Is it possible that a commissioned salesperson would ever withhold a receipt?? *long*

[lvmhgirl]

Sorry if this is the wrong section because it is a general shopping question (not LV) and General Discussion just didn't seem like the right place to put it since there were threads about dating and such! (Mods, please feel free to move, thanks!)


OK, here's my LONG question:

Do you think that a commission-based salesperson would ever keep a receipt? I was shopping yesterday (this was NOT at LV of course) and the woman in front of me was completing her purchase but was engrossed in searching for something in her purse while the salesperson was putting her items in a shopping bag. Finally, the salesperson asked if she would like the receipt in the shopping bag and the lady said it was fine but was still rummaging around in her purse. I watched as the salesperson put the receipt in the bag and it fell through the handle opening (the bag was laying flat on the counter so the handle opening allowed the receipt to fall on the floor behind the counter. She didn't retrieve it, but in her defense, maybe she didn't see it fall. So of course, I said, "Excuse me, but something fell out of the bag" and that customer was like,"Oh wow, thanks!" and the salesperson looked a little annoyed, maybe only because she had to bend down to pick it up, I don't know.

So I'm not making any accusations or anything, but it got me thinking that it would be totally possible for a salesperson to keep a receipt.

Why?

Because when someone works on commission, any return or exchange (especially if exchanged with another SA) would take away from the SA's paycheck because the receipt would show the salesperson's number and then the sales would be taken off their number. Now, I'm not talking about a Nordstrom or a Macy*s where they place those little stickers on tags or boxes because you can return at those places without receipts because the stickers have all the info. I'm talking about those smaller chain or boutique stores where they don't use those stickers.

The only reason I would even think of this is because I worked for a high-end company many, many moons ago, and the return policy was pretty lenient and if someone returned or exchanged without a receipt and they didn't know who the original salesperson was, the SA's had to enter a generic number like 111111 instead the person's employee number, and the commission would not be taken from the original salesperson since they were of course, unknown. Of course, if it was a regular customer and they knew who their SA was, the person doing the transaction was supposed to enter that person's employee number. One SA was terminated for fraud because he was caught entering 111111 instead of his own number whenever one of his own customers returned something!

These days, I meticulously keep track of all my receipts out of habit because we use certain receipts for tax purposes (sorry, not LV receipts, LOL! ). And although I usually "take the receipt" sometimes there have been times when my hands were full or it was too hard to access my purse so the receipt was "placed in the bag" by the SA but when I got home, the receipt had vanished. I know that it could have easily flown out of the bag while walking to my car or whatever, so again, I'm just sayin'...

So, I just want to make everyone aware of this possibility and just for our peace of mind and safety maybe we should all just "take the receipts" and put them in our fabulous handbags when making purchases instead of having the SA put them in the shopping bags!

 

[dooneydiva]

Hey.
I am a commisioned SA at a department store and would just like to give my two cents. Where I work, if a return is made without a receipt, every person in the department has a portion of that return taken from their pay. Inevitably, everyone is going to have to deal with returns under their number and I'm sure that most commisioned workers would agree that stealing a receipt is just not worth the hassle of the angry customer that comes back, all accusatory, in their face. It's just not worth the hassle. Rogue receipts have been found around our counter occasionally and it's just something that happens. However, I won't deny that some people are stupid lying idiots and might try to "steal" a customer's receipt...
But think about it, if an associate wants to start making good friends out of customers so that the clients will return to only them again and again...stealing their receipts "aint" a good way to do it, ya know?

 

[lvmhgirl]

Hi dooneydiva,

Thanks for your reply. I hope you and other SA's weren't offended by my question. I was technically an SA (personal shopper) once before too, remember? (Too many moons ago to count, LOL!) And like you, I would have never thought about something like keeping a customer's receipt from them. As a matter of fact, I had an extensive client file where I kept the associate copy of the receipt and if the customer happened to misplace their copy and needed any info from it, I had it ready at hand. Like I said earlier, I wasn't being accusatory, just curious because the SA was a little annoyed when I pointed out the dropped receipt. But like I said, in her defense maybe she just didn't feel like picking it up!

I don't think that any customer would actually come back and accuse an SA of not giving them a receipt, if anything the customer would just think that they misplaced it themselves. There have been a couple of times when I wanted to return something but I misplaced the receipt so I had to get store credit or just keep the item. When I said that a generic return (the 111111 example) didn't go back to the original salesperson's number, I should have specified that the return comes out of the department as a whole. But like I said before, the terminated SA was caught returning under the generic number (he had done it numerous times and finally got caught) and he worked in a high-ticket/high-commission area and I guess he thought it was better to get a small percentage of that commission taken off his number than the entire amount. But he got caught and I hope he realized the error of his ways!

And you are absolutely right -- if an SA wants to build a relationship with the client, they WANT them to have their receipt so that the client has their name, # and info on the receipt as well as a business card.

 

[dooneydiva]

Hi "LV",
I wasn't offended by your question at all. I just thought that it would be good to let others know that things aren't always as they seem. Unfortunately, where I work, a customer most certainly would scream in my face due to a lost receipt. I've actually had worse happen and I think it's disgusting. Anywhere you go, whatever you are doing, there will always be one rotten apple in the bunch...so one can't really deny the possibilities. The only way to make sure one leaves with their receipt is to pay attention to what one is doing. Rummaging through one's purse or talking on one's cell-phone is unnecessary when a clerk is trying to assist a customer. That way, kind customers like you won't have to look out for everyone.

 

[jellybebe]

That question has never occurred to me, but your advice to put receipts in handbags is a good one. I always put mine in my wallet now (the zippy is so roomy!!!) because who knows when I might want to return something.