AP Photo/Julio Cortez
- Target will typically refund or exchange any unopened purchases returned within 90 days.
- But occasionally, customers shock employees with particularly large or gross returns.
- Business Insider spoke to 36 Target employees about the strangest returns they’ve encountered.
- Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
Target’s no different from its major rivals when it comes to attracting retail fraud and serial returners.
The company’s returns policy allows customers to bring back unopened products that are still "in new condition and returned within 90 days" for a refund or an exchange. There are exceptions to the rule, and the retailer reserves the right to deny a return that is damaged or lacking a receipt.
Read more: The wildest returns people have tried to make at Costco, according to employees
That policy doesn’t prevent some shoppers from trying to skirt the rules. As a result, some Target employees witness rather odd things coming through the returns desk. A Target team member based in California even told Business Insider that they admired their colleagues working in returns, describing it as "a very tough position."
Here are a few of the more memorable items that Target employees say shoppers have tried to return:
Target accepted a particularly stinky shirt.
Yelp
A Target worker described an incident in which a person returned "a shirt that had been worn, washed, and reeked of cigarettes."
"We didn’t even carry the brand that it was," the employee added. The store accepted the garment, then tossed it in the trash.
Two women attempted to return a single razor, stashed in a Walmart bag.
Yelp
A Target employee told Business Insider that stores have a $200 limit on returns made without a receipt. Customers who return items without a receipt receive store credit in lieu of money.
The employee described witnessing a shopper attempt to exchange a razor without a receipt.
"She had hit her $200 limit, meaning that she couldn’t return it," the team member said. "She left 20 minutes later. A different woman came in with the exact same razor — in the same Walmart bag, even — to return it with her license. Not surprisingly, she had also hit her limit."
One customer had no more use for hundreds of dollars in holiday decorations.
Yelp
The months following the holiday rush usually bring about a lull in the retail business. But it’s a time that also brings some opportunistic returners out of the woodwork.
One Target team member of five years told Business Insider about a guest who took advantage of the store’s 90-day return policy by "returning roughly $400 worth of Christmas decorations in late February."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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- Here’s what Home Depot looked like when it first opened in 1979
SEE ALSO: The 6 best ways to save money at Target, according to employees who work there
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Áine Cain)