TRU "All sales on LEGO are final, no returns."

[Alpinemaps]

Those words were uttered to me today, by the clerk that rang me up at TRU today.

She said that LEGO is a "high theft" item, and that they've had too many people buy LEGO at Target (in the same shopping center), and return it to them.  So all sales of LEGO are final, and they won't take them back.

I asked her if this was new, and she said that it has been their policy for awhile.  Now, I'm not so sure of that; I've been buying LEGO at this store for a long time; even bought something at this store yesterday, and this is the first time this "policy" has ever been mentioned to me. 

It wouldn't surprise me if the manager did inact this policy, though.  This particular TRU, a number of months back, had three 75919 IR Breakout sets on the shelf; and all three of them were missing the dino (as marked on the box).  I wouldn't be at all surprised if they really did decide to do this.

[Phil B]

  On 4/8/2016 at 2:00 AM, Alpinemaps said:

Those words were uttered to me today, by the clerk that rang me up at TRU today.

She said that LEGO is a "high theft" item, and that they've had too many people buy LEGO at Target (in the same shopping center), and return it to them.  So all sales of LEGO are final, and they won't take them back.

I asked her if this was new, and she said that it has been their policy for awhile.  Now, I'm not so sure of that; I've been buying LEGO at this store for a long time; even bought something at this store yesterday, and this is the first time this "policy" has ever been mentioned to me. 

It wouldn't surprise me if the manager did inact this policy, though.  This particular TRU, a number of months back, had three 75919 IR Breakout sets on the shelf; and all three of them were missing the dino (as marked on the box).  I wouldn't be at all surprised if they really did decide to do this.

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They could have just gotten stricter on the "no returns without receipt" and "only unopened boxes can be returned" - though the latter is no real objection for scammers anymore nowadays.

[supergman]

IMO, this wouldn't be a bad thing because of the scam nonsense that takes place.  At my local TRU, they scan your license with all returns, which started a few months ago.

[Lordoflego]

that's YMMV? Hope so....on one hand I can totaly understand it, one the other...it's messed up   

[Phil B]

  On 4/8/2016 at 2:08 AM, supergman said:

IMO, this wouldn't be a bad thing because of the scam nonsense that takes place.  At my local TRU, they scan your license with all returns, which started a few months ago.

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Got my license scanned today at Target - even the guy manning the returns desk was surprised the system asked for it - all while returning a pair of dance pants for my daughter Guess the "buy several sizes and see at home which one fits" strategy starts backfiring.

[thoroakenfelder]

  On 4/8/2016 at 2:15 AM, Phil B said:

Got my license scanned today at Target - even the guy manning the returns desk was surprised the system asked for it - all while returning a pair of dance pants for my daughter Guess the "buy several sizes and see at home which one fits" strategy starts backfiring.

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did you tell him they didn't fit you right?

[Phil B]

  On 4/8/2016 at 2:18 AM, thoroakenfelder said:

did you tell him they didn't fit you right?

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Didn't have to tell them, the rip at the seams was evidence enough .....

[thoroakenfelder]

  On 4/8/2016 at 2:20 AM, Phil B said:

Didn't have to tell them, the rip at the seams was evidence enough .....

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ah, you were playing "Hulk SMASH!"

[Phil B]

  On 4/8/2016 at 2:22 AM, thoroakenfelder said:

ah, you were playing "Hulk SMASH!"

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I was going for this .....

[exciter1]

I think this would have been my response:

[Lordoflego]

Can't go wrong with Ricky...

[gregpj]

  On 4/8/2016 at 2:08 AM, supergman said:

IMO, this wouldn't be a bad thing because of the scam nonsense that takes place.  At my local TRU, they scan your license with all returns, which started a few months ago.

They don't take your license to track individual items though... They go back on the shelf with the products that are already there.

It's purely for tracking .. Where do you return? What kind of things do you return? How much $ value do you return?

If they really cared about the individual item, they'd tag each one uniquely or for a boxed item they'd open it on the spot to check the contents.

[Phil B]

  On 4/8/2016 at 6:49 AM, gregpj said:

They don't take your license to track individual items though... They go back on the shelf with the products that are already there.

It's purely for tracking .. Where do you return? What kind of things do you return? How much $ value do you return?

If they really cared about the individual item, they'd tag each one uniquely or for a boxed item they'd open it on the spot to check the contents.

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Macy's in the US does the tagging approach - and that seems to work ok (however, I would imagine it is not a big deal to move the sticker bar-code they apply to another box if so inclined).

Spot checking the contents requires that your personnel knows what is supposed to be in a set. That would require some sort of a database (perhaps provided by LEGO) that could tell the clerk on the spot what they need to check for (e.g. bag count, which figures need to be in which bags etc.). Sounds like too much work.

