When Frugality Goes Too Far...

[Fuamami]

I want to start a light-hearted thread about situations when frugality just wasn't the right call, if you know what I mean.

I have some good examples in my own life, but I have to share this story.

A while back I was at Wal-Mart returning a carpet cleaner, and the woman in front of me was returning a toilet plunger. As the clerk was processing her refund, she noticed that the plunger was dripping. She paused, then looked up at the customer and asked her if she'd used it. The woman said, "Yeah?" like there was nothing wrong with that!

Anyone else?

[lil_earthmomma]

:Puke:

[Krystal323]

OMG that is sooooo --and so funny!! :

i don't have any funnies of my own--but that was too outrageous not to comment on... my lord.....

[Isamama]

::Puke

This isn't particularly funny...I know a woman who used the cups and saucers she received for her wedding and decided to return them unwashed. I could never conceive of doing something like that. I would just be too embarrassed.

[SAHDS]

When I bought my Dyson, I took the box home and opened it to find a Dyson... a USED Dyson (semi-dirty, no manuals, no attachments, the old yellow one). Someone had obviously bought a new Dyson, threw in their old one and returned it in the new box with the new receipt! I was peeved! I took it back to the store and when they were processing my return, the lady told me a story about a returned television that, when the box was opened, was a smashed-in television that had been stuffed with soiled disposable diapers.

[Drummer's Wife]

oh that's just nasty about the used plunger!

[njeb]

Originally Posted by SAHDS

When I bought my Dyson, I took the box home and opened it to find a Dyson... a USED Dyson (semi-dirty, no manuals, no attachments, the old yellow one). Someone had obviously bought a new Dyson, threw in their old one and returned it in the new box with the new receipt! I was peeved! I took it back to the store and when they were processing my return, the lady told me a story about a returned television that, when the box was opened, was a smashed-in television that had been stuffed with soiled disposable diapers.

These examples aren't frugality. They are theft.

[Attila the Honey]

Originally Posted by Fuamami

As the clerk was processing her refund, she noticed that the plunger was dripping. She paused, then looked up at the customer and asked her if she'd used it. The woman said, "Yeah?" like there was nothing wrong with that!

Anyone else?

But how else would the lady know that the plunger didn't work well?

Yeah, I agree, GROSS.

[PenelopeJune]

Oh my!

My story can't beat the drippy plunger, but I HATE going clothes shopping with my mom. She has terrible buyer's remorse. I'll spend 30 minutes helping her find a pair of jeans. Picking them out. Waiting while she tries them on. Admiring them. Going and picking a different size/color/style. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

She'll finally find a pair that meet her expectations, and then we get to the checkout line. Sometimes she'll put them down before we check out. Sometimes she'll pay for them and then walk right over to customer service and return them.
:

I've started not allowing her to do this because it makes me insane.

[MyLittleYoni]

Originally Posted by Fuamami

I want to start a light-hearted thread about situations when frugality just wasn't the right call, if you know what I mean.

I have some good examples in my own life, but I have to share this story.

A while back I was at Wal-Mart returning a carpet cleaner, and the woman in front of me was returning a toilet plunger. As the clerk was processing her refund, she noticed that the plunger was dripping. She paused, then looked up at the customer and asked her if she'd used it. The woman said, "Yeah?" like there was nothing wrong with that!

Anyone else?

How did you keep yourself from ROFLing right in the store.

[Bluegoat]

I knew a lady that returned drapes to Etons because they had faded. They were 30 years old. They took them back.

[UberMama]

We bought a plunger once that didn't work well. It never crossed our minds to return it! Ew.

[misswerewolf]

Originally Posted by Bluegoat

I knew a lady that returned drapes to Etons because they had faded. They were 30 years old. They took them back.

Wow, that is one hell of a return policy!

[Dreaming]

Many years ago, I worked at JCPenney as a sales clerk. A customer brought in a bag of holey underwear that he had purchased in my department several years prior. He was not happy that they hadn't lasted as long as he expected them to.
My manager took the tighty whiteys and exchanged them for new ones.

[Krystal323]

see, most of these kinds of things go in the category (in my mind) of the lady suing McDs because her coffee was hot. i am all for lenient return policies--but yeaaaah.....there's a line between customer satisfaction and just plain stupidity.

in the 1930's you'd have been laughed out of store if not banned from it. returning holey underwear and 30 year old curtains--puh-leez.

[ColoradoMama]

Originally Posted by Krystal323

see, most of these kinds of things go in the category (in my mind) of the lady suing McDs because her coffee was hot.

Okay - I'm sorry, but I can't let this one go. Do you actually know about the story behind that? McDonald's had been contacted by many, MANY customers regarding the temperature of their coffee, and they had refused to even acknowledge the complaints. The lady who's "coffee was hot" actually received very serious burns on her legs requiring hospitalization. I wouldn't say her "coffee was hot," I'd say McDonald's was negligent and deserved to be sued.

[Pogonia]

I think, according to what I remember from a lawyer's presentation to a college class, that the poor lady from McDs had to have skin grafts, even.

[stellarae]

Originally Posted by Pogonia

I think, according to what I remember from a lawyer's presentation to a college class, that the poor lady from McDs had to have skin grafts, even.

to the rest of it...

[enkmom]

Before all the safeguards were in place, I knew people who routinely "borrowed" formalwear from stores to wear to Proms, etc. The slipped the tags inside, had a great time, and returned it to the store because "they decided to wear something else". They never understood how they were stealing.

I work in retail today, and I see tons of buyers remorse. Groups of people will come in together and shop as their outing, and then I see them all come in the next day and return everything they bought. No one wants to be the one to say "I can't afford it".

[SugarAndSun]

Originally Posted by PenelopeJune

Oh my!

My story can't beat the drippy plunger, but I HATE going clothes shopping with my mom. She has terrible buyer's remorse. I'll spend 30 minutes helping her find a pair of jeans. Picking them out. Waiting while she tries them on. Admiring them. Going and picking a different size/color/style. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

She'll finally find a pair that meet her expectations, and then we get to the checkout line. Sometimes she'll put them down before we check out. Sometimes she'll pay for them and then walk right over to customer service and return them.
:

I've started not allowing her to do this because it makes me insane.

I do this all the time. I have done it since I was a teenager. I have an older brother who would drive me to shop and then have to bring me back to return it all. I just returned stuff today I bought Fri. with a gift card and I am thinking of returning it again... I mean $50 for jeans... even with a gift card.

Originally Posted by ColoradoMama

Okay - I'm sorry, but I can't let this one go. Do you actually know about the story behind that? McDonald's had been contacted by many, MANY customers regarding the temperature of their coffee, and they had refused to even acknowledge the complaints. The lady who's "coffee was hot" actually received very serious burns on her legs requiring hospitalization. I wouldn't say her "coffee was hot," I'd say McDonald's was negligent and deserved to be sued.

Why would they make it so hot when so many people get it through a drive through?