Return Policies: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

When you buy something, either consciously or subconsciously you are weighing the risks vs. the rewards. Shopaholics rationalize all the time about purchases. ALL the time! This is why it's super important to pay attention to store return policies - because you are not always in your rational state of mind, and not every company has one as uber-liberal as Nordstrom (you know, the one legends were born from?) Did we not learn anything from Greg Brady's mistake when he bought his first car, a total lemon, and was warned, "caveat emptor" - let the buyer beware?! Back in the day, there were actually life lessons to be learned from TV shows, and if you are old enough to have learned them good for you! But I digress...

I have learned to always ask the question "so what's your return policy on this?" They are not offering up any free advice in this area, because they don't want you to return the darned thing at all, and they will give you a hard time if you are outside the "window of opportunity".

Here's my tip list on returns:

1) ALWAYS ask what the policy is (yes, I said this before, I know, but it's like SO important)
2) ALWAYS keep all your receipts - ALL of them - in a file somewhere until you are sure you never, ever, ever need it again (you wore the shirt to shreds and it's going in the garbage - you can deposit the receipt right along with it!) This is very important tip, I swear.
3) Frequent the same stores and make friends with a cool sales person. MAKE FRIENDS! Like, tell them about yourself, ask them how their dog is, look at pics from their last vacation - whatever. If you find someone cool who "gets" you, they will make your shopping trips so much more enjoyable and will pull strings for you when you really need it. Like when the $1,000 pair of Chloe boots you bought are tearing your feet apart after one day and you have decided that walking for the rest of your life is more important than the cuteness factor of the boots. You are going to need your sales person to "handle" it just like Winston Wolf in Pulp Fiction.
4) If you need to exchange, call as soon as possible to make sure they have the size you need. Nordstrom will search the ends of the earth to find something for you and ship it FREE.
5) Try not to buy things you are going to return.

A store I just hate shopping at because of their ridiculous return policy is BCBG Max Azria. You cannot get your money back (unless it's defective which has definitely happened to me with their clothes on a number of occasions). You can only get store credit. I have been carrying around a $150 BCBG credit for nearly 2 years because I am so over their stuff. I am hoping that one day they will wake up, realize what is going on in the market, and make their return policy competitive with (mostly) every other retailer. That's both BAD and UGLY.

HAPPY SHOPPING TRIPPING!