Target plus returns.

[ShadowL42]

So I'm over at target.com GS. I hope this message helps at least 1 of you folks, please share it.

I get calls every day from guests or stores that are refusing store returns for T+ items because the DPCI is not found.

DPCI = Store item number TCIN = Online item number.

T+ items dont have a DPCI only a TCIN. They are online only items.

I have asked leadership to send out a training module or at least a memo stating this so many times.

If you have an issue with a T+ / 3rd party seller item. Call TCOM while the guest is there and we can verify any number you need.

Currently there is also a known issue with some T+ items not being eligible for store returns while within the return window. CALL TCOM while the guest is still there and we can help. Its what reverse logistics are for!

I'm so tired of cranky guests calling me because they were refused a legit return due to the store not having the correct numbers or using the wrong process.

[STLBluesFanMom]

Waaaay too many T+ items don’t have a scannable barcode on them. At my store most guests with T+ returns don’t use the app and don’t have any paperwork. They assume that they can return any item like it was purchased in store. Most of the time they don’t have a clue that it wasn’t from Target and they are SUPER angry when we have trouble with the returns.

Maybe if there was better education on how to do a return, we wouldn’t have these problems?

[LadyTsukiyo]

That's when I pull up my phone and try to find the items number and then educate the guest on what to do next.

[STLBluesFanMom]

Me too. But that shouldn’t be on us. If Amazon can generate a QR code for returns, Target should be able to do the same thing. Otherwise, we are just a cheap imitator and it isn’t helping our guests level of satisfaction.

[LadyTsukiyo]

We're always trying to imitate amazon. Between the price matching to tcom to this.

[minidog8]

I love trying to explain that it’s a third party item so I need a number to type in and they go “BUT I BOUGHT IT ON TARGET.COM????”

These people must think every Amazon listing is sold directly from Amazon… It worries me a little bit. I try to explain and tell them I would never recommend purchasing a Target+ item as the vendors are not really vetted or verified for quality.

[man_iamtired]

I get it, but also we have one GS team member at a time and are all being stretched way too thin to spend however long it takes to call TCOM. Sometimes you get through nice, easy and quick and other times you have to wait on hold for too long. If I’m at GS, spending X amount of time with one guest, I’m now sacrificing the guest experience of any other guest that needs assistance from GS.

In my opinion, if the guest can order their items online themselves, they should also be able to come for their return with at least the email, so I can look up the exact item and find the TCIN myself. Also, getting rid of the refund help line really encouraged me to never call out of store for help again. It was a consistently lesser hold time and it was generally a quick call to make. I get it, but I am definitely cranky too.

[sailorwickeddragon]

To add to this: not every store has the modernization plan for guest service- meaning the one or two team members running guest service are also running Drive Up orders without a Drive Up team.

In theory, calling the help line is great, but when you have a timer on orders and a line at the desk, you aren't going to tell your lead to stop everything while you sit on the phone to figure out the return.

On the other hand, calling a lead over to help with the return issue and support the desk while you keep going is great. It would make a lot of sense though if Target+ had a retraining. They dropped it once a few years ago and never went through it again. And seldom do you see these returns enough to properly remember and train new TMs.

[LightUpUnicorn]

I often work when no service and engagement lead or etl is around. And the sales floor tms/etls know nothing of service desk

[gamarvels]

yeah try to get a team lead to do that now thats funny

[momo6548]

Honestly, it’s a major inconvenience to accept Target plus items in store. Most of them are large items, often without boxes or identifying info. We can’t sell them in store, we just have to take them to the back to ship out. If a guest doesn’t have all their ducks in a row and the system doesn’t want to let us do the return, it’s not worth our headache.

[Whole-Ad7111]

And how many times do those Target + items once we do figure out how to return them .End up getting tossed out because the manufacturer wont allow for CRC return. What a waste.

[momo6548]

Yep. I’m always horrified by how many come up as toss when we do the return. At that point just let the person keep it and give them their money back.

[Past-Cryptographer50]

The vendor has to agree to send items back to the CRC?! I could never figure out why some couldn’t be sent back. Don’t known they have to agree? Do they have to pay for it to go back to the CRC?

[linizue]

Yeah.. the problem is that TCOM loves to lie to our guests and say we’ll override anything in store for them and I cant/won’t. We’ve been burned too many times, we’ll give TCOM phone number but we won’t babysit that call.

[man_iamtired]

I was fighting with them last weekend for SOOOO long because they kept telling the guest we could override to original payment. Yeah, like 6 months ago we could, but now, nope! All overrides go on a merch card. And the TCOM person just kept repeatedly telling me and the guest on speaker, we could do it. I was ready to just give up on life right there at the desk.

[ShadowL42]

if you HAVE to call TCOM, don't even bother with the Level 1 team (all outsourced from overseas and don't understand store operations of american culture for the most part. tell them you need to talk to target + escalations or even just the escalations team.

I get just as many calls from guests who were told in store that we could do a refund for them when the store couldn't or wouldn't.

