Target customer service does not exsist

I purchased a computer game for my young son based on the Target
employee's recommendation. Only after he opened the game and stuck it
in his computer did we find out the game requires internet and a very
long and interesting agreement to be accepted in order to play the
game. The game does not state anywhere on it that internet is required
(it's a E10+ rating). And it only has a microscopic warning about
needing to register the product online and accept the agreement. So,
even though I knew Target's policy on opened games, I took the brand
new but opened game back and Target wouldn't do anything - nothing at
all. It's their "policy". I get that, but explained that I felt the
game company was deceptive by not putting the requirements on the
game. So I called guest relations at Target and they were absolutely
useless. It's their "policy" not to take it back. I asked for their
game buying contact so I can encourage them not to carry these
products. He wouldn't give that to me. Anyway, I feel ripped off by a
deceitful company that won't help (their customer service was worse
than Target) and feel like Target isn't being my advocate either. When
policies become more important than your customer, that's when you
know you've failed. Target's "policy" is clearly more important than
me as a customer.

hi,i bought a dvd portable,has two year contract,i contact
philips,they donot have a two year contract only one year,so what
should i do? i talked to customer service,she said talk to
philips.please tell me what to do? thankyou i have all receied

This is an ATROCITY!! In this day when retail is suffering....Target
should be bending over backwards to please its customers.....They need
some customer service lessons and once they learn to respect their
customers, that is the day I will shop there.TARGET DOES NOT RESPECT
CUSTOMERS!!!!

First of all I am very sorry for your loss. No one should have to
endure that.
Secondly, I work at Guest Service at Target and we have policies just
like any other store. If your gift receipts were with in the 90 days
you should have been fine. If you were registered for the items you
should have been able to return the items (if you did not have a gift
receipt) and have been fine. I highly doubt that everything happened
as you have just reported it. I am not trying to call you a liar but
after 4 years of working with Guests who think we owe them something
because they shop at our stores I am finally fed up! Target cannot
make exceptions to the policy because we have to be fair to everyone!
Our policy is on every receipt, it is clearly posted in the store (at
the registers and at Guest Service as well as in that little baby book
we gave you FOR FREE before you registered. If you didnt like the
policy then you should not have registered with us. END OF STORY! Do
not bad mouth target because you had one experience in which you did
not get your way! Target is not here to make sure that we give a
return to everyone.....we only give returns to the guests who follow
the policy. We have to follow it and so do you.

Joy C-
Since my last post (8 days later) I experienced the stillbirth of my
child at 37 weeks of pregnancy. It is a very cruel irony to have read
your story online and then had this happen to me also. I could not
bear to keep looking at the baby items and asked my friends to return
and/or give away items while we went out of town to be with family.
Of course it was an "ordeal" to return much of anything at Target.
After I use the little bit of credit we did receive, I will never
darken Target Stores again. I understand what you are going through,
Joy; I never thought it would be me sharing the same story.
Julie B

Joy,
I am so sorry for your loss and to have it made even worse by some
MORONS at Target. I just tried to return a couple of little baby
items today and had the same problem. I came home to do some research
and found your posting. It made me FURIOUS to see your story and how
you were treated. I sent an email to about 100 people copying your
story to them all. I deleted my entire baby registry while I was at
the store today. We are expecting a baby who has a heart defect and
will need surgery, so this is the last thing I need to deal with.
I'll be glad to give my money to Babies R Us, Walmart and Kmart from
now on.
Sincerely,
Julie B

I don't even know where to begin. I'm a mother of 2 boys. Ages 4 years
and 17 months and I couldn't even fathom that. They should've made an
exception for you. You had a gift receipt, you had everything still
brand new, then to charge you the restocking fee? Ridiculous. My
condolences to you and yours.

Retail has no sympathy for anyhting, i come in with returns because im
dying of cancer in 2 weeks,. they dont care, and its useless to take
them to court, we spend 10x as much on a lawyer, they spend pennies
and have 6 there. got to love our governemt, monopoly games for every
big dog. we're the pieces, welcome, im the iron.

I will just say this. I am very sorry for your loss. As a mother I
cant even imagine that kind of heartbreak. I hope your heart and mind
heals and that you find peace.

