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Written on June 20, 2006 by Nicole

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Target Shoppers Beware

Target ShopperLet me start by saying that Target has been one of my favorite stores for many years. I have a great Super Target one mile from my home and I visit the store at least twice a week. I have even commented to friends on how it’s so easy to make returns at Target.

Yes, there are a few rules, but I know them and they are easy enough to deal with:

  1. Keep your receipts or pay with a credit card or check (they can look those purchases up in their system without the original receipt), AND
  2. Return within 90 days of purchase (not a problem for me, I’m pretty organized)

Since I shop at Target so much, it’s fair to say that I’ve done a good bit of returning at Target. I’ve always complied with the two rules above and my returns have never been questioned and are usually processed within 5 minutes or less.

Well, that was the case until last week. While trying to exchange a CD (it was a gift) that wouldn’t play on our CD player, (defective, probably just a badly burned disc) I was informed that I had already made two returns in the past year without a receipt. And, this is true. My daughter recently had a birthday and received two toys that we already had at home. I returned them without a receipt and was able to select some other items for her. The return/exchange had to all take place that day by close of business, which I thought was a little strange (I assumed I’d just get the credit on a gift card), but really no big deal. But, what I didn’t realize when I made those two returns was that I was done returning without a receipt at Target for one year now.

Wow! They even refused to exchange my defective CD (which was a Target exclusive CD). I escalated to a manager and even called Target’s main customer service number. Everyone I spoke with stood very firmly, rigidly in fact, behind their return policy. I have to admit, it took me days to get over the fact that they would not even bend to exchange defective, exclusive merchandise.

What did I learn from all this that I want you other Target shopper to be aware of: always follow my two rules above, ALWAYS give a Target gift receipt along with items you purchase from Target as gift and choose wisely on how you want to use your two no receipt returns per year.

For a couple of weeks I switched over to our new Super Wal-Mart, just 1 1/2 miles from our home. It’s really nice and I’ll continue to shop there, but I’ve now been back at Target too. I still feel very wronged that they would not swith out my CD for one that would actually play, but as we all know, life’s not always fair. So, we have to just be SharpMoms and BEWARE of Target.

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