Serial returners, beware: Retailers are TRACKING you

[Rosa Luxemburg]

Source: Today.com

Many buyers aren't aware that some returns, with and without receipts, are being monitored at stores that outsource that information to a third-party company, which creates a "return profile" that catalogs and analyzes the customer's returns at the store.

"I had absolutely no idea they were doing that," said Mari Torres of Springfield, Va., during a shopping trip with her daughter at the Pentagon City Mall in Arlington, Va. "I honestly think it's an invasion of privacy."

Torres, 39, says she's a responsible shopper and she'd like to know what kind of information retailers keep on her, with whom they may be sharing it, and how long they keep it.


Read more: http://www.today.com/money/serial-returners-beware-retailers-are-tracking-you-6C10900265#serial-returners-beware-retailers-are-tracking-you-6C10900265

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I'm going to hide under a large rock.

[blackspade]

1. This is just as bad or worse than the NSA surveillance

Talk about the technological sword of Damocles.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. We hope that the NSA doesn't sell the info to third parties!

My serial returning of vacuum cleaners info has probably already been sold to Russia and the Chinese. If they made the vacuum cleaners properly in the first place I wouldn't have to return them!

[blackspade]

3. Only terrorists return things!

Spending money helps 'Merca don't ya know.

[tofuandbeer]

18. That's funny: that's about the only thing I've returned more than once.

There are some pretty "sucky" vacuums out there.

[frylock]

14. i'll believe that when Best Buy has the authority to imprison people

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Nonsense. There are more serial returners than you think.

It's not uncommon for people to urge others in forums to "buy" an outfit, wear it to a party and return it the next day. It's called "wardrobing". People apply it to all manner of goods. People do it for photo shoots. "Professional" stagers do it with housewares when staging houses for sale.

Jimmy Deignan sees nothing wrong with it and has done it a number of times: http://consumerist.com/2008/02/21/is-retail-renting-ethical/

Return fraud cost $3.5 billion in the 2011 holiday season. http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=News&op=viewlive&sp_id=1243

In 2010 for the whole year http://www.nrf.com/modules.php?name=Documents&op=showlivedoc&sp_id=5895 :

Amount of merchandise returned: $194 billion.
Returns as a percentage of sales: over 8 %.
Return fraud as a percentage of returns: over 9 %.

An anecdote: http://forums.redflagdeals.com/do-you-believe-free-renting-aka-buy-return-1303365/2/#post16383930 http://forums.redflagdeals.com/do-you-believe-free-renting-aka-buy-return-1303365/3/#post16391531 :

When I used to work in retail it was fairly obvious who was doing this as returns could be tracked using credit card number along with phone numbers. An individual who did this often came in to return a $4000 TV he had purchased, I asked staff to inspect the TV in from of the customer and when it was taken out of the box there was a small scratch on the bezel. The TV had been purchased brand new and the customer had said he did not like the picture quality as his reason for returning. I denied the return. He was angry and started to create a scene so I called mall security and he was banned from the whole mall and stuck with a $4000 dollar TV as I wrote "no return physical damage on the invoice before I gave it back to him. Karma does work sometimes.

We were able to track returns to multiple stores over a period of years. This was not an issue of the product not meeting expectations. There were multiple big screen TVs on the report along with computer hardware and cameras. I think that the guy was using copies of the invoices for tax write offs by claiming the items as a business expense since some of the product showed that it had not been delivered before it was returned. Either way he had a worse day than me.

[liberal N proud]

26. It is done because people abuse the ability to return items.

Example 1: I was in a retailer meeting the manager. While waiting I witnessed this woman who was returning a $200 gazebo she purchased prior to the., July 4th holiday with no receipt. She was belligerent because they didn't just give her money back to her. The manager worked under the verbal attack from this woman to try and find evidence of the sale in their computer.

Now, either she didn't know when she bought it or she didn't buy it and therefore it was impossible for the store to find it. Then the other thought popped into my head, she bought it for a party over the holiday and now the party is over, she returned it (essentialy borrowing).
Abuse?

Example 2: My brother got married for the 6th or 7th time by Justice of the Peace. The went to the store purchased some decorations, used them for the wedding and returned them.
Abuse?

