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Do you ever lose your cool when dealing with consumer returns? Oh yes you do. With the power of the internet you can share your snit with the world. Twenty four hours ago I was in an all social media hands on deck war with uncovet for rescinding their offer to issue a refund. They told me to return two bags. On my own dime I shipped them back. I got a friendly email saying I was outside their return window and they had sent the bags back to me! Some weird customer service I thought. So I complained all the way up the ladder to the owner who I managed to contact on LinkedIn. Heather Lipner heard me out and decided to issue a refund.

So today uncovet is henceforth covet-able again. An informal poll conducted amongst my Facebook friends backs up my notion that people won’t do business twice with a business having a sketchy return policy.

What a novelty to have a human interaction regarding customer service that actually ended in my favor. Thanks to my OCD level of persistence I once spent an hour trying to return a $12 set of silverware at IKEA. Yes, my time is valuable, but so was the principle. After the purchase I took the set home and discovered a missing fork. IKEA kept repeating that they wouldn’t take back the set because there was a fork missing. I’m not kidding. When the rep hid out in a back room for twenty minutes, returning to find I was still there, I wore them down and got my refund.

My dear departed mother was my shopping idol. She filled our home with boxes of light bulbs and cleaning supplies sent as apologies in response to her well crafted complaint letters. The topper was a hand drawn response letter from a toilet paper company diagramming the proper way to unroll the tissue along with a years supply of tissues. Oh if only life was still that simple. You could reason with a human being back then. I often suspect I’m conversing with robots who have taken over customer service feedback pages. No matter what vitriol you spout in the comment section you receive an emotionless form letter response. I’m convinced my mother inspired the National Tissue Company to invent the New Royale Center Pull Toilet Tissue dispenser.

Folks, good customer service is alive and well. Everyone knows the name of a company that’s built good will and loyalty with their friendly return policy.

I am positive that given a choice, one would prefer to shop where you are treated well. And you do indeed have that choice. There are too many places to spend your money to fool around trying to return purchases that didn’t meet your expectations.

Your comments on your own shopping horror stories are most welcome here. Together we can get the message across to retailers and change the fashionista world for the better. Ok, this isn’t world peace level importance but hear me out, don’t accept a lack of civility in your life.