By posting a comment here I am breaking my own rule against engaging
in what I know to be fruitless arguments with people whose minds I
will never change, but after re-reading Joy's letter I find I can no
longer stand by and see this poor woman treated with such callous
disregard and in some cases, outright contempt.

Over the past few days I've read dozens of letters and hundreds of
comments, and the general attitude of the commenters seems to be one
of disdainful self-importance, with a distinctly corporate bias. I've
resisted the urge to respond because I'm not generally inclined to
take part in petty little, shall we say, urinating matches with people
I can't even see. But this one just pushed me over the edge.

I thought this site was supposed to be about giving people a voice,
making them feel like Big Business is actually listening to them--not
chastising, belittling and ostracizing them because they lack your
literary sophistication, your business acumen, or even your values.
Yes, there ARE people who are looking for a handout. Is that suddenly
news to anyone? Is it really necessary to treat everyone who posts a
letter as if they're exactly the same? Sometimes people just need to
vent, and however "constructive" you might think it is, telling
someone in this situation to "get over it" is pretty freaking cold.

I realize some of you who posted here probably thought you were being
objective, reasonable, logical, sensible--all good things, highly
valued in the corporate world. What I think you're forgetting is that
there's also room, even in the sterile world of Corporate America, for
compassion. A corporation is made up of people, after all, and when
people stick so rigidly to the rules simply because they're the rules,
they lose a little bit of their humanity in the process. And that is
the real tragedy in all of this.

Joy, my heart goes out to you. I hope you get some sort of apology
from Target. Take care of yourself.

I am so sorry for your loss. I had a miscarriage this summer and
already have 4 children. I could not imagine.

You did a wonderful thing by donating your gifts. I think that
Target's return policy on the gifts is laughable. The last thing
anyone who has gone through your loss wants is more reminders. I
suppose they may change their minds if it ever happens to one of the
"higher ups".

well #1- im sorry for your loss... but im sorry that companies have
policies. "If i was dying of thirst i would not go in there..." o COME
ON. I think ur talking out of anger.

I am so deeply sorry for your loss, God bless

Wow I am so sorry for your loss. I have a love/hate relationship w/
Target and right now it sickens me that Target could be so heartless.

To the many people who said that it's not Target's fault about the
loss of the baby -you're right, but when you experience the same
situation, I'm sure you'll change your attitude and will want to be
supported especially when the situation is legitimate.

I am glad you shared this despite the pain it must have caused you to
think/write about it again. I'm so sorry for your loss. I personally
have avoided Target because of their ridiculous policies for as long
as I can remember, and made a delibrate choice not to shop there after
they banned the Salvation Army bell ringers. Their customer service is
non-existant and the way they handled this situation is disgusting. I
hope you don't mind if I share this letter with a few more groups I
know so the people that do shop there are aware of the type of company
they are supporting, as a lot of people seem to not realize how
ridiculous they are about returns until it is too late. I would love
nothing more for them to go out of business as well.

By the way... these evil corporations make enough money that they can
afford to "eat" a little bit of it from time to time. Blah. Stupid
companies irritate me.

Wow. Target is just evil. Evil!! I'm a supervisor where I work (NOT
TARGET) and I feel if there is an exception to the situation, then
there should be an exception to the policy. Joy, I wish nothing but
the best for you. Stay strong! :-)

I really think that it was honorable of you that you took everyone's
comments so well.
I think everyone wishes your circumstances didn't play out as they
did, but you are an amazing person for getting through it.

Good job on contacting corporate. Maybe it will save someone else the
same grief.

And as for the comments? (I can understand.) Sometimes you just need
to vent. But it's always better to leave them out of a professional
letter.

So glad this site was helpful!

I am sure sorry about your loss, but have to agree with so many
others.

Calling people morons or telling them to kiss you hiney (sic) is just
poor letter writing and hurts the sentiment of the letter. I would
have also left out the "out of business" line, as it really doesn't
speak of any rational.

It sounds like to me they were doing what they could by allowing the
return of four items.

The idea to donate the merchandise was much better and helped another
family in need; good for you.