Abuse 3: The summer is ending, people are closing down their swimming pools. Purchased that pool in early June, used all summer and now you don't want to store it. Saw this while standing in line to return a defective item. Guess what the customer didn't have and didn't know? A receipt and date of purchase. Why? The return policy is 30 days without receipt.
Abuse?

The first and 3rd were days apart, I couldn't believe it.

Those examples are just my observations over the course of a couple weeks, it goes on daily and hundreds of retailers. They are tracking your returns because they have to!!!!

[msongs]

4. stores could just ditch their open returns policies and save $$ billions a year, which they could

pass along as lower prices, and let the serial returners learn how to shop more carefully

[Ed Suspicious]

20. Stores that don't allow returns don't get my business. I shop guitar center because they allow

returns. Often times I end up keeping what I bought, but it is great comfort to me to know that if I bought something I don't get stuck with buyers remorse. In fact, they get the bulk of my business simply because I can shop with the comfort of knowing exactly that. Usually when I return something it is a lower priced item and that money from the return gets applied to the upgraded item. Amplifiers and guitars and effects pedals don't reveal themselves until you get them in your own ecosystem. Trying in the store doesn't provide enough information for me to make an informed decision. My amps and guitars and pedals are my paints and brushes and contribute mightily to my sound. I like being able to craft my sound without being on the hook until I know it works for me.

[Hekate]

43. Costco has a great returns policy, but they got burned on computers and other electronics

Too many students "buying" a computer for a semester or two, then returning them. Now they have a much tighter time limit.

[Enrique]

5. phew

i heard about this on the radio, I thought they said cereal returners. I guess i'm ok for now.

[penultimate]

11. So you're the one who is responsible for all those boxes of Lucky Charms without the marshmallows...

STOP STEALING ME LUCKY CHARMS!!!!

[YOHABLO]

6. Oh yeah, they are making big money selling your shopping ''wants and desires'' to other entities.

[Maedhros]

7. To be fair, there are criminal rings that use stolen credit cards to buy stuff

that they then return for cash. I can see the "return profile" as a preventive measure for such fraud.

Whether it is an appropriate measure, that is open for debate.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Target can often tell if a woman is pregnant before she knows.

Like no shit.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/02/16/how-target-figured-out-a-teen-girl-was-pregnant-before-her-father-did/

[Rosa Luxemburg]

13. Wow!

[Brigid]

19. That particular story has been on here before.

That could lead to some serious problems. A man unexpectedly finding out his teenage daughter is pregnant is a potentially explosive situation, to put it mildly.

[HoneychildMooseMoss]

41. That's one reason why I prefer to use cash

and stay away from store cards. The brownie points just aren't worth giving stores intimate details about my buying habits.

[onehandle]

9. Not really new news. Retailers have been doing this in some form for decades.

It's just more computerized each year.

[DontTreadOnMe]

10. The stores are being forced to do this

I personally know people who made a living buying items at one store (on sale) and returning to another, and without a receipt they would get a store credit. Even if it was only $5-10 difference, they would do this every week... returning stuff to 10-20 stores all over. Buy toys on sale at Toys R Us, return them to Wal-Mart for an extra few dollars each. All this for like $50.

The stores got wise to this, and now make people fill out a form and they have to show their Driver's License on all returns.

They are looking for people who are scamming the system... but go ahead, jump right down Paranoia Drive and think this is the NSA.

Seriously, people have gone over the edge here on DU with the spying fear.

[Skittles]

12. CORRECT

[Rosa Luxemburg]

15. I don't think the NSA is tracking your shopping habits

but the tracking fear is definitely 'in vogue'

[muriel_volestrangler]

21. It amazes me that any store would accept a return without a receipt

I don't see why they should have to at all.

[eggplant]

23. They don't "have" to -- they do it as a courtesy to their customers.

They accept that there will be some loss to professional returners, shoplifters, etc. It is balanced by the good will they are able to extend to the honest ones. Practices like the OP talks about are designed to limit their risk from cheaters.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. But genuine customers will have the receipt

I suppose there will be gifts where the giver doesn't want the recipient to see the receipt; but I'd think the chance for abuse would be too great. I have not heard of any shops in the UK accepting returns without receipts.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

31. I return a lot at Home Depot without a receipt.

I'm a contractor so I purchase a lot from them.

