Home Depot cheerful refunds

[Roger Feeley]

I got a 10’ piece of 1” black iron pipe and had hm cut it into 2 pieces. The bar code was too badly damaged to read so I snapped the shelf tag. The employee entered it as two pieces of pipe and I was distracted and didn’t see that I paid too much.

I took the receipt back to HD today and explained what happened. Based on my word alone, they cheerfully refunded one piece of pipe back to my credit card. I read all here stories about people scamming the big boxes and I sail through with zero pushback. How is that? Are they profiling? I’m a 70 year old white guy. Or maybe when they scan my receipt, it comes back with my return history? I suppose I return a half dozen things a year and I do a fair amount of business there for a non-professional.

[Bill Howatt]

Nice to hear of a pleasant experience. He also may have brought the product up on his computer and saw it was for a 10' piece and had 2 considerably shorter pieces on the counter and your story made sense.

[Roger Feeley]

Nice to hear of a pleasant experience. He also may have brought the product up on his computer and saw it was for a 10' piece and had 2 considerably shorter pieces on the counter and your story made sense.
Alli had was the receipt. I had installed the two pieces of pipe.

[Roger Feeley]

I should add that this particular Home Depot is the busiest one in the HD system. It’s the seven corners HD in Falls Church VA.

[Jim Koepke]

It could have been any of many things. Maybe they do not carry 5' pieces. Maybe someone brought it up when they realized their mistake.

There have been a few times with a local grocer where things didn't get put in my cart when leaving. They have been good about taking care of it just on my word with a receipt.

It seems people trying to pull off a scam are always acting a bit odd. If you shop a lot there, they likely recognize you.

jtk

[Mike Henderson]

I'm fairly sure they have your return history but whether the clerk can access it is a question.

Mike

[Mark Wedel]

I suspect it might also be related to the cost of the item - if it was something cost $500, there might have been a bit more scrutiny.

But I suppose this is a problem at any store where they enter the wrong number of items or get a double scan - if you don't notice it right away, there is no way for them to verify that you only got 1 when the receipt says 2 (If you came back in an hour carrying only 1 item, how would the store know (or not) if you have as second one still at home?)

Beyond return history, they might have something of a purchase history, presuming you are using a credit card (this would certainly be true if you have the home depot credit card).

[Mike Henderson]

I think it's Home Depot but if you go to return something and don't have the receipt, they ask if you have the card you used for the purchase and they can see that you bought it.

Mike

[Patty Hann]

I think it's Home Depot but if you go to return something and don't have the receipt, they ask if you have the card you used for the purchase and they can see that you bought it.

Mike
'Zactly right.

[Earl McLain]

Great to get that kind of story.

One of the most difficult bill adjustments i have ever had was at a Wal-Mart probably about 25 years ago. I bought 2 bicycle inner tubes for my son's bike, got home and realized they only charged me for one. To demonstrate "integrity" to our then 10 or 11 year old, we got in the car and drove back to WM to pay for the second inner tube. At first the service clerk didn't comprehend that we were trying to pay more than they charged. She got a co-worker to help, and once they figured out my request, they had no clue how to handle it. So...the service manager had to be called in, then the department manager, then the assistant store manager, and a few phone calls made to some "regional people". After 45 minutes or so...we were finally thanked for being honest and told to please accept the "free" inner tube as a reward for that. (in reality...i think they just wanted to be done with the "nut-case" who wanted to pay more than he was charged so they could all get back to work!!)

Every time i see the Gomer Pyle episode where he's trying to give money back to the pay-phone company, i have a flash-back to trying to pay Wal-Mart for an inner tube they didn't charge me for!!

[Jim Koepke]

Great to get that kind of story.

One of the most difficult bill adjustments i have ever had was at a Wal-Mart probably about 25 years ago.
…
Every time i see the Gomer Pyle episode where he's trying to give money back to the pay-phone company, i have a flash-back to trying to pay Wal-Mart for an inner tube they didn't charge me for!!

There have been a few times when someone has given me the wrong change, change for a twenty when they were given a ten or somehow a ten got in the one's slot. It is amazing how they will argue until my saying something about not wanting their till to come up short at the end of shift.

A few times an interesting coin has been given to me in change just because they want it out of the till. Having been a coin collector for most of my life, they usually be asked if there are any more. Usually it was because they thought an Indian head penny was Canadian.

jtk

[Ron Citerone]

While Big Box stores have their downside, allowing returns is one of their strong points.

[Patty Hann]

There have been a few times when someone has given me the wrong change, change for a twenty when they were given a ten or somehow a ten got in the one's slot. It is amazing how they will argue until my saying something about not wanting their till to come up short at the end of shift.
.... jtk

I've had cashiers and clerks continue to argue with me even when I've emphatically said that they UNDER charged me and I want to give THEM money back.
They still look at me suspiciously.

Several times it has happened that I say items A, B, C, And D total Y dollars but "You only charged me X dollars".
Invariably the conversation goes like this... Clerk: "How do you know they total Y?"
Me: "I added them up."
Clerk: "How?"
Me: "In my head"
Clerk: *crickets* ... [then] "I need to get a calculator" .. ( gets calculator, and a seeming interminable 5 minutes later) ..."OK I see. Thank you for being honest...You really added all that up in your head? Where did you learn to do that?"
Me: Deadpan... "In a book about magic."