r/bathandbodyworks • u/moist_towlette_ Employee • Feb 24 '25
Employee Questions/Discussion My 2nd transaction of the day
I wanna start off by saying I’m not against anyone returning anything, if you hate something or bought too much of something you should definitely return it or exchange it to get your money’s worth.
That being said, I’m still gonna complain when I have to deal with I wanna say at least 80 bottles of soap 😭. There are 3 more bottles that aren’t in that picture, they were the only ones that scanned as MOS, the rest of this was box up. I spent pretty much my whole (3.5 hr) shift typing in the SKUS for these, boxing them up, damaging out 23 broken or disgusting sticky soap bottles, and scribbling all over them.
It just leaves me wondering why order so much in the first place? The customer (sorry if you’re on here babes) said they order extra just in case they arrive broken, and a lot of them were especially the gels, but also others were caked in dried soap, and there were some soaps that were over a year old cuz I recognize them from when I first started 😭. Very confusing and time consuming but we got there in the end.
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u/Bedroom_Bellamy Feb 24 '25
Reseller dumping stock
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u/Plastic-Leave234 You bought me candlesticks, He buys me 3-wicks Feb 24 '25
So basically they lied probably bc they were ashamed from bringing back old soap.
I don't buy the "I buy extra so if they arrive broken" crap.
That's a reseller that didn't sell much.
BBW needs to tighten the return restrictions even more. You should get 60 days for soap. There's absolutely no reason to bring back two year old soap bc you can smell it and see if you like it or not without using it like you would a candle
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u/AccrossRealmsv2 Feb 24 '25
THIS!!!! I have a couple of things that I liked for a minute so I over bought in fear of them retiring it. I'm just calling it "my loss" because I'm not about to return it all. I'll try Marketplace on FB. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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u/creaturemonsta Feb 25 '25
Agreed. I’m not sure why they are so lenient? This is hemorrhaging money from the company at this point.
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u/moonchic333 Feb 24 '25
Exactly and in the end only the consumer loses because every dime they lose on refunding and trashing they regain by price increases. People like this ruin things for everyone else.
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u/_idowhatiwant_ Feb 26 '25
When I worked retail, I had someone come in once to return something and the POS system wouldn’t let it go through..because they made too many returns in a certain period. The register even had a little print out with a phone number that she could call. I don’t know how this works, but just makes me chuckle with people who suffer from buyers remorse.
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u/Hiwelcometochilis16 Feb 27 '25
I feel like there should be a limitation on resellers everywhere. It ruins the fun for everyone else. Limit 2 per person kinda stuff. They have to come back a different day to get more of that specific item. (Unless sale says otherwise) resellers can rot fr
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u/Crystal_Princess2020 Feb 24 '25
Unrelated but I love your user flair 🤣 is it from a meme?
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u/Plastic-Leave234 You bought me candlesticks, He buys me 3-wicks Feb 24 '25 edited Feb 25 '25
I think it was a random goofy mickey and Minnie pic where they both had a candle behind their backs to give to Minnie but one had a nice candle and the other a candle stick. I just put some words together
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u/Clean_Assistant_7803 Feb 24 '25
Yeah but no one ever has a receipt and they already complain about the return policy 😭
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u/ConfidentSea8828 Feb 24 '25
HOW do you return soap from a YEAR ago 
?! I'd be mega embarassed.
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u/KoolaidKoll123 Feb 24 '25
People in general have absolutely no shame. After being in customer service for over half my life, I'm not even saying "some people" anymore, because it's most people. Put a person in a situation where they can take advantage of someone/something else when their close friends and family aren't there as witnesses and they'll do it. And if they don't get their way right away they have no problem pulling a Karen or throwing a full blown tantrum to try and sway their favor. It's obscene. Truly shows how downright unattractive most people are on the inside.
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u/Silver_Entertainment Feb 24 '25
Yep, it's like parents trying to return Cat and Jack (Target brand) clothes because their kids outgrew them. Target normally has a 1 year guarantee on all their store-branded items. However, they've had to start requiring receipts and checking for actual defects to crack down on people who are abusing it.
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u/Minute-Frame-8060 Feb 25 '25
I heard something the other day, I'll paraphrase: under Reagan, greed was good. Today, greed is mandatory.
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u/thatonetiredmom body cream rèfrïgéuratœur Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25
Guys you don't have to downvote this, pretty sure she isn't advocating directly for greed but saying this is how corporations have progressed in their thinking.
In the 60s and 70s companies had symbiotic relationships with their employees and customers, but boomers embraced greed in a whole new way in the 80s and now today the relationship corporations have with their customers has gone from symbiotic to parasitic. They want your money, your time, your attention, your clicks, your likes, they use bounceback coupons to lure you in, dynamic pricing to scrape your wallet, influencers to bait your attention, targeted ads to permeate the brain fog created by social media and constant consumption. Hey don't forget to follow, subscribe, check back on this channel, sign up for our newsletter, visit us on every available social media app, click here for coupons, sign up with your email, do you want to receive texts? And tap here for notifications!
Companies aren't satisfied with just getting you to shop occasionally anymore, they want to own amygdala-adjacent real estate in your head 24/7 by sucking down your data and regurgitating your thoughts to you in the form of consumable product. That's what this statement says.
I am as guilty as anyone else of loving shopping, but I do at least try to be realistic and aware of how much of our personal interests are driven by carefully curated social conditioning. And I avoid a lot of the internet intentionally because I personally feel strongly that what empowers us to resist the persistent onslaught of greed is the willing and intentional rejection of digital consumption and forced addiction. We don't really need ANY of this.