Rather than dig through piles of receipts, I would rather just take a sore credit because I will just turn around and spend it. Most times I spend the gift/credit card in the same trip.

Also, it is my understanding credits back to a debit card can take a week or more. I don't want the extra headache to track credits.

[mwooldri]

33. Similar thing, but as a casual Lowes shopper.

I'm not a contractor, and I don't buy a lot from them. Or Home Despot for that matter. Lowes likes to track things by my phone number or card number used, or even that "My Lowes" thing that tracks your every purchase with them. I prefer the store credit too - since I'm there buying something else anyway and I could do with using that store credit now rather than having it float through the bank.

[mwooldri]

32. Marks & Spencers? Debenhams? Topshop?

All three will accept returns for store credit without a receipt at the current identified sales price. Mark's & Spencers' return policy IMO is quite generous, and it has not been unknown for M&S to receive a return for an item purchased more than 10 years ago, unworn, with receipt... I presume the customer got a full refund, and hopefully management managed to throw in some gift vouchers or something like that.

UK consumers have better statutory rights than their American counterparts. Sale of Goods Act 1979 is legislation that I had to know enough about when I was in retail in the 1990s, especially at a store that really didn't want to accept returns. You get the customer who comes in and says "so and so told me if I purchased X this would work in my computer.. it doesn't, i want a refund." By statute, I'd have to give the guy a refund.

As for gifts when the giver doesn't want the recipient to see the receipt? I know Target and Wallyworld do "Gift Receipts" - which makes exchanges easier on recipients.

[muriel_volestrangler]

44. I thought they always wanted a receipt

though M&S has the advantage of doing all own-label stuff, which does cut out the main chance of fraud.

[jmowreader]

25. People would quit shopping there if they did that

This practice, of accepting returns without receipts, is Walmart's great gift to the retail world. And sometimes it bites you in the ass.

I told this story a long time ago but it fits here...Home Depot stores keep some large commodity items, like lumber, outside. We had a skid of special order shingles sitting out back and someone put two bundles of them on a lumber cart, pushed them all the way around the store and "returned" them. I picked them up and put them back on the skid...and a couple hours later when we'd changed the cashier at returns, he did it again. Assuming that he would try it a third time if we had a different returns cashier on, I got the loss prevention guy to switch out the returns cashier and hang out by the returns desk. He did and sure as shit, half an hour after the new cashier went on shift he fucking did it again. We nailed his ass.

[SylviaD]

30. I AGREE n/t

[Purveyor]

16. For christsakes Kmart has been doing this for years. At one time, since I rarely shop there anymore

and don't know if the policy still holds, they had a yearly limit on the number of returns you could make in 1 year.

[Gormy Cuss]

22. I was asked for my name etc. when I came back to have them correct a price

less than 20 minutes after the purchase. I had the receipt with the time stamp and the item purchased was from a markdown bin next to the registers -- it was a no brainer. I told them they didn't need my name to correct THEIR mistake. It was a cash purchase so they had nothing. I told them their "policy" was customer hostile and that I didn't need to do business with them. A manager gave me the money.

I wonder how these stores calibrate the lost business from customers who are put off by this policy. What's really objectionable is they're not just tracking serial returners, they're tracking anyone who returns anything for any reason.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

27. Pay with cash.

And give them a fake zip code. My zipcode is 666-69. Computer doesn't take it? It's new.

[bhikkhu]

28. "Lowe's will track all of the purchases that you make in store..."

I had to chuckle when I saw that ad the other day; I can imagine a level of integration where they could RF chip your card and know when you've arrived to shop, and cue the sales staff of your usual purchases and needs. Perhaps retailer could band together and share information, like "intel he's just come from Sears where he looked at, but didn't buy, a mid-range weedeater for $119 - hit him with the sales price. Profile says he likes blondes - send Debbie".

[jtuck004]

29. I wondered why they ask so many questions when I return my new lawnmower each September.

[Historic NY]

34. Clean it the next time.

[jtuck004]

35. Oh, I do, I do. I think it had something to do with my names...

I mean name.

