The Target Corporation's Return Policies Are A Scarm!!! Boycott Target Corporation! Buyer beware (especially when paying cash!). Lock your receipts in a safe deposit box or be stuck with unwanted merchandise!!!! Clearwater Florida

Several reviews of Target wrote: "Advice to Senior Management"

"Cutting corners by not hiring enough people to properly and effectively run a store is both unfair to guests and to overworked employees. Employees can't live up to the company's expectations of
Fast, Fun & Friendly service when they're overworked and unappreciated."

Because their idea of better, is less people, being less costs, therefore presume to sell for less. To hurry people to work without answering questions is a lie, about answering and helping people. Psychopaths are not saints

I am an Ex-Employee because I know how diabolical  this place is. They are psychopaths, I write that fully aware of the definition of one. I will never look upon this place as worthwhile to buy from, or visit. In fact I look in the other direction when I see one and change the channel on TV  too.  They have no redeeming value to me, I have avoided them for a long time, I will make a continued effort to avoid Target Department Stores.

I went though hell working for them for over 10 years. I know their policies, I know how people think when they buy there and I know how people think when they work there, and how they worked with me, yet it was the best place I ever worked, now the worst, they treat me like an enemy.

We all know, yet not all, that Target Department Stores are a big company, many stores through out USA and India, and in Australia - yet owned by a different company. Did Target do well for me, did it do well for you, then you see why I went though hell with them. All the time people were complaining about Target, I Ignored them, until they did it to me over and over again.

We all know, yet not all, that work at Target can be different for everyone who works there, if I could find someone to explain the same thing about their company, they could write the truth or lies about what happened, yet a third thing could happen, the misnomer, that things are perfect or so bad, never good about it. They tell you, ask, tell, yet will direct you to some one else, never solve the problem. The person doing the most gets the least reward, in the long run, the biggest liar is the biggest winner.

They tell you make Target the best there is, its not all about the effort for people to be more ethical, productive, and efficient, its about the lies, about what their doing, when not getting it done. There are places, where people think its so perfect, and people are presumed whiners, when they explain or complain, therefore I find psychopaths are not saints, when people have a problem to explain.

It better to explain, and get results, than presume your smug - presume your a whiner. A person is only smug when they were told good information and did nothing about it, yet the first thing out of their mouth is your a whiner, psychopaths are not saints.

People are different, therefore what can be perfect somewhere, can not always be everywhere at the same time. People lie about things, some have no good ethical feelings about others, its important about getting things done, its presume it can get done, with less people, in less time, there is a point, where it gets too impossible, yet only possible when it is possible, they like to gamble, then insult someone. Psychopaths are not saints.

They have many problems they do not fix, and many excuses, and many lies to hide this fact, follow policy and get it done, yet follow some policies and you will never get it done, its not possible, there is no one and no way to do it. They l;e about things, your the victim, yet they think they are the victim. Psychopaths are not saints.

I am an Ex-Employee because I know how diabolical  this place is. They are psychopaths, I write that fully aware of the definition of one. I will never look upon this place as worthwhile to buy from, or visit. In fact I look in the other direction when I see one and change the channel on TV. They have no redeeming value to me, I have avoided them for a long time, I will make a continued effort to avoid Target Department Stores.

I went though hell working for them for over 10 years. I know their policies, I know how people think when they buy there and I know how people think when they work there, and how they worked with me, yet it was the best place I ever worked

We all know, yet not all, that Target Department Stores are a big company, many stores through out USA and India, and in Australia - yet owned by a different company. Did Target do well for me, did it do well for you, then you see why I went though hell with them. All the time people were complaining about Target, I Ignored them, until they did it to me over and over again.

We all know, yet not all, that work at Target can be different for everyone who works there, I could find someone to explain the same thing about their company, they could write the truth or lies about what happened, yet a third thing could happen, the misnomer, that things are perfect or so bad, never good about it. They tell you, tell some about it, yet will direct you to some one else, never solve the problem. The person doing the most gets the least reward, in the long run, the biggest liar is the biggest winner.

They tell you make Target the best there is, its not all about the effort for people to be more ethical, productive, and efficient, its about the lies, about what their doing, when not getting it done. There are places, where people think its so perfect, and people are presumed whiners, when they explain or complain, therefore I find psychopaths are not saints, when people have a problem to explain.

