30 Retail Customers Who Thought They Were Clever Enough To Scam The System

I had someone purchase a 55” TV from a different store, go home and put their old (smaller) tv in the box, and try to return it.

The look on his face when he realized I was gonna open it was priceless.

Old guy came through my line, as he was swiping his card he actually told me proudly "this here is my buddy's card. He owes me a bunch of money. He don't know I got his PIN. Sometimes you gotta be smart." So I told him I had to see his ID to process the transaction. He gives me his ID which, obviously, doesn't match the card, so I politely cancel the sale. He is shocked and irate, but confides to me he'll just go to another register and try again. I tell him I understand and immediately make a phone call. Less than five minutes later he's being escorted to a back office by an officer, looking even more shocked. It still mystifies me because if he had just kept his trap shut he probably could have hit every register in the store.

We don’t deliver the pizzas we make, it’s carryout only. Had a customer call and have a long/angry conversation with me because I wouldn’t deliver to her. She proceeds to say (a couple times) “you must be new here. I know the owner personally”, to which I responded “well I’m the owners daughter and we don’t deliver”.

We once had a couple men come into our small store, the one poured a cup of soapy water on the floor, and about 3 mins later his buddy "slipped" on it. The one man asked for compensation from the owner, but me as a manager, I pointed out that there were several cameras in and out of the building, and we had footage of them both talking outside, and pouring soap into the glass. I told them to have their lawyer contact the owner, and they took off before I could give them a business card.

This happened at Popeyes. There 3 people bought EVERY SINGLE CHICKEN SANDWICH IN STOCK. EVERY. SINGLE. ONE. Then, they tried to sell it to people that were there for a dollar extra. No one bought it.

A regular always tried to get things for cheaper, including switching the tags. One day she came in and told me that she had gotten a test at the doctor's, and "might have cancer" so she really needed something nice to make herself feel better.

She wanted a $75 item for $20, and we were soooooooooo heartless that we wouldn't give her any discount, even though she might have cancer.

I told her that not only was I a heartless witch, but that I was going to sacrifice a goat to Satan later that night, and the item was $75, or else GTFO. (My supervisor heard this and just spent the whole night sniggering at random intervals.)

She left.... and never mentioned cancer again in her subsequent visits.

"My phone is broken I want to use your 30 day return policy." Me thinking this is a guys phone who has broken within first 30 days "Of course sir i'm very sorry this happened i'll do that for you now let me just check the system for your phone" checks system "Sir...according to my information your Phone is 11 years old...?" "Yes and?" "I can't give you a 30 day return i'm afraid." "Why not?!"

I work at a bicycle shop that also does repairs, and every once in awhile someone will come in with a stolen bicycle they want to get tuned up. When we know with absolute certainty that it's a stolen bicycle, we will accept the bike for repair, but as soon as they hand it over we will tell them we're keeping it and to not come back. The interesting part is how confidently they come in with an obviously stolen bike and how long they'll carry on the lie that its theirs. We also always contact the real owner and let them know we found their bicycle, just for the record.

I was on the opposite end, a salesperson tried to tell me she'd spoken to my boss the day before and wanted to know when she should deliver a new copier. I said you didn't talk to my boss yesterday. She said she did.

I told her I know you didn't, because his wife died suddenly the day before and he wasn't talking to anyone.

Cashier at Home Depot. guy comes thru the self checkout with a big $550 DeWalt drill combo. Does his checkout business then asks me to remove the alarm tag for him. Notice SCO screen is still up on his transaction and its only $14. Tell him there was a mistake and to go to returns (I know he was bulls**tting us). Comes back and drops the "oh i'm going to check out the other model" line and then leaves. His buddy, also on SCO, ripped a barcode so i had to help him and not pay attention to the other guy trying to steal the combo kit. They both leave, call the cops, cop already has them in cop car for pulling them over for expired plates or some s**t as they left the store parking lot. Turns out the guy had peeled the UPC off a $14 toolbox and put it on his hand. As he covered up the Dewalt UPC, the SCO scanned the toolbox code. Police arrest the guys and I go to court incase i have to testify or something. Guys end up in jail. I get award and $50.

Dude walks up to the register and says he wants to return a thing (I think it was a mirror) that we sell for like $150, that his wife bought it and it doesn’t fit the space they wanted it for. He doesn’t have a receipt but he does have his internet banking on his phone with a transaction that says it’s from us for over about 200, says his wife bough other stuff at the same time. We will accept this provided we can find the sale in the system, the dates match, the amount matches, they can tell us other things that were on the transaction and usually we check the cameras as well if we’re feeling paranoid.

As soon as the manager saw the bank statement she knew it was all BS. The guy had renamed a transaction to our store name but it was misspelt and not at all how our work shows up on bank statements. So she tells him she needs to go out the back to process a return without a receipt. She grabs the top manager tells him what’s going on and they have a look at the cameras. Dude had walked through every aisle to find one of the more expensive items we sell, grabbed his phone and f****d around on it for a bit (we assume to change the name on the transaction), grabbed the mirror and taken it to the register.

I gotta wonder how many time he did this and no one questioned him.

