A return policy doesn’t suddenly change just because a customer decides he doesn’t like it.

One retail worker dealt with that after carefully explaining the store’s restocking fee before a customer made his purchase.

The man returned the next day and admitted the product wasn’t faulty, but he still wanted all of his money back.

When the employee reminded him of the policy, he kept arguing and eventually claimed the item was defective.

So, the worker gave him a choice: take the partial refund or keep the product.

Read on to see what the customer chose to do.

Refund Refusal, by customer

Many years ago, the shop I worked in had a strict policy. They charged a restocking fee on all returns unless the product was actually faulty.

Usually, people understood when we explained that we can’t sell an opened product as new. So, if it simply wasn’t to their liking, we would offer a partial refund.

Not all, though. Not this one dude.

The first day, the customer bought the item.

On the first visit, the customer asks about a product. We discuss it in detail, and I answer every question he has.

Customer: “If it doesn’t work, can I return it?”

Me: “If it’s faulty, certainly. If it’s not faulty, there is a restocking fee of X” (with a receipt, up to 12 months, etc., etc.).

Customer buys whatever it was.

Then, the next day, he came back to return it.

Second visit, customer wants to return the product.

Me: “OK, can I ask why you need to return it?”

Customer: “It doesn’t do what I want it to.”

Me: “Oh, how so?”

Apparently, the product didn’t do what he needed it to do.

Customer: “I need it to do XYZ, and it doesn’t do that.”

Me: “OK, no problem. We can refund you, but as it’s not faulty, it will be a partial refund.”

Customer: “Why partial?”

Me: “Because it’s not faulty. We can’t resell this product with an opened box and broken seal as a new item. As there’s nothing wrong with it, we can allow you to return it, but not for full price.”

At this point, the customer is getting more upset.

Customer: “That’s not fair! Why should I have to pay for something I don’t want?”

Me: “You’re returning it open and used. It’s now a secondhand item. We won’t be able to charge full price for it to the next customer. If you decide you don’t want this anymore, as a courtesy, we will accept it back, minus any costs we will incur.”

Customer: “Well, I don’t agree with that!”

Me: “I was the one who sold this to you just yesterday. I remember our conversation, including when I explained the restocking fee on non-faulty items. So you did indeed agree to this.”

Here’s where he put the customer in his place.

Customer: “I never said that!”

Me: “I’m not saying you spoke the words, ‘I agree to the terms of sale,’ out loud. I’m saying I explained to you what the terms of sale were, and then you purchased the item, and those two things happened IN THAT ORDER. With that knowledge, you could have decided not to purchase the item, but you did. So it was an agreement to the terms of the sale.”

Customer: “No, it wasn’t!”

Me: “You said it isn’t faulty. We said we would offer a partial refund if it was returned non-faulty. And here we are, offering you a partial refund exactly as we discussed BEFORE you went ahead with the sale.”

The guy went back to his original complaint.

Customer: “Well, it is faulty!”

Me: “How so?”

Customer: “It doesn’t do XYZ!”

Me: “Correct, it doesn’t. It wasn’t designed to. You asked a number of questions about it yesterday, and I answered all of them at length. XYZ was never mentioned. So it’s not faulty if it does everything it was designed to do.”

He explained that they were trying to help him to the best of their ability.

Customer: “But I can’t make use of it!”

Me: “And as a courtesy, we can offer a partial refund.”

Customer: “That’s not good enough!”

Me: “OK.”

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Customer: “…what do you mean, OK?”

Luckily, they never had to deal with him again after this.

Me: “I personally answered every question you asked about this item, including the one you had about refunds. You were fully aware of the terms of sale, and you made the choice to buy it. It is now YOUR item. It belongs to you. We are offering a partial refund on a non-faulty item, and you have said that offer is not good enough. There is no obligation on your part to accept our offer. This, too, is your choice.”

Customer: “Well, what do you expect me to do?!”

Me: “I… I’m not sure what you mean. I don’t have any expectations of you. You can choose to accept our offer of a partial refund or not. That is for you to decide.”

We never saw that one again.

Yikes! It’s always a tough pill to swallow when you know it’s all your fault.

Let’s check out what the people over at Reddit think about it.

Yes, basically.

Yet another reader who thinks the guy was ridiculous.

This is great advice.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a contractor who flew along way and spent 3 days on a fix only to find a breaker that needed to be flipped.

That must get very old.

Some people just refuse to listen.

This customer knew the return policy before he ever even bought the item.

Still, when he changed his mind, he thought he could make a big enough stink and get his way.

It’s refreshing to see that for once, that didn’t happen with this employee.