Can You Return A Shit Xmas Gift If You Don’t Have The Receipt? A Quick Explainer On Yr Rights

returning gifts

Every Christmas, you seem to be given a gift that doesn’t quite hit the mark. Aunty Deb tried her best, God love her, but didn’t 100 per cent nail the size/style/your entire personality. So can you return or exchange unwanted gifts? It’s the age-old question.

We know shops love to have outrageous rules on returns and exchanges but, at the risk of sounding like I’m in my “can I speak to the manager” era, customers do have some rights here.

Legal Practice Director at the National Retail Association Lindsay Carroll appeared on A Current Affair this week and explained some of the do’s and don’ts of returning gifts this Christmas period.

Obviously, the best way to return or exchange any item is to have the receipt. If Aunty Deb is a forward-thinking person, she will have given you a gift receipt (or in the classic boomer move, just the OG receipt with the price blatantly on it).

Carroll added that it’s important to “keep your item in its packaging and in unused condition” to have a better chance of returning gifts or swapping them for something else.

But as Carroll told A Current Affair, retail businesses actually can form their own policies around returns and exchanges. That’s right, businesses don’t have to offer you a refund for a change of mind. You’re probably better off trying to get an exchange or a credit note instead. In fact, this is going to be the most likely outcome if you don’t have the receipt at all.

It’s a different kettle of fish if the product is faulty. By consumer law a business needs to offer a “repair, replacement or refund if your goods are faulty, unsafe, do not work or appear as they should”. This overrides any other return policy the store has.

Carroll’s tip is to familiarise yourself with the retailer’s policy on returning gifts before you go in guns blazing in full Karen mode. That way you know what rights you do have, your expectations will be managed, and it will be a much smoother and civil process.

A friendly reminder that most retail assistants are just employees and don’t own the joint, so they’re just following the guidelines set out for them. Being rude is not festive — so don’t be a dick when returning gifts.

If all else fails and you can’t exchange an unwanted gift for something you do want, there’s always regifting or donating to charity. Passing it on to someone who does want or need it will give even the biggest Grinch the warm and fuzzies.

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