Class Action Lawsuit?

[stinla]

Could this be a Class Action lawsuit?

I purchased an item from Target.com in which their website indicated that they had the merchandise in stock at my local target store and available for pickup the same day. I was not able to pick up the item so several days after purchase, I received an email from Target "We'll email your refund as a new Target eGiftCard in the amount of $xx.x, Check your inbox soon!" (I never received this electronic gift card). "Items from the order are back on the shelf for now."

I completely forgot about this supposed refund until over 2 months later when someone mentioned the name "Target" and I remembered that I never received my refund from them. I searched their return policy and found that if purchase is made through PayPal, Cash will be issued for in-store returns and Target eGiftCard issued for mail-in returns. Except that I didn't make any of these forms of returns. The items were already at the local Target store and according to their email, they were placed back on the shelf since I didn't pick them up. My credit card was charged and I never received a refund in any form.

My thought is that there are probably thousands of people who purchase an item and return it within allotted time (with a receipt) or never get a chance to pickup their item and they supposedly receive an egift card (instead of getting a refund in their original purchase form), an e card emailed to people who could go to their spam folder or never reach them, a very intangible form of refund and if it's a small amount as in my case, customers forget about this unreturned money and Target ends up receiving free money. They have both the merchandise and the customer's money.

I called Target Customer service and after being on hold for over 45 minutes, I was disconnected. And the purchase amount is not worth my time calling again. And I imagine many other people experience this and the aggregate of this could be millions of dollars of free money for Target in the form of unused egift cards that people never receive or forget they have and they never asked for.

Regardless of the their Return Policy, the policy for the "make purchase online and (don't) pick up in store type of return" is not mentioned in their policy return. So the default would be Customers expect to get a return back into the same form they made the purchase an not an electronic gift card

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[justblue]

Could this be a Class Action lawsuit?

I purchased an item from Target.com in which their website indicated that they had the merchandise in stock at my local target store and available for pickup the same day. I was not able to pick up the item so several days after purchase, I received an email from Target "We'll email your refund as a new Target eGiftCard in the amount of $xx.x, Check your inbox soon!" (I never received this electronic gift card). "Items from the order are back on the shelf for now."

I completely forgot about this supposed refund until over 2 months later when someone mentioned the name "Target" and I remembered that I never received my refund from them. I searched their return policy and found that if purchase is made through PayPal, Cash will be issued for in-store returns and Target eGiftCard issued for mail-in returns. Except that I didn't make any of these forms of returns. The items were already at the local Target store and according to their email, they were placed back on the shelf since I didn't pick them up. My credit card was charged and I never received a refund in any form.

My thought is that there are probably thousands of people who purchase an item and return it within allotted time (with a receipt) or never get a chance to pickup their item and they supposedly receive an egift card (instead of getting a refund in their original purchase form), an e card emailed to people who could go to their spam folder or never reach them, a very intangible form of refund and if it's a small amount as in my case, customers forget about this unreturned money and Target ends up receiving free money. They have both the merchandise and the customer's money.

I called Target Customer service and after being on hold for over 45 minutes, I was disconnected. And the purchase amount is not worth my time calling again. And I imagine many other people experience this and the aggregate of this could be millions of dollars of free money for Target in the form of unused egift cards that people never receive or forget they have and they never asked for.

Regardless of the their Return Policy, the policy for the "make purchase online and (don't) pick up in store type of return" is not mentioned in their policy return. So the default would be Customers expect to get a return back into the same form they made the purchase an not an electronic gift card

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What state are you in? How much was the refund for? Did you try going to the store to clear up this issue?

 

[stinla]

What state are you in? How much was the refund for? Did you try going to the store to clear up this issue?

I'm in California.
very small amount, $12.
I called the local store and they told me to call the 1-800 number.

 

[army judge]

I called the local store and they told me to call the 1-800 number.

When you called the number what did you learn?

 

[stinla]

Local Target store said to call Target 1-800 number. Called 1-800, customer rep said they will try to refund within 10 business days, but After 45 min on hold with Target 1-800 number, call was disconnected. My point is that this is happening with many customers where they supposedly get their refund in the form of an egift card instead of their original form of payment refund. And that e-gift card never reaches them and they forget, where target never had their merchandize even leave the store since customer didn't pick up the online purchase.