It better to explain, and get results, than presume your smug - presume your a whiner. A person is only smug when they were told good information and did nothing about it, yet the first thing out of their mouth is your a whiner, psychopaths are not saints.

People are different, therefore what can be perfect somewhere, can not always be everywhere at the same time. People lie about things, some have no good ethical feelings about others, its important about getting things done, its presume it can get done, with less people, in less time, there is a point, where it gets too impossible, yet only possible when it is possible, they like to gamble, then insult someone. Psychopaths are not saints.

They have many problems they do not fix, and many excuses, and many lies to hide this fact, follow policy and get it done, yet follow some policies and you will never get it done, its not possible, there is no one and no way to do it. They l;e about things, your the victim, yet they think they are the victim. Psychopaths are not saints

People are people and target is target. People do things their way, therefore some businesses do better or worse than others. Every person living and dead,  is a saint, everyone is so perfect their should be no need for a police dept. or lawyers or justice system or jails, yet that is not real.

If you make a ethical return, or not, if you assume target is everything you expect, expect something different, sometime, some people are driven by greed, you can expect people to defend the principle of greed.

You can expect an imperfect world to think its flawless, and a caring world to presume it never cares enough, sometime, yet credit should go to someone somewhere, people do not always care.

I have worked for target over 10 years, their not perfect. There is not just one target store, there are many,  therefore you can expect something imperfect, sometime, somewhere. To think its flawless, or to be motivated by greed, or presume it never cares enough, depends on what happens .

Target is concerned about ethics, no receipt no return, yet target is motivated by greed, they teach it to it its workers, I was there to hear it, there are many examples, its when their caught doing it, their flawless or expected to do better. The fact is their never always what you expect them to be, because their either doing better than you think or just did something unethical.

If you can not believe they can be unethical, you never saw it happen, yet someone did, either to believe they did, or not believe they did, when it happened.

"I need to say one thing: You must have perfect lives. You must never lose or misplace things or decide you don't need something once you have purchased it."

No, everyone makes mistakes.  The difference is that most adults accept the responsibility of their mistakes.  If I were in your situation I would think "lesson learned - I need to hold on to my receipts".  You, on the other hand, are mad at a store because of a mistake YOU made.  I find it childish at best.  You are precisely the type of diva customer that thinks the red carpet needs to be rolled out for you every time you enter a store.  Seriously, grow up, accept responsibility, and move on. 

I work at a Target store and know that the return policy is messed up. Many people have returned items without a receipt that were not purchased at the store, were not even for sale at the store, and sometimes were not even for sale from the website. Yet many other people who did have a receipt proving that they made the purchase at that store were given a hard time about making a return and often refused to allow the return at all.

I agree that requiring a receipt is a good idea to avoid scams, but they could be much more helpful to those people they recognize as regular customers (and the do recognize them).

My advice is to find somewhere else to shop. Target talks a lot about "guest service", but that's usually all it is - nothing but talk. And believe me, they don't treat their "team members" any better.

I bought my mother a Christmas gift (Queen Sheets and a Blanket) that she never opened because she didn't care for them.  She asked if I could return them for a store credit to use later and of course, I said no problem.  Well, it turned out to be a huge problem!!!  I paid cash for these items and the receipt was misplaced during the  hectic season trying to get gifts for everyone.

The most disgusting thing about TARGET and their RETURN POLICY is that they wouldn't even give me a store credit and the brand merchandise I purchased was still being peddled for sale at their stores.  My merchandise still had price tags still attached and unopened.  My unsuccessful return was made in January (after Christmas) when most people make returns to retailers for cash back or store credit.

I was so angry that I wrote an email to the CEO's office at Target Corporation and the response was "Oh well, that's our policy ....blah blah blah."  They didn't give a hoot about my loyalty as a Target consumer and it didn't seem to affect them that I was taking my business elsewhere.

TARGET will never see another penny of my money since they simply DO NOT APPEAR that they CARE about consumer loyalty. I will remain an ex-customer of TARGET -- I'M DONE WITH THEM and I've taken my business to Wal-Mart and Costco... two retailers who really do care about consumer satisfaction.

