Why does it take longer for a retailer or other business to process a return/credit than a purchase/debit?

Question

For example, when you pay for something, the amount gets debited from your account within one business day (if not the same day), but if you return an item (or were mistakenly overcharged for a service provided), it can take up to three-five business days for that credit to be processed by the company.....

I called my bank and they told me it's up to the store to process the return (pending paperwork). I called Old Navy (one of the slow-to-return-my-money establishments) and the manager said the same thing. When the return finally gets to my bank, it only takes 24 hours or less for it to appear in my account.... So it IS the retailer that takes forever.... My question is why do they hold out so long?

Answer 1

I think it is to discourage returns. Not sure, but I have gotten completely angry at the time it takes to be given back credit for an item, and then it's like an act of congress to return something. Wal-Mart is the worst. They scan items in seconds, but you return something and they want all kinds of information, then ask you to sign a piece of paper, and state why it's being returned. Come on this is the computer age, receiving or returning should take approximately the same amount of time.

Answer 2

They've grown emotionally attached to your money.

Actually, it is an uncommon action, so the programming and processing paths are not supposed to be fast. The fast methods are for obtaining money and gaining every extra bit of possession because the bank that holds the money pays interest and they want every extra penny they can. Letting go of a few dollars is therefore not as important as beefing up the average balances.

Answer 3

mainly they say it takes longer to process go through extra people etc, but the main reason is Interest even that little bit adds up in the big picture

Answer 4

ACTUALLY it's usually not the retailer that causes the delay, its the bank/processing company that causes the delay..

Answer 5

Cause the point is to get your money, honey, not give it back!