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American Morning
Interview With Terri Cullen
Aired December 26, 2003 - 07:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Post-Christmas shoppers, start your engines. You're going to have plenty of company today at malls across America. Folks are going to be looking for bargains and some will be returning items that are just too big or too small or, hey, just not right.
Terri Cullen is the assistant managing editor and personal finance columnist for the "Wall Street Journal" online.
And she's with us this morning with some tips on how to make the returns go more smoothly.
Good morning.
TERRI CULLEN, "WALL STREET JOURNAL" ONLINE: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Nice to have you.
God, I hate going back to the mall the day after Christmas.
CULLEN: And there's going to be a lot of people there today.
O'BRIEN: Oh, there always is.
More people this year did online shopping than they did last year and previous years. I mean each and every year it continues to grow.
Does that mean that it's going to be harder or easier to return things?
CULLEN: This year I think it's going to be a lot more difficult because more people did shopping online. They're used to going to the stores and taking things back. But when it comes to online shopping, there are other things that you need to think about when you're making your returns.
O'BRIEN: So at the end of the day, a lot of people don't factor that into the cost of something online.
CULLEN: Exactly. When you return something, you're going to have to pay your own shipping charges. You have to box it. There's a lot of hassle involved in returning something online. And also because many times when you shop online you don't get a gift receipt with it. So that's an added thing that you have to worry about when you're returning something.
O'BRIEN: Of course, there are some stores, just off the top of my head, I know that Gap, for example, you can take something that you bought online, go the Gap.com, and return it in the physical store.
CULLEN: Right.
O'BRIEN: Which I always thought was a brilliant sort of strategy.
CULLEN: And it's the first thing you should do. When, if you're going to be returning something and you know it's coming from an online store, check the Web site's return policy and ask if there's a store near you where you can take it back, save you on shipping charges right there.
O'BRIEN: Yes, and that's always really great. But you also say make copies of all the gift receipts.
How do you do that if you didn't get -- I mean assuming you got it as a gift and you didn't...
CULLEN: If you did get a receipt or -- and if you've asked a family member just say it's the wrong size, I want to return it, can I just get the receipt?
O'BRIEN: Oh, you see, that's the tough part.
CULLEN: Make a copy of that receipt. You want to hold onto it. There's going to be a lot of shipping going on right now, people returning things. And if your package gets lost in the clutter, you want to make sure that you have some evidence of it.
O'BRIEN: You say mail the returns right away. Wouldn't you want to wait till sort of the big rush goes by?
CULLEN: You know, this year is something special. A lot of retailers, particularly electronics stores, are cutting down the amount of time that they're giving you to make that return and get a full refund. So you really want to get that package in the mail as soon as possible to make sure that you beat their deadline.
O'BRIEN: Let's go through some of the advice you had that if you actually are going to schlep to the store and physically go and return the gift that you don't love as much as maybe you should. You say, first of all, go early, bring along your patience.
CULLEN: You know, you're going to be in line. You're going to be standing around waiting for a while. There's going to be a lot of other people with you. I think the best thing to do is try to do in an off peak hour. And, again, you want to be courteous. The transaction is going to go much more smoothly if you keep your personality with you when you go.
O'BRIEN: Yes, a little Zen experience would probably be a good thing.
If you're exchanging it, bring a gift and exchange item to the counter. Do it all in one.
CULLEN: A lot of people do two step. They go to the counter...
O'BRIEN: I'm always behind those people, too, I tell you.
CULLEN: Exactly. So if you know you're getting an exchange and you just want a small instead of a medium, take the new item with you along with the exchange. You'll get it done in a one step transaction.
O'BRIEN: I like this advice, if it's really complicated, be courteous.
CULLEN: A lot of times you end up with something that's just not right and it -- there's going to be an explanation that has to go along with it to make that return. Be courteous. Turn on the charm, because that's really going to help you get that transaction done much more quickly.
O'BRIEN: And those are all people who have been working around the clock and they're tired and they don't want to be there, necessarily, either.
CULLEN: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: Finally, what if the store absolutely, positively says no, you can't return it?
CULLEN: Well, do what I do and regift. If you know somebody in your family, maybe a friend who -- maybe it's not your style and taste, but it might be theirs, it's a great idea to just turn around and regift it next year.
