I had lost the bill and  price tags and almost three months had elapsed  since I had made the purchase. The chances that it could be exchanged were scarce and yet, since I was  in the neighbourhood I gave it a try. The only thing  in my favour was that it was unused and so  in mint new condition

I walked into the store rehearsing my speech on the reasons why I had got  delayed and  how I had lost the receipt . I told the door man I needed to exchange merchandise and he casually asked for the bill. When I told him I didn’t have one he copied down the product code from the garment label and made me an exchange coupon. So far, so good, I thought.

I quickly selected an item off the store racks and walked  to the cash counter, prepared for the final assault . The cashier took a cursory glance  at my purchase ,  the  exchange coupon and the merchandise I was returning and commented that there was a price difference. Now I secretly  worried how I would find something which costed the exact amount , a pre requisite for return in many Indian stores. But to my relief, he inquired  if he could issue a credit note for the difference and I quickly consented.

It took me ten minutes to complete the entire transaction and it was totally hassle free and painless. Out of curiosity I asked the store manager if having such a ‘no questions asked’ return policy had a down side. He said that although it was inconvenient at times, no one should be stuck with an item from their store that they didn’t  like. He further said that they were confident of their products and knew that someone else would buy it. The revelation was an eye opener. Needless to say, I walked out, a spender, marked for life.

 Generation X may not understand the significance of this story but anyone who buys Indian will relate to it. If you ever find yourself stuck with an unwanted purchase there is no excuse too outlandish for the shopkeeper  to resist reclaiming it. They vary from the almost legitimate to the ridiculous , ‘you’ve lost the bill /tags ‘, ‘more than a week has elapsed’ , ‘you made the purchase during sale season’, ‘we don’t exchange during sale season’, ‘we no longer stock this item’ , ‘ we don’t take back items in the morning/evening  when its the auspicious  bonie time’ ! It seems that the store keeper can’t risk putting returned  goods back on the shelf fearing that it will not sell again. Makes one wonder  whether they can be called goods at all !

At one end of the spectrum are some  western retailers who practice the extremely lax

‘ we’ll  take anything back’ policy and even accept used goods for full refunds from dissatisfied customers and at the other extreme are the indigenous sellers where even defective pieces are impossible to return.  The former group functions on the farsighted vision that in an extremely competitive market they would rather keep a loyal shopper than deny a measly return whereas  the local retailer is driven by immediate gain and is set to lose  in the long run.I do not favour the unreasonably lax return policy of the US which costed their economy  nearly $270 billion in losses in a single year . But feel that in the era of barcodes and computers one should be able to return unopened, unused and defective merchandise without much ado.  

India is warming up to the swadeshi campaign purported  by our Prime Minister. In such a scenario it is imperative to understand that indigenous manufacturing cannot survive without responsible after sales policies . We can’t  succeed in the endeavour of ‘Made  in India’ unless it is supported by ‘Fair trade in India.’

( published in the Tribune on 15/6/2015)