This customer’s Target return didn’t go as planned. Now, people are accusing the worker of being a scammer.
While it’s nowhere close to Costco’s legendary return policy that lets people get their money back for used, broken, and half-eaten merchandise, Target’s policy is still pretty good.
Many retailers only give you 30 days to make a return. That sounds like enough time, but it can easily pass you by if you’re not paying attention. Target instead gives you 90 days (nearly 3 months) to bring back unopened items (with a few exceptions). And even open beauty items can go back in the 90-day window.
The retailer goes a step further with Target-brand items, giving you a whole year for the return as long as you have the receipt.
What happens when you make a return but an employee makes a mistake (intentional or not) when processing it though? That’s where our story begins.
Target return goes wrong
In a trending Reddit post with more than 170 upvotes, user u/annabellepurkey shared the predicament she’s in and asked for some advice.
Annabelle explained that she bought the oh-so-viral Revlon hair dryer brush (at least that’s what we think she’s referring to based on context clues) for about $40 but went to return it a week later.
The worker at guest services scanned her receipt, seemingly took the item back, and told her to have a nice day. But that was it.
“I thought it was weird she didn’t scan my item or give me a receipt but I’m socially awkward so I just said thank you and left,” Annabelle wrote.
But now, a week later, Annabelle noticed the refund hadn’t hit her account, and Target states that it typically only takes 5 days for a refund to hit.
Nervous about potentially being out $40, Annabelle called Target and they told her the worker never processed the return.
“Well now I’m back at college so I can’t go in and try to figure it out, and said store also won’t answer their phone no matter how much I call,” Annabelle shared.
“Is there anything else I can do?? I’m losing 40 dollars over this and I’m a broke college student so that’s kind of a lot for me rn.”
Commenters to the rescue
People offered a number of solutions, some more practical than others.
Several people suggested the simple route of disputing the charge on her card. This solution is much easier on credit card versus a debit card.
Some said that the interaction could signal internal theft and suggested Annabelle call the store directly to report the issue and even escalate it to HR if necessary.
“I had something similar happened. I used the chat function with Target and they were able to process the refund for me,” a person shared.
Others said that if Annabelle is committed to getting her money back she might need to make a bigger fuss and request the team lead verify her story by pulling the camera footage or even contact asset protection directly.
It’s unclear what solution Annabelle ended up going with and whether she was able to get her refund after all.
The Daily Dot reached out to Annabelle for comment via Redditt direct message and to Target via email.
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