The Avengers vs The overly cautious Target employee (slightly long)

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12 replies [Last post]
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Joined: 2012-01-03

We always hear or see the results of scammer returns in retail, I suppose the following is how Target is trying to protect themselves.

I had purchased 2 Avengers figures (Ultimates Cap, and a Hawkeye) on Saturday at Target. Later that day, I decided to check TRU for a Black Widow, or maybe the ones I just bought at Target since they still had the Buy one get one 1/2. No luck on Widow or Cap, but they did have Hawkeye and a few Skrulls. So I bought Hawkeye, and 1 Skrull. When I got home I went over the receipts and found that Target's receipt doesn't have individual UPC numbers for the figues so I figured I'd return Hawkeye and the Skrull to Target the next day.

Go to Target the next day, receipt and figures in hand, mind you the figures are still unopened, in nice cards. So I give them to the Target employee and tell her I didn't want them. She looks at the receipt, looks at the back of the Hawkeye card, looks at the bottom of the blister pack, slightly pushes it in to see if the barcode wasn't inserted from another figure. I thought OK, she's actually watching out for scammers, props to her.

She then sticks her fingernail between the card and the bottom of the blister pack where it is glued to the card, separating the two, and says to me "This looks like it's been glued". I tell her that's how they all are, and she picks up the Skrull, bending the card, and says "It looks like it's been opened". So I told her "Yes, you just opened it in front of me". So she says ok I'll put the credit back on your card.

What the hell, 2 figures in mint, saleable condition, until they get to the returns desk where one has its card bent, and the other is partially separated from the card back. I thought these would go back to the toy section and some fellow collector would get a shot at them, but now I'm wondering what will happen. I wonder if everyone working the returns desk was taught to do this.

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Ash 618's picture
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Joined: 2012-01-04

But you abused the return policy by gaining 5 bucks. Right? Wink

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Joined: 2012-01-03

It was actually around 3 and change, but hey, that's why I save my receipts. Cool Along with the return of a K-Mart excl Movie Masters Bats, to K-Mart, the total was closer to 6 bucks.

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Anonymous (not verified)

Well, it would really only bother a mint on card person, those figures would be fine for a person who displays their figures or someone who just liked the movie and wants a Hawkeye (plenty of those out there but with usually with no prayer of finding one per case figures due to us collectors.)

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Joined: 2012-01-04

Actually, I'd be happy to think Target is finally training it's employees to check on such things; I've seen so many of their exclusive packs, especially with Cars, that have been returned with the exclusive items replaced, that it's ridiculous.

And for those folks who love to do this kind of thing, returning stuff to save some bucks, I don't want to hear you crying when a retailer stops carrying that particular line. Returns of any kind are tracked, and if something shows too many returns, that's a reason to stop carrying it. This is likely even worse at Target, where they drop things if the wind changes to a direction they don't like...

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Joined: 2012-01-03

Scott's got it nailed down.

The Lemming (not verified)

scott metzger wrote:
Actually, I'd be happy to think Target is finally training it's employees to check on such things; I've seen so many of their exclusive packs, especially with Cars, that have been returned with the exclusive items replaced, that it's ridiculous.

And for those folks who love to do this kind of thing, returning stuff to save some bucks, I don't want to hear you crying when a retailer stops carrying that particular line. Returns of any kind are tracked, and if something shows too many returns, that's a reason to stop carrying it. This is likely even worse at Target, where they drop things if the wind changes to a direction they don't like...

I'm fine with that... paying insane prices for toys is stupid... straight up.

I would gladly pay what they are "actually" worth ($6-$9 tops w/factoring in extras and size). Being charged $9.99, $15.99, $19.99 for plastic play things is due to greedy toy companies plain and simple (workers, oil, factories, blah, blah, blah aside).

I'll counter these outrageous toy prices with BOGO purchases, keeping receipts for cheaper purchase swaps/returns and waiting for clearance prices for most bulk purchases. Paying full retail ONLY encourages the current price structure, and future price hikes.

I have no problem with a toy line going bye-bye as a result of me, and others, working within the system to manage absurd price points. See ya later YJ. Tongue

Good day sir.

