Ashley's Hallmark Suffolk Virginia- Beware of return policy

On September 1st, I walked into a new Hallmark store to buy my kids a Webkinz as a going back to school present. The cashier was very friendly and talkative. I thought great store! Well, Mom's don't always do a good job picking out what their children want. My two young boys wanted to get different ones. We walked in the store all excited to get the ones they wanted. I had my receipt and the Webkinz still in the bag. The cashier had to go ask the Owner because they have a no return policy at that store. The cashier walked out of the back and said we have a no return policy and we couldn't exchange the Webkinz. They are $14 each and I had two boys excited to get the ones they wanted and were busy looking at the choices. I asked to speak directly to the owner. The owner, Ms. Sumner, came out and said we couldn't exchange them. She then directed me to a sign posted on a column about 15 feet from the Webkinz display and in small print it said no returns or exchanges. She told me it was her policy and recommended by Webkinz. I inquired why the Webkinz display didn't have the policy on it and she said they had just opened and her sign on the display had not been posted yet. I also asked why her return policy was not posted at the cash register or on a receipt. She replied that nobody would read it there and it would get torn up. Well, nobody is going to read small signs posted in small print in the back of the store. I thought this was a dishonest practice and they purposely are trying to hide their policy. For a store open less than a week, you would think the owner would be more responsive to customer service or train her cashiers to explain the return policy at the time of the sale. The store obviously was not busy and she had the time to explain it especially when buying children's toys. The owner also explained that with plush animals we could spread meningitis or other diseases if she allowed her customers to return them. She did let us exchange them finally, but it was a horrible experience. I will not shop there again. It totally ruined my day. My kids were tired from the first at school and wanted other items in the store, so it was difficult to explain to them why the owner would not let them exchange their Webkinz. Buyer Beware- hiding the return policies from your customers is an unfair business practice.

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I don't live anywhere near this store and have no specific knowledge of this store, I do know that every store I have ever been in has a Webkinz no return policy because of the secret code. It sounds like this woman just wanted to cause problems and can't stand to be told that she is responsible for this.

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I just wanted to add my 2 cents and tell you that I have had over 4 years of WONDERFUL experience with Ashley's Hallmark and its owners. I cannot undo what this woman has said except to say that I find Ashley's Hallmark my favorite place to shop because of the products and the OWNERS...please beware of people who make snap judgements when angry!

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As the owner of Ashley's Hallmark, I certainly understand that this customer was upset about our no return or exchange policy on Webkinz, however I believe it is only fair that she also tell the rest of the story...Webkinz is a computer game for children that offers the customer a secret code inside each plush animal to access the secure website known as Webkinz World. They retail for $13.99 in our shop. Without this secret code, the Webkinz in useless. Like other computer games, if they integrity of the code is broken their value is completely diminished and so is the appeal. Basically it would be like buying your child a broken toy. Plus since it is made of a plush material, and it is known that various childrens illnesses may be transmitted through saliva, I believe it becomes a health issue when stuffed toys are shared. As far as our policy being posted, my store policy is posted in all four quadrants of my store on 9.5X11 sheets of paper. If she had asked about the return policy or the possibility of exchange, we would have been glad to share that information with her. There was nothing hidden or unfair about this. The irony of this whole experience was that this woman's children seemed very happy with the animals they brought back. In fact one child, didn't even want to exchange his for another and left with the animal he brought in. Against my better judgement, I allowed her to exchange her Webkinz, only in an attempt to salvage her bad experience in our shop. I actually took the loss and through away the returned animal to keep another child from possibly getting sick. Obviously she is still disgruntled, but I don't believe her anger really all came from the 10 minutes at the Hallmark Store. Some people no matter what you do, are not going to be happy. Maybe she needs to take lessons from her two young sons and realize that rules apply to everyone. And listen when they say, "Its no big deal Mom".