A number of years ago, my daughter was home from college during winter break and was working at a local mall. I had been recently released from the hospital after surgery and wasn’t allowed to drive yet. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy being confined to home during this busiest of seasons for our family.
To help me out, my daughter picked out Christmas cards at her mall from a chain card store which will not be named. Although her intentions were wonderful, the cards were not. So, on the first day I was able to drive, I returned the cards to another branch of the "no name" store at a mall closer to my house.
First, I’ll make it clear that I had a receipt showing that the cards had been bought in the last 10 days at the other mall. The clerk wouldn’t exchange the cards and called the manager. He announced in a loud voice for any and all to hear that there was no way the cards could have been purchased at their chain.
I was so shocked and humiliated that I left the store without another word. And from that day until the day the chain went out of business, I never set foot in there again. Maybe if that chain had been using software with validated returns (CounterPoint anyone?) none of this would have happened. But in this particular case I doubt it.
Now for the good news. My sister, who was a buyer at the mall where my daughter was working, took the cards back and exchanged them for me without any hassle. I didn’t ask, but I always hoped the original store reported that second store’s manager!