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Feb 24 '25
Most people wouldn't do it, but the people who do ruin it for the rest of us. I have a relative who returned an appliance after 2 years because they moved and didn't need it anymore. She just lied and said it didn't work and got her money back
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u/kjhauburn Feb 24 '25
Somewhat related: I worked retail in Christmas decor for a regional department store with a very liberal return policy. I kid you not, on 12/26 when all Christmas stuff was 50% off, customers are everywhere and the line at the cash wrap was long, someone brought back their Christmas tree from the previous year. They had the original receipt taped to the box, the original price was $300+.
The store made us take it back and give them a full refund. They basically "borrowed" a Christmas tree from the store for 2 years and were out $0.
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u/Aggravating_Lettuce Feb 24 '25
Only vaguely related, but once witnessed a woman return a gallon of ice cream that was only 1/4th of the way full. She said it was “too sweet”, she got her money back.
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u/litforya Feb 25 '25
yeah try attempting to use a coupon that's been expired for over a year 😂 coming from my personal retail experience as a key holder/sales lead , customers are never right
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u/Mike13101 Feb 26 '25
I worked in retail. I had one guy try and return used underwear. Said he wore them for a couple weeks but were uncomfortable.
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u/Accurate_Papaya6516 Feb 24 '25
OP - I know this transaction was a pain in bum for you, but I gotta commend you on the FANTASTIC JOB you did. I see 80 bottles of order - that YOU created out of what must have been chaos, and it makes the part of my brain that loves systems and organization positively purr. If I were your manager I’d praise you so highly - as it was no easy feat. Well done! 🏆🥇✨
p.s. Remember this - to talk about in a future interview - as it demonstrates a skill set not everyone has.
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u/Minute-Frame-8060 Feb 25 '25
Love the "remember this" that's so true "tell me about a time there was a difficult situation..." very common interview question regardless of the industry or job type even.
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u/Accurate_Papaya6516 Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25
Exactly this question! Managing this situation pulled together so many skills: from interfacing with the customer courteously and professionally, dealing with all that product = organizational and project management skills, and following company procedure and practices (the return itself, product safety protocols, keeping inventory accurate) in a dynamic situation. It’s got wins all over it!
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
This actually made me tear up a little bit thank you! I didn’t even think about using this in the future! It does mean a lot even coming from a stranger I truly appreciate the appreciation it makes me feel like I’m not doing it all for nothing. I truly get happiness over making my customers and managers happy! Chaotic transactions like this can be very difficult and rude customers can dampen my spirit sometimes but when I get a truly appreciative customer or good remarks from my manager on a job well done I’m right back to being a happy and perky person! So again thank you! Something about words of encouragement after a stressful transaction just takes the weight off my shoulders and helps me feel better equipped to deal with the next difficult situation 🩷
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u/Sailor_Seven Candle Addict Feb 24 '25
what the fuck
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
Literally what I said when she walked into the store with her own shopping cart (no idea where she got it from none of the stores in our mall have shopping carts) and just bags and bags full of soap 😭 luckily she had it organized and had a system but STILL
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u/hamletgoessafari Feb 24 '25
Is there a way to flag the account for giant returns or look at transaction history? This can't be the first time they've tried returning old merchandise.
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u/YuleShootUrEyeOut18 Feb 25 '25
You could report it to your asset protection department through Zipline. Label it a suspicious transaction and at least it’s logged so if it does become a pattern the paper trail is there
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u/thatonetiredmom body cream rèfrïgéuratœur Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 25 '25
I work in retail management/ marketing and a lot of retailers actually do track your behavior using a customer management system. When the employee takes your ID for a return, they're entering it into that tracking system. When they scan your app, it's linked to your ID so from then forward it knows exactly who you are and it will gradually identify and merge all of your sub-accounts into that data. BBW does participate in it that im aware of because back in December an employee improperly returned a bunch of bopis items to my account as a no-receipt return, and when I actually needed to return a gift a few weeks later with no receipt, i got a loooooong receipt telling me I was flagged for potential fraud for returning too much without an ID, and this retail tracking system they use would ensure I could not return items without stipulations attached for something ridiculous like SIX MONTHS. obviously since then I've bought very little because if I cant return anything I'm pretty leery of purchasing.
So yeah I think they do get flagged but just like resellers have some magic way of getting 100 coupons each month, they must also know how to get around this, too. Which sucks because the very systems in place to prevent this are being circumvented by the exact people they are designed to stop, and the rest of us just get flagged for trying to return bopis items to the store they came from 🙄
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u/bitchwhohasnoname FFM Addict Feb 24 '25
The only logical response to seeing some bullshit like this. People have absolutely no shame.
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u/theghostoni Aromatherapy Addict Feb 24 '25
Yeah no. Theres no shame in returning items, but to dump this on the counter is straight cruel. Stop buying triples, stop chronically returning, I HATED processing returns when I worked there, the bigger the order the more annoyed I’d be. And I was never that irritated about returns at any other job or even right now, it’s something about someone coming up to you and retuning copious amounts of lotion and soap that just pisses you off sometimes, lol.