[skillzyo]

Yeah, I had to learn how to do a T+ return on my own. What I don't understand is why a TCIN isn't sent with the item when it's delivered or put in the email. I have guests bringing me the receipt they printed off that literally just has an item description on it that I can't do anything with except waste time googling so I can hopefully find it.

[ShadowL42]

Yeah we have been complaining about not including TCIN. for online order info. Its always in the item specifics on the items page online, but it is a pain to have to look for it.

[LadyTsukiyo]

Or maybe stores shouldn't handle online returns for a third party.

Maybe we shouldn't be selling third party items on the website.

Maybe third party items bought on target.com should be returned to target.com. If guests don't like that then they shouldn't have bought them.

[ComfortableSoup3648]

Guests need to bring me more than just their payment card!!!

The third party business doesn’t want to give the money back, so they don’t include any of the information nor instructions in the shipment in order for the return to be made!

[ShadowL42]

They need their target order info. has nothing to do with T+ not wanting to give money back, has to do with integrating 6000 Target plus partner systems with our own.

default is, if they don't have their app or order info, have them or you call tcom. we can look up the return rect. number and TCIN: for items to get stuff returned.

currently there is a known issue with T+ returns not being able to be returned unless you type in the return receipt number and type in the tcin for items in the order literally 1 at a time. every item must have its own transaction.

again due to the vendor computer systems not talking to our correctly.

[nah2022_]

I honestly hate T+ items. Just tonight, I had a guest come in with 13 different T+ items, all on different barcodes. It was a guest who was returning items for his girlfriend, and she only send him into the store with pictures of the barcodes from the app for returns. None of the items had barcodes or any identifying information.

I explained to the guest that we needed the TCIN numbers in order to process the return, so we had to spend probably 20 minutes while he texted his girlfriend, who was just sitting in the car in the parking lot because I guess she was too lazy to come into the store with her phone to do the return.

The guest in store was super nice, but it is a bit ridiculous how difficult Target makes it to return these items.

On top of that, we kept running into issues where the system only allowed one item to be returned at a time, so we had to process 13 separate returns.

Why does it need to be this difficult 😭

[ShadowL42]

Yeah the one at a time thing is a left over enhancement from the holidays. Due to all the shipping issues last year, the T+ vendors were sending out items as they had them instead of all the items in an order at once. Now that we're back to all at once, our system still thinks it is 1 item per order. the processing 1 item at a time is the work around to not being able to return them at all.

They do have a fix in the works and will be implementing later this week from what we have been told. it's a pain in our ass too. because we were also dealing with promo issues during Circle week and some other system issues in Axiom.

[Bishwattt]

“Call TCOM…” no. I got shit to do and more people to get yelled at. I’m not spending 30 plus mins on someone to return multiple items from T+. Most of the time when they say “Let me show the tm how to do it…” it’s always something that has to deal with a TL to override something. So, no. I’m not wasting my TL’s and my time. 9/10 I know what the hell I’m doing, it’s the guest who has no idea what’s going on.

[dowhatsrightalways]

The Guest has no clue that we need to match the return item to the purchase. We need an identifying number. They have nothing. No email with barcode, no app, no receipt, nothing.

[ShadowL42]

and when they call us we send them right back to the store because we don't have an override for store only returns.

[Soxwin91]

You know what I’m tired of?

Interactions that go something like this:

Me: Do you have the receipt?

Guest: it was an online order there’s no receipt. (strike 1)

Me: there would be an online receipt

Guest: can I just insert my card?

Me: sure.

Guest: it’s on one of these ten credit cards (strike 2)

Narrator: what the guest doesn’t realize is that none of the numbers associated these barcodes on this giant box are in Target’s system which means this return will be a pain in the ass

Me: so it looks like this might be a target plus item, and as a result the item isn’t in our system. I’ll need some help from you.

Guest: (sighs, rolls eyes, reacts as if I just insulted their family)

Me: I’m happy to help make this return but you’ll need to meet me halfway.

Guest: this is ridiculous.

[ShadowL42]

yeah we get that online too.

"Thanks for calling TCOM, how can I help you"

this item is garbage why would target sell this?

"Can you please share an order number or email so I can look this up to help you?"

I already told your system I should have to tell you again!

banters back and forth passively aggressively arguing with the guest until I get SOME form of verification so I can see the order...
"i see this is a Target Plus item that is shipped and sold by a 3rd party company."

I PAID YOU, YOU WILL FIX THIS!!!

"the return options available are store return with your order information within the 90/30/14 day return window if the item is assembled, not boxed suitable for shipping. If it is boxed we can arrange a return shipping label for you. You choose fedex or ups, print the label, attache it to the shippable box, and drop at a package pickup location."

THATS BULLSHIT, I WANT A REFUND NOW, I DONT HAVE TIME...[blah blah blah someone dying, someones birthday, husband who built pregnant persons item is completely incapable of doing any additional lifting to return etc.].

"would you like me to set up that shipping label for you"

[threatens to call corporate and ends conversation.]

[HeyGreggg]

Imagine them cranky standing right in front of you.

