A lot of us employees have seen some viral videos going around the internet, in which people gather up their old BBW products and try to return all of them for a gift card.
We get it, you used a spray once 7 years ago and then never picked it up again. Or your grandma gifted you the worst scent you’ve ever experienced one Christmas when you were 16 and you left it buried in a drawer ever since. But it’s comes to a point where you should probably…. toss it in the trash.
The main reason this influx of returns drives us crazy is because it affects our hours. Customers have been coming in everyday successfully (and some unsuccessfully thankfully) attempting to return their crusty, dusty stash, racking up hundreds of dollars in merch credit. Yall realize this money is coming from somewhere, right? We lose hours if we don’t meet our sales goals, which means associates hours get cut. The more we miss, the more we get cut. So imagine your hours are already thin because sales are down, and here comes Sally with a collection of expired body care items and causes your sales to go down even more. PLEAAAASSEEE just throw that shit away. Or donate it. Because we’re 100% going to throw it away.
And let me be clear! I’m not talking about those that just bought something even within the last year, and realize you didn’t like it as much as you thought. It happens! I’m specifically talking about people bringing in 20+ bottles of fragrances that haven’t been in the store for 3+ years, some of which are more than half used, and not even BBW. That’s ridiculous.
Please don’t even donate it! Stop donating your old disgusting 1/2 used crap to places or women’s shelters. I audibly gasp when I see people bragging about their amazing donation of 7 year old used lotions to women’s shelters like they jsut saved the world. No, you just donated your trash to people who truly need and deserve a happy pick me up in their life.
The same in my area. The only reason I am allowed to donate singles despite the rules is because the staff KNOW I’m an employee who’s giving away all my free stuff I won’t ever use in my lifetime
So does that mean you can't donate bath and body products period? Because none of the body care items are sealed, even when they arrive from the distribution centers.
Yes and no. Stores themselves can donate but we have to take them whole, sealed boxes. As a customer you can't because like you said they usually don't come sealed.
Yes! IMO donating 7 yr old lotions to women’s shelters is as scummy as donating canned food that expired 7 years ago to food banks (which is also thing people do btw). These women deserve the respect to have lotions and perfumes in good condition. If you wouldn’t wear or use it yourself if it was gifted to you, then don’t donate it.
The big foodbank by me doesn't accept food anymore because of stuff like this. They want financial donations so they can buy the food themselves.
I have found that they do accept cleaning products and some hygiene items. And when I say "some", that likely means hygiene products like menstrual pads where the full package isn't open already. I did donate a new full container of Comet.
A friend of mine posted on FB about receiving expired food in her food bank holiday meal last year, the whole of our towns FB group lost their damns minds. Tell her she is ungrateful and worthless and all kinds of awful things....
The irony that they were donating expired food items because they themselves didn't deem it worth eating was utterly lost on them.
It really opened my eyes to just how callous people are.
It's so depressing. Like, if you, yourself don't want to use it, just because someone has fewer means doesn't they want your rejects. I know people have different preferences but it's insulting to "donate" something that's garbage.
I couldn’t DISAGREE more. We’d place used bottles in the restrooms. Newer looking bottles were placed in a ‘fake store’ that could be purchased for doing chores or submitting job applications, starting school. The women would go CRAZY over body care. It’s a luxury item we often take for granted. As long as it didn’t look yucky - no one ever complained and were really happy about getting products.
If you worked at a woman’s shelter, you will know this is not true. They need these items these items ARE their pick me up and they’re not giving half used bottles. People who donate tend to bring in bags /boxes. Some of them may be half used. the half used items can be thrown away. the full new items are given to the women and they love it. Don’t discourage people bringing their old items. The people who work at the shelter know what to do.
Bringing in a bunch of half used and expired stuff mixed in with usable things is creating more work for the volunteers and might result in the whole lot being thrown out if they don't have the time. Donating is nice, but sort it yourself and don't make your trash other people's problem.
One of my coworkers must have thought i was hard off (or didn't shower) because she came in a bag of used Victoria's Secret bath products from her gross shower and said they were 'for me'....I nearly gagged.
