Accept All Returns

January 15, 2005

This is the story of how B&N lost $160 worth of sales and Borders picked it up. Without giving away the ending, I'll tell you that Borders is doing smart business, and the other guy ain't.

For my last birthday, my grandparents got me this Hitchcock box set. It was a great idea, but I had a couple of the movies already and it included some serious stinkers (Topaz, Family Plot). Alas, I didn't return it in time. Still, I was determined to return this somewhere and get some stuff I wanted.

Knowing that B&N has pretty high prices and tends to accept returns without receipts, I tried there first. I talked to a sales clerk when arrived, who said that I could exchange it for products right now or get a credit mailed to me in 2-3 weeks. Wanting instant gratification, I opted to pick out some stuff right away. She told me the box set was worth $161.39, to which I went, "Guuuuuuh," as my eyebrows rose six inches above my head.

For an hour, I picked out a bunch of books, a few magazines and a couple albums. I went back to check out and a new lady was there. I told her the deal and she punched some numbers in her system. "Oh. It looks like I can give you $39.99 for that." "Uh, what?!?" Apparently B&N has to give the lowest price they offer through any of there venues. So, instead of giving $160 worth of revenue to B&N, I decided to just leave. Screw 'em.

The next day, I called Borders and they said they'd happily accept the return and would be give me a store card. I went in, and that's exactly what happened. Including tax, I got about $144. The store was kind of small, so I could only find a couple books and a few magazines. Thankfully, their cards also work online. Aftet dropping about $60 in the store, I spent another $100 on their website.

The Borders folks probably knew I didn't buy the DVD set there, but they picked up a piece of inventory they already sell and allowed me to turn the revenue around for something I wanted. They added some revenue to their bottom line and they made my life easier. As a result, I'll do my best to shop at their store.

It seems that there are very few chain stores that value customer experience, probably because margins are so low. Personally, I'd think low margins and strong competition would encourage better customer service, but not everyone seems to get that.

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