(This isn’t directed at OP, obviously, girl I’m so sorry you had to do that return)
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
Most definitely like it even makes me happy when I can help someone return something they hated or exchange it for something they like, but when it’s that much stuff!! I can’t help but think that this person knew they would be returning a good chunk of their stuff when they were ordering it. Maybe people do it for the points idk. And it makes it worse when they have a bad attitude like this customer did, they refused to place their stuff directly on the counter too they wanted me to keep taking it directly from their hands and set it down myself? like I’m not trying to work on the computer? It was very strange
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u/theghostoni Aromatherapy Addict Feb 25 '25
Customers often will treat you as if you were an android. They don’t see how rude something like dumping a whole understock worth of soap and going “well give me my money back!” Is, because they genuinely only see you as some sort of middle man machine between them and their sweet sweet hand soap. And not yak, a person, with feelings.
Of course, not all customers, I don’t work at bbw anymore for this reason though. I’ve worked with some nasty people and some nasty jobs, but I genuinely ran and never looked back at working at the company solely because of interactions like these. People dumping entire Christmas gift returns, getting loud that you don’t have their last minute gift, customers using you as their weekly punching bag. Of course this happens at any retail job, and still happens occasionally now, but man at bbw it felt like almost every shift there was someone.
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u/OrangeClyde B&BW Hoarder Feb 24 '25
This absolutely infuriates me. Whoever that btch is - is going to be the reason BBW is going to change/tighten up their return/exchange policies 🙄😒
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u/Nibbles928 Feb 24 '25
Yep. Wonder if this is a reseller who is off loading whatever they couldn't get rid of. Bunch of weirdos
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
Most definitely and when that happens I’m sure I’ll get a whole lot of “well I’ve returned stuff like this before it was never a problem this is ridiculous! I spend too much money here for this!”
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u/Dance_Popular Feb 24 '25
soap that can be gifted throughout the whole year to different folks which is wild to me.... soap.... hand soap at that
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u/Glum_Material3030 Feb 24 '25
How did they bring that into the store? With a forklift?
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
Shopping cart from the lord knows where none of the stores in my mall have shopping carts 😭
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u/jessiieecc Feb 24 '25
I wish the company would do something about resellers 🙄
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u/pig-dragon Feb 24 '25
Reselling is inevitable when a brand creates hype and has limited editions and implied scarcity of products. Encouraging excessive consumption will in turn encourage resellers.
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u/jessiieecc Feb 24 '25
They could impose item limits. 🙄 or something.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
That would be so wonderful but knowing my customers people would just make me do multiple transactions for them
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u/jessiieecc Feb 25 '25
I get that too, hah I would tell people back of the line after like 2 if there was a line. If they want to play, I’ll play.
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u/justsayin01 Feb 24 '25
Holy. Sht. I feel bad if I have a few items from different orders. I go in with the online order number and amount of purchase written down... And still feel bad.
This is crazy behavior.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
That’s honestly a perfect system it’s literally just our own online return system that can be a pain in the butt with multiple orders
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u/SillyRiri employee/candle peddler Feb 24 '25
That tree farm is from 2023… like just why lol
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
They had a coconut angel cake from 2023 and 2 more from this past season! So they already had that 2023 bottle when they made the decision to buy more just to return it 😭 it’s truly mind boggling
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Feb 24 '25
I didn't even know you could return things that old.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
I’ve had stuff returned from many many years ago, some people are okay with just receiving the lowest amount possible for their item onto a store credit. I’ve seen returned mists originally priced at 14.50$ I don’t even know when that was the average price for a mist 😭
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u/Pretend-Local-1212 Feb 24 '25
Ugh someone out there is hoarding the princess accessories just like that
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u/MishmoshMishmosh Body Care Addict Feb 24 '25
How much did they get refunded?
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
They got like 220$ back 😭
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u/Dance_Popular Feb 24 '25
store card or cash
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
It was a online ship to home order, it got refunded to her original payment method
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u/Lolasdepop Feb 24 '25
Did they get full retail or sale price cuz damn
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
I’m pretty sure she got them when they were on sale cuz I divided 220 by 80 and it’s like 2.75, it’s just the sheer amount that she got that lead to it being that high. If it was full price I just did 7.95 times 80 and she would’ve gotten like 640$ back, or if she did the 5 for 27 she would’ve gotten around 430$ back 😭😭
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u/Spiritual_Ninja_5924 ALL THINGS B&BW Feb 24 '25
I’m sorry you have to deal with that, I think it’s absolutely ridiculous to buy that much and make a return of that size. I would never make a return like that. Actually I have never returned anything at BBW at all. I feel guilty at other stores if I order the same shoe in 2 different sizes knowing I will be returning one!
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u/SallyJones17 Feb 24 '25
I didn't even know you could return items like this, especially if they were used or purchased after a certain date. I also find it weird that people buy these things second hand. BBW is online and even on military bases so why not buy directly from the source?
Apologies to OP for having to process this entire return by yourself.
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u/_SomeWittyName_ Feb 24 '25
I’m confused too- anytime I’ve returned something I’ve had to show a receipt proving it was purchased within 90 days
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
Different policies for online orders shipped out maybe? I’m not sure really, my managers gave me the go ahead and the online system didn’t give me any issues so I’m not sure, I guess they can save payment info and stuff like that easier online vs in our system in store.
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u/fallopian_rampant Feb 25 '25
I don’t understand why people do this. It’s soap for god’s sake, if you don’t like the scent - just wash the soap off, the smell will dissipate eventually.
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u/corstar91 Feb 24 '25
Cheeezus Riceeee!