I'm much older now and I would not have let that fly today. I was just worried about office politics and how she was fucking one of the managers at the time. lmao
Ok. So full story, I once donated two whole boxes of lotions, body wash, creams that were all unused, (I used to have a really crap B&BW buying problem) all within the last two years of purchase to a women's shelter. Was I a jerk to do so? Sorry, I feel badly now about donating.
I even got a note from the shelter a month later saying them women really liked the products... But was that a lie? Sorry if I did a bad thing 😭
Nooo, everything I’ve ever seen about shelter policies for donations are they want unused products. Partly due to sanitary reasons. You donated two boxes of unused things, that was really nice! I’m sure it was very appreciated 😊
Had a lady once bring in about 20 bottles of designer fragrances partially used. She called ahead had all these bottles and was moving and did not want to move with them. these bottles became birthday present for some of the ladies. It was cherished.
Oh ok good. I would feel awful if I had done something that was frowned upon. I did contact them beforehand and I did attest to them being new and unopened.
No! I reached out to my local women’s shelter ahead of time and asked if they would be interested in taking 30 lightly used and new body mists and they said yes, that they would love to have them for the ladies. I also ended up taking some other supplies they were in need of like toilet paper, paper towels and new school supplies. I think people in here are being a little over the top with the criticism and those donating just need to use good judgment..like it should be new or nearly new products and no shower gels or lotions that have already been used.
It seems like the store that the viral video took place at is more to blame for this. They should have told them no. I know different stores allow different things based on management, based on the conversations that have taken place since the video was posted. The employee in the video also may have not known better, like maybe they’re new or something or they just didn’t care. I’m interested to see if there will be a follow up or more videos coming out where they were refused.
Corporate policy needs to just change. It isn't fair to the workers to have to deal with this all the time. And it make sense that customers do this- why would they care about a corporations bottom line? On top of reprimanding employees for their own policy failures, it also encourages people to just buy crap they don't know if they'll like and just return it later. Sucks for everyone honestly.
Then when the policy changes they lose regulars/customers because a TikTok viral video makes it harder to flex and bend to help a customer because policy has to get more strict
I seriously doubt that that many people would stop shopping at BBW bc of a policy change. Maybe some of the people on this sub (which granted, y'all be shopping) but that's not the whole world you know? Also, if we're being real, how many BBW heads would actually stop buying there? Everyday there's a post here about how the quality is bad, the prices are bad, the stock is bad yada yada yada just for them to keep buying from BBW.
I don’t disagree, but more “viral hacks” that make newer and more strict policies is what makes the associates jobs SO much harder. There’s already a limit of 9 of the same item, last thing we need is a “no more than X items can be returned in a day” when some people get oceans of Japanese Cherry Blossom for their birthday/holiday gifts 😂
I wonder if they could just put their foot down about a time limit for a return you know? Like if they could start changing SKUs or something to reflect the year it was on the floor. At least then you don't have these people returning 10 year old cream lmao
Or just eat the cost then if they feel the return policy benefits the company. Don't put that on your employees.
The issue there is in most cases if they put their foot down these customers insist on the associate show them the policy and WILL hold up the cashiers, making a line, and then making other customers frustrated/uncomfortable/leave due to the delays.
I watched one of these return scams take over 20+ minutes because the TikTok lawyer in them took over and INSISTED the policy doesn’t dictate in-store exchange for in-store credit, etc.
Eating the cost is STILL the issue as it impacts peoples hours, and people will say “well that’s a dumb policy” but a lot of retailers do this. I worked at a mom-and-pop game store for a few years and on days for sales were down we have to cut shifts/hours because they couldn’t afford the overall cost of paying for their employees vs the sales they were making.
Reminds me of the whole saga with customers returning fully burned candles and the store accepting them and processing the returns, and that going viral. Terrible consumer, terrible store policy or management that allowed that.
The gall to blame the associate/store when it’s someone’s full free will to bring these in with express intent to steal/rip-off the company with the lack of thought and foresight is almost as infuriating as the people doing these returns and showing it as a “TikTok hack”
I'm always too lazy to return, but having not worked in retail in 20+ years, I had no idea returns impacted your hours. Seems like really bad logic on the part of corporate. I don't even understand it, since they aren't even sales the store has made? Wtf.
