Why can't they just give you a refund at the register?

When you purchase something at a retail store and decide to return it, the standard procedure for the store is to take the item back and immediately issue you a refund — store credit at the very least. That apparently isn’t the model implemented by Cingular/AT&T. A young man in Pennsylvania returned a $43 cell phone charger back in May, within the 10 day return period, but was not handed a refund on the spot. Instead, he was to receive his refund in the mail within 20 days — and would be charged a $6 restocking fee. Lo and behold, the calendar turned to August and the young man still did not receive his refund. Like many consumer issues in the wireless industry, this had to go through a media outlet to find a resolution. And while the young man did end up receiving his refund nearly three months after he returned the item — plus a waiver of the restocking fee — the problem was in the process. Apparently, AT&T employees who take a refund need to fax paperwork to a corporate office. Well, that’s the first place things can go wrong. If you’ve ever worked extensively with fax machines, you know that sometimes faxes simply don’t go through. It’s a casualty of technology.

“Occasionally they either forget the fax, or the fax doesn’t go through, and that’s what causes the holdup,” said [Brian] Wainwright [president of Atlantic Wireless Group Inc.].

Here’s a novel idea: why not get with the times and just hand the customer his or her money back on the spot? That seems the fair and equitable thing to do if a customer returns an item within the specified refund period. If they fall outside of that period, yeah, maybe mailing them a refund could work. But if you’re going to give customers the runaround like this, they’re going to drop you. We wonder if AT&T processes returns like this so it can issue you a refund card. Just another way AT&T blatantly tries to screw its own customers. Seriously, we’re appalled that they get away with all of this and still boast the most subscribers in the U.S. Verizon may limit their customers, but at least they don’t treat them like garbage. [The Express-Times]]]>