Wink

TL

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Joined: 2012-01-04

8 years ago I was returning the below beautifully packaged Star Wars OTC Slave I to Target because I had picked it up cheaper on clearance later, and the teen checkout girl opened and absolutely dismantled the entire box in her efforts to "check" the item. The box was nothing but a flat piece of cardboard with flaps and tabs sticking out everywhere like octopus arms. I have no idea what happened to that one but, again, I would have hoped they would resell it, not throw it in the trash.

http://www.rebelscum.com/photo.asp?image=/OTC/otco4slave1boxfr.jpg

At other times I've seen some of the employees carefully check all sides of the item to try and make sure it's not been opened. Of course half the time I end up having to tell them that all the 3.75" Marvel figures come taped up like that. This careful checking is rare though. We have criminal bandits regularly returning repackaged old junk toys in brand new recent toy boxes, usually taped up with cheap cloudy scotch tape, and they end up back on the store shelf for sale.

Anonymous (not verified)

Target is also straight up mismanaging the DKR sticker promotion. I assume the stickers are meant to be on the plastic portion of the Movie Masters, so you must buy and open them to get your code. This has been done correctly 99.9999% of the time, much to the chagrin of some, as I see lots of Batman's with the sticker torn because of unsuccessful attempts to peel it off in-store. But those ugly figures 3 3/4 with the huge backpack launchers? They have them on the card. What is the point of that? But I brushed off my concern, not really interested in those anyway. Then I look down and see this 3-in-one Bat vehicle, it has a sticker on the front that you can clearly read through the clear top of the box. And they're all flipped that way on the shelf indicating someone's already taken all the codes off those, so those are gonna rot on the shelves for awhile.

So I've been waiting for Alfred to hit Target, as I already bought Bane and I'd like to get tickets for both me and my son, but don't really want to buy that same damned Batman to get it, especially when I need Alfred and Bane anyhow. I even left an Alfred on the shelf at K-Mart weeks ago, even though it was much cheaper. So I finally happen upon Alfred...you wanna guess where they put the sticker? On the card! The card! I've already seen tearing the damn thing off won't work and I've already read on fwoosh that anti-adhesive liquids like goo gone soak the sticker, making the ink run and the code useless. So I left it.

And yeah, I could buy one of the damned Bat-men but I'm so disgusted with the whole thing. I lucked out and K-Mart still had Alfred. Some nice people on the fwoosh offered to to give me an extra code but I'm sick of the whole thing. I'd rather buy my tickets at this point.

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Joined: 2012-01-04

Before I read about any problems with the stickers, I tore the one off of the 4" 4-pack with Catwoman with no problem. The sticker came off as a separate piece, totally legible on the back of it, and it left a clear adhesive square stuck to the package behind it. I'm trying to tear the sticker off Bane now though, and I can see it's not working the same way and the adhesive is directly on the printed background and it's destroying the writing as I pull on it.

Around here, Target has only gotten cases with 4 Batman and 2 Bane, no Alfreds or Catwomans yet.

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Joined: 2012-01-04

Also not quite sure how you were planning to get 2 tickets with purchase of only 2 Movie Masters figures. The site makes you enter a Movie Money code AND a UPC for each item you enter. You can't just enter one Movie Money code if you're submitting 2 different products to get over $20. Each UPC entered needs the corresponding unique Movie Money code from its package.

The site won't accept UPCs from the cartoony Batman action figure line either, despite the fact that the Movie Money sticker says all Batman products are eligible, but other than that it doesn't seem to care which Dark Knight item you enter. It doesn't seem to have to be the one you actually got the Movie Money code off of.

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Joined: 2012-01-04

I was just able to read the MM Bane code without opening the package by shining a lamp through the bottom of the package, pressing my thumb against the code sticker to make it bend inward at a slight angle, and peer through the bottom of the package right between the Bat Signal piece and the part where extra layers of the inner plastic bubble begin that cloud up the view.

Anonymous (not verified)

JediJones wrote:
Also not quite sure how you were planning to get 2 tickets with purchase of only 2 Movie Masters figures. The site makes you enter a Movie Money code AND a UPC for each item you enter. You can't just enter one Movie Money code if you're submitting 2 different products to get over $20. Each UPC entered needs the corresponding unique Movie Money code from its package.

All you need is one code per ticket, you can enter in other DKR products until you reach the $20 requirement. Which is good, since the only thing I wanted that had stickers on it were the MM. The vehicles, mask and other such products I got for my kid don't have stickers. I have gotten well over the required $40 bucks for two tickets in other Mattel DKR products, but because Target didn't put stickers on those, I ended up with only one ticket. But I've only seen the stickers on some of the 4 inch products, the 4 inch 5 pack, the movie masters and the big ticket 3-in-1 vehicle. But out of all those, the Movie Masters were the only things we were gonna buy anyway. But like I said, I'm done with the whole damn promotion, already bought myself a ticket and saved my self some cash in the process.