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| Friday, December 07, 2007 |
| Challenging L.L. Bean's Return Policy |
This Down East Magazine article: Challenging L.L. Bean's Return Policy tells the tale of how one cash-strapped teen used to use L.L. Bean as his personal 24-hour ATM.
Bean is world-famous for its lenient return policy and, perhaps shockingly, the company is good for their word. Indeed, relatives who work in customer service there tell me it’s the number-two thing that callers are surprised about (the number-one thing is the answer to the question, “are you really in Maine?”)
So it was something of an annual tradition in high school to return our L.L. Bean Christmas presents a few days after unwrapping them. This was not a knock on the company’s fine clothes so much as an adherence to two truths: teenagers don’t like having other people pick out what they wear, and teenagers (generally) do not have a lot of money.
But there was that one winter in which my friend and I did not receive any L.L. Bean’s presents. Of course, we could not let this stop us from getting our haul at the returns desk. After all, what would the seedy pool halls of Central Maine — or other worthwhile charities — do without our annual donations? I am so old that I remember what life was like before ATM machines. I also remember such antiquated retail policies like lay-a-way plans and putting items on "hold". I was never the type to try to abuse a return policy - but I can see how it could be tempting. In college a roommate worked in a retail store in the returns department and she used to keep me in stitches retelling her many tales of foiling people's attempts to return obviously worn or never-purchased-there items. |
| posted by Boston Gal @ 12:01 PM *
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