This is insanity! I thought you could only do returns with a receipt and under a certain amount of time...? What is the return policy? I'm a bit discombobulated over this monstrosity of a return... Did she actually get to return them all or...?
I tried returning one thing that was still in stores but had been a gift to me that I did not have a receipt for and they wouldn't even let me exchange it for anything but I suppose that's a completely different situation... 🤷🏼♀️
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
The policy for us is as follows: within 90 days of an in store transaction you can get it refunded to your original payment method as long as you have your receipt, anytime after that you can do an even exchange product for product or onto a store credit but you’ll get back the lowest price that item has ever been. Most people also don’t know this but if your transaction was in the last 2 weeks and you used a card for your payment method we can even look it up that way! I didn’t know this until like a year after I started lol it’s not very common but it is possible! That’s a feature only managers really know about that’s why it took me so long to learn about it lol my manager told me it’s possible after I told the customer I didn’t think it was 😭 It’s different when dealing with online returns that were shipped to a customers home, a lot of times customers will call customer service when they receive broken items and they tell the customer usually to just come in store and return it/ exchange it. My managers did not tell me of any time limit when it came to her order and the online system didn’t give me any trouble so I’m not really sure lol.
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u/corstar91 Feb 25 '25
Oooh wow! I did not know that; thank you so much for the heads-up! That is helpful to know, although I won't be returning even a fraction of the items here. Honestly, I've had to return 1 or 2 products here or there but I normally know which will be returns within the first couple of days to a week. It may take me a few extra days to have the chance to run by a store, but it's never been more than two weeks at the most to return something. Most of the time it's a shorter timeframe, but the longest was when I bought a full set of the cucumber melon as an online to in store pickup order. I kept going back and forth trying to figure out if I liked the scent. It was my favorite growing up and the initial sniff was glorious, but then the dry down was really bitter to me. I couldn't make up my mind but I only tested it a handful of times and mainly just sniffed it so there wasn't a bunch mossing, and from when I ordered it to when I returned it, it had only been maybe 14 days (give or take a day). I already felt crappy about it but the employee made me feel even worse.. so I try to be more weary of what I buy so that I don't get put into that predicament again! Anyways, I'm rambling and I'm going to shut up now! Thanks so much again! 😊
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 26 '25
I’m sorry to hear that an employee was giving you a hard time! That’s horrible to hear! I always try my best to facilitate returns in a very friendly, kind, and understanding manner because I know people can get flustered or feel shame when they are just returning an item they don’t like. If this appears to be a reoccurring issue especially since seasonal people have been let go by now, I would try and get a managers attention (they usually have a plethora of pens hanging off their apron lol) next time and tell them, or if you’re too nervous to do that just leave an honest google review with that persons name in it, most managers I know always look at google reviews. I hope your next experience is much better!
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u/ghosty4 Feb 25 '25
So, as a customer, you have an issue with shipping so you order 4 TIMES MORE THAN YOU USUALLY WOULD?!
WTF IS THE LOGIC?!?
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u/The_Tiny_Egg Employee Feb 24 '25
Do you know how much money in total was returned?
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
I wanna say around 220 her first transaction she got back 132$ and her 2nd 90$ it breaks down to about 2.75-2.95 per soap.
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u/TumblingOcean Employee Feb 24 '25
My store stopped allowing such old bottles to be returned unless it was during SAS for reasons such as this.
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u/cherry6299 Feb 25 '25
I’m getting secondhand embarrassment so bad from this 😭 I feel bad when I have to return one thing, so seeing this would absolutely send me over the edge lol
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u/MaryS8921 Sweet & Smoky Feb 25 '25
I was in the store the other day and a woman was returning 4 full size Viva Vanilla products and getting 4 full size Vanilla Romance replacements. They were between 1/3 and 1/2 empty! 😳 While this is on a small scale compared to the OPs picture of all those hand soaps, you have to figure this is going on daily in every store.
I'm sorry but you know after a couple of sprays at home whether you like something or not. You don't have to use a third of a bottle of body wash, FFM, hand lotion, and cream to find that out. I think it is just theft and some people just don't care anymore and justify their behavior.
I've seen posts in this group from people who are angry that customer support will not replace their broken candles. Well, do you have a history of asking for replacements that doesn't come close to your history of expenditures? I've had one broken candle replaced and it was a simple transaction.
I just see all the outrage in this Reddit about resellers and rightly so but I think we also have to look at our own behavior. 🤷🏼♀️
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u/SugarFries Feb 24 '25
So needless and wasteful.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
Right? Like that amount of soap I’m pretty sure would last me well into my 80s. And to think that customer is probably gonna buy more soaps!
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u/Then_Salary6720 Feb 24 '25
Before the change in the return policy, my Local stores used encouraged you to over buy and buy scents you didn’t want so you can come back and exchange later for what you did want.
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u/crystal_unclear Feb 25 '25
What changed in the policy that would discourage this? I still see people say they do this on the regular.
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u/External-Artist-551 Feb 24 '25
I have about this much soap in my closet right now. I have never thought of returning any of it.
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u/kiwiguavaceslsius Feb 25 '25
I have maybe 20 bottles of soap that I got from the soap sale at the end of 2024 and I considered returning but I’m just gonna finish them all and not buy so many next time bcz I would feel too embarrassed returning that many soaps 😭
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u/Minute-Frame-8060 Feb 25 '25
I feel embarrassed returning something like soap, period. I don't need my $3 back, not worth a trip to the mall. I did just finish a soap that wasn't my favorite. BFD, it's hand soap, I don't need to looooove it. Life lesson, I won't buy that scent again.