Please accept my sympathies. I cannot imagine the horrors of losing a
child. I think what you did by donating the items was wonderful.
Corporate America is cruel. I'm so sorry.

It must have been devastating.
That being said, there is never an excuse to call people morons, or
tell people you've never even met to "kiss" any part of your body.
It's not a ridiculous policy, it's a policy that saves them money.
Do I think they should have made an exception? I did, right up until
you got so rude and hateful.
It's not Target's fault your child did not survive, and your anger
over their policy seems over the top, esp. since it's been so long
since summer.
Letters like this will not inspire them to make exceptions.

This is getting to be like a bad professional boxing match, where one
guy is getting pummeled but he keeps coming back for more.

"Kiss my hiney"? "Morons"? Not likely to get you action or a
response of any kind.

The cold, hard fact, difficult as it may be to accept, is there is a
clearly stated policy.

Target seems to have many clearly stated policies, in fact. People
come on here time and again, up in arms about how they were mistreated
at Target. Poor large American company. I can't help but conclude,
after reading all the complaints about Target, that they actually are
fairly even in how they handle customer relations.

I am deeply sorry to hear about your loss, but it sounds like they
followed the rules on this one. If they had gone out of their way to
bend the rules, that would have been nice. However, I can't see
*expecting* them to do that, or holding it against them that they
didn't.

I am very sorry for your loss.

But as far as changing the policy, I am with Jeffrey. The 90-day rule
is based on a legitimate problem with things coming back that they can
no longer sell for the same price, and the restrictions on returns
with no receipts or after the 90-day period is based both on that
problem and on the difficulty they have with thieves. Once the policy
is in place, having the stores make exceptions based on the reasons
given for the returns is only going to inflame people who are upset
enough that the policy exists but are going to get more upset if their
reason is judged not to be worth waiving it. There will always be
pairs of people, each of whom thinks their reason is more compelling
than the other person's.

It does sound as if they've got a system in place for making a few
exceptions for very good reasons and without much attention -- but
obviously if everyone knew about that system the problem of judging
the relative merits of cases arises again. I wish you had known about
calling Customer Relations because I am having a hard time thinking of
a more compelling reason to be able to spend the money in a different
department, but I don't agree with you that their policy is ridiculous
or that they should change it.

I am glad that you thought to donate these things, so that at least
some small good could come out of this tragedy. I hope that 2007 is a
much, much better year for you, your husband, and those who love you.

Joy - I think Target made a mistake and should have accepted the items
back. No policy should be so rigid that exceptions cannot be made
when good cause is shown.

It is little comfort, but you have my deepest and most profound
sympathies for your loss. Bless you for donating the items you were
unable to return. I am sure your gift meant a great deal to the
persons who received it.

That while I do feel badly for you, there is no reason to add "kiss my
hiney" or "YOU MORONS"

Urg, Target.
They've tightened up their return policy lately and you're a victim of
this policy. I'm suprised you didn't call corporate or go higher after
the store manager refused to budge.

I can't imagine what you went through. First the loss of a baby, and
now this. I'm sure the last thing you wanted was to have to feel more
negative emotions towards something else.

I'm glad you got to vent on here. (I'm sure you'll get an overwheming
response of good wishes.) If it was me, I would write another letter,
(very professional,) and mail it to corporate. I would explain the
feelings you felt, and how you couldn't imagine walking back into the
baby department after the loss of your child. I would take out the
"Kiss my hiney." But... :) I think it's great you were able to vent.

I'm wishing you well.

That's a rough situation. Im sorry that you lost your child. I'm
wondering if they could consider having a policy in the future for
baby registries only, that can be a little more flexible since this
can sometimes happen. I do understand their side of it, but it's not
set up for situations that happened to you and I'm sure many others.


I don't know if you plan to have another child but you could keep some
of the items, store them, pass them forward, even ebay some of them.
It won't be easy though emotionally to just sell em off.

Well I wish you the best with this situation.

Joy: Just like everyone else here, I would like to echo the
condolences.

One thing I did not understand is how could they say no to a return
WITH a gift receipt? Unless I am incorrect, the gift receipt does not
have any time frames associated with it.

