Why the returns process is now so complex – and the hidden costs you should know about
As the window closes this weekend for taking back many unwanted items, here's how to navigate the Kafkaesque process
While more fortunate people spent Twixtmas on the sofa watching TV, Johnny, a 56-year-old dentist from London, spent it in the returns queue – or rather, three returns queues over a period of two days, after an attempt to return a rucksack turned into a six-hour quest involving three different Carhartt stores.
Had the company accepted returns on items bought in-store, Johnny would simply have asked for his money back. Alas, in common with many retailers, Carhartt only offers credit notes, a policy which, while legal, can prove particularly galling in January, when the punt you took on a Christmas present turns out to have been an expensive mistake. A recent survey by price comparison site finder.com claims that 62 per cent of Britons received at least one unwanted gift this Christmas, with the UK’s total spend on undesirable gifts estimated as being in excess of £1.2 billion. No wonder those returns queues are so long.
For most of us, the post-Christmas returns process is just another grim January challenge to be attempted through gritted teeth. But this year, for an increasing number of people, it has turned into a nightmare that can best be described as “Kafkaesque”. A combination of confusing returns policies, unexpected charges and poorly trained staff has left many of us feeling bruised, both emotionally and financially.
When Anna-Sofia, a 41-year-old teacher from Aylesbury, tried to return a jacket to her nearest Uniqlo store, in Oxford, the last thing she expected was to be escorted out of the shop by security. After joining the returns queue and eventually being informed by a sales assistant that the jacket, bought online, couldn’t be returned because it had been purchased via Paypal, she suggested to the assistant, in a fit of pique, that the store might as well keep and resell it, since it was too small for her son, and attempted to hand him the package.
“I’ll admit I was a bit curt, because I was annoyed by a returns policy which seemed unusual, and of which I’d been completely unaware,” she says. “But to be told the store didn’t want my custom, then escorted out of a busy shop was extremely embarrassing, and surely unnecessary, given all I was doing was questioning their policy.”
Few would disagree that the returns process has become unnecessarily complex, with no blanket policy that would better allow shoppers to know their rights. Instead, rules vary wildly from brand to brand, and from platform to platform. For every retailer that operates an extended returns policy, to take into account that many gifts are bought long before December 25, there’s a retailer that is more intractable. Argos, H&M, Primark, Sainsbury’s and Tesco have longer Christmas deadlines of January 31, while Marks & Spencer and John Lewis give customers until January 28.
Retailers still operating a strict 14-day returns policy include Carphone Warehouse and Next, while those hoping to return an item to Apple or Sports Direct have only until January 8.
But the returns deadline is, arguably, the easiest part of the Pythagorean equation. More complex is the returns process itself, and the hidden costs therein. According to an investigation of 200 leading online retailers by logistics firm parcelLab, a quarter are now charging shoppers for returns, despite research by Klarna finding that 84 per cent of shoppers would be more likely to buy from online merchants who offer free returns.
Of those surveyed, 36 per cent cited a slow refund process as the most frustrating element of returning items bought online – something that feels particularly egregious after paying for the privilege of returning it. But then, with one in three fashion items bought online being sent back – double the rate of shop-bought goods – retailers would no doubt argue that charging for the service is long overdue.
The complications don’t stop there however: there’s also the issue of whether goods bought online can be returned in-store, and vice versa, as well as whether they can be refunded or exchanged. While you have a legal right to return store-bought goods if they are faulty, you don’t have a legal right to a refund simply because you change your mind, regardless of whether they’re the wrong colour or size.
“Shops are under no obligation to give a credit note or even an exchange,” warns Oli Townsend, deals expert at Moneysavingexpert.com. “Many shops do offer a generous ‘goodwill’ returns policy, but it’s imperative to check this before buying.” By contrast, shopping online offers more protection. “If returning an item because it’s unwanted, you have automatic rights and most items can be returned and refunded if done quickly, no matter the reason,” says Townsend. Although even then, it’s essential to check the small print for exclusion policies.
Medical products, underwear, perishable goods and sealed audio, video or computer software that have been opened tend not to be returnable, usually for reasons of hygiene. As Harriet, 32, recently found to her cost, “hygiene reasons” can prove a useful get-out clause for stores. After buying a £119 mattress topper online from The White Company, she was keen to know what it felt like to the touch before committing to putting it on her bed. After gingerly unzipping its plastic case, she touched it briefly, and decided that it felt too synthetic for her needs.
“The manager refused to accept it,” says Harriet. “She said that as it had been opened, for hygiene reasons, they couldn’t process the return. It seems strange that you can sleep on a new mattress for 30 days and still return it, but woe betide you if you even touch a mattress topper. If the same logic was applied to clothes, nobody would be able to try on anything.”
“People lament the death of the British high street, but I say let it burn,” says Johnny, irate after his Carhartt experience. “I traipsed to three London stores because the sales assistant assured me that the others had the rucksack I wanted. Out of frustration, I eventually accepted a credit note, and bought a sweatshirt. But even that took two attempts. Just as it was my turn to get served, the internet went down, meaning the store could only process cash purchases.”
To add insult to injury, he and his 16-year-old daughter – the recipient of the unwanted rucksack – had to stand for 40 minutes in a queue outside the store. “When we finally went inside, I was amazed to find the shop was half-empty. Why make customers queue in the pouring rain? Was it just to make Carhartt seem popular? I really hope not.”
So perhaps it’s not surprising that a survey commissioned by the menswear brand, Spoke, found that two thirds of men don’t return unwanted items of clothing as they “can’t be bothered”. Given how tortuous the process, can anyone? During a cost of living crisis, shoppers deserve better than a flawed returns system. Alas, the old adage that “the customer is always right” no longer holds true.