #2 covered. So I figured I could either return them that day or wait and return them next week when the new sale started. (I confirmed that I could return them next week.)

So I figured either way I'm going to have to come back next week to get them for 50% off. But what happens if I return them today and then it turns out the clerk was wrong and they don't go on sale for half price? Or what happens if something comes up and I can't come back next week? Or if I return them today maybe somebody else will buy them before I come back. If I can't buy them for 50% off, I'd still rather have them for 33% off than not have them at all. So I'll wait until next week to return them in case there's a problem - that way I'll be sure to have them regardless.
Click to expand...

Would you mind answering in the question I asked in post 114 I think you already did but I'm a little slow.
 
Boyo Jim said:
This is really simple. Ir isn't even crazy, though it's pretty stupid. They are viewing this as one complicated transaction, and their accounting/cash register software can't process it.
Click to expand...

Please...What kind of software being used today wouldn't be able to handle a transaction as straighforward as 'return item, purchase item'? That's its purpose! It isn't the software, B&N are being dicks, plain and simple.

As others have already said, many other stores do price adjustments all the time. I would return all the DVD's and suggest they cram them someplace. It seems pretty obvious they don't want your business, so why give it to them?
 
Back
Top