My husband and I spent $190.26 at the Blairsville Home Depot on July 19. That same day we signed up for a Home Depot credit card, which took $30.00 off our total. Among the items were four hanging flower baskets, priced at $11.97 each (just an empty basket, with no plant or flowers included). Several weeks passed before I got around to using them, and I discovered that one basket was damaged and could not support the soil and the plant. I set it aside, intending to bring it back during the following week.
I returned the faulty basket to the store on August 19. The place was nearly deserted, and nobody else was waiting at the returns desk. When I walked up, the associate glanced at me and then turned away to discuss her cash drawer with a coworker. For several minutes she stayed turned away, until I spoke up and asked whether I could ask her something. She told me she would be with me in a minute. About 5 minutes went by before she finally asked what I needed.
I explained that I had bought the basket, that I had my receipt, and that I wanted to swap it for an undamaged one. She said an exchange was not possible; she could only give me a refund, and then I could buy another basket. I agreed, and she processed the refund. Heading toward the garden center, I saw that the refund came to only $10.08 plus 71 cents in tax. I assumed the price might have dropped because the season was ending, but at the register I found the replacement still cost $11.97 plus 84 cents in tax (total $12.81).
I returned to the returns counter and put the question to the same associate: why had I paid $11.97 for the basket but received only $10.08 back? She pointed at the receipt text saying all items must be returned to receive a full refund. My answer was that I had not requested a refund at all, only a straight swap of a defective item for the same item. She said she would need a manager to cancel that return and begin another if I wanted the missing dollar. A manager arrived, and the two of them stood in a huddle, facing away from me. Then the manager turned and said I did not get a full refund because of the customer satisfaction discount of $30.00 that came with our purchase. I said I accepted that and had forgotten about the discount, and that I would have understood had anyone told me so at the start, but I had been told that every item had to come back to get the full amount. The associate said once more that they only do refunds and never exchanges.
The visit took about 30 minutes for something that should have needed 5, and I left without my full refund. At home I looked over my receipts. The discount had no bearing on my refund. The receipt lists a MAX REFUND VALUE of $40.32/4, which works out to $10.08 per basket, exactly what I got back before tax.
I find it hard to believe that Home Depot's policy requires everything on a receipt to be returned just to replace one defective item. By that logic, if we had bought lumber and nails and built a deck, I would have to take the whole deck apart and send back EVERYTHING on the receipt just to get a full refund on one hanging basket.
0 comments