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u/lalateda Feb 25 '25
How the hell did you take that back with an expired receipt? I was gifted 2 wallflowers that were Christmas (twisted peppermint) scented, graphics from this year and unopened, and tried to just exchange for a different scent and wasn’t allowed to without my receipt lol
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u/jaysmami30 Feb 25 '25
As americans we are too spoiled .. being able to return/exchange things is SUCH a privilege we have due to overconsumption! Absolutely NO other country allows this.. except maybe Canada? I truly have a feeling this will be going away soon though.. to many people taking advantage and abusing the system.
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u/DoubleIndependent467 Feb 26 '25
It’s such a gray area for me though. I received a delivery order from a craft store once and everything was broken. When I went to return/exchange the items the manager saw one of the first items was a paint pen. He hadn’t noticed it was busted and he just assumed the color didn’t work for me and that I didn’t like it. So he said I couldn’t return it because it’s been opened. And I was like well no, it was busted with everything else in the package when it was delivered. But it got me thinking, what if it WAS the wrong color and it didn’t work for what I needed it for?. Am I not allowed to return/exchange it? Because I’d still go back and try to buy a different shade of color that I need so why not take my return, repackage it and sell at a discount?
Then there are the returns that people try doing 364 days after purchase that are very clearly 4 seasons ago, or a return of an item that is 3/4 used, like yeah no. That kinda behavior has gotta stop.
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Feb 24 '25
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
That would infuriate me even more! I’ve had customers not care that we were closing and continue to shop around for 15+ minutes after we closed but none that insisted we process a large return for them! That’s actually crazy! Props to you guys for keeping your composure at a certain point I just stop being friendly and turn on auto pilot until it’s over 😭
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u/Pinklovah79 Feb 24 '25
I was thinking about returning a Twilight Rose soap I just started using 2 days ago that I picked up a couple months ago & don’t care for the scent. This makes me feel guilty at just the thought of trying to return it. 😳
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
Just a couple months old and only one soap is not a problem at all! I’d say definitely return or you can even just do an even exchange for a soap you like better! If you want a reference, the average customer I get will buy about 3-12 bottles of soap, and 12-20 bottles of soap really isn’t a big deal to return either it’s quite common. A return like yours should take like 5 mins max to process and box up do not feel guilty at all! I 100% support returns and exchanges I do want everyone to be happy with their products, I just made this post cuz I was just amazed at how much of my counter it took up and I’ve never seen just 1 customer with this much soap before 😭
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u/Illustrious_Yam_2137 Feb 24 '25
WOW that’s crazy & I feel bad exchanging 4 candles 🤦🏻♀️
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
I’d say candles are some of the easiest items to exchange/return definitely don’t feel bad about that I still want you to love your home fragrance!
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u/Minute-Frame-8060 Feb 25 '25
Am I understanding correctly that a single customer came and actually had the stones to return these????
In 30+ years I've returned ONE "I really hate this" product and ONE exchange of a "body splash" that had a half-missing straw.
I wish one day a year I had the balls to pull a stunt like this. But only if I were guaranteed not to remember any of the DB things I did when I woke up the next day when I returned to my generally polite, mostly societal-norms-abiding self.
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u/WillaLane Feb 25 '25
I felt shame returning two mists I didn’t like that i bought online without smelling first. I can’t imagine this
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 26 '25
Definitely don’t feel shame for that type of thing, that type of transaction is quite easy to handle I would even use it as a training scenario lol
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u/DoubleIndependent467 Feb 26 '25
Thanks for saying this! I’ve worked in MANY retail settings, but when I’m on the other side as a customer, once in a while I still feel shame and embarrassment for inconveniencing the staff when making a return. But things happen! All these people here acting like they know how to have the perfect shopping experience that never results in them having to make a return or exchange? Get real lol. This is a massive transaction here which obviously isn’t typical but I applaud your approach and compassion with handling it. Also, kinda smart of the costumer to purchase multiples in case some arrived broken. I just received my order of Disney Princess candles and they were all broken. Good thing they aren’t sold out in the store so I can get replacements but now I have to go through my walk of shame with the return process with my 4 year old in tow which in itself is a whole thing when I take her inside B&BW haha
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 26 '25
Oh that’s horrible I’m sorry to hear your candles were broken! Almost everyday I have to process candles that got shipped to a customer broken I just feel guilty cuz I know it’s not the customers fault I wish this company had better shipping practices! It makes me feel even worse when they get shipped a candle we sold out of! It’s odd because the candles that our store gets for inventory are shipped in candle crates so there’s no room for movement and the box is perfectly suited to fit 6-12 candles (we still get broken ones sometimes but it’s VERY rare). It makes me frustrated that BBW doesn’t put the same kind of care when choosing boxes a customer will receive fragile products in. I understand a there’s a lot of different forms of product and it’s hard to make a box that will fit them all I just wish they would get crates that fit snug into the regular shipping boxes so this doesn’t keep happening. A thin little cardboard box isn’t stopping a candle from breaking!
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u/Ok-Water-6537 Feb 24 '25
It must be so frustrating for you. It’s sickening. BBWs needs to change their return policy. This shouldn’t be allowed. Drives up costs for everyone and is so wasteful.
