returning\exchanging a gift?

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mrs jones

JoNeSn'
Aug 25, 2006
662
1
my mil bought me a coach wallet for christmas
40094_SKHTO_t.jpg
basically like this but another color. It was to match the tote my husband bought me, but the leather is all wrong. So to get to the point: he got the receipt from her and said " oh just go exchange it for the one that matches" . the problem is: its just not me. its too big. i'm more of a big bag, small wallet girl.
it was 200-ish...i could exhange it for alot of small stuff or another whole bag darn near.
but would it be wrong? i dont really want to hurt anyones feelings ( although i'm pretty sure she doesnt care for me at all).
whats the right thing to do?
 
I got that same wallet for Christmas and love it! But if you don't, definitely exchange it. It was $218, and there is a soho leather bag for the exact same price, so I'd exchange it for that or put it towards something else you love instead!
 
i dont really want to hurt anyones feelings ( although i'm pretty sure she doesnt care for me at all).
whats the right thing to do?

aaww...honey....I'm sorry she's giving you that impression. MILs are hard to read sometimes, eh?

Honestly - you have the gift receipt, get something you like and something you would USE! No one would want to see their money go to waste, you know? If she ever asks you...you can either be straight up honest or say "Oh - I just fell in love with XYZ at the store and got it instead - thank you so much again for your thoughtfulness!"

I honestly used to be all indignant when I gave a gift and it was returned/never used...but I got over that and figured "hey - I tried...let them get what they would really like. It's outta my hands once I give it to them...it's theirs to do what they see fit with..."

I'm in the same delimma myself...I rec'd a gorgeous cosmetics bag for christmas (from sephora) from my MIL, and for my birthday (celebrated a week later...heheh) my SIL gave me the matching clutch size version of the cosmetics bag. I KNOW I'll only use the larger one MIL gave me, I have the gift receipt for the smaller one, so I'm going to exchange it for something I know I'll use.
 
go buy what you'll use!!!

if your mil says something about it, just say "thanks for the beautiful wallet, but it just wasn't right at this time. and i thought it would be better to put that money towards something i could use at this time, and i appreciate you buying me the wallet so i could put that money towards it. blah blah blah" just totally bs it!!!
 
I don't see anything wrong with exchanging the wallet for something that you'll actually use. However I'd be upset if I gave a gift and the receiver let it sit around and collect dust because they didn't like it, after I included the gift receipt.
 
people don't give gift receipts if they will be offended if you return it. if she wanted you to keep it and not return it, she wouldn't have included that.
 
she didnt give me a gift receipt....my husband got the actual receipt from her.
she's hard to get along with, i may have to just exchange it for the right color so they (mil and husband ;;;who are too close-sick close) dont get all offended.
 
she still, technically, gave it to you. if she didn't want to give it to your husband, she wouldn't have. that's my point. she would have said she didn't have a receipt or somethign, you know?
 
true^^
maybe i'll just go to the store and if i see something for that amount ( or there abouts) i'll just get that. Maybe i shouldn't care so much since she isnt the one using it.
 
I know how you feel about not wanting to hurt MIL's feelings, but I definitely think you should stick with your plan - go to the store and see if there's something(s) you LOVE! If there are, return the wallet and get something you'll use and enjoy - at the end of the day, I'm sure MIL would just want you to like what you had!