Beware of Kohl's Gift Receipts

[Jones451]

Kohl's does not care about their customers! All they care about is the dollar and how they're going to keep it and their return policy proves it! It is NOT customer friendly AND their gift receipt is not worth the paper it is printed on! They are doing nothing but lying to their customers making them think that the people they give their gift to can bring the gift receipt back with the item purchased and it will work the same as the original receipt! In other words, leading them to believe they will get their money refunded and getting a gift card is not getting your money back! That is nothing but a lie or is that the way they treat their customers with their original receipt? I received a gift for Christmas with the gift receipt included that had been purchased from Kohl’s. I had to take it back, Dec. 26th, to my local store. When I presented the item with the gift receipt, I was told they could not give me my money back. Instead, I had to take a gift card. This made me MAD and I’m still MAD today and I’m going to make sure everybody knows about it!!! I was NOT given a choice between a gift card or money. The decision was made by someone who doesn’t care if they have satisfied customers! I talked with the manager and I asked him what if I couldn’t find anything to purchase with that card and it didn’t matter. He told me he couldn’t override the gift card because it was store policy. In other words, I was stuck with it. I had to take it or do without. He also mentioned something about if my gift had been charged on a charge card, then they couldn’t give me my money back either. I don’t know if it was or not but even if it had been, why were they punishing me? Why couldn’t they still give me my money back and keep the charges on the buyer's card and bill them as they would if I hadn’t returned it? Their stores don’t carry that much of a variety and nothing I’m interested in. If I had wanted clothes, I would still be trying to find them today because of the way they are displayed at this store. So many items are separated by size NOT style and the styles are all mixed up. For example, one rack is all Large and may have hundreds of styles all mixed up together. We have to go through each item before we can tell if there is anything there we like or not. I have talked with several people and they don’t look at those items either for the same reason. It would take forever before we would even know if there was anything there that we liked or not. Also, I am not a jewelry person but I finally had to settle on some just so I could get finished with their store once and for all and stay out of there!!! In other words, I had to settle for something I didn’t want but it doesn’t matter to them! I feel as if I didn’t get a gift from my daughter because of Kohl's mess! They got their money that’s all they care about and then making sure the money spent on the gift stays in their store! They force people that have returned items to shop in their store and that is not right! Apparently, future customers don’t matter to them and at this rate, they will have less and less! If they did what was right, they would have given me my money back and let me decide where I wanted to spend it instead of forcing me to purchase something I didn’t want or need but this proves they don’t believe in treating their customers right!

[DANCINONSTRZ68]

Hi there. I work for Kohl's and just wanted to tell you that I am sorry you had such a hard time returning your gift. Kohls is really a great place not only to shop, but to work at as well. We DO care about our customers and the reason we give you back a gift card is because it is a GIFT RECEIPT that you have and it is unethical to return something on someone's credit card like you suggest and then re use that credit card to purchase something else...maybe twice as expensive as the original.. how would you feel if it were your card and someone were to do that to you? I know I would be really ticked off with a move like that! So, as you can see, we are NOT punishing you.. the gift receipt printed and given to our customers in case they do have to bring it back, so they get the correct PRICE that the person paid for it at the time of purchase. I hope this explains things a little more for you

[PennStateCutie]

Jones - I have to side w/ Dancin & Kohl's on this one...stores have policies for a reason & that is to protect themselves. MANY stores, not just Kohl's, have return policies that are similar (giving gift cards in exchange for returned merchandise). If you are unhappy with the gift card, maybe you can find someone who enjoys shopping at Kohl's and give them the gift card in exchange for money...or you can just pay it forward and give it to them for free! Tis the season, after all They're not trying to scam you...they're just protecting themselves from fraudulent returns...remember that just because you would never do that doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of dishonest people out there who would.

[Jones451]

If I hadn't had a receipt of any kind, I would understand and agree completely. But, since I had a gift receipt, why couldn't that work the same as the original receipt? I don't shop at Kohl's and I really didn't find anything I wanted. I also received a gift from WalMart that I didn't have any kind of receipt for that I had to take back because I had the item. I took it back and they gave me a gift card. I don't mind that at all and I understand because I didn't have a receipt. Plus at Wal Mart, you have many more options and if nothing else, you can buy your groceries with it but at Kohl's you're very limited and I DID have a gift receipt. I am not the only one that had been told that this gift receipt worked like the original receipt. I have told several of my friends and family and they had understood the same as I did. If a person has the gift receipt for that particular item, how can it be a fraudulent return?

[shell1213]

I'm going to have to side with the merchant on this issue. Retailers have store policies to curtail those people who are habitual "returners". It only makes sense to keep the original gift purchase. Look at it this way: Customer buys gift. Recipient returns gift w/gift receipt. Retailer must deduct the original purchase from sales and issues gift card which then cannot be counted as sales until redeemed. They don't want to give away their original purchase to another retailer. I personally love Kohl's (I have a college age child who also works for Kohl's) and enjoy it even more after yesterday's experience. I inadvertently threw out a receipt for a couple of ornaments I purchased at 60% off. Since I didn't have the receipt, and Christmas mdse was now reduced 70%, I was willing to eat the additional 10% discount. HOWEVER, customer svc. asked for the credit card I originally used, cross referenced the original transaction and credited the entire purchase price back to my account. LOVED IT!!! The real merchant you have to watch out for re: returns is another fave: TARGET. Even with a receipt, once an item goes on further discount, you are refunded the lowest price which is placed in a gift card AND you must use this store credit in the same dept. as your original purchase. THAT is aggravating!!!!!!!!

[birdflyingaway]

you are not really thinking this out.

if the item was charged on a credit card the only way to get a refund is either to put the money back on the original credit card that was used or to get a gift card.

you could not get cash for a credit card purchase, even if you had the original receipt and the original credit card it was charged on.

this was a gift to you, you are not trying to get your money back. someone else bought you a gift out of the kindness of their heart. you had to return said gift for whatever reason. you got a gift card for your returned gift.