You bought the perfect scarf in the sales but it doesn't quite match your favourite jacket. And Aunt Enid has given you a toaster for the third Christmas in a row even though you hate toast. You have the receipt for the scarf but not the toaster. No problem, you think, the shops will take them back.
Not necessarily. At this time of year, many shops see an upsurge in customers trying to return unwanted Christmas presents, spurof-the-moment sales purchases or goods bought before Christmas which have subsequently been reduced in the January sales. Often, customers assume they are entitled to a refund but, except in the case of faulty goods, refunds or exchanges are at the discretion of the retailer, regardless of whether you have a receipt.
"Under the Sale of Goods and Supply of Services Act, suppliers do not have to take unwanted goods back. Where they do, they're making a concession to the consumer," says Mr Dermott Jewell, chief executive of the Consumers Association of Ireland.
Under the law, goods sold must be of "merchantable quality", meaning they must be of reasonable quality taking into account the price paid and how long they should last. They must also be fit for their purpose (the toaster must toast) and they must be as described on the packaging, in a brochure or by a salesperson. Customers are only entitled to a refund or repair if the goods fail to meet these criteria.
The same rights apply if the goods are bought in a sale although the customer cannot expect items that are seconds, shopsoiled or second-hand to meet the same standards as new goods.
Pricing information comes under the Consumer Information Act. If goods are reduced in a sale, the previous price must be accurately displayed and the goods must have been on sale at the previous price for 28 successive days. If goods are brought in specially for a sale, they must be marked "special purchase", says Mr Jewell.
Many shops, however, go beyond the legal requirements, particularly the large department stores anxious to retain customer goodwill in an era of growing competition. Smaller shops, which may have more difficulty in reselling a returned item, are less likely to offer a refund.
Where the goods are not faulty but simply unwanted, Arnotts, Clerys, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and Dunnes Stores will all refund the purchase price provided there is a receipt and the goods are in a resaleable condition. In Brown Thomas, the policy is to give a credit or gift voucher rather than a cash or credit-card refund, according to Mr Duncan Graham, general manager.
If there is no receipt, the situation is trickier and policies and practices vary. The reason, say store managers, is that the goods may have been worn or used, purchased in a different shop or even stolen.
"We have to make a judgment call on everything that comes back in," says Mr Shaun Rippington, store manager at Clerys. "The problem is there are some people who will try and milk the system."
In the absence of a store receipt, Clerys might accept other proofs of purchase such as a credit card receipt or a cheque stub. If the customer can identify the day and time of purchase and the till at which the purchase was made, it is also possible to check back through the till's electronic journal although this is time-consuming and would only be done as a last resort, Mr Rippington says. A cash refund would be unlikely. Instead, a gift voucher to the value of the current selling price might be given.
Arnotts will also seek other proofs of purchase but leaves it up to the floor manager to make the final judgment. "We try to be as fair and considerate to the customer as possible, but where there is no proof of purchase, we do not feel obliged to give a refund because the goods could be stolen or bought in another shop," says Mr Eddie Shanahan, promotions and services manager.
At Brown Thomas, most requests for refunds (without receipts) at this time of year come during the second and third weeks of the sale, not the first week, according to Mr Duncan. "The first question we ask is when was it bought? During the first week of the sale, they are more likely to say it was bought as a present before Christmas in which case we'd give a refund of a gift or credit voucher for the full price. "As you get further into the sale, it is less likely the product was bought before Christmas. It was probably bought in the sale and we would give back the sale price in the form of a voucher." Marks & Spencer would do an exchange or issue a gift voucher to the value of the current selling price, but would not refund cash without a receipt, while Dunnes Stores would refund only the current selling price, spokespersons for both stores said.
Debenhams, which sells mostly own-brand goods under a number of labels, is usually able to tell if returned items were purchased in its store, says store manager Ms Linda Ward. Provided the goods returned were resaleable, the store would refund the current selling price.
Debenhams also has a system to deal with unwanted gift syndrome. When a customer buys something as a gift, she can request a "gift receipt" in addition to the normal sales receipt. This is basically a proof of purchase. It gives the date and time of purchase but not the price. "That way, if the person who receives the gift wants to return it after Christmas, we can refund it at the price paid before Christmas," Ms Ward says.
"Where there isn't something wrong with an item, a retailer is within his or her rights not to exchange," says Ms Carmel Foley, director of Consumer Affairs. "But I'm encouraged by the number of retailers which have a policy to meet customers more than half-way. For the retailer, it's about keeping the customer and it makes good business sense for them to facilitate the customer."