Just as an example, about three/four months ago, while shopping at
target, my wife saw an item which she thought would be a lovely gift
for our friends who we were planning to visit during Thanksgiving. She
bought it and also got the gift receipt.

From what I know, as recently as last week, my friend did use the
receipt to get something different and they faced no issue related to
dates.

From what I read in your post, apparently, you did have a gift receipt
for every item so technically they should have honored it.

First, and most important, I am so sorry for your loss. And yes - -
in a way I know how you feel as I lost a child at three months of age.
When something like this happens, the last thing you want in your
home are items that were specifically purchased (or received as gifts)
for your baby. And, on top of that, the last thing you are thinking
about when your baby dies is "gee - - I'd better put my grief aside
and check those Target receipts so I don't exceed their 90 days return
policy".

Target's stand on this is, I'm sure, that if they allow a return for
you outside of their policy, then they will have to do so for others
as well. Of course, little Johnnie receiving two GI Joe's without
receipts for his 3rd birthday is in no way the same situation you are
in - - but I'm afraid that is how the situation is viewed by this huge
corporation.

I realize that I'm rambling and my post really doesn't have a point -
- other than to offer my sympathy over your personal situation and
also your dealings with Target.

It's not that they didn't want to help, it's that they couldn't. The
computer system is set up to only allow returns within 90 days, and
only 2 no-receipt returns per person per year. No one in the store has
any way of overriding it. You could have called the 1-800 number for
Guest Relations to see if they would be able to help in any way.

After working at a Target store for over 4 years, I have never
encountered a restocking fee on anything from the infants department.
I don't think it's even possible.

Calling people at Target morons is not going to help anything, and
suggesting that they 'kiss your hiney' is very immature. I do
apologise for your loss, but these people are only doing their jobs.

And Target isn't going out of business anytime soon.

I've decided that I'm going to go into a new line of business. I've
going to offer my services to Target (and other stores) as "Reason
God." My job is to listen to people's reasons for returning
merchandise and decide if they have a sad enough case or not.

I mean this with no sarcasm: I'm truly sorry for your loss and cannot
imagine what you've been through. I imagine that wanting to see every
baby item out of your house was important to you.

However, I have to wonder about the bigger question that I raise
above: should national retailers have people who can decide on what's
a good excuse for violation of the rules or not.

Clearly, there would need to be a book that listed all sorts of
excuses, along with what the policy would be. of course, in many
cases, proof would be needed.

For example:

"I was on business in Japan for 5 months" = Yes, you need to show your
passport to show 5 consecutive months being outside of the US.

"I was on a 5 month cruise" = No return

"I put it away and forgot I had it" = No return

"I was in the hospital" = Yes, as long as you can show the hospital
records that show that you were confined to the hospital for the 5
months

"I had a miscarriage" = Yes, but you need to have the doctor's note

Of course (based on the letters I've read here), people will object to
having to share personal information with a Target clerk. Or be mad
that their reason isn't one that was on the approved list.

And that's why the rules are simple: No exceptions.

It's unfortunate for someone, like Joy, who has tragedy. But, and
this may sound harsh, it's not Target's problem that she had a
stillborn baby. While compassion is something we'd like to see more
of, the harsh reality is that the entire world cannot be asked to "bow
down" to an individual that suffered loss.

It simply cannot be that way.

And, in this particular case, there are alternatives. As Joy has
said, giving them away is an option. In fact, it can be an excellent
option from a healing perspective. One of the tools that people in
grief can use is to help others. Joy: despite your loss, don't you
feel better knowing that there's a mom out there that's being HELPED
by your generosity? Your loss cannot be undone, but the world is a
better place because YOU gave your baby items to someone that needed
them.

You could have sold them at a yard sale. Asked a neighbor to take
them off your hands, so that you wouldn't have to sit outside to do
the selling. People are kind and surely a friend would be willing to
put the items on eBay for you.

Despite the fact that Joy is clearly speaking out of grief, I do feel
that I need to say that her ending is unfair. Target isn't going out
of business because of this. Sorry, but they aren't. And "kiss my
hiney" does nothing but belittle you. And the last thing you need to
do, at this point, is to belittle yourself by lowering yourself.

