I now regret registering at Target instead of Babies 'R Us.
Now, before I get into it, let me just say: I once worked in retail. I refuse to be one of those people who thinks they are entitled to get whatever they want from a store just because "the customer is always right." I respect that stores need to have policies in place for their own protection. I get it, I do. But there's a right way to handle things, and a wrong way, as my story demonstrates.
I registered at Target about a year ago. Joe and I had registered there for our wedding and didn't have any problems, so we figured, why not register there for baby stuff? Again, we didn't have any problems, at least until recently.
We had chosen a high chair for our registry, but when my mom was planning my shower, I gave her access to the registry and she added another one, because the one I originally picked out kept going out of stock. We received both high chairs. No biggie, right? They might come in handy, plus the baby might outgrow the first one.
About a month ago, we realized that we wouldn't need the second high chair and decided to return it. We hadn't received a play yard, which was also on our registry, and could use one at this point with Sophie crawling around. So the plan was to essentially exchange the high chair for the play yard (and possibly a gate, depending on the prices at the time, which kept fluctuating).
We took the high chair back to Target, with the packing slip. We were told it could only be returned for the current price, which was about $34. It was originally about $90 - which came up via the packing slip. But because it was past 90 days, and the chair was now "discontinued," that was all we could get. We were also told our registry was no longer in the system, although I can still pull it up on my Target app.
Side note: Yeah, we should have just kept it and tried to sell it ourselves. But we figured there was no guarantee we'd get what we wanted for it, or even sell it at all, and this was at least some money we could put toward the play yard.
Well, my mom was horrified by how little Target gave us. So she called the store and said she'd buy it herself. It was already sold, natch. Then she called Target customer service and was told that we should have gotten the price paid for it, not the "current" price.
Side note 2: The high chair was still available on Target's website for EVEN MORE THAN WAS ORIGINALLY PAID FOR IT! Discontinued, my rear.
Back I went to my Target, and told them my mom had called customer service --
-- "Guest services, you mean," said the associate.
Um, sure.
Anyway, she was told that I should have gotten the price paid for it. Here's my packing slip.
The associate, for her slight snippiness, did at least call Target's website's cust-- er, guest services. But the person she reached couldn't even pull up the order, it was "that old."
Oh, and it's still available on Target's website and more expensive because Amazon runs their website. ?!??
My mom, still horrified, posted on Target's Facebook page and got a response. They gave her a form to fill out, and she hasn't heard anything more yet.
And here's why I wish I'd registered at Babies 'R Us instead...
A few months ago, they had a pretty good sale on diapers, so I bought two boxes each of size 2s and 3s. Sophie outgrew 2s before I opened the second box, so I wanted to exchange it for a box of 4s. Being wary after my Target experience, I called my local Babies 'R Us first to see if it was even possible.
"Sure, just bring it to customer service and we'll take care of it," I was told.
"I don't have the receipt," I told him.
"No problem."
Whaaaat?
I took the box back today, still wary. I went to customer service, explained the situation, and the associate said, "No problem. Just leave that box here, go find what you need, and we'll do the exchange."
I went back to the diaper section, and discovered that apparently that packaging is being discontinued, because there were only two boxes there like it. Both size 6s, and marked "clearance." Oh boy, here's the snafu, right?
Nope. I took a box of 6s (hey, I'll need them eventually anyway) up to the counter. Not only did the associate cheerfully and easily make the exchange, she didn't give me grief when the price of the 6s came up more than the return value of the 2s. AND she threw in a sample pack of baby wipes!
As I thanked her, I told her a bit about my Target experience, and she told me that they allow returns on registries up to SIX MONTHS.
So if you're not psychic, and don't know exactly what your baby will need ahead of time, register at Babies 'R Us. I wish I would have.
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