Target

As many of you know, I love Target. But yesterday, I actually used these words: "Brad, I appreciate your policy, and I understand this is not YOUR fault, but if this is not fixed, I will not shop here again." I meant it too.

Let me explain. Owen needed a new car seat for our truck, our huge, ginormous four door Toyota Tacoma. (this point is a little bit of foreshadowing) He has almost out grown his "baby" seat, and is ready for the next step. I went to Target last week, and spent what seemed like hours researching convertible car seats. For those new to "baby lingo", that's a car seat that will be rear facing for a while, and then be able to switch, or convert, to front facing when Owen's a year old. In theory, this convertible car seat will last him a couple years.

So, after finding the "perfect" seat... good color, good support, oh, and safe, I picked one. And it wasn't the cheap one. It wasn't the most expensive, but it wasn't cheap... safety never is.

A few days later, we removed it from the box (again, foreshadowing) and took it to my favorite local kids shop, Segal's, to have it installed. It's a free service they provide to ensure the car seat is properly installed. The car seat would not fit. Or rather, it would fit in the back seat if the front seat was pushed all the way forward. I would have to sit cross-legged in order to ride in the truck. No good. So, they sold us one that would fit. It's a nice color too.

Now, to return the first car seat. I did not have a receipt. It was thrown away while cleaning. Target has strict return policies. No receipt= No Return. That's OK, Target can look up receipts using the credit card it was purchased with. I knew this, so I was not worried about the return. I really wasn't worried about anything, until the customer service lady, Sally, gave us this "look".

"I hate this, but policy says that if a car seat is opened, we can not refund it."

"WHAT?!? How are we to know that the car seat won't fit without it being opened? Can we talk to you manager?"

Sally got us the L.O.D. (that's leader on duty to Target lay people). This is when we met Brad. Brad is a young 20ish, red faced, know-it-all whippersnapper of an LOD. We explained our plight to Brad. Of course the box is open, but it has NEVER been used. He reiterated the policy. That's when I said the shocking and infamous statement. "Brad, I appreciate your policy, and I understand this is not YOUR fault, but if this is not fixed, I will not shop here again."

Brad gave us the number to customer services. I promptly called.

The first guy could not understand that the problem was not that I didn't have my receipt. The problem was the open box. When he did finally understand (there was a slight language barrier) he had me talk to the customer service supervisor. (maybe they call them the C.S.S) I again explained the situation. He said to go back to the same Target, talk to the LOD, give him this reference number and they would refund the car seat.

So, we did. Brad didn't know what the reference number meant. He again told us the policy. I said we talked to the CSS, he told us to come back. Brad scurried off to the back to call the CSS and discuss this "reference number". I think Brad thought we made this up.

Finally, after about 10 minutes, Brad came up and told us that they would refund it... "though it WAS against policy" I'm pretty sure the LOD and the CSS had a long, heated discussion. I hope the CSS won.

So, long story short: We got our refund. I will continue to shop at Target. Which I'm very thankful about... where else would I wander for hours and spend money randomly!