Don't throw your receipt out at the store !

[Barnabas]

I bought a power tool battery from a big store. Got it home and realized it was a used, and dead battery. My guess is someone bought a new battery and put their dead one in the packaging and returned it.

When I returned it, I explained the situation and they gave me my money back. I tought they were going to say no.

 

[ard]

Guy in the US, 23 years old was buying laptops at wallymart, then taking out components and returning them.

Report says he took them for $1.3 million. Hit something like 1000 stores, all over the USA. Arrested last week in AZ.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5852433/Man-suspected-defrauding-1-000-Walmart-stores.html

 

[mike in tucson]

Last year, a guy was caught running the UPC change scam. He would go to HD, buy a cheap item (say a garbage disposal). Then, he copied the UPC bar code and made a sticker out of it. The sticker went to the store and got placed onto a high-dollar garbage disposal. The self checkout didn't detect the difference. So then, he had a cheapo disposal and a high dollar disposal....he sold the high dollar item on an internet site and returned the cheapo to HD for a refund with the real receipt. His gain was something like the difference between the $200 disposal and the $40 disposal....factored by the auction site selling price. He only got caught because an alert employee saw his name on a returns list multiple times and raised their hand.
This guy was running his scam as a full-time job.

 

[southpier]

What kind of person has a hummingbird feeder?

a hum-dinger?

 

[southpier]

Last year, a guy was caught running the UPC change scam. …. as a full-time job.

I worked for a guy who was having a building put up. two year job in 8 months because . . who the hell knows. because he said "jump" and the dumb *sses did.

anyway, the general contractor's son was buying unnecessary or surplus materials and power tools, returning them for gift cards, and buying stuff for his own house with the gift cards.


of course it was circulating that the contractor was charging for labor and sending workers to do stuff at his vacation house "up state", so it's understandable why the kid thought it okay to pull the scam.


dirtbags, the lot.

 

[foolio]

I've also heard of people buying gallons of bleach at walmart. Using a drill to drill a hole in the bottom to drain the bleach. filled with water, and then used white silicone to plug the hole.

Then they'd return the bleach saying they got to much or blah blah blah... some other excuse.

Similar thing happened to me. Walmart...bought a gallon of automotive coolant. Got it home and when I opened it up, first thing I noticed was the aluminum seal was missing. Then it was obvious it was just water. Luckily was able to exchange for an untampered one.

 

[bczygan]

What exactly does a hummingbird lover look like?

Bill

 

[Thirdyfivepickup]

I remember reading in one of the clearance threads about a tweaker noticing small trees outside of Home Depot near the garden center with the tags on and dragged one over to customer service to return it.

A goddamn tree...

 

[Tynee]

I think I've told this story before on here, but I once stood in line at Wal-Mart to make a legitimate return, behind a couple returning an obviously used plunger.

 

[b-boy]

What kind of person has a hummingbird feeder?

My wife has about 10 of them, along with 20 other bird feeders. She spends more on bird food than dog food (and I have a Mastiff and a Great Dane).

 

[Lassen Forge]

LL Bean said it appears people were buying used LLBean at garage sales/thrift sores and returning stuff for new replacements.

At our local Menards, thieves grab expensive merchandise and head straight to customer service and demand a refund. I think all they get is store credit. I don't think the employees want to create a scene.

I saw a couple return dirty yard tools. When asked what's wrong with them "Nothing, we don't need them anymore." Money cheerfully refunded.

Too bad they can't put a code on that store credit... smiling "Here's your refund, sir" and when they try to spend it... "Sorry, this credit has already been redeemed". No hassle, no scene, just other customers in line wondering what this guy in front of them is trying to pull...

Another way is to have a separate department, accessible only from the outside of the building, to process returns and refunds. Sure, some jerk would find a way to game the system, but it would help a lot. Of course - if the return desk also took 30 seconds to inspect the returned item, to make sure they're not getting a box filled with wood scraps (our Home Despot does that). I suspect once the "gig" was up, the scumball would likely flee.

 

[Harley-FXDWG]

That scam is nothing new. It happens at many retail stores and has been for many years. You think the homeless drunks, tweakers, crackheads ya see outside the stores digging through the trash cans are looking for food/water? HA!


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[engineer2]

I sure someday every item will be tracked via a unique serial number. "I'm sorry sir, you can't return that miter saw because you didn't buy it. It's still shows as being in our store inventory and never went through the check-out line. You can either leave it or we'll call the police."

 

[protegeV]

That scam is nothing new. It happens at many retail stores and has been for many years. You think the homeless drunks, tweakers, crackheads ya see outside the stores digging through the trash cans are looking for food/water? HA!


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

I don't know if it counts as a scam, but Im so cheap Ive been known to grab stray receipts laying around at restaurants with a bar code points/reward system to speed up my $10 reward credit

 

[lostmymanual]

I remember reading in one of the clearance threads about a tweaker noticing small trees outside of Home Depot near the garden center with the tags on and dragged one over to customer service to return it.

A goddamn tree...

Meth heads should be legally open game.

Methamphetamine's aren't like heroin, coke, or even crack. You can recover from those and still be somewhat useful. Methamphetamines are highly neurotoxic and literally cause exponentially more brain damage than these opiods that our government has decided are the only thing worth combating.

Opiod addicts hit rock bottom and either die or bounce back from addiction and go onto being award winning novelists.

Meth heads bounce back to sobriety after either dying from trying to steal copper from a live electric grid or hit rock bottom and sober up enough to scream swearwords at themselves and wear diapers in their 30's.

