"95 percent of all returned gadgets still work, Americans don't read manuals"

86% of statistics are made up right on the spot.

98.9% of people will lie sometimes about their reason for returning merchandise.

It isn't that they think it doesn't work because they didn't read the manual, it is jus that saying "it doesn't work" is sometimes the easiest way to return something not wanted.

Gadgets are especially prone for returns. We'll see the gadget and think how cool it looks/sounds and then find out it is a piece of silly crap so we return it.

Guilty as charged.


*slinks away with her receipts*

My parents have a toy shop, and my mum often gives me stuff to check after people bring it back because it won't work. There is almost never anything wrong with them. A lot of these are for people my mum trusts, and who are either waiting to get the toy back or have been given a new one. There is the odd person who you can see just doesn't want it, but it happens less than you think, at home at least.

I used to work for Radio Shack, and I would believe those numbers. First thing we did on a return was check the 'malfunction' that the customer reported. If we could fix the 'malfunction' and show them it did work, most would walk out without returning it.

A few simply said "Look, I don't want it. Can I just return it?" which was always a "Of course, just had to say that in the first place!"

My favorite was the older gentlemen who claimed his caller ID was stuck on 555-5555. We peeled the 'display sticker' off the front, he mumbled sorry under his breath, and walked out very quickly.

Batteries were the usual case though. Especially cordless phones which have a battery inside them, which ISN'T HOOKED UP. It's shipped unhooked. Page one of the manual.. "Hook up battery"

I think the real problem occurs when the store (i.e. Walmart) just accepts the products back without looking at them to determine the cause of the malfunction. People want their stuff to work right. They don't want the hassle of buying, returning, rebuying, and THEN figuring out it doesn't work.

This is why every time I try to return something that I KNOW is broken (because I know what I'm doing) I have to go through a 10 minute song and dance. RTFM people!!! (Read The F****** Manual)

I have, in the past, taken pleasure in demonstrating to customers that their faulty merchandise is in perfect working order.

Strange, true and ever so slightly off topic, but a lot of people get bent out of shape and more than a little aggressive if you dare to suggest that maybe their CD player might be at fault, rather than the CD which is demonstrably playing perfectly throughout the duration of the debate.

I keep those pieces of silly crap in an effort to remind myself not to buy other pieces of silly crap.

I'll let you know if it ever starts working.