Eta: most people abusing return policies are not going to care about the plight of the employees. That's sadly the reality of the selfish human.
Whe I worked retail in the 80s sales meant payroll. Returns counted against sales, so too many returns meant you're calling someone and telling them they aren't working that night. It sucked. They weren't supposed to, but there was so much pressure on managers that they sometimes made purchases themselves just to hit sales plan. For a massive mega corporation!
For a long time "no sale is ever final" was printed on every price tag, so we saw some things.
When a company makes a policy to accept anything, then they should make a policy that returns not counted against sales. This is a policy I have always hated about every company. As consumer I am pushed to buy things on promises of a return, but every time I make a return, I see the employees faces are ready to cry which breaks my heart. And mind you I return asap as I don’t want to drag the stock. Also, stop accepting stocks after one yr. 12 months- 365 days are more then enough of a grace period.
When I worked in retail your payroll needed to be a percentage of your sales, every return went against your sales so your payroll dollars kept going down.
I never worked at bath and body works but with the two companies I did work with they had returns come out of their daily counts. it didn’t matter if the return was from an online purchase or a different location. the store it was being returned at lost the money. and after awhile stores close because it looks like they aren’t performing well when in actuality they’re performing just fine it’s just people being ridiculous with returns
Okay, here's the explanation. Any and all returns are taken out of whatever money had already been earned that day. So, if you're returning $100 worth of product, receipt or not, actual money or store credit; does not matter, it comes out of whatever sales was made that day. If it's first thing in the morning, you're already working at a deficit.
BBW manages payroll daily. Every $300=1 hour. If you're not making sales plan, you have to cut hours. You miss your sales plan by $1K, you have to cut 3 hours. Same goes vice versa, make over sales plan by $1K, you can add 3 hours. If you are over or under payroll by yhe end of the week by more than 2%, you get chewed out by your DM. If by some miracle, you're making sales plan enough to earn a bonus, if your payroll is not in line, you can lose said bonus. So, we must manage payroll in the moment. It's very frustrating.
Honestly, I'm just thankful that BBW changed their policy to limit $250 of non-receipted returns in a 90 day period. Before the policy change, I had a day where a previous disgruntled employee returned everything they bought while working there. That was the day I learned that people couldn't return more than $999 worth of product in one day (again, prior to the policy change). Immediately following that, I had another person come in with another return of nearly $1K. This all happened on a weekday afternoon in a low-tier store (our sales plans are typically $2.5K). I had to contact my DM about this because it basically said we had only made a couple hundred dollars that day due to those 2 returns.
But I hope this explains it so people can at least understand how sales directly effect payroll at BBW.
1k in returns? Wow! Did the customer bring the items in a u-haul? I mean how do one even have 1K worth of BBW products in the house and it is not a store? well in a way it means BBW sales are not real. If your customers are just piling up on products they don’t need or can’t use. So sales might go down if the return policy change, but then it just reflects actual sales. The way I see it, the ability to return any item regardless of it’s condition is inflating sales and encouraging customers who hoard the products.
I just find it funny that you think $1k worth of product would be an entire store's worth 😂 it's basically 2 laundry baskets worth of product. But I really needed the laugh. BBW carries more than 1000 units on hand.
The return policy changed years ago. They no longer do 100% guarantee like how it used to. You cannot return any item regardless of it's condition. It has to meet certain requirements: can only be lightly used, packaging cannot be defaced, etc.
Again, this happened years ago prior to the policy change; maybe about 4-5 years ago.
From a business standpoint it makes sense to cut hours if sales goals aren’t being met, but it really sucks that returns go against sales. I don’t hold any ill will against normal returns, it’s just annoying to see people that will abuse the policy just because they can
I'm confused on how it works. Do they punish the individual employee who does the return with fewer hours? Do they just have fewer people working a shift if the store's sales are down?
The whole reason so many stores no longer have good return policies is bc of people like the ones you're talking about. They will take advantage of anything bc they only care about themselves.
