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Report: #60038

Complaint Review: Fashion Bug - Bedford Indiana

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  • Reported By: bedford Indiana
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  • Fashion Bug 1224 James Avenue Bedford, Indiana U.S.A.

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I went into the fashion bug in bedford, indiana to return several items my sister had purchased for me the day before. these items did not fit me, and i asked for a refund. being as they were a gift, and would hurt my sisters feelings to know they were returned, of course i did not ask her for the receipt!! the clothing still had the tags on them. they were still in the bag. they had not been worn. i simply wanted to return them. well, the lady said she would give me a credit...i did not want a credit. she said she would exchange them. i did not want an exchange. i wanted my sisters money back to give to her . they refused because i did not have the receipt. i explained to her that i believed my sister was not offered a gift receipt, and that their service was appalling. this is a small town store.

i had shopped there often in the past. they knew me. she stated it was corporate policy. when i questioned her for the coprorate number, the manage, ms m o'hara told me, and i quote" i really dont give a s**t!!! im not giving you a refund. how do i know you didnt steal the clothes????" with that i announced to the entire store to be careful returning things or they would be accused of shoplifting too!!..she then ordered me to leave the store, and that i was to never come back ,and get the hell out!!!!!!! i couldnt believe my ears! when i looked at her with amazement and said "you cursed me!" she said she didnt give a s**t again!! i will never shop fashion bug again, and am contacting corporate headquarters over this incident..sincerely katrina miller, barred in bedford

Katrina
bedford, Indiana
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 06/09/2003 07:13 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/fashion-bug/bedford-indiana-47421/fashion-bug-fashion-bug-refusal-of-refund-cursed-at-bedford-indiana-60038. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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REBUTTALS & REPLIES:
0Author
11Consumer
0Employee/Owner

#11 UPDATE Employee

company return policy

AUTHOR: jennsgirl - (United States of America)

POSTED: Monday, December 14, 2009

When you say you didn't want your sister to know that you intended to return your gifts, how did you intend to explain the return of money? It clearly states in the return policy that merchandise must be accompanied by a receipt in order to be refunded in the original form or payment. You should have not been treated with disrespect in any case. Every company has a return policy and you would be well advised to check these things before purchasing in the future!

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#10 UPDATE EX-employee responds

Contradiction in your complaint.

AUTHOR: Jdean - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, November 21, 2008

The universal retail rule, is that returns must always* be accompanied with a receipt.
Without a receipt, the employee does not have any proof that
1.) The item was actually purchased
2.) When the item was purchased
3.) How much the customer paid for the item

And, most importantly:
4.) How the item was paid for. There is no proof of the form of payment, nor is there any detail about the payment such as the credit card type, etc.

The employee cannot simply rely on someone's statement such as "Oh, I paid cash for this." or "That was on my Visa."

[All too often shoplifters will come into the store with an empty bag, throw some clothes in there and say that they lost their receipt or they were never given one. Then they will fight with the employee in an attempt to receive a refund for something that wasn't purchased to begin with.]

You said that you would've hurt your sister's feelings if you had asked for the receipt, which indicates that you did not want her to know you were returning the items.

Then, you say: "i wanted my sisters money back to give to her"
Here is the contradictory statement. What were you planning on telling your sister the money was from? By giving her her money back, isn't that letting her know that the clothes were returned? If you really wanted the money back to give to your sister, why didn't you just get the receipt from home and go back to the store with it? This would have made things so much easier.

In your defense Karen, the manager was seriously out of line by cursing you. I would have called corporate also to report that person, because such behavior is totally unacceptable.

However, the corporate policy is and always has been:
Returns, even if never worn with tickets attached, must* be accompanied by a sales receipt for a refund in the original form of payment. The only exception is if the merchandise is defective or damaged.

This goes for Fashion Bug and almost every other retail store you will ever come across.

For future reference: Since you indicated that you're a regular shopper and they know you there, you could have asked them to look up the transaction on their computer. If you let them know what day you came in, what register you were rung out on, and how you paid, than usually (not always) they can print out a copy of your receipt from the computer and use that to process your refund.
With cash purchases this is tricky, since that is thousands* of transactions that have to be looked through, with only a SKU number to separate that one purchase from all the others.

Best Regards,
JDean

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#9 UPDATE EX-employee responds

FB ID REQUIREMENTS

AUTHOR: Libby - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Sorry but you have it all wrong. The reason for the id when you return items to FB is more for loss prevention due to employee theft. The customers who have returns/exchanges give their personal information (which by the way does NOT include your driver's license number). All that information is printed out in a report and the district manager (or the manager if she is a very conscientious one) will send cards to the individuals to make sure they actually made an exchange or return.