Customers are always trying to buy coolers they've filled with items that they're trying to steal, and they tend to go to the self-scan so that the cashier won't check inside it once they pick it up and it's heavier than it should be. Well, the self-scan belts weigh the item, so when they scan the cooler and put it on the belt, I get a little ping telling me "uhhh this customer's tryna put 4 lbs of stuff on the belt when the item weighs 1 lb..." And you just know that when you go over and check the inside, they're going to be like "Oh my gosh!!! How did that get in there!!!! I didn't even check inside it!!!!" Like b**ch yes you did, I'm not THAT stupid.

When I worked in a convenience store store many years ago, the candy was all in a set of shelves right at the checkout counter. The wife of a well known businessman in town would buy a regular sized 3 musketeers bar, drop it "by mistake" and quickly switch it with the giant sized one as she scurried out the door. She did it several times a week.

It was such a sad behavior that I didn't bother to call her on it, but I was continually amazed that someone of such stature in town, would take such a chance for such a silly little thing.

Bookstore. A guy comes in with a stack of brand new books he wanted to return for cash, and I couldn't do it without a receipt. He whined. A manager came up and immediately told him to take his books and get out. He did, without even trying to argue. She explained to me he was a book reviewer for one of the papers in town. She said he was banned from returns at all the bookstores in town because he tried to dump all the review copies he received.

Not necessarily a scam as such but one customer in the pub I worked in was a known criminal.

One day he came in with a load of stained bank notes and claimed a biro exploded in his pocket. We already knew one of the money vans had been robbed the night before and the driver was in hospital with serious injuries. Every time we served him, we made sure to use the till nearest to CCTV so the transaction was seen and kept the money in a separate part of the till. About two hours later when we felt we had enough evidence, we called the police and he was arrested immediately.

If grocery counts as retail, I worked in a bakery department of a local grocery chain. We often had regular customers get extravagant cakes done by our decorators, also knew that if they complained enough, they could get it for free (if the right pushover managers were present). One night, we had a customer come in very late to pick up her two cakes, one shaped like Pacman, and another half sheet made into a Pacman map with our lovable ghosts on it.

She.

Loved.

It.

She gushed about it as we packed it up, after showing her how it turned out. And as we handed to her over the counter, she sort of stopped and thought. Opened it up again, and started complaining about how it was all wrong. She just didn't think any of it was what she ordered. We insisted, and showed her the paperwork for the phone order she placed. It was exact to the t. She still wouldn't have any of it.

"It's okay, I've done this before. Just call [manager's on duty name], he knows me, he'll give it to me for free!" She smiled as we called him.

He was livid. Told her he couldn't take any discount, but he'll keep the cake there and she didn't have to buy it if she didn't want it.

I left for the end of my shift at that point, and all I remember is her face looking shocked. I'm not sure how the outcome played, but we were told the next morning to not take large orders over the phone any more.

I think it's more what haven't they tried. I've managed a shoe store for eight years and the lengths people go for a deal is insane. The most common problem I see is people (very obviously) swapping price tags and then being really insulted when you don't let they away with.

Nothing has ever topped the melted shoes though. A few years ago I got a call from a woman. She was hard to understand and the most I could glean from the conversation was her shoes had melted. I told her to come into the store and I would see what I could do. I should mention we have the most relaxed return policy out there.

So later that day, the woman comes in with very very melted shoes. Puzzled at how this happened, I asked her. She said she had sprayed them with an aerosol protecting spray while they were on her feet, and then noticed a little plastic tie that held a tag on the shoe. Her immediate thought was to melt it off with her lighter. Having apparently missed science class, she was shocked that the shoes caught fire and melted the laces, mesh shoes and her socks, as well as causing minor burns to her feet. At this point I am biting my tongue to avoid laughing, and ask her what she would like me to do for her. She tells me she would like either a refund or a replacement pair because she knows what our return policy states we have to do. So we replaced them, cautioned her about the spray and asked her very nicely to shop where from now on.

Its the petty stuff that amazes me.

This guy comes in, first 10 mins we were open that day. I'm putting stock away on the shelf and this guy goes up to the register, ready to pay. So I ring up his loaf of Rainbow bread. I tell him the total and he says it should have been about $0.75 cheaper. I tell him that's the price for the store brand bread, not the Rainbow. He doesn't accept this at all saying that the bread was sitting in the space labeled for the cheap bread so 'that's false advertisement.'

So I get my manager as I can't override the price being the lowly associate I am. He gets into it with my manager who don't take no s**t and they go on a bit, but she does override the price and he pays it. Upon giving him his change, basically the $0.75 he saved, he says to keep it and walks out the store.

A lady called and tried to get the earlybird price for a pool pass, but she was a day late. I said sorry I can give you the regular price but you didn’t sign up in time for the early one. She says “But I called yesterday to sign up and the lady told me she couldn’t sign me up for one and to call back today and they’d give me the discount!” I was the lady working yesterday..

When I worked at a makeup counter at Nordstrom, a customer brought in a bag of products she wanted to return. I start unpacking them and all of them have “tester” engraved on the bottom. I told her that I was sorry but I couldn’t return them because they were testers. She then gave me a sob story about how her boyfriend gave them to her as a gift, she doesn’t like them, blah blah blah. Eventually she gives up and leaves. It was about $2,000 worth of skincare. I also watched someone steal skincare off the shelf and try to return it. Fun times