Kmart shopper's shock as major receipt 'change' comes into effect: 'You need to know this'
Kmart began enforcing a little-known receipt rule in August and some shoppers are just finding out about it.
A Kmart shopper has issued a warning to fellow customers after a receipt "policy change" from the retail giant meant that she was unable to return an item she no longer wanted.
Customer Ruth took to social media to share her "public service announcement" after she learned Kmart workers must enforce a little-known policy which means that customers can no longer return, exchange or get store credit for an unwanted item without a receipt.
“Kmart just changed one of their policies and you need to know if you’re a regular shopper,” Ruth said. "I bought this little denim number and I got it home and I was like 'I’m just not feeling it'.
She believes she "shoved the receipt in one of [her] handbags" which she could not find before visiting her local Kmart store to try her luck in returning it for a store credit anyway.
"I went in today and I said to them 'I don’t want a return I don’t want a refund, I just want to swap something for something else. It’s not fitting well, I don’t like it,'" she explained.
Ruth was astounded when the customer service worker told her that the policy had "changed" and the store can no longer process refunds or exchanges without a receipt.
"You used to be able to do that as of... I think she said it was the end of August or maybe September," Rught said.
"No receipt, no exchange, no refund. Heads up if you are a regular Kmart keep your receipts."
Did Kmart change their receipt policy?
Kmart previously told Yahoo that this has always been the policy, but stores were asked to enforce it more broadly from August 1.
"We are communicating this change extensively across multiple customer touchpoints to ensure our customers are well-informed ahead of this change coming into effect," they said ahead of it being enforced.
In her video, while Ruth said it was "very frustrating", she admitted she "understands" why they've done it, and said she thought it was "fair".
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How to get a refund at Kmart without a receipt
Responding to Ruth's video, many Aussies were quick to point out that if shoppers scan their Flybys cards and it's linked to the Kmart app, the receipt will appear there.
"If you have an online account and have your Flybys card hooked up to it and you used your Flybys card your receipt is in your online account," one Aussie pointed out, and others echoed this point, adding that older receipts will appear there too.
As one shopper added, after the Anko brand, previously exclusive to Kmart, started appearing in Target too, "of course this needed to change".
New detail in change rooms leaves Aussies 'freaked out'
It's not the only change to have come into effect at the retail giant recently, with shoppers reporting earlier this month they were left "freaked out" by a new hi-tech feature in change rooms. The budget retailer was spotted trialing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags to detect what items shoppers were trying on.
"There are no cameras or photographs utilised with this technology," a spokesperson assured concerned customers at the time.
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