I know that when returning stuff on Amazon, part of the process (on line) is they generate the label for you to print it at home.
Worked OK for me the few times I've sent stuff back.
I checked the websites. No dice. Gap said that they included a return label but they didn't, dammit!
Hrrm. That rots. If they don't make it part of the on line returns process they should still make it an option.
It used to be, back in the 1980s, that a merchant could issue a return label via UPS and UPS would deliver the label. You would affix it and call UPS for the pickup. But that was pre WebTubes.
It does make me less inclined to order from Gap. (You hear that Gapsters?)
If this is the future of the internet, I'm scared.
ZOMG!!
No future, no future,
No future for you
No future, no future,
No future for me
You guys really return stuff that often?
I've returned 3 or 4 things to Amazon. Defective and just not right items. Never had any trouble. Then again, I have bought a bunch of stuff from them.
No other internet returns though. Generally I am happy with my purchases.
You know what? The Flophouse could really use a printer.
5 - Clothes, mostly. For example, I found a bra I liked but they didn't have my size in stock in the store. So I ordered it from an online place in a couple of different sizes so I could see which one fits, knowing I'd return the one that didn't and order more later in the right size. Not a bad plan when return shipping is easy and cheap but turns out to suck when you have to drag yourself to UPS.
Printers? Printers? I have Adobe Acrobat Pro at home (personal purchase) and email the PDF to work. It is just a little inefficient.
8: what about a bourbon printer? Sweet jesus, I'm going to be rich.
Along with the, wathcamacallit, bacon time machine?
In order to be a bourbon printer, it has to be in Kentucky.
Bourbon print jobs are shipped via the UPS hub in Lexington Kentucky, thus ensuring the accuracy and promptness of all the bourbon you need to print.
The Flophouse could really use a printer.
I agree.
Clothes, mostly.
Seems like this problem could be easily solved by not buying clothes on the internet.
Seems like this problem could be easily solved by not buying clothes on the internet.
It almost sounds as though you like the mall.
this problem could be easily solved by not buying wearing clothes
I read some story a couple years ago that stores are starting to limit returns- people who shop like you do (buy things with the clear intention of returning most of them) are profiled by their systems and eventually have their returns rejected. This is both online and retail stores- apparently they reserve the right to reject any return they want. I think Bana/na Re/public was one of the places that does this.
That's just silly in the case of online shopping.
re: 22
Yeah it does seem crazy, but there are a lot of businesses that advertise a service that they don't really want you to make regular use of [the internet industry is riven with it].
23: I enjoy seeing signs at the drugstore that advertise deodorant marked down from $3.79 to $2.29, noting at the bottom that it requires you to mail a rebate form somewhere.
Threadjack with request for help, well, really help with something stupid that's my fault: So the PC at my gracious home has a virus. It is alleged by the pathetic little scanny thing that I managed to run that it's something called VBS/Psyme.
By dint of diligent internet research, I have established that there seem to be several kinds of Psyme, and that there is no consensus about whether my computer is doomed or not, also no consensus about how to remove the damn thing. I've tried to deal with it via obviously insufficient McAfee-level means. And obviously, yes, I've always had Macs before (even at the daily toil) and so had no idea how vulnerable these wretched PCs are, and hence had what is in retrospect not enough fancy antivirus stuff.
Also, remember that I can just barely burn a CD now. Per-thetic, that's me.
O talented Unfoggetariat, what's a girl to do? Scrapping the whole thing and buying a Mac, though tempting, probably isn't the best plan at the moment.
||
New York Times reviews collection of preUnfogged poet laureate
I don't really comment around here anymore, but I feel the need to make two important notes:
(1) bourbon doesn't have to come from Kentucky, although most in fact does. But it does have to come from Kentucky to call itself "Kentucky Bourbon" on the label.
(2) from 21: apparently they reserve the right to reject any return they want.
The consumer protection laws in most states would beg to differ.
Scrapping the whole thing and buying a Mac
Always the best plan, actually. Try deleting everything in your Temporary Internet Files Folder and see if that doesn't take care of it.
