Related topics: shopping, financial privacy, credit cards, retail, Liz Weston
Retail sales haven't been spectacular lately, so you'd think stores would want to please their customers rather than trample on their rights. But many retailers seem to be adding ways to tick us off.
More stores seem to be:
Stopping customers to check their receipts before they let them out the doors.
Posting minimum-purchase requirements for credit cards.
Insisting that customers present identification when using credit cards.
Asking customers for personal information, such as phone numbers, addresses or (heaven forbid) Social Security numbers before starting transactions.
These behaviors are so commonplace that you might not realize there's anything wrong with them.
But there is.
The receipt checkers
If you've signed a membership agreement with a warehouse club such as Costco or Sam's, you've agreed to present your receipt upon exiting one of their stores. Other retailers have no such agreement with you, but some station employees at their doors to ask for your receipts anyway.
Liz Weston
Receipt checks are supposed to be voluntary. The law varies from place to place, but U.S. retailers generally aren't allowed to detain you unless they have good reason to believe you've stolen something -- and refusing to present your receipt does not constitute probable cause.
Some people report that they're able to breeze past receipt checkers simply by saying, "No, thanks." Others say they've been harassed or even detained by overzealous employees or security guards when they refused. (One woman in China was beaten to death for failing to turn over her Wal-Mart receipt, according to Chinese police.)
Retailers typically try to walk a fine line between protecting their merchandise against theft and inconveniencing their customers, said Daniel Butler, the vice president of retail operations for the National Retail Federation. Many opt for universal receipt checks, he said, rather than risk discriminating against certain customers by singling them out for checks.
Certainly, some shoppers are happy to give up their rights in exchange for low prices. If you're not, you can:
- Cause a stink and risk an incident.
- Shop somewhere else.
- Shop online (same stuff, no frisking involved).
- Write a letter to the chains' CEOs telling them exactly what you think of their receipt-checking policies. Here are a few addresses to get you started:
Michael Duke, CEO
Wal-Mart Stores
702 S.W. Eighth St.
Bentonville, AR 72716
Brian Dunn, CEO
Best Buy
7601 Penn Ave. S.
Richfield, MN 55423
John Fry, CEO
Fry's Electronics
600 E. Brokaw Road
San Jose, CA 95112
Credit card rule breakers
Merchants' agreements with Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover specifically forbid retailers from requiring identification. Your signature is supposed to be enough.
The store clerk shouldn't even ask for ID by Visa and MasterCard rules. American Express and Discover don't prohibit asking but strongly discourage it.
Visa, MasterCard and Discover also forbid merchants from setting minimum-purchase requirements before allowing you to use a card. (American Express doesn't specifically forbid minimum-purchase requirements unless they're imposed only on AmEx transactions.)
And while merchants can give you a discount for paying cash, they're not supposed to inflict a surcharge for using credit.
To say violations are rampant is like saying that a little snow fell on Washington, D.C., in February. Ya think?
The trend of asking for ID is particularly annoying because it doesn't protect you, the shopper -- it's all about protecting the merchant. If someone used your card fraudulently, you wouldn't be out a dime, thanks to the cards' zero-liability policies.
Meanwhile, surcharges and minimum-purchase requirements stem from the fees the merchants pay to accept credit cards. They want you to spend with them, which is why they accept plastic, but then they balk at the price.
