Prev | Next | Contents

11.0 GET A REFUND FROM STORES AND MERCHANTS

==Average Discount = $600

A sale is really not complete unless you are satisfied. If you find you bought something that did not meet your needs for any reason, then you should take it back.

I estimate that the average family could save 1%-3% a year, or about $600 tax free each and every year, simply by returning clothes, food, hardware, toys, that they've bought by mistake. For example, studies show that people are dissatisfied with about of a third of the new clothes they buy and yet they do not get a refund. See end notes in Chapter 17.

However, many people cannot bear to bring things back. They look for any excuse: maybe I can give this belt as a present next Christmas, maybe I'll grow to like it, maybe someone I know will like it, etc. My mother had a drawer of items she had bought that she should have taken back and never did. They were still in the original boxes and looked brand new. She said she kept them to give away as gifts, but the drawer was always full.

11.0.1 HOW TO ASK FOR A REFUND

Some people are embarrassed to return things, especially for "trivial" reasons: the color was wrong, it smelled funny, it didn't quite go with other things.

Yet, the color of clothes, for example, is very hard to judge in a store and can only be fully evaluated next to other clothes. "Trivial" reasons are not really trivial. You spent your money and you didn't get what you needed so get your money back. It's that simple.

Make returning items part of your shopping routine. The trick is to not go out of your way and to not spend a lot of time doing it. How do you do this? Return things when you plan to shop there anyway.

Prev | Next | Contents