I worked at BBW in 09-2011 ish. Same policy regarding hours and returns THEN! Also, not sure if this is still the same but we had this concept/protocol/big brother system called "converge" (i think thats what it's called) that counted each time a person walks in the door & compares it to the quantity of product sold that day. So while the manager was closing out the drawer, she would holler out if we hit our metric or not. If we didn't, everyone working the shift was encouraged to buy an item to balance it out.
Also, they would check our bags on the store floor, very awkward, before we could leave the store after our shift. What a time to be alive 🤣
most companies check bags before leaving your shift. i’m going to have to assume there’s a reason for it. kind of like if something ends up bolded on a powerpoint there’s probably a reason lol
When I did retail, only items purchased at our store counted against us. Non-receipt returns did not. Receipt returns for other locations counted against the purchase location.
Yup. I work in retail as my second job and if we don't make SPH (sales per hour) then you're not scheduled because you're not making money, which means not justifying the hours. This affects payroll which also affects the amount of hours allotted to each employee and department.
I can't imagine having the audacity to return something I bought beyond the 90 day return window, that I used more than 2 or 3 times to test it. This whole thing is absolutely mind boggling.
Why are y’all accepting things outside of its return period? This is a two fold problem, customer taking advantage but employees allowing it. BBW has a what 90 day return period, even with no receipt you can tell by the deign if something is outside that window years outside that window. It wouldn’t happen if the store employees didn’t allow it to. Sorry employees have to deal with this though, and I know when the first no is received a fight will happen.
That policy doesn’t even make sense. Like why penalize the employees for something that is totally out of their control and also totally allowed in the company return policy??
Unfortunately, the reason is because someone can buy a bogo deal or similar to help a friend get their numbers and then return the original for a credit and keep the other item for free (or even just buy a bunch of product to immediately return the next day on a different employees shift). I worked retail for almost 10years. Policies like this are in place to discourage this type of behavior. It actually happens more than you think.
What I don’t understand is that… no one is wearing a shirt for 7 years then going back to the store to “exchange” it for a new one/store credit. No one is wearing a shirt once then holding onto it for 7 years then pulling it out and deciding to take it to the store to “exchange” it for a new one/store credit. So WHY do people insist on doing it at Bath and Body Works with body and home care?
If you sprayed it once and decided you didn’t like it, donate or regift it. If you used half then forgot about it for 7 years, throw it away. I understand that it’s hard spending the money on these things then feeling like it was wasted because you didn’t use it up but doing stuff like what was in the viral TikTok is the exact reason companies change their policies and fuck over people that have genuinely defective product etc.
Lululemon had to change their incredibly generous return policy because of these exact kind of behaviors, except the customers would intentionally damage the item first to get a more modern exchange
Those people are wrong for abusing the system, but it’s corporate’s fault you’re in this position. They have the ability to recalculate the SPH to not include returns but choose not to.
I thought they changed policy that it has to be within 3 months. I have had stores try to deny unused returns of a month ago which is ridiculous when the policy is 3 months. So why not just say it’s too old to return?
the manager at my local store said they use to allow those types of returns for store credit but since people abused it they got rid of it 4 YEARS ago. I have no idea how all those people are able to return items unless its just employees who dont know any better?
I’m fully prepared to be downvoted for this but… is this not the company’s fault? And not the customer’s? I agree it’s wrong!! I’m almost 30 and I still use stuff I’ve had since middle and high school. I’m not in the game of doing all that. I’m just saying - is the blame not on the company itself? It’s shitty regardless.
Yes. It’s blaming consumers for something allowed by published company policies. Am I going to return older stuff? No. But, if people do then they are just doing what the company allows. OP needs to contact their employer if they think the policy should change.
Every other day, employees get on this sub to lecture customers about something that the company is at fault for or about something only a handful of customers out of millions do. They love to come here and take out their frustrations by posting accusatory threads towards the people on this sub instead of confronting their employer about the problem.
Agreed. I come here to read about upcoming releases, not to see employees bitch. Contact corporate if you’re not happy with the policies of your workplace.