 

[justblue]

I'm in California.
very small amount, $12.
I called the local store and they told me to call the 1-800 number.

I know you called as you already said that in your opening post. My question was "did you try going into the store to clear this up?"

I have found actually going to the store and talking, face to face, with a human cures the problem much more effectively than dealing with the 1-800-useless1.

 

[adjusterjack]

Getting a manager into it also helps.

 

[stinla]

I know you called as you already said that in your opening post. My question was "did you try going into the store to clear this up?"

I have found actually going to the store and talking, face to face, with a human cures the problem much more effectively than dealing with the 1-800-useless1.

Yes, I understand what you are saying and you might be right. I called the local store first and they said to call the 1-800.

But my point is not so much about my own personal refund, I'm thinking maybe an attorney who practices in class action lawsuit can see that there are many customers who are losing small amounts of money which is not worth fighting for individually; but if a large group of people who have experienced something similar to mine come together and file a class action lawsuit, it will stop Target's practice of returning customer's money in the form of egift cards, especially when Target never parted with their merchandize to begin with.

Since the pandemic started, the "buy online, pickup at the store" phenomena grew rapidly. Many people purchase products online to pick up from the store later, and it happens that sometimes they don't get a chance to pick up the product within the allotted time. The merchandize then goes back on the shelf. The merchandize was never in the hands of the customer. Most stores refund the customer back in the same payment format they paid for, but here Target is making it hard for customers to get their money back, and doing so because it knows most people won't fight for a few dollars of refund, (they don't have the time, they forget, etc.) For us customers individually, it's usually small amounts of money, but for Target it adds up to millions of dollars of profit when thousands of customers don't get their refund properly.

Normally, it's understandable that stores refund a customer in the form of store credit, especially when customer returns something without a receipt. But if a customer never even picked up the merchandize, there is no reason for Target, who at all times was in possession of their product, to refund the customer emailing them an invisible, nearly impossible to find electronic gift card. It's not even that they mail them a refund in the form of a physical gift card, but an electronic gift card sent to an email. Where does it even go, probably the spam folder?

It is an intentional act on Target's part, because they know most people would not remember, let alone be able to find their intangible electronic e cards for small refunds. This means Target can keep that money. When we multiply this times thousands of customers, then the profit for the corporation is huge and unfair since customer never received a product for their money.

Sorry this is long, it is the overall concept that's bothering me, not the few dollars that I might have lost.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Regardless of the their Return Policy, the policy for the "make purchase online and (don't) pick up in store type of return" is not mentioned in their policy return. So the default would be Customers expect to get a return back into the same form they made the purchase an not an electronic gift card

Target does appear to have a stated refund policy for order pickup orders (which apparently include online orders) that are supposed to be picked up in a local store by the customer. In that policy the goods are returned to the shelves after 3 days and a refund issued in the original form of payment. Thus I suspect that the problem here is more likely a one time screw up by Target than it is a wide spread tactic by the company. If my suspicion is correct then there is no class action lawsuit here.

California law requires that retailers inform customers of the applicable refund policy in some form where they can see it prior to sale and they must honor the policy that they adopt. So it appears you are entitled to a credit back on your card. Although at this point you may have waited too long, you could still try to seek a refund through your card company and see it it will give you a credit for it. That might be easier than pursuing it directly with Target. Or write to Target customer service about rather than holding on the phone forever.

 

[stinla]

Thanks for finding this! I was looking through Target return policy link (law forum is not allowing me to post links since I'm a new member) under the 4th payment method of PayPal "PayPal: Cash issued for in-store returns, Target eGiftCard issued for mail-in returns."

I can see from your link that Target states their refund should be in the same format as the payment method, so in my case it should've been PayPal refund and not electronic gift card. Hope fully it's a one time mistake on Target's part, but if it's not, I hope other customers come forward.

 

[zddoodah]

Could this be a Class Action lawsuit?

This being the only question in your post: Any legal wrong could, hypothetically, allow for the filing of a class action lawsuit if the requirements are met. Here's an article that compares the requirements under federal and California law.

That being said, it appears that you have been the victim of, at most, a clerical or accounting error.