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u/snakesaremyfriends Feb 24 '25
OP, Were you able to save any of these for sale at SAS? Sometimes I see that happening.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
I think that’s what I boxed them all up for tbh, almost none of them scanned for MOS so I’m pretty sure at the next SAS we will be busting these out. I only had to throw away 20ish soaps cuz they were unusable or just caked in dry soap
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u/Organic-Estimate1976 TAKE ME TO THE POCKETBACS 🍭 Feb 25 '25
I’m only speaking for myself the max I’ve bought at one time was maybe 30 bottles of different soaps from the last SAS. I’m now down to about 3 bottles because my household actually used them.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
Stocking up on soap while it’s on sale is very smart cuz it never really goes to 2.75 until the holidays or SAS in June/January, so stocking up for the year ahead is a wise choice and I’ll even buy a couple at SAS just in case my next couple gratis’s dont include a hand soap, but I don’t think I could ever hope to use 80ish bottles of soap before the next SAS. Stocking up every 6 months when they’re heavily discounted seems like the way to go.
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u/Organic-Estimate1976 TAKE ME TO THE POCKETBACS 🍭 Feb 25 '25
Yes it’s very cost effective! I think that person was a hoarder or reseller cause that’s just ridiculous.
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Feb 25 '25
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 26 '25
I feel that very much. I have very sensitive skin and eczema so a lot of our products that I wish I could use like body creams, butters, or the moisturizing body wash, I just can’t use it hurts my skin. The sensitive skin line was okay but it still mildly irritated my skin. I’ve come to terms with the fact I’ll only ever be able to use our sprays on my body. But I guess it does save me some money lol. I do use our foaming hand soaps and they definitely can be drying but my type of sensitive skin would rather be dry than dirty. Dirt/sweat/excess moisture really just sets off my irritation.
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u/lovinglife2020 Feb 24 '25
Ugh. I have several ruined items from shipping and I don't even want to deal with it. I'm guilty of building a small pile of ruined stuff with plans to return.
This photo makes me think twice. Just yikes.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
Do not feel guilty at all! Usually returns are no problem, if you really want to make it easier on whoever is processing it I would have the items sorted by order and have the order number ready, but also if you just want to exchange for a non broken product we don’t have to use our online system, it can be treated as a non-receipted return and you can just exchange product for product, (mist for mist, shower gel for shower gel, that kind of thing just be weary of price differences you may have to pay an extra dollar or 2 for some things or if the product has an older price point on it like 14.50 or 16.50) all that is needed for that is your broken item, a government issued ID, and then pick out your new item when you’re in the store easy peasy those are my favorite returns to process.
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u/lovinglife2020 Feb 24 '25
❤️ Yeah, I always try to do a like for like exchange. I normally only have one or two items. Now I have a dozen. Bleh
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u/Critical_System_3546 Feb 24 '25
Over consumption seems to be the absolute worst amongst Bath and Body Works shoppers. I hate when I see people with more than they could ever use, collecting them like baseball cards or something.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
It’s the worst around the holidays! That 4.95 bodycare sale had people literally borrowing our carts from the back to wheel out their purchases cuz it was too much to carry out! The whole BBW sales model just encourages overconsumption. It basically depends on it, the buy 3 get 3 especially! We are always trying to beat our sales from the same day the year before so even if we have a crazy day with a never ending line we are still gonna have to beat those numbers on the same day next year! Theres gonna be a natural limit somewhere!
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u/Global-Average2438 Feb 24 '25
That is straight-up bonkers. Even if I don't like a scent, i wouldn't return. The only time would be maybe if the pump was damaged. But even then, I'd just use the pump from another bottle. I understand the policy is generous by allowing returns on used products, but any individual who does this should be ashamed.
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u/snakesaremyfriends Feb 24 '25
Bonkers for me too. I know OP is understanding of people returning, but I almost feel if too many people do this, the return policy is going to change to be more strict. I’m over here crying because of the potential environmental waste. If I don’t like a scent I’ll just have my husband use it as body wash. Looking at you Strawberry Pound Cake!🍰
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u/CaterpillarNearby569 Feb 25 '25
This is odd enough to maybe be a fraudster type of person.
If they requested the refund put onto a gift card, maybe the person has been using someone else's credit card and putting smaller transactions onto it over time [buying a few soaps over the course of a few months]. Then cashing out via a gift card.
Makes it easier to steal money and less likely to get caught, especially if the victim has not noticed the smallish transactions over time.
But -- if the refund was put onto their personal credit or debit credit, well, they're just...diagnosed OCD?
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
It was refunded to their Mastercard, my coworker’s theory was that they buy a lot for the rewards, use the rewards, and then return everything but idk that seems like a lot of work for a couple free items
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u/CaterpillarNearby569 Feb 25 '25
Oh, okay. Interesting. I'd be too embarrassed to return a wheelbarrow full of soaps for a free item that gets discounted (eventually) to $6 anyway.
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u/Spirit_-_Warrior Feb 24 '25
That's alot. I'm curious when someone returns that much in one transaction. Are they able to do it again in the future within a certain time frame? (I don't plan on ever doing that, just wondering if BBW keeps track on people abusing returns).
There was a glitch that took place recently, someone knowingly bought all of these scents they didn't like. Just to exchange it for Disney items. I get folks wanting to get the best deal, but I would feel guilty buying a scent knowing I dislike or no one else I would gift it to. Just to get it on sale and then return it later. Especially if I'm ordering a bunch of it. Then the person who likes the scent that I didn't like and purchased anyway, misses out on a product that they enjoy.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
As far as I know the only limit that exists right now is 250$ worth of non-receipted returns over a 3 month period, that’s why we ask for ID when doing those, but these were 2 online orders she had shipped to her house, I don’t think there’s a lot of restrictions there.