If they did not make a return then the employee that did the transaction is put under a microscope and in their infinite wisdom FB decides if they stole merchandise from the store. Admittedly, there are employees of ANY retail store that will push the envelope and see what they can get away with. It is very difficult, more like near impossible, to have an employee stealing from a FB and it not be discovered by management.

I'm not saying FB is a wonderful place, far from it. But their controls on shrink are in place for a reason and are reasonable controls.

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#8 Consumer Suggestion

Pay More Attention at the Places You Shop

AUTHOR: Elizabeth - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, October 04, 2004

I have worked retail for quite a few years, and I also shop often, and it is common policy almost anywhere you go that a reciept is required for a full refund (often refunded in the method of payment used, i.e. you will not get cash back if you paid with a credit card). Unfortunately in this day and age, corporations must protect themselves from rampant theft. If you say you shop there all the time, and assuming you are an informed consumer, you should be familiar with the return policies at the places you shop.

I think the manager was completely reasonable offering you store credit for the value of the item, that is also what my company offers without a reciept. Just FYI it is also common policy to request I.D. for returns with no receipt, and yes, to even enter your information into their system because once again, a few ruin things for everyone and there are people who will hit several different locations with fraudulant returns, and companies need ways to protect themselves.

I do agree that she should have handled the situation better, especially if she is in a management position, but there is no telling how exagerated that was since your complaint shows you to be a very demanding and unreasonable person. I do not blame her for throwing you out of her store after causing such a scene, it's simply bad for business.

And it really doesn't make any sense that you didn't want to hurt your sister's feelings by asking for the reciept yet you were going to give her back the money anyway, she would have found out you return the merchandise. Why didn't you just give her the merchandise to return then after you learned their return policy? If the only reason you wanted to return the merchandise was because it didn't fit, it seems you would have been more than happy to accept a store credit. It seems you should get your story straight before coming on a site like this and making a complaint, it just makes you look foolish.

I deal with people just like you almost every day and I wish you would just learn it is not our fault you were irrisponsible or uninformed. Often, even a manager cannot do anything to change company policy just because you get upset, I just wish you would keep that in mind.

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#7 UPDATE Employee

THE BIG REASON WHY WE ASK FOR AN ID FOR CASH

AUTHOR: Ann - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, March 15, 2004

This is for the person that was complaining that a fashion bug employee ask for her id

when we ask for your id for a cash refund or a store credit memo there is a really good reason and that reson is so that the customers are not giving us false information. When we ask for your id we type in your name, address, city, town,state,zip and phone number we do not type in your drivers liscense number. Then when the distict manager comes in to the store she will verify the cash refunds by mailing out a post card to randome customers just to verify that the customer actually made a refund of cash. So the reason why we need the correct information is so when she mails it out it goes to the correct place of residents becuase when that post card comes back to fashion bug home office saying that person or address unknown then it looks very funny on the store part.I do not think you understand company' losses a lot of money every year on fraud- refunds and then the employees pocket the money. Look at were the company is coming from and then if you do not like the company standers then pay with a credit card and then they will not need to see your id.

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#6 Consumer Comment

Be Logical

AUTHOR: Tracy - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, July 15, 2003

I have been a customer of Fashion bug since 1999. I have never had any problems with the customer service nor the returning of merchandise. Though, I'm not saying that it couldn't happen. The thing that bothers me most is that the customer did not respect the stores policy nor did she make any sense when she stated that she did not want the person to find out that she was returning but she wanted to give her the money back? ? ? huh? The customer made a spectical out of herself. She wasn't getting what she wanted so she through a temper tantrum to try to get it! If the store has a policy the store needs to follow it. There shouldn't be any exceptions to the rule. The customer should of respected the clerk and let it go. Instead she went to Management and disrespected those that were amongst her and the store employees. The Management may have said the wrong words but, the customer did not deserve the respect either.

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#5 Consumer Comment

Even WITH the receipt and tags..

AUTHOR: Teri - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, July 15, 2003

I went to my local (Illinois) Fashion Bug last night to return a shirt. I had the receipt and all tags were on the garment. I was surprised when the clerk asked for my driver's license, as I've only ever been asked to show that when I was requesting a refund without receipt at Wal-Mart. At Wal-Mart they'd just look at your license to see if the name and face matched, but when I handed my license to the clerk at Fashion Bug she started typing my dl informatin into the computer! I felt this was a little much after I had already come with receipt and tags as per their policy. I am not comfortable with any company asking for my phone number in order to make a sale, let alone putting my driver's information into their system. I won't be doing business with Fashion Bug again.