First of all, our return policy is clearly stated at every checkout lane, on the back of each receipt, and on two signs located in guest service. We provide multiple options for people who have lost their receipts, inlcuding a receipt lookup option, a way in which we can track your purchases via credit card, debit card, or check, which many people are ecstatic about as I have been told not many other stores have this option or kind of technology readily available. So there is one way in which we are trying to accomodate you for losing your receipt.

The second is a no receipt return, this is done by providing us your driver's license or government issued id. As of June 10, 2008, this policy has changed, upping the amount of merchandise a guest may bring back without a receipt from $20 to $35, excluding tax. A guest is allowed two of these types of returns in a 365 day period of time, and I say it this way because I've had a few people take this option in October or November and ask if the period of time starts over on January 1 of the following year. No, it is tracked from the last time you returned something with your driver's license. For anything that is returned with your driver's license, we must give you the lowest selling price within the last 90 days, this is because we have to adjust for items that could have possibly been purchased on sale. The item must also still be in stock and in our system, or the computers won't even recognize the DPCI that we are trying to give them. I think this is a pretty generous option, as in the past Target has lost quite a bit of money by people purchasing things from Wal-Mart, or other cheaper retailers and returned it to them for a profit. You have to look at it from both points of view, yes, we would love to help you, but unfortunately others have ruined it in the past and it has cost Target, so now we are meeting in the middle and have come up with a compromise.

The second thing you must be aware of is that we do not have a satisfaction guarantee policy. I don't know how many people I have dealt with that have tried to return hair straighteners/curling irons/razors/makeup/shampoo simply because they didn't like them or the way that they worked. We basically have to look at returns with one question: can we put this back out onto the floor to be resold? If the answer is no then chances are we won't return the product. Hygiene products are the major killer, yeah we'll return a sofa slipcover because it didn't fit correctly or you didn't wind up liking the color after all, but no, we won't return your shampoo because it didn't make your hair as bouncy as the packaging promised.

So in direct response to your post, it might be possible for you to return your rice cooker now that the policy has adjusted to $35. You might want to call the store and see if the item is still in stock before you make a trip in there to ensure that the item's numbers are still in the computer. And trust me, I know how frustrating dealing with the Guest Relations people can be, I have to call them an average of 2 or 3 times a week trying to resolve issues for guests. Some are awesome to deal with and others seem like they don't want to do anything to help you. You might have had a bad representative. Hopefully your issue can finally be resolved.

I've had the misfortune of working at Guest Service on several occasions, and I wish to point out that store employees can't override the computer systems that will not allow returns without receipts for items that cost over $20. I remember when the new policy went into place last August and there were complaints by Guest Service employees because it was only going to increase the frustration of already irritated people, but Corporate doesn't listen to stores. I always make a point of paying for everything at Target by either check or credit card because they can look up your item without a receipt if you use some method that leaves a paper trail.

the return policy states the you need a reciept for every return. Target will look up your reciepts for you if you lost yours and paid with check or debit/credit card, that is awfully nice of them, its something that they don't have to do. Target will also accept 2 no reciept returns per year per guest of items less than 20 dollars. I believe that is going to go up (not sure though).

If Target were to look up their price for this item, how do they know that you didn't get it on sale for less that the shelf lable says. what they will do if the product is less that $20, is they will give you the lowest price that the product was offered in the past 90 days. And one more thing that just must have slipped your mind is that retailers make money off of markup, if you want them to buy anything from people (pawn shops) they would have to give you a crappy price (pawn shops) in order for them to make money off of buying your valuable products that you are selling to Target.

When you look at losing a customer vs. changing the return policy, it looks pretty obvious that they would lose more money from fraudulent returns then losing a customer.

For every customer they save by relaxing the return policy, there would be hundreds abusing the policy at a substantial loss to the company.

They could Customer Service themselves right out of business...

