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Trust but verify: Keep your receipts
Posted on Mar 18, 2008 by Tom Fragala
After you purchase a product/service, keep the receipts. That way if you need to return a product, or cancel a service, or file a complaint, you have a record of things like the order number. And if you do return goods via the mail to get a refund or credit, I recommend spending a bit more for proof of delivery and, sometimes, insurance.
Then remember to double check that the retailer or service provider actually DID process the credit or refund. And don't trust implicitly that they will, just because someone says it has, or will be, done over the phone.
I know this is absurdly obvious advice. Yet, something that happened to me recently raised my awareness again. I ordered a pet product from entirelypets.com. It didn't fit, so I called, got an RMA number, and mailed it back--with delivery confirmation. Over two weeks after the shipment was received, no credit had been applied yet to my credit card. So I called again 5 days ago. The phone rep said, "We've had it here for 6 days, but we haven't processed the refund yet. We'll do it now and it will take up to 3 days to appear on your credit card account."
I checked my credit card account this morning, and there was still no credit. I called the retailer this morning and spoke to the same phone rep. He said (no apology) that the credit had not been applied, but now, it would. During this chat, he yelled over the phone to a "supervisor" in the background (it sounded totally contrived, frankly.) He assured me that this time the credit would be applied.
I can only assume this entire episode was a purposefully clever and deceptive kind of "customer service". The idea is that people will just get so tired of calling, or will forget to double check, resulting in getting the product back plus keeping the original amount paid. Sweet deal for the retailer, rotten deal for the consumer.
So, keep your receipts and use them to remind you to check that the entire billing process goes as it should. Keep them in a folder or drawer and clean them out once or twice a year.
Comments
michael webster on Mar 18, 2008
Got any good recommendations for a scanner which does receipts well?
Tom Fragala on Mar 18, 2008
I just keep my paper receipts in a a slot on my desk. Old school but it works for me. I don't have any recommendations for a scanner for receipt, although I've heard about inexpensive handheld ones. Somethign like that might be perfect--you just roll the scanner over the paper receipt--would work well for small and odd size receipts. I'd Google "handheld scanner" or try Nextag or Shopzilla search.
Also, buy a lot online and keep all my receipts in my webmail account archive. I get gigabytes of storage so i just keep everything, and in few seconds can pull up an old receipt/order confirmation. I use Google Gmail and Yahoo Mail myself.
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