Bed Bath & Beyond will NO LONGER GIVE CASH BACK - WHAT!?

I worked in retail and we never gave cash back with no receipt unless people made a HUGE fuss and it had to be approved by a Supervisor.

I wouldn't expect to get cash. Thiefs have ruined that now, people will steal stuff and then come back to try to return it for cash.

When i worked at JCP, we had a guy that would come in almost weekly with different outfits/hats, etc and do it. He had a girl who would come steal it and then he would return it.

I think we have learned that BB&B will give you cash back if you ask nicely. Other retailers will not. However, I just don't think it is appropriate to try to get cash back for a gift.

Mrs Compton, I just asked because you didn't specify and I didn't know if you were speaking from a consumer or employee perspective.

The other thing that used to get customers all pissed off at Target (when I worked there 15 years ago) was that if you came in to return something with no receipt, you got the lowest price the item has been listed at in the last 90 days. So if that item was on sale at any point in those 90 days (good chance of that), you got that sale price in store credit. People used to throw THE BIGGEST fit over that. I would have to pull out the book and show them the policy, deal with the yelling and the threats.

In my experience, as a customer, service reps are usually more likely to go out of their way to help you (within the limits of their power), if you're nice and ask what they can do without threatening. The more someone sees you as a human versus a monstrous enemy who puts them on the defensive, the better the outcome will be.

^^^that happened to me. Some lady tried to return a used bra. It was disgusting and had stains on it. Anyway the system gave her the price of like $3 or something. She got really angry because she apparently spend way more than that. I was just so happy when she finally left.

Um I might win with the gross returns.

While at Macy's, a girl tried to return jeans that not only stunk to high heavens had obvious period stains on them but "she never wore them" and had just ripped of the tags.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh my god.

I would have thrown up. Nasty as hell.

@Karen, not a problem. I was trying to avoid stating the fact that I am an employee, but I also didn't expect the harsh reactions that I received. So thank you for asking, and I hope now the others who were rude will understand a bit more.

Ew

@SoontoBeMrs.Compton when we did our registry I straight up asked BBB about the cash thing (bc people had told us different things about it) she was hilarious. she said that their "policy" is they do not give cash back but it depends on the different cashiers and some still do if you ask. She was the funniest person ever and said if we ever wanted cash to go to her with the returns. We are going to try and just get credit to buy things we need...because I am sure some people will give us cash as wedding gifts. I am just realizing now how much stuff we still need...it is insane!

We got store credit for the items we returned but I still feel like we came out way ahead, since they gave us full value in store credit for all of the items returned. I honestly don't know anyone who shops at BB&B without coupons, and we went on a special newlywed night where they gave 20% off your entire purchase. So someone may have purchased a $100 item for $80, but we got $100 in store credit to spend, and also got 20% off everything we bought.

I'd never ask or demand an employee to "bend" the rules for me just to get cash from a gift. Are you hurting for money that bad you need to go create a scene because it's their rules you want them to ignore? Smh that's crazy.

I had two really gross ones..

I worked in the swimsuit dept of a big dept store and someone tried to return two WORN bathing suits. Know how I knew they were worn? We were trained to check the crotch to see if they still had the safety lining. There was no safety lining and no blood but....definitely bodily fluids had been in contact with the suit.

Someone also returned a hat that smelled like piss. I'm 100% sure it was piss. May not have been human but.....yuck

I would never ask a store to bend policy because I want money back for things I didn't even buy. Ugh.

I also worked retail for about ten years: Best Buy, CompUSA, Target, Claire's (The ICING)....and I didn't break for anyone. I had a customer scream at me that I was retarded because I wouldn't return his opened box of software. Sorry, dude, laws is laws.

I had that guy physically removed from the store because I was a Supervisor and I could. He threw his full coffee cup at our front doors LOL. Man, I don't miss retail at all.

My vote for easiest to abuse return policy is Kohl's. After working customer service desk at Kohl's, nothing would surprise me. Wear your sneakers for 8 months (toe indents worn into the padding) and claim they just aren't comfortable, yup new pair. Bed comforters with worn spots covered in dog hair - throw a bit of febreeze on and yup get your money back. Wear a heavy winter coat one year and return it the next for a new one because it "doesn't fit". Burn a pot black by boiling it out and get a full refund or a new one - your choice. The worse I saw was stretched out stinky Spanx. Don't have a receipt, you'll get the sale price, but if you purchased it with a Kohl's or any other credit card ask for a "look up" and we would literally scan your credit card and find the transaction... full price refund. It didn't take long to figure out the habitual returners who were basically exchanging last seasons clothes for this seasons. If it was obviously worn, used and abused we would damage it out but you would still get your full refund. I never understood the logic but hey I was just the schmuck at the register following orders.

I'm not surprised that they won't give cash back without a receipt, but a little surprised that you can't get cash back with a gift receipt. (Am I understanding that correctly?) A gift receipt does prove that it was purchased at BB&B, or wherever.

These return stories are awful... makes me very glad I've never worked retail.

To me, the worst is cigarette smell. I had a lady return a bunch of things one day, and as she was pulling things from the box, a put-out cigarette fell out. We still had to take it back and I was nauseous. My nose is SO sensitive to that smell for some reason.

I am dying over Nadia's comment LOL! FH worked in Kohl's when he was laid off one summer. They will take anything as an exchange no matter how nasty it is. He told me horror stories about the disgusting worn shoes, holey underwear, pit stained t-shirts, used pots and pans and so on they would take back. They however will do an EXCHANGE or store credit. They will take back junk too if you can prove you used a credit card there. They will not hassle you at all.

Our local Target is also very lax about exchanges. One year I bought $150 worth of the new LED Christmas lights. Well, the first year they came out they were not really all-weather and they shorted out. I had to put them in garbage bags and take them back to Target. They did not even verify if I had purchased them there they just let me exchange them for the old school lights.

Oh, the worst I had is a lady who tried to return clothes INFESTED with bed bugs! I was about to touch them when I saw them start crawling around! I was freaking out and my supervisor told her there was no way we were taking it back and she needed to leave! It was horrible! We had to sanitize the cart she was using and everything about a hundred times and I felt like they were crawling all over me even though I hadn't touched it!

This wasn't a return, but we also had a guy who took a pair of jeans, went into a dressing room, took a shit and then put his jeans back on and left the shit jeans in the dressing room! It was disgusting and the bathroom was right around the corner!

Oh, we had people shitting and peeing in our fitting rooms all.of.the.time. The grossest thing was the girl who left her period stained underwear and tampon in the fitting room.