Imagine buying a product, but it doesn’t work. It seems reasonable that you’d be able to get a refund. You’d just need to take it back to the store where you bought it with your receipt.

Apparently, this isn’t obvious to everyone.

What would you do if a customer had a really unreasonable refund request? Would you honor it just to get her to leave you alone, or would you put her in her place?

Let’s see how the fireworks tent owner in this story handles a situation like this.

Customer wants a questionable refund [Tales from a Fireworks Tent]

This happened around 4 years ago, but It still makes me shake my head.

BACKGROUND: I own and operate my own retail store. It’s actually a seasonal fireworks tent, but not like any fireworks tent you’ve seen before. It’s 2400 square foot of fireworks heaven.

STORY: I received a phone call from a distressed woman (DW) complaining that several of the fireworks that she had were duds, and that it had ruined their night.

I immediately went into apology mode, and told her that we would replace her fireworks AND refund her money, she just needed to bring the stuff back to the store.

He made sure his staff knew about the situation.

I apologized again for the issue and explained that I hand pick my inventory, carrying only the best and most reliable stuff. Because of this, we don’t get many returns, but I want to make sure that we go overboard fixing the problem when we do.

She was still unhappy, but agreed to bring back her fireworks later that day.

I wasn’t at the store that morning, so I called and let my staff know about the issue. I told them to replace the duds and refund her money, and to make sure we apologized again for her inconvenience.

Apparently, the woman showed up about an hour later and something similar to this conversation took place (REALLY wish I was there. This is what my cashier told me happened).

The conversation started normally enough.

DW: I called earlier about some fireworks that didn’t work. The person on the phone told me they would refund my money.

CASHIER: I’m so sorry you had some duds. The person you spoke to isn’t here now, but he let me know about the problem and we’ll definitely take care of it. Do you have the fireworks?

DW: They’re in the back of my car.

CASHIER: OK. I can help you unload them and then we’ll get you taken care of.

The customer was really upset.

My cashier walks out to the car with the customer.

Apparently, the entire time DW is berating her about how we ruined her night. They had friends over, and they were embarrassed that the stuff wouldn’t work. They make sure to let everyone at the party know it was our fault.

CASHIER: (When DW pops the trunk) Ma’am, these fireworks aren’t from here.

DW: What do you mean?!?

It was easy to tell they were from another store.

CASHIER: These are actually [other company] fireworks. We don’t sell these here. You can see the [other company] name and logo on everything (this is a national fireworks chain, and LOVES to wrap all of their stuff in their own artwork and logo).

DW: I’m SURE that we purchased these here. You should be ashamed that you sell such junk, and I want my money back. I’m going to tell everyone I know how you’re trying to rip me off! The man on the phone promised me that you would refund my money.

CASHIER: We only offer a money back guarantee on items we sell, not on things you buy from other companies.

It sounds like she might realize she bought them somewhere else.

DW: It shouldn’t matter where I bought it, it’s still fireworks, and since you sell fireworks, you owe me a refund.

CASHIER: That’s not going to happen.

The cashier turned around and walked back to the store, leaving DW complaining in the parking lot.

Then a letter arrived.

Sooooo…… A few weeks later, I get a letter in the mail addressed to the “Owner of Company” from DW.

She rants about how we have ripped her off, how she’s letting all of her friends know what a terrible store we have, and how she will take me to small claims court if I don’t give her a refund.

I took the time to compose a response to DW, since she took the time to write the company owner a letter.

He didn’t sugarcoat it.

Dear DW, Thank you for taking the time to write us and let us know about the problem you had at our store.

We have researched the problem and I think we have conclusively determined the underlying cause of your issue.

You are crazy.

Sincerely,

Me

President of [my company name]

He wouldn’t do this today.

Final Thoughts: I admit that this still makes me laugh when I think about it, but in retrospect, I should not have sent the letter. I was definitely just being a jerk.

It was not actually one of my prouder moments as a company owner.

You can’t give a refund for something that wasn’t purchased at your store. Thinking otherwise IS crazy!

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

There are probably unicorns and dragons.

This person is in awe of what he did.

Here’s a similar story that happened at a jewelry store.

This might’ve been what happened.

Her refund request was completely crazy!

CONTRACTOR DISAPPEARS – WRK
If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.