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Target employees share the 16 most ridiculous returns they've seen customers make (TGT)

Target's return policy allows for most unopened items to be exchanged or refunded within 90 days.

Target employee cashier
  • A total of 37 Target team members spoke to Business Insider about the strangest returns they've ever seen.
  • Employees reported seeing people attempt to return everything from shirts from Walmart to $400 in Christmas decorations.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
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Target 's return policy covers most unopened items for 90 days.

"Most unopened items sold by Target in new condition and returned within 90 days will receive a refund or exchange," the retail chain's website reads .

The store's policy also notes that some items have a "modified return policy." You can check if a product has such a policy on the receipt or packing slip. Damaged or opened items can be "denied a refund or exchange."

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But that doesn't stop some Target shoppers from attempting to abuse the policy.

Business Insider corresponded with 37 Target employees to get a sense of the strangest things they've witnessed customers return or attempt to return. One employee from California said that, while they don't work in returns, they "admire" the team members who do.

"That is a very tough position," the employee told Business Insider.

It sounds like they've seen a lot from an opened box of condoms to a U-Haul's worth of lawn set items.

Here's what the Target team members had to say:

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Wendy W. / Yelp

"Someone ordered an entire lawn set online and brought it in on a U-Haul to return it," a Target employee of two years told Business Insider. "We had to use around 10 carts to bring it in."

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Retna S. / Yelp

A Target employee of one year told Business Insider that the chips were supposed to be served at a party, but went unopened.

"I did not know at the time that food returns get tossed," the employee told Business Insider.

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Isobel L. / Yelp

A Target team member of one year told Business Insider that they had witnessed a customer make this return.

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Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

An employee from Alabama said they'd encountered guests bringing up partially consumed edibles like chewed-on candies and half-empty sodas.

"Hell, one even tried to return half a bottle of wine," the employee said. "They said it was just 'no good.'"

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Dion J. / Yelp

A Target team member told Business Insider that the large pile of DVDs were returned "with receipts, obviously."

Jae C. Hong/AP Photos

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A Target employee of one year told Business Insider about encountering shoppers who attempted to return products from other stores.

"A guest brought in a Great Value bag of flour without a receipt demanding a cash refund since she bought it here," a worker from Alabama told Business Insider. Great Value is one of Walmart's owned brands.

Another Target team member who's also worked at the store for a year said one person tried to return "multiple clothing items from Walmart," and a third employee who's worked at the chain for about the same amount of time described a customer who attempted to return a "Walmart shirt."

A team member of eight months told Business Insider of a shopper who successfully returned, "A shirt that had been worn, washed, and reeked of cigarettes. We didn't even carry the brand that it was. Guest Services accepted it, but we just had to throw it away."

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Shoshy Ciment/Business Insider

"Someone came in to return three sets of the same size sheet that he said his wife bought too many of," an employee of five years told Business Insider. "They were $150 apiece. He didn't have the receipt. We exchanged it for a $450 camera. He bought those sheets from a second hand store."

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Lou C. / Yelp

A Target shopper returned "bloody swimsuit bottoms" to unsuspecting employees at the returns desk, one employee told Business Insider.

Jim Mone/AP Images

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A Target team member of nine months said that a shopper once returned an Xbox lacking a console.

Amir Cohen/Reuters

A Target employee of five years told Business Insider that somebody abused the store's 90 day return policy "by returning roughly $400 in Christmas decorations in late February."

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Dedie B. / Yelp

An employee of two years told Business Insider that a shopper once returned a "10-year-old CD."

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Ann T. / Yelp

One Target employee told Business Insider that they were startled to receive "an opened box of condoms" at the returns desk.

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Heather O. / Yelp

A Colorado-based employee told Business Insider that they'd seen people attempt to return "action figures that had been put back in the wrong cases."

Shoshy Ciment/Business Insider

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One employee from Michigan said they'd witnessed "multiple returns of thousands of dollars of home merchandise." They added that the returns seemingly always occur after the customers in question have staged and successfully sold their homes.

"It is so unethical," the Michigan

Steven B./Yelp

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A Target employee from Connecticut said that they once encountered a shopper who attempted to return a men's electric razor without a receipt.

"She had hit her $200 limit, meaning that she couldn't return it," the employee said. "She left, and twenty minutes later, a different woman came in with the exact same razor in the same Walmart bag, even, to return it with her license."

That shopper had also hit her $200 returns limit.

"I wonder if they were ever able to find another person to return it with their license," the employee from Connecticut said.

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Kin T./Yelp

One employee from California told Business Insider that they'd seen a customer return a suit, with an additional holiday-themed surprise. The suit jacket turned out to have "an ornament in its pocket."

Are you a Target employee with a story to share? Email acain@businessinsider.com.

See Also:

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SEE ALSO: 12 things all Trader Joe's employees know that most shoppers don't

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