While it is their policy, their mentality of losing a customer vs. reforming their policy is quite interesting. In today's society, the general mentality is that no customer should be trusted and that ALL customers are out to get the big bad business wolves. They (the businesses) never taken into account the fact that if -- or should I say 'when' - that customer goes to another store in lieu of theirs to purchase items, they are losing money. I do not buy things from Target that I have any doubt about for this very reason. Now, I must say, I keep ALL my receipts. Every one of them until after the 90 day mark and then they are chunked. Walmart has always been very good as long as you remain within their policy and they do NOT give cash back, but I spend a lot of money there, so the cards work for me.

As for your steamer issue... Unfortunately, you are stuck with something you don't want. It happens. I can't tell you how many pairs of shoes I have schlupped to the good will store that have only been worn once...

Unfortunately, the truth is... today's business does NOT value the consumer as their mainstay of money flow. They simply do not care. Target is not the only culpret, several retailers operate this way because they believe that the loss of one customer amidst millions is no big deal....but I can say this for myself... When I read these nasty-grams on sites like Rip-Off, I don't purchase from that retailer --- especially if I have had even a remotely similar experience. It's sad but as they say in television for every one call of complaint, there are literally 12,000 people who don't call but also don't buy from that business anymore.

There are several companies I will not do business with and if I were you, I would remain an ex-customer of Target and go purchase what you want from somewhere else. That's all you can do.

As I stated before, the businesses simply do not care about your patronage so why should you?

(Also, always keep your receipts...)

Ok, I can understand that you are upset because you bought something that you ultimately did not need or want, and then lost the receipt, and are now stuck with said item. I also understand that nobody is perfect and everybody makes mistakes.

However, as mature and responsible adults we have to take responsibility for our actions and not expect somebody else to do that for us. Bottom line- You shopped at Target quite frequently, as I still do. On every receipt the return policy is listed on the back, at least once. You knew that you needed to have your receipt to return the item, and you lost it. Regrettable, I know, but not the fault of the company.

Now if you accidentally were speeding and were pulled over by the police would you say "but officer, I drive up and down this road all the time" and expect him to not ticket you? I think not. Rules are all there for a reason, and in the case of business, they are there to protect the company. All businesses are there to make money. So why would you expect them to make themselves vulnerable to lose money to people returning items that could have been stolen or purchased at other retailers? And one other comment, no there is no "special code" on the barcode that lets a store know whether or not the product was purchased at that store or not. All the barcodes for "Tide 20oz" detergent are the same, at wal-mart, k-mart, Target, and every grocery store.

The policy isn't a Scam, it's pretty much the standard these days in retail. Everything in it is built to protect the store from scam artists who make a living off of cheat returns. I know it's annoying to keep receipts, but 90 days is plenty of time to decide you want something and you can keep receipts in a billfold until you're sure it works/fits.

If you buy a shirt or a TV or a rice steamer and don't realize it's wrong until 3 months later, that's not the companies fault.

The whole idea behind a receipt is to show when, where, and for how much an item was purchased. It's the ONLY history of a cash transaction. Any company is right to refuse a refund without it. Your appliance could have come from anywhere, like maybe a competitor's store. It may have been stolen from the store or the delivery truck (not that you would do such a thing, but Target has no way of knowing as you cannot tell a crook by looks). Target may have donated it to a charitable organization for some kind of raffle and the winner may try to refund for the money, causing Target to be out TWICE the value of that item.

In a perfect world everyone would be able to take the word of anyone as fact. Our world is FAR from perfect and businesses large and small must take measures to protect themselves from being ripped off, just like individuals do.

EXAMPLE:
I don't know what you do for a living, but let's say you sold widgets. You and other competitive businesses sell the same widget. Sometimes you have a 30% off sale on your widgets as do your competitors. Sometimes you give them away for a charity tax write off. One of your competitors has a big buy-one-get-one-free sale often. Another gives away a widget with every set of golf clubs sold. Now, let's say several times a month different people come to you with a widget that they want a refund for. They have no receipt showing when, where, and for how much it was purchased. You don't know if they bought it on sale from you or someone else or at full price. They may have even gotten it somewhere else for free. How many of these are you going to refund (and how do you decide how much you are going to give for each one?) before you realize you are giving away more money that you are making? Margins are already thin because you want to stay competitive and here you are giving away your profits. I'm guessing this business model of giving away more than you are making is a recipe for failure for ANY business large or small.

We've all lost receipts (Lord knows I have) and were unable to return an item. It's not the retailers responsibility to track our purchases, it's ours.

