There are a few things I’m wildly passionate about – kinda pet peevy things that have bugged me forever.

One is people not putting their effing shopping carts back at Harris Teeter, which I’ve mentioned before.  It’s kind of a trigger for me.  Like I wrote into the local paper about it.

The second is returns.  Or why I can’t stand the abuse of return policies.

And I think I’m sort of sensitive to this having worked pretty extensively in retail.  We have a really really generous return policy, and unfortunately. what that means is that sometimes folks really abuse the policy, and use it as an opportunity to use us a a closet.  Which totally blows for us (the retailer) because we don’t always get credit on things returned to us so we take an L.  Some of that stuff is built into the prices.  Some of it isn’t, and it drives prices up.  Not a fun place to be.

So yesterday, a person in a group I’m a part of on mentioned that they got a notice from Amazon because as a runner, they’d been ordering shoes, and sending them back, due to some issues with some foot pain and whatnot.  Which I get, but also, I understand completely where Amazon is coming from.

Now, Amazon isn’t super transparent about what the magic number is that will get you one of those fun notices, but it seems like by communicating early and asking if everything is okay with your account, they’re sending the message that they get it, but you can’t treat them like a personal shopper.

Which I totally get. I have, we all have, been in a spot where you have to return something because it’s just not working, defective, or not what you thought it was, but when you’re staring at 4, 5, 10 returns in the span of a month, you really need to question if there’s another way you need to start going about purchases.

So I know places like Amazon, Lululemon, and REI cracking down on their return policies is so annoying, but super necessary.  And if you find yourself starting to become a chronic returner of an item, or a category of item, it may be time to switch up the game plan.

Onto happier things!

What are your favorite places with the BEST customer service?

I continue to be impressed by Amazon – I broke my Kindle, and they really were apologetic, and asked what they could do to help me fix it.  I totally ended up buying another because they were so nice to me.

FitBit – I lost the band on the Flex Twice – ended up spending MORE money because of how awesome they were to work with.

Lululemon – I checked in with one of their educators to find some good maternity stuff, and because they know their products so well, they were able to give me immediate word on what would work throughout the pregnancy.  I will spend some money there for sure!