independent bookstore owner slams customer who bought $800 of art/cook books for holiday decor

[Demovictory9]

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11634593/Chicago-bookstore-owner-slams-customer-bought-800-books-stage-home-returned-refund.html

Chicago independent bookstore owner slams customer who bought $800 of art and cookery books to decorate their home for CHRISTMAS - only to return them after holidays ended

An independent Chicago bookseller vented their frustration after a custppomer returned a purchase of art and cookbooks worth $800

The buyer had bought the books in December to use them as temporary decorations for the holidays and then returned them once they were over

Rebecca George's tweet has been viewed millions of times with many people responded by offering support and suggesting ways to prevent it in the future

'Turns out one of our biggest sales last month was for the person to stage their home for the holidays, and now they want to return them all. Please don't do this to a small business, people.' George tweeted.

The tweet has since gone viral with almost 7 million views.

George also noted how the sale amounted to almost one third of her store's monthly rent.

'Wow, this person came in and bought up all these art books! What a great day,' George said she thought at the time of the bumper sale. 'We needed it right then.'

[msongs]

1. simple - a no returns policy. you buy it its yours. books are not likely to stop working nt

[Ms. Toad]

3. That's an extreme response to what appears to have been a single jerk.

The owner indicated only 1% of book purchase are returned.

Driving away customers becase one was a jerk is not a good policy, when independent bookstores are struggling to keep the doors open.

[JI7]

6. How would it drive away customers ?

[Ms. Toad]

18. I have lots of choices for where to buy books.

A 30-day return period is pretty standard.

If I not only have to pay more to support my local bookstore (costs are generally higher there than, say, Amazon) but I also have to take the risk that I can't return the book, I'm going to buy from the competition where I don't have that added risk.

[moonscape]

25. Trying to think why one would return a book? I'm

sure there are reasons I’m missing, only in my 72 years of avid reading I’ve not returned a single book. If I read a chapter and don’t like it, I guess I consider it’s on me not the merchant.

[brooklynite]

27. Answer: he never intended to read the books...

They were setting a mood in his house for Christmas visitors

[moonscape]

28. I get that. I was replying to

Ms Toad’s post on that a no return policy would be an issue for her.

[Ms. Toad]

29. If I buy a book as a present, for example,

and find out that the person I am buying it for already has the book. If I sign up for a class, discover the professor is a right wing nut job that I can't stand and drop the class on day 1.

I rarely buy books for myself - I have a subscription to Kindle Unlimited and "read" my books by listening to them. If they aren't available as part of the subscription, I usually check them out of the library. So probably 90% of my book buying is as gifts - and ability to return is a big factor in that kind of purchase.

[niyad]

2. I do not see her tweets as a "slam", just frustration with a terrible asshole of a

customer. The return policy needs readjsting.

[Demovictory9]

4. Agreed

[JI7]

7. Maybe exchange or store credit but not refund .

[niyad]

8. Per the article, the customer got a store credit. But the return policy needs

adjusting.

[cherish44]

5. Idea

Probably not ideal because of the waste but....

Wrap all books in something. Paper, plastic, cellophane (hopefully something recyclable though). Have a sample copy that people can look at in the store to see if they like what's inside. If you unwrap it, it can't be returned unless there's a provable defect in the book.

I used to work for a book publisher. Returned books were not resold. The company just had to eat the cost.

Maybe the people who did this didn't think it through. I imagine if you're going to spend that kind of money on a staging with the intent of returning the items you're probably not thinking about anything other than yourself and your image.

[tanyev]

16. Oh, I think the customer spent a lot of time thinking it through.

And decided they were absolutely entitled to do it. Probably even felt that the bookstore owner owed them for all the free advertising they were getting.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. I would not avoid a bookstore with a policy of "all sales are final".

[NJCher]

10. You gotta' be kidding me

I don’t know of a single bookstore that has a return policy around here. You buy it, it’s yours.

To do otherwise makes it in effect a library.

I’m glad this selfish idiot only got a store credit.

[intheflow]

24. Yep. These could have been library books.

At the old library where I worked, I remember a patron who came in a few days before Christmas every year to check out huge coffee table art books, books of short stories, and graphic novels to leave around the house over the holidays when she had family visiting. It gave her guests something to do besides watch tv. I thought it was a brilliant idea.

