We’re down to the final days of holiday shopping frenzy. Your favorite store is running a special on Christmas sweaters, buy one get one free, so you purchase one each for your favorite twin nephews. Unfortunately you find out later that they no longer think it’s cute to dress identically so you bring one of the sweaters back. Of course you’re not expecting that the store will refund you the full purchase price and let you keep the other sweater for free, are you? (a “we’re giving away free sweaters” promotion). You might, if you live in California and other states that require stores to provide a “full” refund of the purchase price unless they provide notice to the contrary. Toys R Us has just settled a class action in California that alleges that the Company violated California law by not providing a full refund for items purchased with discounts or through specials like buy one item get another item for 50% off. Retailers who don’t want to end up running even more generous sales than they had intended would be wise to take some simple precautions, such as prominently posting their return policies — including how they handle returns of discounted merchandise. Other options are available, for example, potentially ringing up both buy one get one free items at 50% off so that if one of the items is returned only 50% of the original price has to be refunded. And before you ask, our associate elves are still busy researching whether the North Pole is a “full refund” jurisdiction.