28: Sadly, it won't let me delete the files that I'm pretty sure are the problem--I get an error message (I'm at work right now, so I can't quote exactly) along the lines of "these files can't be deleted/cleaned")
Seriously, this computer is purchased with funds from several accounts, as it were, and if I could persuade the other funders to buy a Mac, we'd have a Mac. Not that there aren't drawbacks to Mac products, but I've observed that here at work our incredibly fussy IT people don't even bother to do significant fussing with the Macs when they set them up, whereas there's about ten million rules for using our lone PC safely. (Inexplicably, NIH's new grant submission system works only on a PC, so we have to have one.)
29: I don't know what I'm talking about, so don't take my advice unless confirmed by someone more knowledgable. But I have in the past had a computer infected with something that wouldn't let me delete it, and (while I'm not remembering details), the problem was soluble by doing things in the right order -- maybe killing all the processes you can see in Task Manager other than the ones that should be running, and then deleting the bad files? I don't remember what I actually did, but something like that.
If you can't delete something, you need to start the computer in a different mode- either safe mode, which disables most of the junk that runs under normal mode, or from a boot disk so that your computer just appears as a non-OS hard drive that you can then manipulate.
Inexplicably, NIH's new grant submission system works only on a PC, so we have to have one.
There is a lot of boneheadedness like this around. We keep a `disposable' PC for that sort of thing.
31: A boot disk approach is usually best --- the safe mode can be messed up too. Booting from a CD means you don't have to trust *anything* on the hard drive.
Globally, the best solution is probably to always have an up to date data-only backup, and just wipe the drive and reinstall when this stuff inevitably happens. I realize that's no help to typical home users.
I don't really comment around here anymore, but I feel the need to make two important notes
Say it ain't so, Brock! Was it pangs of conscience, or the ministrations of Mrs. Landers?
The consumer protection laws in most states would beg to differ.
IANAL, but I am not aware of any state with a generalized right to return anything you decide you don't want. If the product is defective or if it doesn't do what it purports to do, the consumer has some rights under the doctrine of implied warranty. But generous, "no questions asked" return policies are the prerogative of the seller.
34: it's pangs of conscience I suppose, if that's what you want to call abysmal workplace performance.
On returns, generally you are right that stores can have any return policy they want, except "reject any return they want" doesn't work as a return policy. "No refunds whatsoever" works, but few big stores are willing to put that in writing in plain view of all customers. And laws in most states require that any refund, return, or cancellation policy must be disclosed to the buyer clearly and conspicuously before the transaction is completed. This means that the seller must display a written return policy that the buyer can see and understand before making a purchase. This is usually done by means of a sign at the point of purchase. Printing the store's return policy only on the sales receipt is not sufficient, since the buyer only receives this after the sale. It is illegal for a seller to misrepresent or refuse to comply with its refund, return, and cancellation policies. If no return policy is disclosed, you may return the goods within a reasonable period of time.
Part of that last paragraph was copied froma website explaining MA law, but most states are similar. Also, as you note, in most states you have the right to return an item if it is defective regardless of the store's return policy.
"No refunds whatsoever" works, but few big stores are willing to put that in writing in plain view of all customers.
Pace SP in 21, my understanding of what the stores in question are doing is not selectively refusing returns, but selectively refusing to sell to certain customers. If your credit card is on the black list, they will simply decline to sell you the item. This is presumably done as a way to circumvent the laws that deny them discretion in accepting returns.
The major exponent of this practice is BestBuy, which says the policy is directed against abusive practices such as returning an item, then buying it again after the store marks down the item because the original packaging is damaged.
Is this really much of an issue? I can't have returned more than three items in the last five years, and I couldn't tell you what they were. I certainly couldn't tell you if things I bought online recently had return labels or not.
37: It depends on habits really. I know people who habitually buy say 5 things for every three they'll keep, because they want to think about it, prance around home, show a partner. Buy three tops, keep one or two.
Internet buying means you didn't even get to try it on, so you suspect ordering two sizes or whatever is pretty common.
Huh. It would never occur to me to do that, but then I don't buy many clothes online. Just a T-shirt now and then that really grabs my fancy.