That someone would do this to a small business is 100% inexcusable when they literally could have gone to the library.

[Croney]

11. Amazon allows books to be returned. I did it once when

I found out that the person I planned to give it to already had the book. I felt like George Costanza. You can't return this book! It's flagged! It's been in the bathroom!

[electric_blue68]

12. Wow...how selfishly entitled was that!

[hlthe2b]

13. I RARELY return things. Even Amazon has noticed as I've gotten accelerated service

before on the exceedingly rare occasion that I've had to return something (typically in exchange for the same item), so nearly always for a problem with the specific product.
I've even had customer service reps send the replacement out the same day.

I don't know how people can feel no guilt about the excessive and overwhelming merchandise return on a mere "whim"... Especially to local businesses that have been struggling for years.

I feel for that bookstore. That customer is an absolute a'hole.

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

30. me too.... returned maybe 3 items out of a hundred purchases

[dembotoz]

14. friend works in retail. Amazed at how much gets returned.

mountains and mountains...

some gets restocked, some goes to the dumpsters.

If you set a policy, no matter what, folks will take it to the edge.

[bottomofthehill]

15. A book store that allows you to return the books is a library.

[Ms. Toad]

19. A 30-day return policy is pretty standard,

In bookstores, as elsewhere.

I would think twice, at a minimum, about buying from a place without a return policy.

[Beaverhausen]

32. So you buy the book, read it, and return it?

Really?

I hope you are ok getting store credit and not you money back.

[Ms. Toad]

33. No. I buy the book to give to someone at a baby shower -

and a half dozen others buy the new parents the same book. I buy a book for a birthday or Christmas present - and discover the recipient already have that book (or hate that author). I buy the book for a class, which I drop because it turns out the professor is a right wing nut job I wouldn't be able to stand for the semester.

At least 90% of my book-buying falls into one of those categories, since most of my personal reading is either my audio book subscription or checked out from the library.

You really aren't imaginative enough to think of reasons a book might be returned, other than to cheat the system? Do you assume the same of people who occasionally need to return other things?

[Beaverhausen]

34. But do you agree that store credit should be the only way to return?

Do you think what the customer who is the topic of this thread did is ok and she should get her money back?

[Ms. Toad]

37. Those are two different questions.

A 30 day return is standard. If a store where I'm considering buying a present (or a textbook) won't refund the purchase price within 30 days, I'll spend my money elsewhere that will. I'm already spending extra to patronize a brick and mortar store. I'm not willing to be additionally punished because one person was a jerk.

What the customer did is certainly morally reprehensible. She also missed the 30-day deadline and was not entitled to a refund. I probably wouldn't even have given her a store credit.

[Hortensis]

26. The seller says returns are actually very rare, @ 1%, usually

because the buyer turns out to already have a copy.

[Hotler]

17. We can't take that book back it's been in the bathroom.

[panader0]

20. I bought a book from Amazon about Dec 10th for my daughter's xmas gift

and, as of yesterday it still has not been sent. So I asked for a refund. If it came now I would
have to mail it to her. So I gave her my copy of 'Under the Volcano' instead. I have never before
returned a book. I often buy books used and keep what I buy. Lots of books here at my house.
My daughter said she read 41 books this past year--she rated them all with stars for some
internet club.

[sinkingfeeling]

21. The only things I've ever returned anywhere are excess building supplies, like two unneeded

boxes of flooring.

If I want a used book, I'll buy it at a used book store or thrift shop.

[yardwork]

22. Using books as props - sort of sums up what's wrong with so much of our society.

I can understand using a few beautiful books as decorations, but there's something very superficial about buying books only to use as props.

[Carlitos Brigante]

23. I'd be willing to bet the asshole who did this, can more than afford to buy

all that. But chose to fuck the store over. Which is probably one of the reasons why they are rich in the first place. But who knows why people are the way they are.

On the other hand reading about complete strangers trying to spend and donate money does give me a tiny glimmer of hope for humanity.

[LiberalFighter]

31. The customer needs to be identified and banned.

[TdeV]

35. The bookstore's owner is Rebecca George from VOLUMES BOOKS

and here is Rebecca's tweet which has been viewed 6.9 million times

Link to tweet

The bookstore's name is VOLUMES BOOKS
https://www.volumesbooks.com/

Natch, I bought a book

[Demovictory9]

36. 🌞