It's high noon for ''Full refund, no questions asked'' in Singapore

I remembered the cultural shock I had when I was pursuing my undergraduate degree in Florida. I was told I could return any purchase at the departmental stores like K-Mart, if I am not satisfied with the product for any reason. Is this how customer satisfaction is defined?

The customer service person behind the refund counter would be required to capture information of what product a customer is returning, and the reason which is more for survey and information collection purpose.

This was back in the late 1980s more than two decades ago. Not sure how many could remember K-Mart had setup stores in Singapore – Marina Square and Lucky Plaza back in the late 1990s.

My family was shopping in the K-Mart at Marina Square one weekend evening, and had purchased a pack of tang-tops. There wasn’t any to try on, and I asked the salesperson if I could. The very prompt answer was a simple “no”.

What struck me then was a second question, “can I return the purchased item, if it doesn’t fit?” The salesperson responded affirmatively without a second thought. This would be the first time I learned that I could return a purchase and obtain a full refund just like in the US.

How many consumers were aware of this full refund policy for any purchased item at K-Mart back then? I don’t remember this was publicized or made known to many shoppers. Perhaps it was unintentional not to state clearly the full refund policy, but would such a full refund policy with no question asked, be good for our local retail business?

It did occur to me that such a refund policy could be abused, and frankly I would be very skeptical that a great portion of the returned goods are genuinely due to a customer’s dissatisfaction of the purchase.

I personally did return items on a couple of occasions. On one occasion, it was a can of white paint that I had purchased to touch up a used car I had purchased in Florida where I studied. The colour wasn’t the right match, but I had purchased knowing that if it didn’t match, I could return and get a full refund.

Would such a mentality be prevalent here to prevent a refund policy in the retail business? How about purchases online where a customer couldn’t ascertain the purchase item is of the desired quality or right fit?

I think the effective implementation of a full refund policy with no question asked, would require greater consumer awareness and education, a shift in mindset in both the consumers as well as the retailers.

Nonetheless, I think it’s about time our consumers as well as retailers should become more matured to rethink about the retail business model including operation issues such as refund for purchases.