[gregpj]

  On 4/8/2016 at 10:16 AM, Phil B said:

Macy's in the US does the tagging approach - and that seems to work ok (however, I would imagine it is not a big deal to move the sticker bar-code they apply to another box if so inclined).

Spot checking the contents requires that your personnel knows what is supposed to be in a set. That would require some sort of a database (perhaps provided by LEGO) that could tell the clerk on the spot what they need to check for (e.g. bag count, which figures need to be in which bags etc.). Sounds like too much work.

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If thieves knew that returning a set would mean the clerk opens the set and checks for the obvious... loose parts, open bags, missing maxi-figs, garbage... then it wouldn't be that much work since they'd get fewer returns in the first place. Many of the people who work at these stores have probably seen LEGO at some point in their lives and would know what to look for. Many other toys have the "plastic window" that allow you to see the contents so it's much harder to return them sans the contents.

But since they get to write-off the garbage returned as losses they don't care as much as they should.

Who knows, the next evolution in TRU returns might just have airport type scanners to really see what's inside!!

Edited April 8, 2016 by gregpj
oops, missed an important word

[KShine]

You would think that the general 10%-20% premium in price would cover any excess shrinkage problems they might be having.

[lazuli16]

  On 4/8/2016 at 10:16 AM, Phil B said:

Macy's in the US does the tagging approach - and that seems to work ok (however, I would imagine it is not a big deal to move the sticker bar-code they apply to another box if so inclined).

Spot checking the contents requires that your personnel knows what is supposed to be in a set. That would require some sort of a database (perhaps provided by LEGO) that could tell the clerk on the spot what they need to check for (e.g. bag count, which figures need to be in which bags etc.). Sounds like too much work.

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My Walmart opens the box and dumps the contents out to see if the bags are sealed.  I doubt the CSR knows if they are the right bags.

[dcdfan]

  On 4/8/2016 at 11:01 AM, KShine said:

You would think that the general 10%-20% premium in price would cover any excess shrinkage problems they might be having.

The markup only covers the cost of the lemons they gotta suck on...

[Guest]

  On 4/8/2016 at 2:00 AM, Alpinemaps said:

Those words were uttered to me today, by the clerk that rang me up at TRU today.

She said that LEGO is a "high theft" item, and that they've had too many people buy LEGO at Target (in the same shopping center), and return it to them.  So all sales of LEGO are final, and they won't take them back.

I asked her if this was new, and she said that it has been their policy for awhile.  Now, I'm not so sure of that; I've been buying LEGO at this store for a long time; even bought something at this store yesterday, and this is the first time this "policy" has ever been mentioned to me. 

It wouldn't surprise me if the manager did inact this policy, though.  This particular TRU, a number of months back, had three 75919 IR Breakout sets on the shelf; and all three of them were missing the dino (as marked on the box).  I wouldn't be at all surprised if they really did decide to do this.

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That's what chargebacks are for.

[Jeffrey_Dollars]

  On 4/8/2016 at 12:47 PM, lazuli16 said:

My Walmart opens the box and dumps the contents out to see if the bags are sealed.  I doubt the CSR knows if they are the right bags.

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Why wouldn't they know? All they would have to do is examine the contents of every single lego set that gets released and then memorize that information. Sounds possible to me. 

[LegoEdison]

  On 4/8/2016 at 3:07 PM, Jeffrey_Dollars said:

Why wouldn't they know? All they would have to do is examine the contents of every single lego set that gets released and then memorize that information. Sounds possible to me. 

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or open another sealed case on the shelf to compare 

[Bold-Arrow]

interesting

[jaisonline]

  On 4/9/2016 at 1:38 AM, Bold-Arrow said:

interesting

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Agreed.

Wish more stores would do this to limit shrinkage.  I've been lucky buying new Lego sets as I don't recall every getting one with missing elements.

[Alpinemaps]

I happened back to this same TRU today.  Bought some LEGO.  The cashier is a day manager type, that recognizes me and says hi when I came in.  Not a peep out of her about the return policy when she rang me up today.  Maybe she assumes I know it?

[exciter1]

  On 4/9/2016 at 4:24 AM, Alpinemaps said:

I happened back to this same TRU today.  Bought some LEGO.  The cashier is a day manager type, that recognizes me and says hi when I came in.  Not a peep out of her about the return policy when she rang me up today.  Maybe she assumes I know it?

I wouldn't be able to contain myself. I would have probably started with, "The person who checked me out the other day went out of their way to tell me something weird about LEGO purchases and the return policies for this store."

[Bold-Arrow]

I know Lego theft is a huge issue at TRU . My store manager told me they lost over 25,000 dollar is stolen Lego last year at his store and the company is trying to figure out how ways to fight that.