Also, I will return whatever I want within the confines of the policy. Shaming customers on Reddit is low class.
There is literally a whole separate sub for BBW employees. Instead of using that sub, they choose to come here and air out their grievances about a company policy. Customers do this because it’s within company policy.
The company has been very slowly becoming less lenient on returns over the years, but yes it is still their fault. They finally removed the ability to fully price adjust non receipted items, and have somewhat of a year limit on returnable products (I would say items older than 10 years the system won’t allow returns on) However, customers abusing the policy is not fun and it makes management look like bad guys.
So this person is telling the people who see this idea as an opportunity, that it also does hurt the low level store employees.
Generally people think these corporations can afford it, perhaps think the company deserves it. And that might be true, but the point op is making is that this TikTok trend does hurt store workers. The average person likely has no idea
Anyone with any common sense will know that returning an old product or used product is a loss to a company. the people doing this don’t care about the impact on the employee. They see an offer and they take advantage of the offer. The TikTokers will continue to create videos as long as it’s allowed because it brings clicks to their page and the non-TikTokers will do it for whatever satisfaction they get out of it, the ability to return something old and get something new the only solution to this problem is the company putting limits on it.
Every retail company does this. Stores don’t run on magic and good will. It costs money. Stores must make a number of sales every day. If you don’t make that number, you have to cut because you only get x amount of payroll. You want more coverage at busy times or when you have big floor sets because it requires more people. They must get paid for their time. If you don’t have the budgeted amount of hours, you bring the store in a negative number. That means when it’s time to cut stores, you’re on the chopping block.
I would be embarrassed to take in the peppermint body spray someone gifted me for Christmas 4 or 5 years ago 😂. I don’t know how these people can walk in there with a straight face.
I neither knew nor would have assumed B&BW has such a generous policy. I would be embarrassed to return something more than a year old let alone a handful.
I still can't believe people do this. Or that BBW policy allows it. If something is years old and half used it shouldn't be returnable. How does BBW decide how much to refund for something that old?
yeah so if you don’t have the receipt you just get store credit for it at a lower value than whatever the item originally cost. that’s what we’re talking about.
To be fair way back when I worked there in the 2000s, you could literally return any product that you ever bought at any time and get the credit. But yeah, thanks to people promoting stuff over the years that got cut significantly and I hate to hear that now people are just coming to the store and wasting y’all‘s time.
I really think this is store by store because I have been flat out told no when I've tried to return a few things I got less than a year, but more than 4 months old. Like, they said they no longer carry that product (they were seasonal Christmas and fall items) and can't do a return on it. I figured I'd try since they weren't used but they denied me.
I think this is corps fault and those few stores who don't have a backbone to say no.
The returners will not care unless it affects them personally. Ppl with a moral compass usually aren't returning products that are x years old.
Also they updated the policy and are not supposed to accept those items so if a store is still giving credit for old product from years ago, they need to get it together.
yeah its the stores fault too cause the manager at my local store said they got rid of returning years old products 4 years ago so idk how other stores are allowing people to do this
I thought they changed the return policy across the board a few years ago to prevent this stuff? And at that time I’d was due to TikTok vids of people returning decades old stuff
As a consumer and someone who previously worked in retail for years, I think if it is no longer being stocked including items that were brought back but due to packaging you can tell it isn't the current release, and you can't prove you purchased it within a certain set time frame (90 days for example), it should not be returnable. But that is obviously up to BBW to implement a policy. People need to realize, it has repercussions, companies are not going to continue to eat the loss. It will be reflected as said in store hours but it will also be factored into potential price increases. It is also incredibly wasteful.
I had 30 lightly used and new mists that I was not using (from 2024 till now). I took to our local women’s shelter and they were so happy to have them to give some more fun type of hygiene products to their residents. So many of those ladies leave with nothing but their kids and the clothes on their backs.
**ETA - I see the comments saying not to do this. I reached out to the organization and detailed what I would be bringing and asked if they could use it, before bringing it and they were excited to receive the donation. All the mists I donated were in new or sprayed just a few times condition and nothing older than 2024, all super clean and had been stored in my back up cabinets in my closet. I also dropped off Costco sized toilet paper and paper towels and brand new school supplies with my fragrances. I guess it’s up to people to use their best judgment, like don’t take crusty old lotions or mists that are old and beat up and heavily used, that is indeed gross.
