If you can make out the sign...
All emergency items purchased on Thursday, Friday & Saturday including:
Flashlights
Batteries
Candles
Tapes
Tarps
Strings/Twines
FINAL SALE
No exchanges and no returns
So I may hold off before trying to return the eggs and Fruity Pebbles to Key.
23 comments:
This is really disheartening to read. I shop Saifee for all my hardware needs (besides Kmart). Brickman & Sons is too expensive. But this policy is really unfair. Surely they have SOME space in their basement or back rooms for returns. :(
One of the WORST hardware stores in NYC. Over-priced and over-staffed. They pounce on you when you walk in. Browsing is a no-no. Inflated credit card minimums and rude nasty people behind the counter. Walk the two blocks to Brinkmans, Always
None of the things listed take up much room in even a small apartment (maybe the tarps), and they're all items that are needed in emergencies. People should keep these things. It never even occurred to me to try to return the batteries I bought Saturday.
Under NYC consumer law, a store must have it's return policy posted at the register. If this "policy" was posted after the fact, then they are in violation of the law.
That said, it seems petty to not allow returns of small items. The way you handle this situation is to post a "restocking fee" policy so that you make your profits even on returns. Now all they're doing is killing any good will with their customers.
so, you gave in to panic and purchased a dozen candles and batteries and now that there is no crisis you want to bring it back for a full refund? that's mighty neighborly of you but it's a store not a library.
To me, this sounds like the actions of children of privilege and those who feel a giant sense of entitlement and little sense of community and personal responsibility (aka yunnies?)
Anonymous 9:09 AM: EXACTLY. I waited in line to buy a flashlight at a hardware store in Chelsea, and the woman asked if she would be able to return it if the power didn't go out. They flat out told her NO. It's petty to want to return these items that one should have in their homes anyway, and cause extra work and expense for the store owners. They don't rent out materials just to give people a feeling of well-being in case the worse case scenario comes to pass, and if it doesn't, then will take the items back. So stupid to think otherwise. Talk about yunnies and their sense of entitlement, regardless of the inconvenience it causes others!
Just gotta agree with others: if you bought it, you broke it.
Imagine a world where everytime some weather event is threatened we all buy the needs for the occasion, and then when it doesn't pan out, we all take the stuff back to get the money -- eventually, that would put every mom & pop out of business. It just creates a world that would not work very well. Sorry.
Besides, Katia is not far off. You may need the stuff again real soon. Are you going back to the same store to buy the same stuff again (for another few days)? Maybe we need a rental system.
Well put, Bowery Boy & others!
Fuck outta here indeed. Refunds and exchanges are for when you bought the wrong item by mistake or there's something defective with the item. It is so sad that people fail to understand this most basic of concepts. Trying to take advantage of a small independent store in this manner is un-neighborly to say the least. People fell for the media's over-hype of the hurricane, that is their burden to bear not the hardware store's. A lot is said these days about a growing sense of entitlement...I'm starting to believe it.
Besides that this store has always been good to me when I needed something in a pinch and I've never been harassed by anyone here. Their selection's good and the prices are fair. It's been in the neighborhood for quite a while so that means they must be doing something right. People say nasty shit for no good reason sometimes.
I agree with the owners. I have two cases of bottled water I'd like to return thanks to my boyfriend, but I'm stuck with it. Drinking water. Day and night.
Lady Gaga CDs on the other hand...
@EV Grieve: I'll trade you a half pint of vodka for those Fruity Pebbles. I switched back to beer once Irene got downgraded to a tropical storm. The liquor store won't give me my money back for it. Unbelievable!
I'm with the store owner. They have bills to pay. It's not a goddamn rental service.
Plus, you should have batteries, twine, flashlights, etc. on hand anyway.
I agree with what a lot of people are saying. It seems petty and a little selfish to make those returns. With that said, the store must abide by consumer laws and if they didn't follow protocol, then they just have to suck it up.
Um, sirrusly? I didn't end up nidding this battry? I totally think you should give me back my dad's moneh? I've got a lot of bartenders to not tip, sooo... yah. Be cool.
FYI
I shop there frequently and the sign that reads "Management reserves the right not to exchange any merchandise that can be used after purchase..." has always hung there.
No change in policy.
When Harold Camping said that world was going to end on 5/21/2011, I naturally I went over to Andrett's Funeral home and bought two caskets for me and the wife. Would you believe that they wouldn’t take them back? The nerve.
Not sure if this is true... someone told me that you could return anything to Kmart. Even crap that you didn't buy there ... some kind of loosey-goosey return policy...
And do they still have that cafe on the 2nd floor anymore? KCafe! Seems like that closed in 97 or so.
While we are on the subject, can all the suburbanites return themselves too?
"suburbanites return themselves too?"
Lux, they are WAY past their expiration date.
EMS (Eastern Mountain Sports) also has a no ask return policy. However, this is apples and oranges, chains versus small businesses. Speaking of Kmart, that café on the second floor is long gone. Also, I was in Kmart today (full disclosure) in the basement section. They had shut down the up escalator and when two 15 year girls saw that they would have to WALK up that escalator, they both had a major hissy fit. We are all doomed.
@EV Grieve:
That former cafe is now their electronics section. DVDs, CDs, cables and TVs etc. It has been closed for a long time. It was actually once one of my favorite places to spend an hour or so overlooking Astor Place, especially on a winter day.
On another note, I agree with everybody who sided with the hardware store. ...suck it up, people.
@Crazy Eddie
I love Eastern Mountain Sports. I buy all my rifle scopes there! ;)
@Lux
I am fond of their Frat Boy Night Vision scopes myself :)
FYI- Ladies and Gentlemen, these are jokes, EMS does not carry any firearms or firearm accessories. For that, go to Cabela’s (drool).
Couple of points as I've just re-read the thread. The store policy is that they won't take back stuff that you could have ACTUALLY USED after you left the store. That means un-packaged goods. So it's fair that you can't buy a hammer, build a house and return it when you're done, but my previous comment on posted return policies and consumer law is fact.
Now, just an observation... all these people from the suburbs are used to shopping at Home Depot, because the big box stores have forced almost all the small stores in the burbs out of business. Home Depot and Lowes take back stuff all the time, almost no questions asked. People in the burbs are also used to buying tons and tons of shit from Home Depot, cause when you own a house the work on the house never fucking ends and you always wind up with more than you need, or the wrong thing, so it doesn't surprise me in the least that all the transplants feel entitled to return stuff. Doesn't make it morally right, but that's what they're used to.
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