His column appears on Friday. The holiday season is here once again, a time for family visits, good cheer, and exchanging gifts with friends and loved ones. While we like to think the gifts we select for others are exactly what they want or need, this is often not the case. Clothes that are the wrong size, toys that are inappropriate for your child's age, kitchen appliances that break the first time you turn them on all of these are candidates for repair, exchange or return at the stores where they were purchased. Returns, exchanges, and refunds are a customer service voluntarily set up by merchants to help customers find the right products.
Most stores are reasonably lenient about returns and exchanges of items received as gifts.
However, you will probably need to show a sales slip or other evidence that the item was actually purchased at their store. It also is a good idea to keep the box or packaging your gift came in, just in case the store requires it for resale or return to the manufacturer. For some items, the return policy may require that all sales are final. Stores often adopt this policy for goods used as floor models, sold at marked down prices, or sold at the end of a eason. In addition, health laws forbid the return of some types of clothes, such as bathing suits, undergarments, and hats.