It's going to break us in the USA to take care of these idiots for the rest of their lives. Personally; I'd like to expedite that process with the above hunting permits but I hear they are still considered human by some.

Wait until someone you care about is accosted by a tweaker and tell me how humane they acted...

They're not even sentient after burnout IMO. Just some thoughts encase you weren't sure where I stand on the matter in the Midwest.

As far as receipts go: All the big-boxes email me my receipts. Heck, even Hazard Frought sends me email copies of my receipts. I have a folder setup that is "Receipts" in my gmail account. I send them there. This is particularly true of Home Depot. I've utilized the Rigid lifetime warranty on an impact driver using my e-receipts from HD. The heat-transfer printed receipts are worthless after they've been sitting for a year.

Every paper receipt I get goes into a bag just in case something doesn't make it home with me. I've had more than 1 employee fail to bag an item I paid for or gotten home and found that parts are missing.

 

[Harley-FXDWG]

I sure someday every item will be tracked via a unique serial number. "I'm sorry sir, you can't return that miter saw because you didn't buy it. It's still shows as being in our store inventory and never went through the check-out line. You can either leave it or we'll call the police."

It already is in some places. A particular place that my wife works as a manager, their system shows if an actual item was legitimately purchased and if not they simply deny the return and that applies for every location across the country so the crackhead cant just go down the road to another location.

 

[Harley-FXDWG]

Another one is food stamps. People come in and purchase very expensive items such as baby formula with their food stamp cards, my wifes system tracks reciepts via a rewards card, the people come back claiming that they have lost their reciept and that they need to have it looked up via the rewarda card. This allows the return to be done in cash and the purchase on the computer does not show how the item is purchased so if the manager isnt paying attention they get cash back.

 

[Lassen Forge]

I could never understand the food stamp scam, or the people getting food assistance for being an impoverished mother turning around and getting money back for what they just got. Driving up to pick up their welfare checks and food assistance in their new Cadillac. I guess as long as there are people, there will be those who game the system.

 

[coljar]

That reminds me. I'm suppose to pick up a hummingbird feeder on the way home from work tonight.

 

[lakelandcat]

I remember reading in one of the clearance threads about a tweaker noticing small trees outside of Home Depot near the garden center with the tags on and dragged one over to customer service to return it.

A goddamn tree...

I've seen people return Christmas trees, talk about scum. Years ago a District Manager told the Cust. service crew "never say no", I think he meant never say the word NO. They took him literally and returned anything people brought in, I saw them return Home Depot product that was marked HD. One of the Dons who train crooks got to a checker who let $10000+ go out the door before LP caught on. I hate to profile but 75% of the shoplifters were middle age white males, they were trained that no one would suspect them. Scum

 

[lostmymanual]

I hate to profile but 75% of the shoplifters were middle age white males, they were trained that no one would suspect them. Scum

I'll never apologize for utilizing the incredible, life saving intuition that I have been blessed with developing that some may call "profiling". We do it all the time. Stereotypes exist for a reason and it saves our lives more than we give ourselves credit for.

On one hand, I recognize that someone wearing certain clothing, of a different social structure than mine is asking for pocket change. I can play the politically correct card and reach in my pocket to give him a chance to jump me or I can stay alive by acting on my "profiling" intuition, simply tell them that I cannot help them while standing ready and watching their hands and body for aggressive queues.

The next day, I may be asked the same thing by a destitute person that fits a different profile and gladly give him or her my change. Not likely anymore. Last time I gave an elderly lady $5 and told her to stay careful, she walked straight into the convenience store and bought smokes with it. She still roams our small 70k town asking for handouts over a year later. A couple months ago she walked up to my truck and clearly didn't recognize me. I told her I wasn't giving her money again and to leave before I called the cops for loitering.

Call me a bigot or whatever you feel like crying but the fact is that I'm still alive after being jumped and rolled once in my 20's when I was in the military and thought I could fight anyone as long as I was righteous.

As an older, wiser adult; I'd sooner kill them and risk being judged by Jury instead of trying to bounce back from that near-death experience from thugs at my age. That's a bold and crass statement but true nonetheless. What that generally means is opening my eyes, recognizing threats before they're imminent and happily avoiding them without apology. Plan C is dire but is in place. A meth head fits a particular stereotype. So does a thug. Cry bigot and point fingers. Don't care anymore.

 

[bwringer]

That reminds me. I'm suppose to pick up a hummingbird feeder on the way home from work tonight.

I hope you look like someone who has a hummingbird feeder.

Whatever that looks like.

 

[6768rogues]

In high school I knew a guy who liked to shop lift. His plan was that if anyone tried to stop him at the door, he would punch them and run like hell. He never got caught until he was in college and he lifted something when he was with his girl friend. He didn't want to use his get away plan and leave her behind. They both got arrested.
Chivalry is not dead. That was in a time before surveillance cameras.

 

[PassnThru]

In high school I knew a guy who liked to shop lift. His plan was that if anyone tried to stop him at the door, he would punch them and run like hell. He never got caught until he was in college and he lifted something when he was with his girl friend. He didn't want to use his get away plan and leave her behind. They both got arrested.
Chivalry is not dead. That was in a time before surveillance cameras.

"This is why we can't have nice stuff"

Really - what is wrong with people?

 

[Harley-FXDWG]

"This is why we can't have nice stuff"

Really - what is wrong with people?

Some people...and most kids these days just need a good beating!