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#4 Consumer Comment

What bothers me is the reaction of the store manager

AUTHOR: Kelly - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, July 09, 2003

While I agree that in some stores I've been to, they require a receipt, not all of them do for cash returns. If this is the policy of Fashion Bug, then so be it.

What bothers me is the reaction of the store manager. I don't care if she saw her steal the clothes, she should have handled herself better under pressure. It made her look bad in front of customers and if I had been a customer in line witnessing this display, I would likely not return. This is to say that what is reported actually happened.

I have worked in customer service for over 10 years and I am continually appalled at the lack thereof in many stores. If you need to return something, at least the people behind the desk could be courteous. I don't go up to them with a snotty attitude, but I am incensed when I get one in return. For example, a huge sigh, rolling of the eyes, etc.

Anyway, if the reporter made it up, this has been a waste. If the store manager actually did act like that, she deserves not only the criticism, but a written reprimand from her superior.

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#3 UPDATE Employee

get over it

AUTHOR: Store Manager - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Friday, June 13, 2003

I've worked for fashion bug for over 7 years and our return policy is very simple. All cash purchases must have a reciept and the tags must be attached to get any cash back.

Without a reciept, normally store credit or exchange at current retail value would be given.

But it is up to the managers disgresion on what to do.

Get over it!!!Fashion Bug\Charming Shoppes is a fair company to deal with. I do admitt once in awhile a customer has a bad experiance with an employee. Most stores and employees are wonderful+ helpfull.

Face it you did steal the clothes.

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#2 Consumer Suggestion

Policy in retail Businesses...

AUTHOR: Paula - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Tuesday, June 10, 2003

Hi,

I would just like to make a comment to the person who did not have a receipt for the purchases her sister made.

I've worked in retail a long time and it is policy in ANY store that if you don't have a receipt, then there is no way that you had any proof that the item was paid for. If that was the case many businesses would be out of business because a thief would be able to just walk in grab some items, and come back withing a couple of days to return and get cash for what they did not pay for in the first place. It doesn't matter if you are a regular shopper there or not. I've seen regular shoppers get busted for deciding for just a day that they didn't want to pay for something. What I don't like is for adults knowing that this policy is the law when it comes to retail, make a big fuss about it instead of getting the receipt from whoever purchased it or taking responsibility for the fact that they lost it. Another thing is that your story doesn't sound right. You wanted to to not hurt your sisters feelings why are you wanting to return the outfits to get money back to give you sister. Wouldn't that still hurt her feelings because you are still returning her gift? I don't know, I do know that if you don't have your receipt, you don't get cash back and it is as simple as that, and it's not as if it doesn't make since because it does. How are we going to distinguish between shoplifters and actual paying customers. This is Common sense, so hold on to your receipts!

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#1 Consumer Suggestion

A THIEF IN SHEEPS CLOTHING INDEED!!

AUTHOR: Shawangunk - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Monday, June 09, 2003

IT APPEARS TO ME THAT YOU EITHER REALLY DID STEAL THE CLOTHES, OR WERE CAUSING SUCH A SCENE IN THE STORE BY BEING A BELLIGERENT UNREASONABLE CUSTOMER THAT EVEN THE STORE MANAGER COULD NOT KEEP HER COOL IN DEALING WITH YOU.

FIRST OF ALL, WITHOUT A RECEIPT, *NO STORE* WILL GIVE YOU A CASH REFUND. THE STORE WAS GOING OUT OF ITS WAY TO OFFER YOU AN EXCHANGE OR A CREDIT. AFTER ALL, WITHOUT A RECEIPT, THERE IS *NO WAY* TO PROVE THAT YOU ACTUALLY BOUGHT THE CLOTHES. YOU COULD HAVE SIMPLY STUFFED THEM IN THE BAG WHILE IN THE STORE AND THEN TOOK THEM TO THE RETURN COUNTER FOR A REFUND!

SECOND OF ALL, IF IT WOULD HURT YOUR SISTER'S FEELINGS SO BADLY IF THE ITEMS DIDN'T FIT AND YOU ASKED HER FOR THE RECEIPT ... WHY WOULD YOU RETURN THE ITEMS WITHOUT A RECEIPT WITH THE INTENTION OF GIVING HER THE CASH REFUND YOU WANTED TO GET? WHERE IS THE LOGIC HERE???

IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE SOMETHING FISHY IS GOING ON ....... NO RECEIPT -- NEW CLOTHING WITH TAGS STILL ON -- WANTING CASH REFUND AND NOTHING ELSE -- IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK AND TALKS LIKE A DUCK, GEE, WHAT COULD IT BE ....

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