CW
Return policy violates the law!
If you have used the $10 Kohl's cash to make purchases and later decided to return all the items, you will find that $10 of your total refund is returned as store credit. This is in violation of the civil law (for California it's CA code 1723. There should be equivalent laws in other states, just search "Customer Returns and Refund Law"). You should be legally entitled to have all the money refunded to you if you follow these steps: 1) Go to a Kohl's store and request for a return. 2) As the service staff ran your receipt, you will be told to get the full refund minus $10, which will be returned in the form of store credit. 3) Without arguing with the staff, calmly request to speak with the store manager. 4) As the manager shows up, ask him/her why part of your money is turned into store credit instead of a full refund. He will tell you it's the store policy, blah blah blah… 5) Ask the manager to show you where this policy is clearly displayed for customer's information, such as the receipt or the back of the Kohl's cash stub. Simply saying the policy being processed in their own computer system doesn't count since it's not accessible to customers. 6) Make the manager double check to confirm that the policy is not conspicuously displayed anywhere accessible to the customer. 7) Present the statement in CA code 1723(a) (for California customers) "Every retail seller which sells goods to the public in this state that has a policy as to any of those goods of not giving full cash or credit refunds, or of not allowing equal exchanges, or any combination thereof, for at least seven days following purchase of the goods if they are returned and proof of their purchase is presented, shall conspicuously display that policy either on signs posted at each cash register and sales counter, at each public entrance, on tags attached to each item sold under that policy, or on the retail seller’s order forms, if any. This display shall state the store’s policy, including, but not limited to, whether cash refund, store credit, or exchanges will be given for the full amount of the purchase price; the applicable time period; the types of merchandise which are covered by the policy; and any other conditions which govern the refund, credit, or exchange of merchandise." 8) Since the $10 store credit policy is not clearly written for customers (see image for the ambiguous statement underlined in red on the back of a Kohl's cash stub), Kohl's should refund you all the money in cash or credit (not store credit). Failure to do so will result in violation to the law. 9) After presenting the evidence, politely request for a full refund from the manager. If he/she refuses to do so after knowing about the violation, he/she themselves is violating the law. As one of the victims of Kohl's ambiguous return policy, I think we should all speak up to protect our rights as a consumer. This case may have the legal merit to be escalated to a class action given the strong evidence and the large number of customers affected over the years.