Yell at the wall, if you need to. Talk to a mental health
professional. Bury yourself in charitable work. But you do yourself
no good by threatening Target or making yourself seem like less of
person than you likely are.

You're better than that.

Good luck.

I am so sorry for your loss. I too lost a daughter who was stillborn
after a uterine rupture during labor. My good friend and coworker
called me later and told me that everyone who had been at my shower
said to please keep the gift to do with what I wished - donate, return
for cash to help with expenses, etc.

I had registered at Toys-R-Us, and because of my injuries and my
husband's depression over the loss, along with just the fact of not
being prepared to part with everything, it took us a few months to
actually get in to the store to make the returns. I brought along
proof of the baby's death, but I did not need it - the staff at
Toys-R-Us were so wonderful and compassionate. They even apologized
because a few things that I did not have receipts for scanned at
clearance prices. They even took the crib, which we had already
assembled!

I recently got engaged and was considering Target for my wedding
registry. After hearing of the experience you had, I believe I'll go
elsewhere.

Again, you'll be in my thoughts and prayers as you heal.

Oh, I am so, so sorry for your loss.

Unfortunately, the return policy is 90 days - that's three months, and
more than generous.

Could you donate your unused items to a shelter, perhaps?

Joy..first let me say I am very sorry for your loss.

This is going to be one of those rare times I disagree with Redhead, I
think Target should have shown some compassion and taken back the
items especially if they were still selling them. You were not asking
for cash back but a credit to use anywhere in the store. What would
the loss have been to Target? I think they would have gained a ton
more as they would have retained a customer who I'm sure will now tell
everyone they know about this.

I tried not to run on too much, and in doing so probably did not give
enough information. The larger items (crib and furniture) had been
purchased by my husband and I. We had purchased them some 5 months
before the birth, but all 4 of the items were very popular and even
still on display when we attempted to return them. My problem with
these items was simply that I would have had to pay a restocking fee
of 15% in order to return them. The 4 items cost nearly 1000.00
together, and the 15 % would have been 145.00. The back of the
receipt mentions a restocking fee on electronics, it says nothing
about baby items. Also, what was I to do with 1000.00 in merchandise
credit that neede to be used that same day and only in the baby
department. I found myself in a lose/lose situation with Target. I
was too depressed after the birth to do anything right away so I
allowed another 4 weeks to piddle by instead of making all the returns
immediately. I assumed since my registry was ther, and I had a
receipt for every item, that I would be accomodated. I was wrong. I
just feel that Target doesn't have a heart, that they are so stuck to
the words in the policy and make no exceptions. While that will help
Target's bottom line at the end of every year, customers will not go
for it. Customers want understanding and stores that feel the human
element and spirit. Yes it's my choice not to use Target anymore.
All the Target lovers in the world won't change my mind about that.

Finally, my husband and I contacted every person who gave a gift to be
sure that the donation was alright. Everyone agreed.

Joy, I'm very sorry for your loss. My closest friend also lost her
baby, full term, indelivery. Saddest funeral I've ever been to.

But the circumstances of "why" you're returning the gifts really have
no bearing on Target's corporate policy. With Target selling trendy
items (good luck finding the same item 6-12 months later), things get
moved in and out so much that 112 days later the items for which you'd
get a full refund, the store would have to sell at a clearance price.

A friend or other family member could have returned everything for you
prior to the 90-day wait period (which is a standard return policy for
many stores, more generous than other stores).

Also, I almost hate to bring this up... shouldn't the larger items (or
everything) have been returned to the givers, for them to decide what
to do (such as donate, or use as another gift, or just return for a
refund?). Not that a cancelled wedding is the same thing, but a
cancelled wedding calls for the return of all gifts.

I'd not want my gift of baby clothes back, but I can imagine that
someone who gave a more expensive item, such as a crib, would want it
back.

Touchy situation. I understand Target's position -- they have to
stand firm or they'd be making exceptions all the time.

I'm glad you donated all the items -- I hope that gave you at least a
small amount of peace and comfort.