rip off

PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAP LOCK

Thank you!

Aside from the fact that your letter is WHOLLY unprofessional and
lacking in detail, you have a point that a restocking fee on a broken
piece of merchandise is ludicrous. But I have to ask, did you get
another item or just return this one outright?

There's the catch.

You see, I used to work in Guest Services for Target many years ago.
We had plenty of people who would bring back merchandise claiming it
to be "defective" and knowing that we had neither the time nor
reasources to test this to determine if, in fact, it was defective.

So we take them at their word and return the merchandise, assuming
that they had actually intended to keep the item and would want a
replacement.

But what's this? They just want their money back and not get another
one? But why? Truth is, nothing was ever wrong at all, but they felt
they'd have a harder time returning it if they DIDN'T say it was
broken. OR they lie to get around the very re-stocking fee you're
complaining about on certain higher end merchandise.

If you get another item, they are not out anything because they can
defect the item out and they still kept the sale. If you get cash
back, they are out the merchandise AND the cash.

So you see, Trish, if you opted not to replace your defective item,
they were fully within their rights to charge you so they don't lose
out on ALL their profit.

Sucks to be sure, but so do people who lie about defective merchandise
because they aren't willing to "man-up" to admitting that they just
don't want the merchandise or are trying to avoid paying the fee.

I recently purchased a digital camcorder from Sears and they told me
that if I have any problems with it to contact the manufacturer, not
return it to the store. Maybe the reason Circuit City charged you a
restocking fee was because you were supposed to contact the
maunfacturer instead of returning the item to the store? That is just
a guess though. I do admit that it is silly to charge a restocking
fee on something that (hopefully) will not be restocked.

From Circuitcity.com "There is no restocking fee for defective product
returned in exchange for the exact same product, or for product
originally purchased as Open Box."

From BestBuy.com "A restocking fee of 15% will be charged on opened
notebook computers, projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, radar
detectors, GPS/navigation and in-car video systems unless defective or
prohibited by law. A restocking fee of 25% will be charged on Special
Order Products, including appliances unless defective or prohibited by
law."

What item?
What was wrong with it?
What was the location of the store?
Why didn't you exchange it? No restocking fee if you exchange it.

If you're going to write a letter you need to include these details
and lay off the caps and extra puncuation marks.

This letter may leave a lot to be desired, but it does make a point.
I too have wondered about restocking something that's broken. I don't
think I would want to shop at a store that admittedly restocks broken
merchandise.

Never walking into another Circuit City is a good place to start. But
it's my understanding, based on a recent letter about the same thing,
that if you do an exchange, there's no restocking fee, but if you want
to simply return it, and get your money back, there's a restocking
fee.

What was the item, and how was it broken?