No Rip-Off here.

Oh, and it's pretty sad how somebody with an opposing (and in this case more logical) point-of-view just HAS to work for the company being posted about here- there could be no other reason for an opposing view! lol I guess it's easier to take that position than admit you've made a mistake. I do not nor have I ever worked for Target, and if you do not want dialogue on an issue, don't post it on the internet in a open forum.

I have worked in the retail industry for a while, and honestly their policy makes perfect sense. If they accepted anything with no receipt paid for with cash, you could have stolen that item previously, bought it somewhere else, etc. and be just trying to get money from them by returning an item that wasn't even theirs originally. I'm not saying you are doing that because I don't think you are, but from a business standpoint, they are protecting themselves. If you paid for the item with a credit card and you lost your receipt, you CAN still return it because they have a way of looking it up, whereas cash is untraceable. And the whole "i spend a lot of money there therefore i should be treated specially" is the same excuse literally said by everyone trying to return something and is getting turned down, so no they are not going to change their policy just for you, or anyone else! We shouldn't boycott them because of the policy, because if I had a similar business I would be doing the same thing to customers, otherwise I'd go out of business taking everything back without proof they even got it from me! It sounds to me you are just angry you didn't get your way, and you are even accusing those disagreeing with you as working for Target lol, but just be thankful it was ONLY $29, and not something way more expensive!

Target's only focus is their bottom line. Therefore, they don't care about the individual consumer. This is unfortunate because this lack of customer appreciation will eventually affect their bottom line. Everyone loses a receipt now & then. Target should be able to recognize those customers who spend hundreds of dollars monthly in their store, but just so happen want to return one $29 item without a receipt. They don't appreciate all those dollars already spent or future dollars that will be spent - they only care about their inflexible rules. So, let them make their choice, keep those perfect customers who never have any problems, and are willing to let the corporate giant not appreciate their dollars. Find a smaller store, give them your money. I guarantee they will appreciate your business!!!!

a Target employee telling ME to get a life?! Now, that's an oxymoron...wait, skip the oxy...

Done with this issue.

So you think Target should start returning tires? Is that your problem? Get over it oh no now you're stuck with a product that you bought haha

"Actually, the practice of taking back an unopened, unused item has been standard practice in retail"

"The reason I changed my mind is that after looking at the guide that came with it, I decided I had other things that could perform the same function as this appliance."

So, how could you have gotten the 'guide' out if you didn;t open the package? And if you allege that this mystery guide was out of the package, you could have read it before purchasing.

Anyway, the practice of having to have a reciept to return items has been a standard practice since the concept of retail. This is not a shock in the least. Rules are in place for a reason. Don't like rules in life, don't go out of the house. Even then you may not be safe from 'evil' society and people who do things correctly.

Actually, the practice of taking back an unopened, unused item has been standard practice in retail until more recently, when some stores realized they could maximize their profits with this "customer return policy". I'm sure there might be unethical people that would try to return something not purchased there, but I'm certain their scanners can pick up if the correct price scanned is that particular store's price, thus coming from there to begin with. Any company that makes their fortune from their customer base and then turns around and will not do their best to help with merchandise purchased from there is unethical, and it is each person's choice to decide whether patronizing a company such as that is ok.

I stand by my belief that Target's customer return policy is only designed to help the corporation and does nothing for the consumer spending their hard-earned cash there. That is my experience, and that is the scam. As long as you patronize a retail outlet such as this and don't say that practice is wrong, you are saying that it is fine, thus proliferating the unethical treatment of the customer. If everyone stopped shopping at Target, they would change their tune in a heartbeat. Just wait until a similar situation happens to you, and then you too will understand. Enough said.

Far be it for me to take sides here, and I'm not saying that you're a bad person, but you have to understand that that product could've come from anywhere, thus taking money out of the pocket of the company. Sure, I understand it was one item for a small amount of money, but if everyone did this it would drive up the cost of the products in the stores and then everyone would complain about that.

