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Fry's is the only retailer I have been to where an LP associate insisted on opening up a product I just bought new to inspect it. Yep, its a rice cooker, I

by kayfox 6y ago

Fry's is the only retailer I have been to where an LP associate insisted on opening up a product I just bought new to inspect it. Yep, its a rice cooker, I should have went over to returns to return it as its condition changed from new to open box before I left the store.

bdowling 6y ago
> Yep, its a rice cooker A rice cooker is a cylindrical item that usually comes in a rectangular box that leaves empty room in the corners. The LP associate was checking for additional unpurchased items in the box, not that you were getting a rice cooker.
- gruturo 6y ago
  And you could have stuffed something quite expensive inside the rice cooker
- kayfox 6y ago
  It was a sealed box.
  - icedchai 6y ago
    There may have been some inside theft / collusion going on with employees. Example: Employee takes a rice cooker off the shelf, puts high value electronics (memory, processors, etc) inside, reseals it with shrink wrap. He tells his friend on the outside to buy the rice cooker to smuggle it out. They then split the proceeds. This probably goes on for weeks until the store wonders why they're suddenly selling so many rice cookers, but are already running low on Pentium Pros and 32 meg SIMMs.
    - kayfox 6y ago
      So, what your saying is I should expect being treated like this, after I have purchased the product, thus making it my property. I will go ahead and just go over to returns next time and go somewhere else.
      - icedchai 6y ago
        I'm just guessing. I don't work in retail but I'm sure all sorts of scams happen, ones we can't even imagine. Was this recent?
raincom 6y ago
Yes, they are like that. However, it is mandatory for the LP to check any thing that an employee has bought. They also check lunch bags, boxes. One time, LP caught an employee who stuffed his lunch bag with lots of DVDs. Other time, the LP manager and the customer service manager (who manages the front checkouts and cash) got colluded, and switched the direction of the camera near the cash counting area; then $10K cash was gone. Both managers got fired. Another incident. One LP associate and another guy at the return counter ran a scam together by issuing store credit for things that are NOT returned. For every return there, LP associate has to sign off.
jiveturkey 6y ago
too bad fry's is done for. despite the problems, i miss them now. towards the end, ie the last few years, when i brought an expensive-ish item to the counter, or more often when they brought it out of the cage for me to complete the purchase, i'd open the item at the counter in front of the cashier. 100% of the time the cashier would balk "hey you can't do that" (i hadn't paid yet), which is of course stupid to say. i just needed to verify that the item was new and also not a 52-switcheroo, as we used to call it. recently (2019-2020) i've bought 2 damaged high end products from best buy. outer box perfect, inner product damaged. luckily BB is like amazon and has complete no-hassle returns. more longer ago i've received a few duds from ebay and other non-amazon retail merchants. smaller value things i just write off but some of the bigger ones it's been painful getting the rep to take it back. the next time i do such a purchase i am setting up a camera to do an unboxing video.
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  Yep I just said above I’ve started opening any non cheap purchase in front of a Ring doorbell. Have a scissor in a hidden spot above front door on the outside so I don’t get too lazy and bring the unopened box inside. I’ve only done it twice so far after getting really bad luck and back to back swapped items in May. - On the other hand, my friend who sells on eBay frequently said even if I film myself packing up, sealing, and giving the same box to UPS or post office, EBay and PayPal (if they’re still doing eBay stuff) probably won’t care and side with buyer still.
Dylan16807 6y ago
Should have? Just because 'floor model/return' and 'only the box was touched' fall under the same umbrella doesn't mean you should treat them the same. A discount would be unreasonable, and getting your money back wouldn't improve your situation at all. Unless that was some kind of collector's item rice cooker.
RandomBacon 6y ago
No, you should have said "No thank you, have a great day" and keep on walking. You already bought the item and you have no duty to them for anything further. (I do this at any store that checks receipts, except for Costco, because I don't want to risk them revoking my membership. Never had a problem.)
- mindslight 6y ago
  I don't know why you're getting downvoted, but I also don't know why anyone would stand in a line to leave a store. Just say no thanks and walk past them, like every other unwanted solicitation.

