Service & Engagement Can I speak to a manager?: A front end thread

Having a hard time over something that’s not my fault, but I still feel bad over.

Had a guy come in and present a return to me which was truly a mixed bag of items - a bunch of brand new stuff from pretty much every department in one of our bigger plastic bags. As he was unloading the stuff, I immediately knew it was fraud obviously, to top it off he had receipts for all of it, each from a different target in the area and all cash and dated from the day before. I told the guy to wait a second and went in the back to call AP - ETL-AP was on and told me that he was too busy right that second and told me to just process the return anyway. Guy walked out with over $400 in cash :/ I kept all the receipts from the transaction, AP comes over later and reviews the footage and it turns out it was a repeat offender who they had been trying to get (they recognized his face) who got away again. Why do I even bother trying to stop this kind of fraud? /endrant

Sick of having to accept returns that are clearly fraud??
 
Dog said:
Having a hard time over something that’s not my fault, but I still feel bad over.

Had a guy come in and present a return to me which was truly a mixed bag of items - a bunch of brand new stuff from pretty much every department in one of our bigger plastic bags. As he was unloading the stuff, I immediately knew it was fraud obviously, to top it off he had receipts for all of it, each from a different target in the area and all cash and dated from the day before. I told the guy to wait a second and went in the back to call AP - ETL-AP was on and told me that he was too busy right that second and told me to just process the return anyway. Guy walked out with over $400 in cash :/ I kept all the receipts from the transaction, AP comes over later and reviews the footage and it turns out it was a repeat offender who they had been trying to get (they recognized his face) who got away again. Why do I even bother trying to stop this kind of fraud? /endrant

Sick of having to accept returns that are clearly fraud??
Click to expand...

The fuck are they paying this guy $25+ an hour for? What a skrub lmao
 
Guy comes in, no receipt, torn up headphones wanting to exchange for new ones because "they broke" (not even the box for the old set) and a Star Wars Lightsaber toy, same story, no box, broken in three pieces, beat up as fuck like it got ran over. Of course, the ID is maxed out and asks for $xx.yy or higher purchase.
Call GSTL over. Yes Desk.exe kicks in.
Guy walks out with brand new toy and headphones.

Why the fuck am I even trying?
 
starmaster1000 said:
Guy comes in, no receipt, torn up headphones wanting to exchange for new ones because "they broke" (not even the box for the old set) and a Star Wars Lightsaber toy, same story, no box, broken in three pieces, beat up as fuck like it got ran over. Of course, the ID is maxed out and asks for $xx.yy or higher purchase.
Call GSTL over. Yes Desk.exe kicks in.
Guy walks out with brand new toy and headphones.

Why the fuck am I even trying?
Click to expand...
I feel you on this one for sure - my store will accept any return/exchange even if you don’t have a box or a receipt. It’s like we’re just asking scammers to come get free money. My GSTL literally took a return for a dirty nasty broken iPhone where the guy didn’t have a box and I was like wow I love working here
 
All I've learned while working retail is that if you say "let me talk to your manager" enough you will eventually get what you want no matter how bullshit it is.
 
Target is betting on our superior guest experience being the way that we win. And it’s working. Yes desk is part of that. 🤷‍♀️

The only exception for me is electronics and air beds.
 
It's a side effect, but also the least bad option. Unless you're working at a super-mega-high-AP-risk store, nowhere near the majority of "yes desk" scenarios are going to be scammers trying to take advantage of you. So it's easier to make it right for the guest. It's just one component of what our superior guest experience is supposed to be about. Unless it's a situation where one (or multiple people) are repeatedly trying to abuse our make it right policy, it's 100% the responsibility of Guest Services to make it right for the guest. It's a super thin line though, so when it's difficult to tell what a guest's intentions are, it's always best to err on the side of good faith and do everything in your ability to help them.
 
CeeCee said:
I denied a return yesterday when the guest had her receipt. Dated March 2017. Just a smidge past our 90 day return policy. 😂 unfortunately (for her) her Merona top was no longer in in the system so there was no was for me to override it. I suggested she donate it to a women’s shelter.
Click to expand...
It wasn't? Weird. While not common we have gotten a couple old items (Cherokee school uniform pants, girls size Mossimo Red, Merona tanks) and they were in the system.
 
REDcardJJ said:
It's a side effect, but also the least bad option. Unless you're working at a super-mega-high-AP-risk store, nowhere near the majority of "yes desk" scenarios are going to be scammers trying to take advantage of you. So it's easier to make it right for the guest. It's just one component of what our superior guest experience is supposed to be about. Unless it's a situation where one (or multiple people) are repeatedly trying to abuse our make it right policy, it's 100% the responsibility of Guest Services to make it right for the guest. It's a super thin line though, so when it's difficult to tell what a guest's intentions are, it's always best to err on the side of good faith and do everything in your ability to help them.
Click to expand...

One thing though is that a lot of shady people aren't necessarily "career scammers", but opportunistic ones. Maybe they only try to rip us off if we give them the opportunity to do so. A lot of shady people are too chickenshit to actually break the law (e.g. shoplifting) so they stick with exploiting "the customer is always right" because it's a lot safer.

