I had a very bad experience attempting to return an unopened phone charger and adapter.
I purchased the charger and adapter in late August after attending an appointment in Munster. When I came home that night I found the original charger I had lost and thereby no longer needed the charger. The next time I was in Munster, roughly 6 weeks later, I returned to the store with the unopened charger, adapter, original receipt. Based on my previous experience with returns as well as past positive experiences with AT&T, I thought this would be an easy return. The person who originally helped me (an African American male) began processing the return by asking if I had the credit card, if it was defective, etc. I informed him about what had happened in regards to finding my existing charger and thereby no longer needing a new one, as well as the fact that it was unopened. They were selling the identical models not 10 feet from where we were standing.
This is where the problems began. He asked a co-worker "is this a 14?", to which the co-worker replied Yes. The worker informed me that they had a 14 day return policy. I pointed out that I did not live in Munster, that the item was literally unopened, and that based on my previous experiences as a long time AT&T customer I was surprised that they would not accept the return. At this point the co-worker (Caucasian male, middle aged) became rude with me. He first said "All stores have return policies", to which I replied Yes, but all stores can also make exceptions to this rule. He then asked me why I had waited so long to return it. I informed him that I did not live in Munster, I was only in Munster occasionally, and I did not think it would be a problem to return an unopened item. He stated "You could have gone to any other store", although on their receipt it says "Returns must be made at the location of the original purchase". He gave me a very angry look when I suggested that exceptions could be made to these policies and that I did not think it would be a problem to return unopened merchandise within a reasonable time frame. His customer service was some of the poorest I've experienced and he did not seem to be aware of his own stores policies.
Next I spoke to the manager, a Caucasian female. She was truly nice, and she did a good job of trying to explain to me that such a return was not possible. She said something along the lines of we would have to ship it back to AT&T, that they won't give us anything in return, and there is just no way to process this. Based on the fact that they are an independent realtor, that they could accept returns that were opened within a time frame, and that the same chargers were for sale in plain view, I really doubt this was the case. I think I could have understood this statement if I had opened and used the charger. But considering it was unopened and I had the original receipt, I truly doubt that nothing could have been done. I was not offered any other avenue or recourse.
All and all I felt brushed off, disrespected by the male employee who wasn't even aware of his own stores policies, and ripped off. I was truly surprised to have this kind of experience at a store representing AT&T, which I've traditionally had great experiences with.
For the record, the wording of their actual return policy is "All products may be returned for a refund or exchanged within 14 days of purchase and/or activation (whichever occurs first) in like new condition with all original packaging and accessories". This policy does not seem worded to deal with unopened items, and it also does not say that items will not be accepted after 14 days. Overall I think they could have accepted the unopened item but simply did not want to bother. For this, and especially for the poor customer service, I would recommend against shopping at this store if other options are available. read more
