After purchasing a red dress at a Ross of ross catonsville, the sales associate told me that if I wanted to save some money, I should “save the receipt”, and bring it back in two weeks. This sounded like a great idea: I would get an item for less but return it within two weeks – what’s not to love? At first this seemed like an easy decision, but after waking up the next day with no receipt and finding out what a headache returning things without one is, let’s just say this was not a good idea.
You can’t trust anyone who doesn’t want their name attached to your purchase! At least now my conscience is clean – and so are my bank account records.
1. Take the Dress To Check
I had decided to go to the store with one purpose in mind: finding a suitable replacement for my tiny little Ross dress. I knew that Ross offered a really good return policy, so I figured if it didn’t fit at all like my other one, I could bring it back. There is only one problem with this approach – when you come into a store with the express purpose of trying an item on, you enter a whole new level of “not interested in trying this item on” – at least not at first.
Once we were standing in front of an actual fitting room, (the nicer kind), I wasn’t any more excited about trying this dress on than the last time.
2. Bring it Home
I have seen marathon runners reach their finished line with more excitement than I had when I walked out of that fitting room. There was nothing wrong with the dress, but it didn’t make me feel like I wanted to run a hundred miles in it, like I wanted to skip to the end of a song, or even want to move – in fact all I wanted was for it to go away.
3. Return It
The return policy at Ross reads as follows: “If you find an item you no longer need within two weeks of your purchase date, bring the item back in its original packaging and we will exchange it for another style or refund your money. There is no limit to how many times you can return an item without charge.”
4. Stress
When the time came to pay for my dress, I was expecting some sort of exchange fee – but nope! The only cost was the original purchase price. So, I had a $60+ dress for only $37.93!
5. Share Fallacy
The way the sales associate explained it to me, it sounded like an easy decision. After all, it’s not like you can get a lot out of something if you don’t even try it on! Plus, she told me that I would end up spending more on shipping than if I had just returned the dress.
6. Regret
Now that I have my receipt, all I have to do is wear this dress for about a week, and then it’s headed for the return line. As of right now, I have no idea what to get instead of this dress. Did I mention that most of the dresses at Ross are around $30? Oh well!
7. Bad Idea!
I’m going to keep this dress because it has a good fit and it was only $37.93 while trying on clothes in front of strangers is not my idea of fun. Plus, I’m a bad person and returning this dress isn’t going to change that!
8. Good Idea
I should also note that one of my favorite TV shows is called “What not to wear” and it’s a show about helping people look their best. So, if you have bad fashion sense, or don’t have the money for designer clothes, I would suggest you watch their website for tips! They also offer some advice on how to choose flattering outfits that are still in your budget.
Conclusion:
Overall, the return policy at Ross sounds like a great idea at first, but after trying it out for myself I have decided that spending $45 dollars on a dress when I only wanted to spend $37.93 isn’t my idea of a “good idea”.
That’s great and all, but just how am I supposed to keep track of all of these things? I don’t remember what the exact dates were that I purchased each item, and how could I know if one was two weeks before or two weeks after? As it turns out, having to trust that sales associates are telling the truth on a regular basis isn’t really much of a problem.
I told my story around the office and everyone agreed that it was smart for me not to leave with anything. The only difference in their experiences is that one friend took the dress home with her, and one didn’t.
