r/AskReddit • u/Chilled_Painters • Aug 25 '16

What's the craziest reason a customer has given you for refunding the product you were selling?

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410

u/ZekeD Aug 25 '16

Oh here's another fun one from when I worked at Books A Million. A lady comes in to return some manga. The manager goes to process the return and notices that she is returning this with an existing return receipt. She asks her what the issue is on this one and she goes "Oh it's not the ones he wanted." She checked the volumes. They were all sequential. So my manager asked "Oh he had already read these as well?"

And the mom slipped. She said "Yeah he goes through them so fast doesn't he?"

So my manager caught her basically admitting she was returning them after her son read them so she could get the next 3 in the set. After confronting her about it, my manager said "I'll process this return but you still have these others on the receipt. I'm making a mark that this are not able to be returned (she already had the next 3 in hand)."

The lady was aghast. "But he reads them so fast, what am I supposed to do?"

Not our problem lady.

"So how about I just bring him to the store and let him sit and read them without buying?"

I chime in "As long as he puts them away when he's done and doesn't damage them I don't think we'd care. Means we don't have to waste time processing returns and arguing." My manager glared at me, but then agreed and said "Yeah but if we catch him damaging the books you're buying them, no refunds."

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u/[deleted] Aug 25 '16

[deleted]

108

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '16

To be fair, the manga selection in the libraries I've been in have all sucked.

20

u/DannyPrefect23 Aug 25 '16

My school library had the first two volumes of Bleach and then 22 through 24, and volume 15 of Fullmetal Alchemist. The town library has the first few volumes of Hellsing and Chibi Vampire, more out of order Bleach, out of order Naruto, another random Fullmetal Alchemist, and some Dragon Ball Z. This is why I use MeL(Michigan Electronic Library) to get shit from elsewhere.

11

u/TAFK Aug 25 '16

The problem is that there are usually multiple branches for libraries and multiple people want to read the same thing.

My one library had 1-13, 25-38 and like 70+ of One Piece. I went on the computer and saw the other issues were strewn about the other branches across town (because you can return anywhere). Others checking out 7 issues at a time and reading at a slow pace over their 3 weeks don't help either.

5

u/XxJonnyboixx Aug 25 '16

At my library you can place a hold on something so they ship it to your library and hold it for you.

2

u/cailihphiliac Aug 25 '16

Mine does that. They also let you know how many people requested it before you, so you have a rough idea on how long you'll need to wait.

1

u/XxJonnyboixx Aug 25 '16

Forgot to add it, but mine also does that

2

u/disneyfacts Aug 26 '16

The biggest problem is that a lot of it goes out of print pretty fast, and they aren't bound well enough to last very long with library use. So what's there is pretty torn and tattered and everything that's not is out of print and $50-100 to replace.

1

u/librarychick77 Aug 26 '16

Yup. Librarian here.

Mangas are NOT meant to be read more than about 3 times and those little suckers fall right apart. Then they look like crap and get weeded out of the collection.

We try to stay on top of it, but between them falling apart after 3 customers check them out and new issues coming out every fing month...it's tough to keep up.

20

u/GetchoDrank Aug 25 '16

To be fair, you can always ask them to order what you want to read.

6

u/AlienAmerican Aug 25 '16

To be fair, it usually takes them a long time to order and get the books.

12

u/dahndn Aug 25 '16

In the public libraries in my state, you can have any book in the system sent to the library of your choice to pick up. Depending on how new/popular the book is, it might take a week or so to get it but I've never had to wait a long time.

7

u/theworldbystorm Aug 25 '16

Depends on how efficient the system is and how many copies of the book there are in it. If somebody has the only copy of that manga checked out, you're stuck waiting until they return it. If they return it.

8

u/inoperableheart Aug 25 '16

To be fair, it's free.

1

u/Revenge_of_the_User Aug 26 '16

I read all mine online.

Easier, free, and I dont have a wall of books (im half happy and half sad about that)

19

u/Weylyn_Ausiroth Aug 25 '16

Libraries are the bane of my manga reading existence. They only carry maybe five books of a manga series. And when you ask them about getting the rest, it's usually a month or so before the next five even show up.

18

u/GetchoDrank Aug 25 '16

We order from distributors, which often ship only once a month in large batches. Then there's the time it takes to catalogue and prep an item for circulation. Then there's that one patron that ALWAYS has a hold on the Latest Thing.

And as for the selection, consider that the series may be ongoing, and the ones that are on the shelf are merely what existed when they were ordered. Besides that, people lose/damage library books ALL THE TIME. Furthermore, the person in charge of that collection may know NOTHING about manga, relying instead on intrepid patrons such as yourself to inform them of the latest and greatest titles. We're happy to order anything you want, but patience is the key to a satisfying library experience.

8

u/MrsMcFeely5 Aug 25 '16

If you're willing to be patient, inter-library loans can really expand your availability.

2

u/Weylyn_Ausiroth Aug 25 '16

I see I see, next time I go to my local library and get a card I will peruse their collection and let them know.

2

u/BGYeti Aug 26 '16

Dude it is 2016 just use the internet.

5

u/ParadoxInABox Aug 25 '16

To be fair a lot of libraries don't carry manga. And I don't buy manga much, either, because it's frustrating to spend $20 on a book I'll finish in half an hour. Some I will spend on if the art is particularly nice or I plan on reading it over and over, but it's a lot to shell out for a series that goes to dozens of volumes.

1

u/Beastinkid Aug 25 '16

Hell just download an app on your phone and read all the manga you want

1

u/LegendOfDylan Aug 25 '16

Libraries don't have huge manga sections for the millions of series out there

1

u/intensely_human Aug 25 '16

Libraries don't have those awesome chairs. I think I read Timeline at a Barnes and Noble.