by kayfox 6y ago

bdowling 6y ago

> Yep, its a rice cooker A rice cooker is a cylindrical item that usually comes in a rectangular box that leaves empty room in the corners. The LP associate was checking for additional unpurchased items in the box, not that you were getting a rice cooker.

gruturo 6y ago
And you could have stuffed something quite expensive inside the rice cooker
kayfox 6y ago
It was a sealed box.
- icedchai 6y ago
  There may have been some inside theft / collusion going on with employees. Example: Employee takes a rice cooker off the shelf, puts high value electronics (memory, processors, etc) inside, reseals it with shrink wrap. He tells his friend on the outside to buy the rice cooker to smuggle it out. They then split the proceeds. This probably goes on for weeks until the store wonders why they're suddenly selling so many rice cookers, but are already running low on Pentium Pros and 32 meg SIMMs.
  - kayfox 6y ago
    So, what your saying is I should expect being treated like this, after I have purchased the product, thus making it my property. I will go ahead and just go over to returns next time and go somewhere else.
    - icedchai 6y ago
      I'm just guessing. I don't work in retail but I'm sure all sorts of scams happen, ones we can't even imagine. Was this recent?

raincom 6y ago

Yes, they are like that. However, it is mandatory for the LP to check any thing that an employee has bought. They also check lunch bags, boxes. One time, LP caught an employee who stuffed his lunch bag with lots of DVDs. Other time, the LP manager and the customer service manager (who manages the front checkouts and cash) got colluded, and switched the direction of the camera near the cash counting area; then $10K cash was gone. Both managers got fired. Another incident. One LP associate and another guy at the return counter ran a scam together by issuing store credit for things that are NOT returned. For every return there, LP associate has to sign off.

jiveturkey 6y ago

too bad fry's is done for. despite the problems, i miss them now. towards the end, ie the last few years, when i brought an expensive-ish item to the counter, or more often when they brought it out of the cage for me to complete the purchase, i'd open the item at the counter in front of the cashier. 100% of the time the cashier would balk "hey you can't do that" (i hadn't paid yet), which is of course stupid to say. i just needed to verify that the item was new and also not a 52-switcheroo, as we used to call it. recently (2019-2020) i've bought 2 damaged high end products from best buy. outer box perfect, inner product damaged. luckily BB is like amazon and has complete no-hassle returns. more longer ago i've received a few duds from ebay and other non-amazon retail merchants. smaller value things i just write off but some of the bigger ones it's been painful getting the rep to take it back. the next time i do such a purchase i am setting up a camera to do an unboxing video.

skinnymuch 6y ago
Yep I just said above I’ve started opening any non cheap purchase in front of a Ring doorbell. Have a scissor in a hidden spot above front door on the outside so I don’t get too lazy and bring the unopened box inside. I’ve only done it twice so far after getting really bad luck and back to back swapped items in May. - On the other hand, my friend who sells on eBay frequently said even if I film myself packing up, sealing, and giving the same box to UPS or post office, EBay and PayPal (if they’re still doing eBay stuff) probably won’t care and side with buyer still.

Dylan16807 6y ago

Should have? Just because 'floor model/return' and 'only the box was touched' fall under the same umbrella doesn't mean you should treat them the same. A discount would be unreasonable, and getting your money back wouldn't improve your situation at all. Unless that was some kind of collector's item rice cooker.

RandomBacon 6y ago

No, you should have said "No thank you, have a great day" and keep on walking. You already bought the item and you have no duty to them for anything further. (I do this at any store that checks receipts, except for Costco, because I don't want to risk them revoking my membership. Never had a problem.)

mindslight 6y ago
I don't know why you're getting downvoted, but I also don't know why anyone would stand in a line to leave a store. Just say no thanks and walk past them, like every other unwanted solicitation.