To all the "gentlemen" that are siding with (and probably work for) the Target Corporation, I need to say one thing: You must have perfect lives. You must never lose or misplace things or decide you don't need something once you have purchased it. You may be too young to remember what "Great Customer Service" was and should be, but a store should accept a brand new, unopened item, particularly if it is the exact brand they are carrying....I'll give you an example of great customer service. One word: "Nordstroms". If I walked in that store right now and wanted to return this steamer, they would accept it, even if the store didn't carry that brand or model. You must have never heard the Nordstrom's tire story.

You should Google it instead of wasting your time arguing a losing point....the point being: The Target Corporation lost a loyal customer over $29.00. Yep. I'm not the first, I will not be the last, I'm sure (I've seen the complaints on here over the exact same issue). What they call "Customer Service" stinks, no matter what you spray over it. They should step up and do right to make a customer happy. And...if you do work for this company, I apologize...because if they screw their customer base over, what do you think they'll do to you? Just my opinion....

I mean really. What is the purpose of a receipt. To cut down trees? No, the purpose of a receipt IS TO SHOW WHAT YOU PAID FOR AN ITEM. Why would you want to know WHAT YOU PAID FOR AN ITEM? In case you have to return it. Then you have PROOF what you paid for it. To prove to the store you didn't steal it. To show the store HOW you paid for it. To make the process of RETURNING items EASIER. I'm not being a jerk. I'm trying to make a point. I make sure I get a receipt and when I get home I throw all the receipts into an envelope for the year. Keep the envelpes for a year or two in case i have a problem with any item and then chuck the envelope.

I mean really. What is the purpose of a receipt. To cut down trees? No, the purpose of a receipt IS TO SHOW WHAT YOU PAID FOR AN ITEM. Why would you want to know WHAT YOU PAID FOR AN ITEM? In case you have to return it. Then you have PROOF what you paid for it. To prove to the store you didn't steal it. To show the store HOW you paid for it. To make the process of RETURNING items EASIER. I'm not being a jerk. I'm trying to make a point. I make sure I get a receipt and when I get home I throw all the receipts into an envelope for the year. Keep the envelpes for a year or two in case i have a problem with any item and then chuck the envelope.

I mean really. What is the purpose of a receipt. To cut down trees? No, the purpose of a receipt IS TO SHOW WHAT YOU PAID FOR AN ITEM. Why would you want to know WHAT YOU PAID FOR AN ITEM? In case you have to return it. Then you have PROOF what you paid for it. To prove to the store you didn't steal it. To show the store HOW you paid for it. To make the process of RETURNING items EASIER. I'm not being a jerk. I'm trying to make a point. I make sure I get a receipt and when I get home I throw all the receipts into an envelope for the year. Keep the envelpes for a year or two in case i have a problem with any item and then chuck the envelope.

I mean really. What is the purpose of a receipt. To cut down trees? No, the purpose of a receipt IS TO SHOW WHAT YOU PAID FOR AN ITEM. Why would you want to know WHAT YOU PAID FOR AN ITEM? In case you have to return it. Then you have PROOF what you paid for it. To prove to the store you didn't steal it. To show the store HOW you paid for it. To make the process of RETURNING items EASIER. I'm not being a jerk. I'm trying to make a point. I make sure I get a receipt and when I get home I throw all the receipts into an envelope for the year. Keep the envelpes for a year or two in case i have a problem with any item and then chuck the envelope.

Here's a constructive comment. Save your receipts!

If the store has a policy they would be wrong to bend it for you or anyone else.

Take some responsibility! You screwed up and lost it. Your fault, no ripoff.

To not accept returns without a receipt. Target is not the only company with this policy. I don't think that this qualifies as a ripoff. Sell the rice steamer on Craigslist or donate it to a charity thrift shop.

Hi Mike,

In response to your rebuttal. No, the steamer is packed in it's original carton, untouched, unused and not even taken out of the wrappings in the box. The reason I changed my mind is that after looking at the guide that came with it, I decided I had other things that could perform the same function as this appliance. I bought it three weeks ago, by the way....so go mind your own buisness and post comments tha are actually constructive. Thanks for playing.

You tried to return an $29 rice steamer without a receipt. Ok...

Was it used? Defective? Did you use it for a party?

How long ago did you buy it? 30 days, 60, 90?

"I am stuck with the unwanted product"

Then why did you buy it in the first place?