I’m in the mood for a small rant.  It might be a little bigger, but I’ll try to hold back.  I had bought a lot of Dylusions paints online from Joanns.  They are very clear that it’s not a problem to return anything you purchase online to any of their local stores.  I decided I’d bought too many similar colors, so wanted to return six of the bottles I had purchased in one order.  I printed the receipt and made sure that every bottle I returned had the matching receipt with a photo of the color.  I’m normally not so anal about making sure I have every possible piece of paper when returning items, but for some reason, Joanns has been a problem to return anything purchased online.  Today was no exception.

I didn’t think it would be a difficult transaction.  After all, I had the receipt with the item information, the packing receipt number and the cost of the item.  I also had the page that showed when the items had been purchased and the order number.  The first cashier starting scanning the bottles.  I asked if she wanted the individual pages showing the paint and it’s color. No, she had all she would need with the cover sheet.  GREAT!   I’m thinking, this is going well…Until she got that furrow in her brow.  Perplexed, I’d call it.  She said, “Did you buy these paints on the same order.”  Yes, I said, and here’s the copy of the order.  “Are you sure you bought these last two with this order?  Yes, here they are on the receipt.  “Huh.”

So I waited and the line grew, and she had no answer, but two of the bottles (I keep calling them bottles, but I guess they are really jars.) were not included on the order.  Super!  How could that happen?  She didn’t know, but she’d need to get the manager, and since it was after 5PM, they only had two workers, and one (the manager) was cutting fabric, so she couldn’t ask her for help.

The line is growing behind me and I’m feeling terrible for both the cashier and the people who have been waiting patiently behind me.  I finally said, “How about if I shop around and when the manager is free, maybe you could ask her for help.”  OK, great.

I came back about ten minutes later and she was talking to the manager, who was equally confused.  I’m not sure about the rest of you, but when I have a receipt, I don’t care what your computer says, you need to honor the receipt.  I had even pointed out to them that one of the colors that was not recognized on the order, had the same tracking number for shipment as the other colors that were recognized.  I’d think that would be enough proof that they should just refund the transaction, but NO.  We need to call corporate headquarters for $6.00.  I wanted to throw the two jars of contraband paint out the window and call it even, as I’d already been there over forty minutes.   I know it’s not the employee or the manager’s fault, but geez, she spent another fifteen minutes with headquarters, who finally walked the manager through how to refund me for all six paints.  Remember the days when a cash register just had dollar amounts on it and no computerization was required?    Remember when a receipt actually meant something?

I lost an hour that I’ll never get back trying to return items with a receipt.  I wish life could be simple again.

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