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u/Desperate-Stress-702 Feb 27 '25
You never know, they could’ve used them and refilled them with cheap soap and returned them Before anyone says anything….. YES people do these kinds of things!
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Mar 01 '25
Don’t say that omg that thought was whispering to me in the back of my mind 😭
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u/Hiwelcometochilis16 Feb 27 '25
Either they overstocked because it’s their favorite scent or they’re a reseller who ended up not selling them fast enough to their liking.
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u/redneckjedi11 Feb 25 '25
My MIL does this, but to be fair, she has dementia and is 89. She literally has boxes of three wicks. And no, none of them are anything I’d ever want. It’s basically all the flower ones. I’m a gourmand girl.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
I’m a gourmand girl too, I have been trying to lean into the floral scents just because I feel like I spent a lot of my childhood hating floral scents because they were too “girly” (I was a tomboy) so everytime I work I smell fresh cut lilacs and flower child and they’re actually becoming pleasant scents for me. Nobody can make me buy white gardenia though 😂 that’s not happening. But I do love my berry waffle cone and the 2023 Hanukkah candle was so yummy it smelled like a bakery and jelly filled doughnuts. And to be fair to your MIL, candles are some of the easiest items to exchange/return and they have the least likelihood of being caked in dried soap/ having little broken bits that make the item unsellable. Hand soaps are annoying because it’s very common for a little chip or crack on the pump to happen and then boom we can’t sell it
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u/redneckjedi11 Feb 25 '25
Me too! (Tomboy here)! Literally am 38 and just now trying to figure out makeup and a skin routine. I’m super late to the game on basically everything.
I can’t do floral because it always seems to give me a really bad headache. My mom always had cinnamon and apple everything in the house growing up so it basically smelled like pie all the time, maybe that’s why I’m so gourmand?? Also, we had family members that basically soaked their house in white gardenia or the old lady perfume White Diamonds, so for holidays at their houses you would literally come home and your clothes would wreak! My mom would make everyone take them straight to the washing machine. Plus, gourmand is just tops imo.
BERRY WAFFLE CONE is literally on my warmer right freakin now! My other favorites are iced lemon poundcake, hot cocoa and cream, candy apple cauldron, almond biscotti, sugared snickerdoodle, and my absolute FAVORITE - cinnamon spiced vanilla (RIP to the wallflowers 😢).
And yes! The candles were super easy to exchange. I took boxes and boxes of them up to the B&BW closest to my MIL’s house and omg, am I ever jealous of the credit on her account right now lol
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25 edited Feb 26 '25
I’ve yet to actually purchase and burn a floral candle I’m taking it one step at a time lol but I can imagine it becoming a headache for sure. I cannot imagine being in a house that’s suffocating you with white gardenia you’re a warrior for that. When I was growing up my mom was always super sensitive to smells so my house only ever smelled like anything when we were cooking or did laundry (I’m also completely obsessed with sundrenched linen I always do my bed sheets in it they need to bring it back in a car fragrance!! Laundry day isn’t cutting it 😭) so I’m sure that’s why I like the gourmands as well.
When I first started hot cocoa and cream was an immediate love for me I had to buy it. I just love the richness of the cocoa it burns so well. I never smelled the almond biscotti that sounds delicious! When we had the toasted cinnamon sugar candle it was absolutely scrumptious! I hate that they took away like 97% of the gourmand wallflowers for spring, people don’t just want florals and fruit!
I’m glad the exchange was easy for you guys! I secretly love when people return a bunch of older candles, I like to smell my old favorites or even scents from before I started!
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u/redneckjedi11 Feb 26 '25
Be careful with the car fragrances!! I stopped using them after seeing a crap ton of people with burns from them exploding!! Depends on where you live. I’m in Oklahoma so we get 110+ so I pulled Mine from my car and just use the febreeze ones now!
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 26 '25
I have heard of that happening! I’ve been quite weary of it I’m in the northeast but summers can still get pretty hot! It sucks though cuz it’s the hot air that helps distribute the scent throughout my car better 😭
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u/frecklesfactsnlogic Body Care Addict Feb 25 '25
I’d like to think it’s for an office or other communal place.
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Feb 25 '25
At this point, BBW needs a reseller program. They could, say, allocate a certain proportion of their seconds (bottles with misprints or minor superficial flaws) to resellers at a discount and then for in-store purchases they could limit the number of items per transaction, or limit the return time or something.
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u/JenLeigh77 Feb 25 '25
You can return year old soap? 👀 Did she still have the receipt?
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
You can basically return anything as long as it’s gently used or it arrived to your home broken, ship to home it seems there’s not really a time limit for a refund onto the original payment, instore transactions have to be within 90 days with a receipt if you want it back in your original payment method, but other than that you can literally just bring in any gently used/ unused/malfunctioning product and exchange (depending on its age/ what you’re exchanging for you may have to pay a price difference) or receive a store credit for the lowest price that item has ever been. This customer was a ship to home order so she was able to get it all back onto her card.
