Gabriela
Somewhere,#2Consumer Comment
Sun, January 25, 2009
It seems you were unfortunately caught in the middle. The merchandise could have been packaged to be returned to Nintendo or wherever and it was inadvertently put back on the floor. Or whoever purchased the product before you is the one that got away with returning used electronics. It is a scam. I had a relative buy a tv and when she got it home, it was a box of bricks. I don't think that Target would deliberately do such a thing. I think you handled it excellently. Your encounter with the salesperson was just pitiful but there is not a customer service class that can be given to people such as that. How I wish it were? As someone who worked at Macy's for over 10 years, I can honestly say that the company policy can be overridden at any time by management. Stores have a company policy and rules for an ideal society. They want you to look at the policy and think you cannot challenge it. That is absolutely false. For ten years, we had a plaque mounted to the front of each sales counter that explicitly stated that we could not return nor exchange merchandise that was not in resalable condition. For ten years, we returned clothing that was wet, faded, bloody, muddy, dirty, sweaty, had the anti-theft sensor ripped off, and\or smelled of vomit or marijuana because the manager said to. However the next nearest Macy's which at the time was about 10 minutes from us, refused to return such merchandise and sent them all our way. Store policy is never written in stone. You having to contact Nintendo is a bit silly. You purchased directly from Target therefore you should direct your attention to Target. With electronics, most stores have a refund policy\warranty as far as time frame. After that period, you are referred to your manufacturer which would be Nintendo. I don't know off hand what the time frame is for Target but other places are 3 months. After the 3 month period, you would then have to take up your issues the makers. You followed protocol. If you wanted to put pressure on Target then you could have alerted Nintendo to the fact that you were sold a used and broken product bearing their name. They could have set things right but given that it was only a few days, they may have just referred you back to Target. When the salesgirl informed you that you should have checked the contents before purchasing, you should have informed her to check the contents before returning. You handled it very well though. Gabriela (Surg Tech)
Andrea
Tucson,#3UPDATE EX-employee responds
Tue, December 23, 2008
I worked for Target for 10 months and i can tell you it is NOT against company policy to exchange opened electronic games nor to return it. It is true they are not allowed to let customers or "guests" handle the games or other locked up electronics mostly because they don't want people to steal. Once you have paid for the product you can and should ask the person at the register or guest service person to open the product to check if it is broken or damaged to an unusable state. You can return or exchange the product right there or within 90 days. I've personally done this and use to tell customers to do this just to make sure that their product is okay. Target is one of the hardest corporations to get a hold of when things go wrong and I completely agree they should have let you exchanged the product. Good luck to you.
Karen
Dunedin,#4Consumer Comment
Wed, November 12, 2008
I have a thought that I'd like to share- why would Target expect a customer to contact the manufacture when they are who sold the game! Target is the store who made the profit on the sale. Target is who the customer paid for the Play Station. Target is the one who should take care of the situtation if one arises. Targets web site bosts of PROFITS in the hundred millions. Why would or should the public expect anything less then Targets full support in if they sell something that is defective? If a customer wanted to buy straight from the manufacture then I understand having to send the item back to them for repair/replacement but, not if they bought it from a local store. I don't agree with the Target Employee who said to contact "Nintendo" rather then the store for the problem. In my opinion it was wrong and a total lack of service for Target not to cheerfully exchange the game. Personally, I have never found Target to have good customer service. They use words like "guests" in reference to customers and "guests relations" when dealing with customers but they (Target as a whole) fall far, far from the mark.
Qwerty777
Eden Prairie,#5UPDATE Employee
Tue, November 11, 2008
It was Nintendo's product that was ruined, so why would you not call Nintendo? I understand your frustration with Target, and why on earth the girl told you to "inspect" the box before you buy it is beyond me, but before calling your credit card company, you should have tried Nintendo. I've never had to deal with them on anything, so I don't know how their customer service runs, but most companies want to maintain their integrity, and will replace it if you call them, especially if you have a receipt less than three days old. The girl was right in the respect that the store manager can't do a whole lot more than the service desk employees can, but she was still obviously an idiot who doesn't know how to treat customers. My suggestion is to either use the customer survey that is printed randomly on their receipts, and use the girls name. They actually post the list of all comments in the team member service center (TSC), and any directed at a specific employee will be handled with them individually. Also, you could ask for the Guest Experience Executive Team Lead and let them know exactly what happened. Target has crappy team members (especially as it gets closer to Christmas), but in this case the whole store shouldn't be blamed. Hopefully it hasn't been too long since you bought it, and if you haven't replaced it already, try calling Nintendo.