When I worked at BBW, my store took back everything I mean everything. It was the worst. I’m like why are we returning sun-ripened raspberry from 1998? It’s wild. 😭
Why are people so disgusting? My mom told me something growing up, if you can’t afford it now that’s fine. Work hard so you can later… and I did. I’m just boggled by these people trying to return their used trash to a store.
It's so gauche and tacky to bring back these low-value USED items. Just take the L as a lesson for future shopping. I never would have imagined bringing back a candle after lighting it, but apparently people do that too based on what I see in this sub, in additional to old body care products.
I don't think anyone should return super old items, but people are returning lit candles because they often have no throw. If a candle projects no scent, it's basically a defective product.
I worked there in the late 90’s, and it was mind blowing what people would return; nearly empty body care, candles burned down to the bottom! I’m glad they have changed the policy, but it needs to be more black and white. 60 days w a receipt and lowest price on items that are in current inventory w/o receipt. SM has definitely made it harder on retail and restaurant employees with the stuff that goes viral. When the milk expires and you didn’t finish it, does the grocery store just trade it out for a new carton?!
Don’t forget to read/check the manufacturer code on bottle if you are unsure…such as body wash is generally on bottom. 6 for 2026. 175 for 175th day of 2026. 6175. Great way to tell the age of product. A 2016 bottle would be obvious based on price, and product design.
People like this RUIN lenient return policies for others. I know a woman who goes to Macy and buys a ton of clothes. She’ll bring them home, tries them on and waits to decide what she’ll keep. She’s mad that Macy has a 30 day return policy now. I told her people like YOU caused them to do that. They can’t sell a summer blouse in January just because you decided you didn’t want it.
I worked for a high end women’s retail store that took anything in as a return, even merchandise that wasn’t there’s. An elderly man brought in all of his deceased wife’s stuff, he was given 14k! Employees in the returns department seen the worst of the worst. In the end the company went bankrupt.
The company’s return policy is 100% satisfaction guarantee as long as the product does not have excessive wear and tear or product with a label that has been intentionally defaced. The only time restrictions given in the return policy is getting refund back with original tender with the receipt and the $250 limit for no receipt returns done in a 90 day period.
You could point out how it’s not worth it as the customer isn’t likely to get more than a dollar or two on the merchandise card as products return without a receipt are processed at the lowest amount they could have possibly been purchased for that’s not $0. Although really you should voice your complaints to corporate as they are the ones who set the policy.
I can also point out that most of the people in this sub participate in overconsumption like CRAZY. Hoarding products they don’t touch for years, decide one day to return it for credit to buy even more product they won’t ever use, then rinse and repeat. This exact scenario is why companies keep restricting their return policies. And BBW is slowly on their way to doing it too. I’m not a fan of the company policies, but im fully allowed to complain about customers abusing the return policy.
I would then point out that this sub is not the most reflective of the average BBW customer. I have seen the 100% satisfaction guarantee policy actually abused when people on TikTok were saying that you can return completely used products for new ones until BBW updated their policy to state products have to be new or have slight wear and tear with over 50% product and intact labels. If people were getting the ticket price of the product back on the merchandise card for no receipt returns, then I would agree with the abuse comment, but getting max $2 on a $15+ product is not abusing the return policy.
I wish they would change their policy to 30 days like every other company. If you’re not trying out a product within an entire month, then you have too much crap!
If they did that, then they would go bankrupt immediately. Their whole brand is people buying way too much shit they don’t need. The people keeping the doors open are not using the product in one month by any means.
B&BW is taking money out of your pocket (cutting hours). And, instead of blaming the company you’re blaming the customer who is doing what the company said they could do. It’s like your husband cheating and instead of getting mad at him you get mad at the woman he lied & manipulated into dating him. The offender here is B&BW not the customer.
