Victoria’s Secret Clerk Shreds Returned Pants In Front Of Customer

by Justin Fenner | 10:26 am, April 27th, 2011

Here we were, sitting and thinking about what ended up happening to the blazer we returned to Uniqlo this weekend, when all of a sudden a retail story from ~~hell~~ Tampa made it all clear. A woman in that fair city in Florida tried to return a pair of unworn sweatpants to her local Victoria’s Secret. The return was accepted, but then the woman was stunned to watch the salesperson shred them in front of her with a pair of scissors.

Up until that point, Marie Wolf had been a regular shopper at Victoria’s Secret, and had planned on exchanging the $70 PINK sweatpants for something else. When she pointed out that the sweats had never once touched her skin, she was told that shredding was just the store’s policy.

“I asked about donating them to Salvation Army, what about Goodwill, what about all the people who lost everything in the tsunami?” Wolf said. “I told them I won’t ever shop with them anymore, and neither will anyone in my family.”

But Wolf and others similarly shocked by this story might want to add a few more stores to a list of places they’ll never buy from again. As you may remember, last year the New York Times broke the news that H&M and Wal-Mart have both cut up returns, and if two outlets as big as those are doing it, there are probably others.

So why the shredding? We’re sure a small part of it may be that some store simply don’t believe you didn’t wear that dress that smelled more like your perfume than the store when you returned it, but an even larger part of it is brand protection.

“Their fear is that clothing finds its way to resellers and secondhand stores,” said Doug Stephens, owner of the Toronto-based Retail Prophet consulting company. “If I’m Kenneth Cole, I don’t want my stuff sold down the street for $5 a unit if it sells for $85 on the rack.”

But if Kenneth Cole made direct donations of those clothes to the people who needed them the most, would that be a problem? We think not. And in light of the NYT‘s discovery, both H&M and Wal-Mart promised to donate all future merchandise to charity. Let’s hope Victoria’s Secret does the same.

Victoria’s Secret? Destroying returned purchases [The Tampa Tribune]

Returns Shredding Victoria's Secret

Kathy K

Your talking about a store that had an infestation of bedbugs in their New York location. I’m sure the lady who returned the pants was telling the truth but, many customers don’t tell the truth. It think it’s better to air on the side of caution.
guest

because of the nature of Victoria’s Secret products, I think that it is a good thing that they destroy returned merchandise. I recall attacks on the company because a pair a returned panties made their way back onto the floor. It was definitely uncalled for that the merchandise was destroyed in front of the customer, because that is not company policy, however complaining that they do not donate returned merchandise and claiming its brand protection is a copout. Victoria’s Secret is a lingerie store, think about it.
Anonymous

Saw a clerk destroy a perfectly good pair of suede pumps that were returned. When I asked about donating them to a shelter or something I was told that the company would sooner destroy things than donate.
Becanneliz

I worked there in high school.

On the one hand, it’s mean that they cut up perfectly good garments just to prevent homeless women from pulling them out of the garbage to wear. (That was seriously the reason told to us by the managers. They didn’t want our stuff seen on the indigent.)

On the other hand, VS has a policy of taking back pretty much everything and I am ashamed of my gender for the nasty, vile, DISGUSTING things they are willing to return once they realize that fact. The only time I ever chopped something up where the returning customer could see it, was when I wanted to make my utter disgust for her known.
Rachelannmullins

I worked at vs and experience the return/destroy bin. Policy goes for test beauty products as well even if they never saw the sales floor. VS is very wasteful. Every sidle thing is individuals wrapped when it comes to the store. Loads of garbage every single day from packaging.
http://twitter.com/wavyJACKS jacqueline

That’s REALLY unfortunate how wasteful these big companies are..
http://www.awdac.com Gary

How strange is that? Brand protection is ok but no one can ever think there will be a threat to the labels if they donate the garments to people who really need something to wear.
http://www.awdac.com Gary

How strange is that? Brand protection is ok but no one can ever think there will be a threat to the labels if they donate the garments to people who really need something to wear.
Bikerk

Let’s all rise up and voice our disgust at these shredding practices. I can hardly use the word “wasteful” as that’s not strong enough.
Dreamweaver1821

VS is the most arrogant store I have ever been in. Last Christmas I was shopping at VS for my four granddaughters who are all very petite and size 0 or less. I am a large woman and when I went into the store, I was immediately meet by a petite woman who took my arm and turned me around and said “We don’t have anything in this store that will fit you.” Needless to say, I took my VERY LARGE bank account and spent a few thousand dollars elsewhere!
Tara

How stupid.. any person that has purchased garments from VS could end up donate it…it would end up in a homeless person anyway…

Victoria’s Secret Clerk Shreds Returned Pants In Front Of Customer

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