Skip Returns & Still Get A Refund!?

My daughter confirmed that this just happened to her at Target. She got my grand daughter a $200 driving toy Jeep, but one of the motors wasn’t working. It still ran, just not on full power. She was expecting them to just send another motor but they sent another whole car and told her to keep the other one.  So, now they have a toy parts Jeep!

All humor aside, whats going on here? I mean that's a pretty pricey item to simply replace, right?

Well, I decided to dig in to this story a bit more and much to my surprise, not only is this currently common, it is also across multiple stores. Walmart, Target, Amazon and other stores will simply let you keep some of your returns. You can ask for a refund, but they might not have to return the item even if they're granted one.

According at report from the Wall Street Journal stores are using artificial intelligence or A.I. which is supposed to reduce costs for the companies overall not having to deal with some returns, it's simply cheaper to have you keep a returned item rather than having it shipped back to the company.

The WSJ article says Target and Walmart gives customers refunds and encourages them to donate or keep the item if it's deemed not necessary to return or the companies see it as an option to keep the refunded item especially if the company doesn't plan to resell the item.

Keep in mind, this ins't the case for every return item. It is handled on a case by case basis. It also opens itself up to people trying to game the system...by getting something for free then reselling it. Don't be "that guy"!

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