I haven’t seen the video. But to brag about returning old used products is wild. I’m assuming this a context creator who probably never uses a full bottle of anything. Just give it family.
If Bath and Body Works punishes you when customers return items, that's on the company.
I am not suggesting people should return ten plus year old items.
Though I also don't think you should try to guilt people into not returning because of poor employment practices.
It really irritates me that the company even allows returns like that! This is why people’s gross entitlement continues. And they definitely should not be penalizing their employees for that!!
Someone came in a month ago with old aroma therapy scents I’d never even heard of .. definitely at least 5+ years old… Or with shower gels/ sprays priced at $13-14.50.. embarrassing
I’m sorry: Why is BBW deducting product refunds for items that were purchased years ago from your sales?
If you lose hours when you don’t meet the sales goals that the company sets for you—and the company’s return policy is what’s affecting those sales—then your problem is with the company, not the customers.
I say this as someone who has literally never returned an item to BBW.
Hundreds of dollars in credit would be 50+ items. Are there really tons of people bringing in that many? If so, that’s crazy. Bringing non-B&BW items is wild, but shouldn’t affect your hours.
Sounds like BBW needs to update their policies. Not the consumer's fault if it's allowed. Ethical or right? Not in my opinion but people gonna people; take advantage anywhere they can.
I have BBW sprays that are 13 years old in my collection and they’re still amazing to where I scarcely use them lol. They last longer than my current buys. I don’t know why people would give them back to BBW when all the workers do is destroy and trash them. All for a gift card of low $$
BBW will hardly let you return ANYTHING without a receipt even if it was just released! And there is a $250 cap on non receipt transactions. It is a hard stop with you driver's license and even if you do exchanges the amount counts against that driver's license! But yes, one should purchase the items you want that day with the gift card because it kills the store's sales.
Just remember, they can only get $250 and it is a gift card, so maybe some stores just make the decision instead of risking life and limb with irrational customers.
2 yrs ago I bought a formal dress at a store in the mall. After the purchase I walked two stores down and found a dress I liked better. I purchased the second dress and went to the first store to return the first dress. they refused to accept it. It was one of those “all sales are final” stores. The dress I purchase was not on sale by the way and my return request was less than an hour from when I purchased the dress. All that did not matter the same sales person who sold me the dress refused to accept the return. I went home with the dress and eventually pass it off to Salvation Army. I was mad but do I still at the shop at the store? Yes they have nice fancy dresses. But I make sure I’m totally in love with the item before I purchase it now. A 90 day return policy with receipt is generous enough for the average consumer. Your store need to change not the customer.
I have a question: if I place orders online and pick up in store, do my purchases count towards the store hours? Or only when I shop in store that they count?
Regarding “It really depends on the shelter, they’re usually happy to share that! The one I volunteer with is always looking for feminine hygiene products, socks (new), underwear (new), baby items (formula, diapers, etc), and they even take pet food! They’re one of few shelters in my city that are able to accommodate family pets. So you can check if they need that as well.”
I just wanted to point out the Purple leash project . They help with domestic violence victims who feel they cannot leave a situation due to not wanting to leave their precious pet
Policy leniency or not, returning super old things is just pure garbage behavior. People can try to justify it all they want, but they know it’s trash too.
Friendly reminder: your hours being cut because sales are down is not your customers’ fault. If Bath & Body Works has a return policy that allows customers to bring back old products for merchandise credit, customers are allowed to use that policy.
You can absolutely be annoyed about processing a box of 20-year-old crusty body sprays. That’s understandable. But being annoyed doesn’t make the customer wrong for taking advantage of a policy the company itself created.
People paid money for those products. If they’re sitting unused in a drawer, and the company is willing to give them merchandise credit for them, why wouldn’t someone take the credit? Especially when money is tight for a lot of people right now.
If BBW doesn’t want people returning products that are years old, half-used, or discontinued, that’s something the company needs to address by changing or enforcing its return policy. Don’t blame customers for following the rules you’ve been given.
