[shell1213]

"The reason Target may have required you to exchange your item(s) within the same department may be that the receipt was expired."

"I mean, come on- are you telling me that within 3 months, you can't decide whether to keep something or not? If you have had it for that long, you should have to keep it."

"One more thing- just because you shop somewhere, Target or elsewhere, you should not have this misguided sense of entitlement. A store is not your personal castle with servants to please you. It is a place of exchange-the store gets your money, and you get a product you supposedly wanted in the first place."

WOW!!!! First of all, you might want to read my post again....I don't think a return within 2 weeks (14 days) warrants a same department exchange or a refund/store credit of the lowest marked down price. In addition, I don't think I have a misguided sense of entitlement when I purchase an item, take it home for its intended use and the item just will not work for that use. Believe me, I worked in retail for MANY years and will never treat store employees as my servants in my "personal castle." Moreover, if I, or any other reasonable customer, receives an item as a gift, has a receipt and returns said item for exchange within the specified time frame, we should not be penalized by having to exchange said item for another in the same department --I may not need an item in that department. I will spend my money at the SAME store so Target will not be losing any dollars. Customers and gift recipients lose out because they are not refunded the original cost of the item/gift nor can they exchange for something from a different department they could actually use.

I will say one of your comments hits the nail on the head with one caveat:
"It is a place of exchange-the store gets your money, and you get a product you supposedly wanted in the first place." If that product that I originally wanted is unsuitable, unuseable or unwanted, another exchange takes place: the customer returns the unused item (i.e. in the same condition in which it was purchased) back to the store in the specified time frame, the store adds it back into their inventory for resell and the customer gets his/her money back to purchase a replacement item that would suit the original intent for purchase. You are saying that request is unreasonable and creates a feeling of entitlement on my part?? Come on!!!!!!!!