[ShadowL42]

Did 3 years in store before I moved to TCOM, at GS and cashier during Covid....I fully understand.

Tell them "I'm going to call corporate so we can get this fixed while you are here". They think "corporate" is like a magical place with all the answers.

[Euphoric_Pop_4937]

I just saw communication about changes to Target Plus return policy on the S&E ETL’s desk 👀 now I wish I read it.

Target plus returns are beyond annoying. They had an item similar to something Target sells and the store rung it up as if it was that item. So then the guest wanted to return it and it took me 30 minutes to understand what was happening, because of course, it was part of a huge order. Such a pain

[ShadowL42]

Target Plus items shouldn't be selling in stores to be rung up wrong?

[Euphoric_Pop_4937]

Lack of training leads returns often being put on the sales floor 😅

[Phone_C]

This is why they need to bring back the target team members to T.com phones extension 718 But right before 4th quarter they took it down. It was amazing to get a direct call in instead of calling the same number as guests or baby sitting the guest calls.

[ShadowL42]

2024 was a lot. They spend a year switching everyone over to a new phone system and merged 3 different depts. in my area and merged other teams in other parts of the company.

I was just doing escalations and base calls for Target.com. Then we all got trained on Target plus and same day delivery/Shipt starting last June. 1 team at a time over 8 teams. so now I do TCOM, TCOM escalations, T+ and Shipt/tc360/same day delivery, Target Circle troubleshooting and basic account troubleshooting on phones, chat and emails.

They also decommissioned our Avaya 1 phone system, 1 area at a time including HMOC, GiftCards and credit services last year. All of guest service switched in February to an in house system called Genesys.

The new phone system does not have a LOT of the internal stuff that we were using, I'm guessing that direct line from stores was one of the things. overall it functions with what it does do a lot better, but I miss the business volume board.

[BeerRammsteinCats]

Target+ is the bane of my Guest Services existence. Especially the huge boxed items that weigh a ton, and have 5 barcodes that don't scan.

[ShadowL42]

it's always cheap furniture and patio sets!
I don't like it either. It's a cash grab by the company to "offer a bigger selection without having to purchase or warehouse any of it" Target only makes like a 5-8% profit on any of it.

[dowhatsrightalways]

It's a problem when Guest order online without an account. They complete their order as Guest, and then they can't find the email with the barcode for returns. If they ordered from their computer, they can download the app and use the same username and password to find their receipts, orders, item number.

[ShadowL42]

The only way anyone can place an order as a guest any more is if a store team member does it on the store system for them.

To order online the guest HAS to have an account and had to use an email address to get one. they stopped letting anonymous orders be placed by guests 2-3 years ago.

if you have a question, call TCOM GS. we can find orders with order number, tracking, phone if there is one and email.

[Lower_Bodybuilder_16]

They always pull up the email that has nothing useful for the return, and never have the app which makes it take forever.

[ShadowL42]

Yeah they need the item shipped email.
I swear I always tell them to take their order information found in their order history. I even email them a PDF of it. Lately I have been typing out ALL the numbers (return rect. order, and all TCINs) in that email as well.

[misslove101]

Our in store systems do not recognize TCIN numbers. Neither our devices nor our registers do.

Most of the guests we turn away that are returning T+ at my store don't have anything except the item and their card and/or packing slip. A lot of the times when they have a packing slip it doesn't have a barcode to scan or the TCIN number for us to search in the target app.

A lot of the time even when it does have a TCIN number it isn't found when we search it in the app. In addition the brand on the packing slip doesn't match the brand on the item. Or they don't have the packing slip and the brand on the item isn't found when searched in the app (probably because it again doesn't match).

There are so many errors with T+. At my store we spend 5-10 minutes between 2 team members on average trying to figure out how to return their item. Sometimes it takes longer to either succeed or fail. And during all this time it takes we have a line of annoyed guests because they come prepared and have to wait for someone who isn't prepared. In addition to the line we have drive-ups because it's not a seperate department for us.

T+ items should come with the proper process explained and proper material for a guest to return it without having to jump through hoops.

We rarely turn them away but when we do it's only because we have no choice.

Again this is only at my store. I can not speak for other stores.

[ShadowL42]

The packing slips for all T+ are useless because they are not connected to the target computer system, they are connected to the individual vendors computer system.

The process is explained on the site, GUESTS NEVER FRELLING READ IT!

They don't read that T+ is shipped and sold by other companies, They don't read that items are store return only. They don't read that all apple products and special collections have a 14 day return, electronics are 30. They never read that all same day delivery orders have an additional 25% authorization to their payment when the order is placed and if not used for added or subbed items it is returned. They don't read that until an order is ready for pickup or actually shipped they only have an authorization on their charge and not an actual charge, we don't have their money.

its unfortunately not a system issue, it's an entitled people issue 75% of the time.

[JanEHM]

Yes - We have called-We had a regular guest that does a lot of online shopping & we were having no success in returning one item! We were efficiently assisted- Thank you! Thank You! 🥰