TARGET - Baby Registry Warning

[jmalinsky]

We're pregnant with our first and needless to say are thrilled. I had so much fun researching and picking out our 'wish list' items for our baby registry. We first chose Babies 'R Us and MyRegistry.com as our official registries. However, living in the city of Chicago there aren't many Babies 'R Us stores within the city. So, at the request of my husband, we also registered at Target in order to make it easier for our city friends to shop. Even though I've read horror stories about Target's Baby Registry, I've personally never had a problem with them in the past - maybe because I'm a responsible shopper AND I feel somewhat 'in the know' since working there for 4.5 years during college (many moons ago).

Being obsessive {and anal ;) } I continually watched our registries and noticed that a majority of the items were being bought at Target. I kept moving things over from Babies 'R Us to Target since that seemed to be the shopping preference.

Our showers are over and we are extremely grateful for all of the thoughtful gifts we received. HOWEVER, no matter how much you stress "GIFT RECEIPTS" and stores stress this point, people still don't provide them and you'll still end up with duplicate gifts. I didn't receive many, but of course, most of the duplicates/missing gift receipt items were from Target.

I recalled reading about the Target horror story on Baby Bargains Book Blog (under retailers). The writer mentioned printing out a "Purchase Log" from their registry screen. When I went to the store, that option wasn't available to me when I went to the registry computer. Instead, I printed out my registry to show them that the items I wanted to return were in fact duplicates. The gentleman at the Service Desk asked if I had printed out the 'Purchase Log' from registry system. I told him it wasn't an option on the screen so he called over a manager.

She explained:
1. They changed their policy in August.
2. The Purchase Log is only available for items bought online.
3. WITHOUT a receipt of any kind, they can't do ANYTHING for you. She recommended I contact the gift giver and ask for the receipt. (Now, some people don't have a problem with that but I feel extremely awkward calling my friends/family asking for a receipt so I can return their gift.)

After the manager left, the guy wasn't aware of any change in policy and didn't know that the Purchase Log was only available for online items - of course NONE of this was explained when I set up my registry. Heck, we were lucky if we only had to change scanning guns one time when adding items to our registry (they kept rebooting or dying on us).

Anyways, the guy DID mention that within a year, you can return up to $20 worth of items WITHOUT a receipt, on 2 different occasions. So, basically you can return a total $40 worth of merchandise without a receipt within a calendar year. They'll give you that amount on a giftcard.

He split up the items and returned my duplicates on 2 different transactions. I'm lucky
1. I only had about $40 worth of returns (I wasn't able to return a couple things), and
2. I had a competent person working the Service Desk who could think outside the box and offer a solution.

Please keep ALL of this in mind when registering at Target. Hopefully you won't have very many returns. But if you do, you'll be a little more prepared for what to expect.


As a side note (and I'll stop rambling) I received a duplicate gift from Babies 'R Us and was able to return it without a receipt without a problem (it was on my registry).

CONGRATULATIONS to all expectant parents!

[SnuggleBuggles]

If you go to the Blog link at the top of the page the authors discuss the (ridiculous) changes that have been made to the Target's registry. I think I also heard that the registry expires after the "event date" so keep an eye on that!

Beth

[DebbieJ]

yeah, the Target registry sucks.

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03
Breastfeeding After Reduction is possible! www.bfar.org

http://www.bfar.org/members/fora/sty...onths-bfar.jpg

[crAbbymom]

I'm soooo glad to read this! Thanks for the warning. I was seriously considering registering there because I really like one of their bedding sets...and it seems like a more convenient place for most people to shop. Well, back to the drawing board!

[galadriel7474]

Ugh, I could have written the same post! If I had it to do over again I would have gone anywhere else. Unfortunately, I live in a smaller town and my choices were either Target or Walmart and I chose Target. I feel the exact same way about asking people for receipts. Target acts like it's no big deal, but it makes me feel very awkward and ungracious, so I didn't do it. In addition to not letting me return items, Target managed to somehow mark many things that were "fulfilled" back into "unfulfilled" for no apparent reason! I hope I caught it in time. They are sorry when it comes to registries, which wasn't always the case. I had no trouble when I registered there for my wedding, but that was years ago.

I'm glad I found your post. I mentioned my difficulties on another forum and everyone acted like I was over-reacting!