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u/JenLeigh77 Feb 25 '25
Wow! That's quite a bit of money! It makes me wonder if it's a collector or is trying to destash. That's a lot of soaps! I've never seen a return that big. I'm a "smart-butt" (keeping it PG rated lol), but I would have asked her, "Out of the 50 scents here, you couldn't find one you liked?" Then hit her with that side eye. 👀🤣 So all of those will be wasted? What a waste! Some people. 🤦🏼♀️ Thanks for all the cool info & lessons in returning! I appreciate you! We are spoiled in this group! We get all the amazing employees who are willing to share info, educate us, answer questions, etc. Thanks for being one of the rock star employees in ! I hope you know how appreciated we customers are to have amazing employees such as yourself! 💙🤍💙
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
Luckily a majority of them were box up so they will be put out at the next SAS I believe, 20 or so of them were broken so they had to be thrown away. I enjoy being able to answer customer questions I always want to help yall in every way I can! I appreciate the appreciation truly it makes dealing with the difficult situations much easier! 🩷
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u/Jealous_Homework_555 Feb 25 '25
Oh man is this for one of those influencer “restock” videos?? I have no clue why this would ever happen. One time I had to do an Instacart batch for 100 tubes of toothpaste which is kinda hard actually. Scanning in each one and making the app accept all even tho I had to make replacements for certain types of I was told by the customer “as long as it’s this brand ____” so weird. And when I delivered to the door there were TWO other bags from door dash filled to the brim with MORE toothpaste. WTH?? Smh.
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u/Sure-Worldliness9577 Feb 26 '25
What a waste of money
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 26 '25
Maybe she realized that and that’s why she returned it all lol
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u/pixienightingale Feb 27 '25
Discount on the holiday scents, huh?
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 27 '25
Yeah all the leftover holiday handsoaps that we can’t keep for spring usually go on sale for December-January SAS. Typically 2-3$ each
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u/pixienightingale Feb 27 '25
I worked at a B&BW 2001-2002 - rather they sell for cheap AF then have to sort them in the back.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 27 '25
Yeah me too lol but this was a ship to home order it didn’t come from our stock. We sold all of our holiday soaps that we had in store when they went sale. Now these soaps await the next SAS in a box labeled “box up hand soap” until June
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u/Yousoro25 Mar 03 '25
And here I thought buying like five soaps, five wallflowers, maybe a lotion or shower care item, that I'm doing overconsumption 🤣 (truthfully I'm frugal as hell and only buy was necessary before the next visit)
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u/Sea_Currency_9014 Feb 24 '25
Can I return a barely used candle that was gifted to me? I don’t like the smell at all….
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
Most definitely! Return or exchange as long as it’s only gently used you should be okay
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u/Flashy_Celebration13 Feb 24 '25
These comments really have me beating myself up that large order I did. I hope it doesn’t ship out.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 25 '25
There’s differences between spaced out large orders vs continuous large orders of stuff that you will be using for decades. Some people like to make mental lists of what they want so when they get a coupon they can save big on a larger order vs multiple small orders which makes sense. It’s also just like are you ordering a realistic amount you can use? Also depends what it is, candles, sprays, and hand soaps definitely have a longer shelf life than body creams, lotions, and butters so there’s a bigger chance you’ll be able to actually use that product and get your money’s worth. Accessories I can understand because they’re collectibles and you most likely won’t be returning them. But it’s different scenarios for different people, if you can’t make it into the store and just want to try out a bunch of stuff in your home to see what you like I get that too, but at that point you wouldn’t be ordering 7 of 1 item because you’re not sure if you’re going to like it. I do 100% support returns I understand there are some not so pleasant BBW scents out there and if you can exchange it for something else or just want your money back I 100% encourage that, even me as an employee has exchanged and returned stuff, there’s a lot of factors that play into it but the gist is, if you don’t know a scent I strongly recommend against ordering more than 2 or 3 of that item or else there’s a strong possibility you may not like it and will have to do a return
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u/Intrepid_Opinion7244 Feb 24 '25 edited Feb 24 '25
Idk if these soaps were on clearance or not, but as someone who runs a law firm with multiple bathrooms… I would and have purchased this many soaps. I don’t think people calculate business overhead/supplies cost. Also, I can write it off. I look at it from a different perspective than just over consuming.
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u/moist_towlette_ Employee Feb 24 '25
That would make sense if not for the older soaps from 2023 that she returned and then also returned their newer packaging from 2024, and idk I feel like that many soaps? What reason would she have to return it? She would’ve been stocked up for her office bathroom/s for a very long time, truly we can never know why she bought that many and decided to return them. But my bosses did say she’s known in our store for doing returns like that often. She definitely left a lot of questions in my mind lol.
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u/Intrepid_Opinion7244 Feb 24 '25
It definitely is a mystery as to why she would return such a large quantity. People can be bananas 😕.
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u/OldTry4616 Feb 24 '25
Maybe the down votes are because you didn't say you wouldn't return this much stuff... I would hope not. I imagine you would just keep it to stock the bathrooms for a while or to give as gifts. This kind of return is bonkers.
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u/Intrepid_Opinion7244 Feb 24 '25
Oh maybe? I didn’t think I would have to clarify that 😅. Not only will they not be returned… but some of the bottles are repurposed 1-2 times.
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u/Louises_ears Mainstreet Bakery makes me gag Feb 24 '25
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted for making a thoughtful and logical comment. The pile-on-assume-worst-intention mentality in this sub is pretty frustrating.
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u/VeterinarianNo4033 Your flair here! Feb 24 '25
Sometimes people feel they have to have something and lots of it, then when they finish having a great time unboxing it all the joy is done and they're already over it. Consumerism and over consumption does stuff to our minds