Here's a scenario: someone who wouldn't shoplift under normal circumstances hears from a friend that the local Target is running a free rental service with their yes desk. Lots of different ways to bamboozle us here. Word spreads quickly and not always in the positive sense. There's a huge market for exploitative deals that aren't illegal, and the fact that it's not illegal is part of the appeal because you can get free/discounted shit AND you don't have to worry about getting jammed up with the Man. There was that online coupon debacle not too long ago when people were buying up millions of $$ worth of product using stacked coupons. Although it's obviously against Target's policy to exploit errors and glitches, I don't see how someone making off with a Nintendo Switch marked down 80% is really all that different from scoring a phat pile of cash at the yes desk from a no-receipt return. At the end of the day, it's charged against our payroll and it doesn't do anything towards improving the experience for honest guests.
 
can't touch this said:
One thing though is that a lot of shady people aren't necessarily "career scammers", but opportunistic ones. Maybe they only try to rip us off if we give them the opportunity to do so. A lot of shady people are too chickenshit to actually break the law (e.g. shoplifting) so they stick with exploiting "the customer is always right" because it's a lot safer.

Here's a scenario: someone who wouldn't shoplift under normal circumstances hears from a friend that the local Target is running a free rental service with their yes desk. Lots of different ways to bamboozle us here. Word spreads quickly and not always in the positive sense. There's a huge market for exploitative deals that aren't illegal, and the fact that it's not illegal is part of the appeal because you can get free/discounted shit AND you don't have to worry about getting jammed up with the Man. There was that online coupon debacle not too long ago when people were buying up millions of $$ worth of product using stacked coupons. Although it's obviously against Target's policy to exploit errors and glitches, I don't see how someone making off with a Nintendo Switch marked down 80% is really all that different from scoring a phat pile of cash at the yes desk from a no-receipt return. At the end of the day, it's charged against our payroll and it doesn't do anything towards improving the experience for honest guests.
Click to expand...
I agree.

Honestly, sticking to our policy isn’t creating a poor guest experience. Because let’s be real, Susan might say she’s never coming back but we all know she’ll be back next Tuesday.
 
Why is that "yes desk" bullshit only about exchanges and returns. When a relative tried to price match blueberries, a fucking $1.50 difference, she was told no. So she did her grocery shopping somewhere else. But we'll give the fucking farm away on returns. How is that reasonable?
 
can't touch this said:
One thing though is that a lot of shady people aren't necessarily "career scammers", but opportunistic ones. Maybe they only try to rip us off if we give them the opportunity to do so. A lot of shady people are too chickenshit to actually break the law (e.g. shoplifting) so they stick with exploiting "the customer is always right" because it's a lot safer.
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised, apparently Walmart had a lot of soccer moms (i.e. Spot's main audience) suddenly decide things were 2 for 1 and free with purchase when they had that "scan and go" thing. :rolleyes: If they think they'll get away with it they'll do it
 
unknown said:
Why is that "yes desk" bullshit only about exchanges and returns. When a relative tried to price match blueberries, a fucking $1.50 difference, she was told no. So she did her grocery shopping somewhere else. But we'll give the fucking farm away on returns. How is that reasonable?
Click to expand...
the “yes desk” typically refers to gray areas of our return policy... we technically could deny it, we usually want to and sometimes, we do, but it’s not explicitly stated to deny it, so we’re told to make it right for the guest.

when price matching we are told that it has to be same brand, same quantity, etc. with all price matches. with nonbranded produce we are told we cannot price match due to possible differences in quality.

maybe not reasonable and honestly i might give up and take the $1.50 off rather than argue, but the price match terms are more specifically defined for both the guest and team member; therefore, we can usually more confidently decline it and receive the support in doing it since it is literally stated.
 
When you do a no receipt return, you're getting the lowest selling price in the past 90 days, with a yearly limit on a rolling calendar. So, even if they do try and decide to cheat the system, at a certain point they're going to be cut off. It isn't actually a fixed number -- it takes into account how frequently you no receipt return and the items that you're no receipt returning. Yes desk does not mean opening the cash register and handing the till over to the guest, it means going the extra step to make a difficult situation right for them. For example, a guest bought a pair of jeans a couple days ago and paid with cash, but they don't have their receipt. The jeans are defective. Do you deny her because she hasn't got her receipt and could be taking advantage of Target? I'd offer to do an exchange using the no receipt return process, comping any difference in price. THAT's the yes desk.

And at best, if taking advantage of our make it right for the guest policy, you're going to be walking away with a merchandise return card that is only valid in store. You can't even check the balance online or add it to the Target app. And certain items are automatically just going to force you to exchange for like items. Certain high theft items are also automatically declined a no receipt return in POS.

Amanda Cantwell said:
Honestly, sticking to our policy isn’t creating a poor guest experience. Because let’s be real, Susan might say she’s never coming back but we all know she’ll be back next Tuesday.
Click to expand...

I have guests tell me all the time that they shop with us more and more frequently because of negative experiences they've had at other retailers. Our guest experience is the biggest edge we have over Walmart and Amazon, and it's how we're going to win. Even our "low prices today and every day" don't compare to Walmart on average.
 

Similar threads

G
Not allowed to speak face to face with leaders
2
Replies
27
Views
2K
DBZ
D
F
Is anyone else's store getting rid of cart guys?
Replies
11
Views
1K
Florida Dawg
Florida Dawg
N
A Message For Corporate
2 3 4
Replies
94
Views
9K
allnew2
allnew2
buliSBI
Checks no more
Replies
3
Views
496
Captain Orca
C
S
A Target in my city has a supermarket next to it
Replies
8
Views
621
OneGoodEar
O
Back
Top