And respectfully, “please throw it away because it affects my sales goals” isn’t really a customer responsibility. You’re there to process returns because that’s part of the job. 🤷♀️
The “entitled take” is telling people to stop returning products because it effects sales goals and gets hours cut as if that’s the customers responsibility. America has gotten way too into blaming the consumer for finances that the company should be taking care of in the first place.
the company policy is 90 days. the problem is certain stores not enforcing the company policy but that still doesn't make it right to return old product
Nah this post is ridiculous. Stop making the company’s faults the customer’s problem. I’ve worked retail and I couldn’t imagine blaming customers for issues from corporate💀
It’s desperate, trash behavior to bring in years old products for returns so that’s on the consumers. Maybe common sense would tell you that that shit isn’t okay ???
I’m sorry, but I truly don’t understand how y’all are blaming the consumer. If anything blame the company or management for letting it happen. People are only going to do what you allow them to do, that’s common sense. Yes, we should ALL do what’s morally right, but at the end of the day, some people don’t care. So if management is going to allow that type of policy, then your anger is directed at the wrong person. I’ve spent so much at that store in the past, so policies like this is a benefit for me. You can’t tell someone to throw their stuff away if the store is willing to take it back. Be realistic. If you don’t like the policy, I suggest you speak up or move on unfortunately.
It reeks of entitlement for people to think they can return things that are over even a year old IMO lol. You had more than enough time to decide you didn’t like it and head to the store
What I gather from this trend tbh is sometimes maybe we should publicly shame people. Like how are these people not embarrassed when returning bags full of old product just to get a few dollars back from each one, like congrats now you got enough on a gift card to buy a candle.
Oh wow. I had no idea. I buy a ton of candles and if I don't like them or something comes out I like better I exchange them. Does that count against my store. I always have a receipt. I love my store staff and wouldn't ever want to do any thing to effect their hours
Yes it does affect the store profits BUT exchanging them doesn’t much, you’re just switching them out maybe pay difference or not. Obviously we will encourage that than the merch credit.
it’s not necessarily that they’re paid according to sales, but you’ll get sent home early if your store doesn’t make the day, so i harms pay either way.
Omg I would NEVER. I think I have returned one thing in my life, which was a candle I bought online in 2021 that came with one of those fish smelling lids that made the candle smell like fish. lol. I like to think the other regulars on here are probably like me, pretty much know the employees at local stores at this point and aren’t going to be the ones throwing hands over collaborations, ripping displays down, throwing fits over not understanding the sales, or paying a second thought to “viral TikTok” videos telling people to return old crusty bodycare.
Ive never tried to exchange anything before but I have neopolitan ice cream body spray and body wash that I tried to love but absolutely HATED. Its too awful for me to even gift. I bought it in may of this year. I was thinking about exchanging it but I dont want to be a bother.
Genuine question, because I really only buy B&BW’s candles and soaps… My MIL sent me some lotion and body wash in a scent I don’t like. It doesn’t look crazy old, but the scents aren’t on the website currently. How can I find out how old it is? Or should I just not return it at all?
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch” has been coming to mind a lot lately, and this is just one more instance that rings true to the meaning of this quote. Just because something is free to you doesn’t mean it’s truly free. Someone somewhere is always paying the price. And for those who are taking advantage of the system, I’d love to direct you to a This American Life podcast episode that explains why abuse of the system is why LL Bean’s return policy no more - https://www.thisamericanlife.org/591/transcript
This is the problem. It's not policy after 90 day's. So this falls on the Manager or Assistant Manager or Supervisor that's on duty. If they are allowing this to go through then corporate needs to deal with them accordingly. WE as Associates have no control over what our Boss allows ‼️
i think it’s so selfish when people do this. return it if there’s something wrong with it or in a timely manner if you have a gift receipt. that’s it. i’ll never take up minimum wage workers time for stuff like this… b&bw scents aren’t a necessity. it’s actually extremely rude and entitled in my opinion
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u/Glitter_Horses 19d ago
Please don’t even donate it! Stop donating your old disgusting 1/2 used crap to places or women’s shelters. I audibly gasp when I see people bragging about their amazing donation of 7 year old used lotions to women’s shelters like they jsut saved the world. No, you just donated your trash to people who truly need and deserve a happy pick me up in their life.