By Beverley
I purchased an outfit from Winners in advance of a Birthday party my daughter would be attending. It fit nicely and so the tags were removed so that she could wear it to the occasion. The next time she was to wear it she noticed that the entire lower seam had frayed so that it could not be repaired. I searched for the receipt and took it back to the store well over the 10 day exchange policy. The lady at the counter kept me waiting 30 minutes while her and another clerk searched for the item which of course was no longer in stock. I shop at Winners a lot and I had purchased a dress for my other daughter at the same price at the same time. After making me wait for that length of time they entered the SKU on the receipt which identified the item clearly as not the colour or style of the item I was returning. They told me I could get a gift card if I had the correct receipt. I have several issues: They could of entered the SKU right away to confirm if it was the correct receipt for the item and they should be willing to give a refund if the item is defective…….they should have offered some remedy for the defective clothing including reporting the manufacturer to the buyer at their head office. I shop at Winners a lot but the way I was treated by the customer service staff at this location turned me off shopping at their stores. It is difficult to get teenagers to shop at anything but the stores their friends shop at. After this episode I don’t think they are going to wear anything from Winners again.
I am really disappointed that Winners does not care enough about their customers to try to keep them happy. Bad Business.
Kat says...
To be fair, I think they were pretty accomodating when they were willing to return something without tags. It is difficult for a store like Winners to keep track of their inventory solely because of the fact that they get clothing in random lots. I’ve seen many items that were clearly baited and switched (e.g. a customer buys an item of clothing then replaces the tags at home with another piece of less expensive clothing). Now, I’m not saying that is the case with you, but I can see why they need to take the precaution because of the fact.
Their staff really also need to do more quality control on their returns. I have seen clearly worn undergarments, worn shoes and altered dresses being put back on their racks and that to me is just unacceptable.
SD says...
I used to work at Winners a few years ago, and you’ve hit the nail on the head, Kat. The customer service staff see customers trying to return switched tag items DAILY, so they’re supposed to be extremely cautious. When I worked there, they had a separate desk for returns (nowadays you can go to the cashes to do returns). The cashiers handling purchases were encouraged to look for switched tickets and mismated items through a rewards program, but the staff at the customer service desk didn’t have any sort of incentive to rigorously critique the items being returned and since they were paid minimum wage, they simply didn’t care. I always took care in making returns because I don’t like being taken for a fool, but it’s definitely one of the problems with the staff there, and Winners should place a greater emphasis on rewarding their better employees.
Beverly, I’m sorry you had such a disappointing experience. When I worked there, I always suggested that if customers took tags off, to staple them to the receipt and maybe write something descriptive on the back of it to help them remember. That way, if anything happened to the item, they could make an easier return. In general, I found their return policy to be quite generous, IF you’re able to prove you bought the item at Winners at a certain price. If they had accepted the return, they would have “written off” the item, but I guess they felt you were unable to convince them the item came from their store.
Soccer mom says...
I’ve never once had a problem returning anything to Winners. Mind you, I *always* keep my tags attached to the item until I’m positive that I’m going to keep the item.
Meg says...
The item was worn, and tags removed. Not to mention they didn’t have any more of the item in stock to do a straight exchange.
You wouldn’t believe how many low-lifes go out of their way to switch tags and return items they’ve worn out. The employees were just doing their job.
To be honest, I feel they were generous to offer you a gift card. In most stores, no tags means no returns.
Em says...
Yes, they could have entered the SKU right away to find if it was the right receipt but perhaps that just didn’t cross their mind that you might have the wrong receipt. There were no tags on your dress to match up the SKUs…they were just trying to help. People often don’t realize that retail establishments often have terrible lines of communication between head office-management staff-sales staff and while they SHOULD, in an ideal world, know exactly how to process a tagless return, they didn’t and I would just be thankful that I was able to get store credit for something that was worn, tagless and that I didn’t even have the rigth receipt for. It took up your time, but their searching took up their and the stores time as well. If they were rude to you about it then I would complain but it seems like they were just trying to help you
Seema says...
Just had an issue with Winners - purchased two items from them and went to return them at the local store, different from where I purchased. Seems harmless, right, WRONG. They tell me that they cannnot accept the return as the tags do not match the items that I am returning! I don’t understand I say and they just brush me off in telling me to go back to the store I purchased them from and return them there. Are they going to pay for my gas and time taken out of my day to go all the way back to the original Winners to straighten this out when I did nothing wrong accept purchase items from them!!!! There customer service is going to get an earful from me.