2008 Ezekiel Smith
2009 James Smith
2010 Ferris Smith
2011 Chuck Smith
2012 Mildred Yonkletz

I always hang on to the receipt, but I think I should have put more work into the last name I used...

[Rosa Luxemburg]

39. Did yuo wear a wig?

[jtuck004]

40. Darn it, knew I forgot something. Wonder if I could take it back after the lawnmower? n/t

[adieu]

36. I have no problems with this

Big ticket items like large screen TVs are bought prior to a big bowl game, like the superbowl, then returned as "defective" or otherwise the day after. It's basically a way for people to rent the TV for free or for a modest restocking fee. If the product was actually defective, then the consumer would be no more likely than anyone else to have purchased it. But if that consumer has had a consistent string of returns, then it's fair that the retailer can decide not to sell to that person.

Sensitive, intimate products such as underwear or sex toys and such are already non-returnable, so this list isn't going to be accumulating any embarrassing items that a person has purchased.

If people like, maybe we can create legislation that prevents tracking for items under $100 or only allow tracking for big-ticket, durable goods items like refrigerators and washers and TVs and computers.

[Bigredhunk]

37. I Don't Mind Cracking Down On Returns Without Receipt

For ex, Target allows you $75 of returns per year without receipt (they keep track of it with your d/l). That's fair IMO. But Best Buy tracks valid returns WITH receipt (even if you have the receipt, they still make you show your d/l and keep track of everything you return). That's ridiculous. What's worse, if this 3rd party tells Best Buy that you've crossed the returns threshold (which nobody can define for you -- Is it a $$ amount? Is it a $$ amount relative to what you spend? Is it total # of returns? Is it # of returns relative to how many items you buy?), you can no longer return anything for at least 90 days. Not sure how it's legal to prevent you from returning things you bought under whatever return policy they had at the time. That is, it's one thing not to allow you to return anything purchased from that day forward. But for them to say you can't return anything for 90 days..including items bought before you were blacklisted (which were purchased under their standard return policy)...just not sure how they get away with that. Then again, their return policy for regular customers (not Reward Zone Silver) is 15 days. I'd never buy anything from a company with a 2 week return policy.

You can claim all the fraud crap you want. It's bogus. People keep talking about the Super Bowl big screen tv scam, as if it's still a big thing. You can crack down on serial returners without casting a net over everybody.

[Duer 157099]

38. Parents with sons who hate to go shopping are probably top on the list

I always go shopping for clothing/shoes for my son without him. I pick up a whole bunch of stuff I think he might like that might fit him and bring it home. Then whatever he doesn't like or that doesn't fit gets returned.

Big deal!!!

[Socal31]

42. Americans gave up their shopping privacy years ago.

At least those who chose to shop at stores with the discount cards, or Costco.

I've always used a fake name/number. I don't need some list being sold to an insurance company showing that I like craft beer on the weekends.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

45. I assume all returns are tracked ...

... just as all sales are tracked.

I'm trying to decide if I care. "They" know what kind of bread I buy, and that I change my own oil. So I get coupons for bread and oil.

[Heywood J]

46. This is why no retailer gets any of my cards

and why the only name they get is obviously fake. For all but the largest items, I've started going cash-only to avoid being tracked by stores and having my card numbers and personal info stolen when they're too sloppy to properly protect the giant databases of information that they gather from us.

Don't like doing returns (especially ones with receipts)? Get out of retail - simple as that. You do not get to abuse your customers because you have the suspicion that they are all thieves.

[RobinA]

47. I'm a Dedicated

anti-surviellence believer, but this is a non-issue to me. Nothing on a credit card is protected from credit providers and there are people whose sole purpose in life is to ripoff retailers. I worked retail in the '80s and the scams were mindboogling and widespread. I can only imagine it has gotten worse. I worked in a respectable department store, not some bargain basement, and the number of people who returned white shoes after the season was amazing. Kinda disgusting, really.

[crim son]

48. I work for LLBean.

Serial returning isn't a huge problem, but when people abuse Bean's generous return policy, they are, IMO, committing fraud. Of course the company has a fraud department that flags customers who regularly return used boots, tents and flannel shirts. I talk to eighty customers a day and by and large, they are wonderful. But the exceptions are often rude, arrogant and deceptive. I say, flag 'em if there's a distinct pattern.