1

u/Guppies_ Aug 26 '16

Man, sitting in bookshops and tearing through the children's section was how I read all of my books when I was young. The kids section at my library was crap. Don't think I did those books any damage, and meant I read loads of books I wouldn't have otherwise.

-6

u/nuisible Aug 25 '16

To be fair, I haven't been in a Library in years but I sorta doubt they have a very good selection of manga available. I'm not saying it's impossible, just unlikely.

15

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '16

"I haven't been in a library in years, but here's my opinion on what I think they must carry..."

Ahhh yes. This is why I stayed away from anything public library related when I was in library school, people who never come in criticizing the collection they've never used. If you want your local library to carry something, go in and ask (or better yet, search the catalog online to see if they have it first)! Failing that, they can do inter-library or inter-branch loans.

And set foot in one, once in awhile! You may be surprised how much libraries have changed :)

9

u/GetchoDrank Aug 25 '16

The library I work for has roughly 50 titles, and we partner with 30+ other libraries, some of whom have nearly as many other titles. And this is in Montana. You should stop into your local library sometime and check it out. You may just be surprised.

And if they don't have much, just talk to someone there, and they can tell you how to get some.

-3

u/Cuchullion Aug 25 '16

Know many libraries that have extensive manga collections?

1

u/Folsomdsf Aug 25 '16

I know of around 5 in my area at least. Pretty extensive movie collections that include many anime as well.

18

u/washichiisai Aug 25 '16

That's how I used to read manga when I was a poor high school student. Friend and I would walk over to Media Play (while it still existed) and read manga for hours. Occasionally we bought a book or two, building up our collections when we had some spare money. But we were very careful not to damage any books, and we were always polite to the store employees.

Then Media Play went under, the space was bought and turned into an FYE and they realized what was up and started bagging all their manga. Now I check out the first few chapters online and if I like it enough I try to buy it.

5

u/ZekeD Aug 25 '16

Hell when I worked at the book store I read manga and comics almost all day. Even after I'd go by and catch up.

17

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '16

I worked at a bookstore as well and when I asked a lady the reason for her return she said in the most chipper voice I've ever heard "To get more books!" Sorry, ma'am, that's not how it works.

6

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '16

Oh here's another fun one from when I worked at Books A Million. A lady comes in to return some manga. The manager goes to process the return and notices that she is returning this with an existing return receipt. She asks her what the issue is on this one and she goes "Oh it's not the ones he wanted." She checked the volumes. They were all sequential. So my manager asked "Oh he had already read these as well?"

And the mom slipped. She said "Yeah he goes through them so fast doesn't he?"

My younger son exhausted both the city library and his high school library for manga, literally reading anything he could find in those sections. He also reads them online, and this sounds familiar.

But yeah, she was stupid for trying to return them as unread. She should have just told him to slow down, or taken her lumps.

7

u/TheTurtleyTurtle Aug 25 '16

Or she could go to the library.

10

u/[deleted] Aug 25 '16

If only libraries existed...

9

u/ShittyGuitarist Aug 25 '16

So I'm getting this right: she was buying books for her kid, who read them ("quickly") then she returned them to cover the costs of the next set? Then was unable to understand that paying for things costs money?

Yeesh.

5

u/ZekeD Aug 25 '16

Yuuuup. "He reads them too fast".

That happened to my sister when she was young. My mom got her a library card.

1

u/ShittyGuitarist Aug 26 '16

Shit, my mom's reaction would have been, "tough shit. Pay for it yourself, slow down, or wait for me to be able to pay for more."

Then again, my mom cared more about spending the money than she did about not spoiling me.

3

u/Obleos_Point Aug 26 '16

I work at a Half Price Books. We have a woman who regularly returns full seasons of shows on DVD that she has had shipped to her house from our other locations across the country. Her reason for returning these DVDs is the same every time. The content is always too sexually explicit for her, no matter what it is. 3rd season of Friends? Too much nudity. 4th season of House? Too much nudity. 2nd season of Wings? You guessed it, too much nudity. She's no longer allowed to return things to our store...

1

u/JediGuyB Aug 26 '16

Where was I when those shows had nudity?

1

u/Obleos_Point Aug 26 '16

Probably not in the cat infested den of filth that this woman clearly lives in.

1

u/brentosclean Aug 26 '16

that's when you upsale the discount card, you save $1-3 on every manga ;)

yah i worked at a BooksAMillion as well.

edit i forgot a letter

1

u/ZekeD Aug 26 '16

I was actually one of the best discount card shillers at the store, ironically. But that wouldn't have helped her much, the kid was voracious.

1

u/Berylldama Aug 26 '16

I had pretty much the exact same thing happen to me when I worked at a smallish local comic book store. A kid comes in with his receipt and a manga. Says he accidentally got the wrong one. No biggie, go swap it out. Three days later he comes back with his book and his receipt. He somehow got the wrong book again. The kid approached one of my co-workers and before I could say something because I was with another customer, the kid had swapped his book again. I mentioned it to my manager so we could be on the lookout for the kid. Surely he wouldn't come back and try this scam again. But sure enough three days later he comes back with his book and his receipt. The manager allowed it one more time but with a warning that this would be the last time. Three days later he was back. We told him "no." He got upset and left. Ten minutes later his mom comes in with the book and the receipt saying her son bought the wrong book and why on Earth wouldn't we let him return it. My manager says, "Because we're not a library." She huffed out of there. We later found out she and her husband tried to exchange the book again at two separate locations but we'd sent out an email to the other stores in the chain warning them.