I love being frugal. If I can get a discount on my purchases, find a great deal that is little known (and share it with others), or otherwise save money, I'm all over that. And while I like to buy products with a lifetime warranty like Darn Tough socks, if I get a reasonable number of years of use out of the product, I am not going to return ten year old socks because I wore a hole in the toe after a decade of hiking up and down mountains in them.
There is reasonable--getting your money's worth out of a product and then some, plus the item having a good enough warranty that any sort of defect can be fixed/replaced just by sending the product back to the manufacturer, and there is unreasonable--like people taking advantage of companies that offer their customers great warranties on their products, by returning items for their money back years after purchasing (and heavily using) the item.
There have been many instances were companies had to change their generous return policies because people acted fraudulently, and took excessive advantage of the company. This happened to Nordstrom, REI, and now LL Bean. I can't even imagine finding an old LL Bean product at the thrift store then taking it back to LL Bean for a new item! That is straight up theft/fraud in my book and people who do these sorts of things, while they may be following the letter of the law, have definitely overlooked the spirit of the law. And their scammy behavior impacts everyone who will no longer be able to legitimately return items that maybe should have lasted a little longer.
Perhaps the worst abuse I've seen regarding a generous return policy was last month when a woman bought a Christmas tree at Costco before the holiday then returned it after Christmas for a full refund. It's these kinds of people that I hope karma wallops upside the head when they are least expecting it just for being such horrible human beings.
No comments:
Post a Comment