What should shops' refund policies be?

The Warehouse has changed its refund and exchange rules because of abuse by dishonest customers.

Now, if the goods are faulty, proof of purchase is required for a refund or exchange. What should shops' refund policies be? Here is an earlier selection of Your Views:

David Edlin By the very nature of their products (cheap construction, questionable quality and durability, and ubiquity) and the low prices thereof, The Warehouse has traditionally attracted the bulk of its customers from the lower echelons of our society. Those same people who expect the country to owe them a lifestyle by way of a lifetime of welfare benefits and subsidised accommodation, etc, are invariably lazy, unmotivated and, in many cases dishonest (let's not be ignorantly politically correct here). These people hold the contemptuous attitude that companies such as The Warehouse and other such stores make huge profits and can therefore easily sustain the marginal losses that their individual actions incur upon them. The company is well aware that such issues come with the territory and have probably allowed for the practices described in this article within their profit margins anyway. As a result, the rest of us usually end up paying (by way of slightly higher prices) for the indiscretions of the selfish few who feed off the fat of the rest of us. I'm personally surprised that The Warehouse haven't considered tightening up well before now.

Aurly, Customer Service Standard Crusader
Come to think of Year 2007 and life in New Zealand we are far behind in consumer benefits that comes with loyalty to a brand or store. Most refund policies are designed to reward you for this loyalty. Hence the "no questions asked refund policy", "Lowest price guaranteed" and so on and so forth so that a consumer can buy with confidence. Go up to any store in NZ that advertise these policies and you will be surprised that the staff would not have heard of this policy or at least not understood the policy well enough to give you the benefit. For e.g. because that claim we will beat the price by 10 per cent will ask you for proof of purchase at the competitors price which means you need to go the competitor for purchase. Once you've done that you would not bother to go back - which the companies are well aware of. Thus these here in NZ are eyewash policies rather than in the interest of the consumer. Worst still is franchise stores have conflicting business interests and control to parent.
As such Warehouse stores image and policy is close to the 1,2,3 $ shops around the place who attract people with low prices rather than value for money for the goods and customer service. What I mean is, people will queue up for two hours at the checkout at Warehouse with overfull trolleys and no advice for purchases made on the floor thinking they've got deals when people all over the world would spend two hours making up their mind on what to buy after advice on the floor and checkout trolley loads within two minutes. I think the economic term for this is consumerism V/s imperialism.

Rodney Harvey
Try taking back a CD to the Warehouse? I know that there are signs up everywhere regarding the myth of "copyright" but what happens when you purchase something which is genuinely not of good quality i.e. the disc game is not of the same quality as advertised on the front cover? That is, the games graphics are so bad as to be totally different from the wonderful graphic on the advertising jacket. Can't take it back, can't swap it, can't plead or bargain with the Warehouses staff, managers, store operator or head office legal teams. Result is that you have to say to your young son or daughter that the CD gift voucher had fine print and in time they will association what "fine print" actually means. It is linked with the -Warehouse- brand.

Opa
I agree with The Warehouse and the change of their policy they have been servicing their clients for many issues. Unfortunately many dishonest people have ruined it for the rest of us, but they are a busy and they need to secure themselves in order to survive. TWH need to look into training their staff on how to handle customer refunds as per their new policy.

Tim
No matter what anyone tells you, The Warehouse specifically targets customers who are the lowest common denominator in New Zealand retailing, and it's hardly surprising to find that they are abusing the generous refunds policy. This is quite normal in NZ today, whether it is State houses or Government benefits. I'm glad The Warehouse has put an end to the abuse of it - and as for me and any other genuine shoppers who may have a problem, we'll be largely unaffected.

Rhea
If the item is genuinely faulty (and they often are from The Warehouse) it should be able to be returned and replaced with one that works. This is protected by the consumer goods laws anyway. If the Warehouse wanted to go above and beyond that law that was their policy, they can go back to the standard if their liberal policy was being taken advantage of. Customers would be no worse off than if they bought goods at a different store.

Cow Cockie
The Red Shed is very generous in always giving a cash refund and yes they should be entitled to demand proof of purchase. Many stores will only offer a credit note - and demand proof of purchase. If a customer has lost the docket and has no other proof tough luck!

Auckland
Good on them. About time they came into line with all the other stores.

DP
Forgive me for sounding rather right-wing, but c'mon, The Warehouse is a business. They're supposed to be making money, not keeping people happy (for that we have a lousy Labour government). They're entitled to set their own refund policy and there's really no point bickering over it. Just get on with it. NZ still has the Consumer Guarantees Act which protects the consumer. My only bit of advice is that for once, just take a wee lil bit more responsibility and actually keep your receipt. That's it. End of story.

Em - Kiwi in Perth
If you're going to buy stuff at the Warehouse what do you expect. If you want something that's gonna last go elsewhere and spend a bit more money on it. You get what you pay for. And I don't blame The Ware Whare for it's new policy, people have been ripping them for years with the lax refund policies. So embarrassing living in Australia hearing there are dramas back home regarding the Warehouse, I mean come on.

Happy Consumer
Well 'Red Shed' I really am surprised that it has taken so long for you to get to this rule about 'Returns'. After all you have been so good for all these years but as usual there is a minority out there who think it is their right and not a privilege to return goods and that there should be no questions asked - after seeing how some people treat your goods in your shops you have every reason to toughen up and not be taken advantage of. You do a good job for the public but unfortunately a lot of it goes 'unsung'. Keep up the great work - we need you - after all if some people get 'riled' about the crackdown - I would be a bit suspicious!

Ript off (Waipapa)
I purchased last year for my husbands birthday one of the DVD seasons of the X-Files. The specific one I brought was because of an episode we had seen previously that was a 2-parter and we had never seen the end of it. We were away in the South Island in a motor home on his birthday so we did not start to watch these until our return home. We watched these at the rate of 1 or 2 a night until my husband said that was the last one. I said that is not possible as we hadn't seen the one that I "knew" was on the DVDs. We were brassed off when we realised that the DVDs inside the cover were the wrong season. I thought I would be able to take these back with the receipt and say that the noodle that put the discs in put the wrong ones in. I was aggressively questioned as to why it took one month to bring this back and I explained that we had been away. I was then told that as one had a small scratch on it they were not able to be replaced with the correct ones. We had not noticed a mark on the disk and everything worked fine. I was made to swap the cover over and leave with the same disks I didn't want with the corresponding cover. Presumably so they could sell the other mismatched set.

Michelle
I have always thought that you had to have proof of purchase with every store, including The Warehouse. So it doesn't bother me, I try and remember to keep receipts, and always put away receipts that I have brought something with that had high value. We all know the Warehouse sells certain brands that no-one else does but they are just protecting themselves as if you would if you owned your own store.

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