O'BRIEN: Wrap that puppy up, give it away again.
All right, well, we're actually going to do a segment a little bit later this morning on regifting.
So thank you for getting us right into that.
CULLEN: Great.
O'BRIEN: Terri Cullen, nice to have you. Thanks so much.
We should mention that you also write a personal finance column for the "Wall Street Journal." And you can check that out online at wsj.com.
Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 26, 2003 - 07:23 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Post-Christmas shoppers, start your engines. You're going to have plenty of company today at malls across America. Folks are going to be looking for bargains and some will be returning items that are just too big or too small or, hey, just not right.
Terri Cullen is the assistant managing editor and personal finance columnist for the "Wall Street Journal" online.
And she's with us this morning with some tips on how to make the returns go more smoothly.
Good morning.
TERRI CULLEN, "WALL STREET JOURNAL" ONLINE: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: Nice to have you.
God, I hate going back to the mall the day after Christmas.
CULLEN: And there's going to be a lot of people there today.
O'BRIEN: Oh, there always is.
More people this year did online shopping than they did last year and previous years. I mean each and every year it continues to grow.
Does that mean that it's going to be harder or easier to return things?
CULLEN: This year I think it's going to be a lot more difficult because more people did shopping online. They're used to going to the stores and taking things back. But when it comes to online shopping, there are other things that you need to think about when you're making your returns.
O'BRIEN: So at the end of the day, a lot of people don't factor that into the cost of something online.
CULLEN: Exactly. When you return something, you're going to have to pay your own shipping charges. You have to box it. There's a lot of hassle involved in returning something online. And also because many times when you shop online you don't get a gift receipt with it. So that's an added thing that you have to worry about when you're returning something.
O'BRIEN: Of course, there are some stores, just off the top of my head, I know that Gap, for example, you can take something that you bought online, go the Gap.com, and return it in the physical store.
CULLEN: Right.
O'BRIEN: Which I always thought was a brilliant sort of strategy.
CULLEN: And it's the first thing you should do. When, if you're going to be returning something and you know it's coming from an online store, check the Web site's return policy and ask if there's a store near you where you can take it back, save you on shipping charges right there.
O'BRIEN: Yes, and that's always really great. But you also say make copies of all the gift receipts.
How do you do that if you didn't get -- I mean assuming you got it as a gift and you didn't...
CULLEN: If you did get a receipt or -- and if you've asked a family member just say it's the wrong size, I want to return it, can I just get the receipt?
O'BRIEN: Oh, you see, that's the tough part.
CULLEN: Make a copy of that receipt. You want to hold onto it. There's going to be a lot of shipping going on right now, people returning things. And if your package gets lost in the clutter, you want to make sure that you have some evidence of it.
O'BRIEN: You say mail the returns right away. Wouldn't you want to wait till sort of the big rush goes by?
CULLEN: You know, this year is something special. A lot of retailers, particularly electronics stores, are cutting down the amount of time that they're giving you to make that return and get a full refund. So you really want to get that package in the mail as soon as possible to make sure that you beat their deadline.
O'BRIEN: Let's go through some of the advice you had that if you actually are going to schlep to the store and physically go and return the gift that you don't love as much as maybe you should. You say, first of all, go early, bring along your patience.
CULLEN: You know, you're going to be in line. You're going to be standing around waiting for a while. There's going to be a lot of other people with you. I think the best thing to do is try to do in an off peak hour. And, again, you want to be courteous. The transaction is going to go much more smoothly if you keep your personality with you when you go.
O'BRIEN: Yes, a little Zen experience would probably be a good thing.
If you're exchanging it, bring a gift and exchange item to the counter. Do it all in one.
CULLEN: A lot of people do two step. They go to the counter...
O'BRIEN: I'm always behind those people, too, I tell you.
CULLEN: Exactly. So if you know you're getting an exchange and you just want a small instead of a medium, take the new item with you along with the exchange. You'll get it done in a one step transaction.
O'BRIEN: I like this advice, if it's really complicated, be courteous.
CULLEN: A lot of times you end up with something that's just not right and it -- there's going to be an explanation that has to go along with it to make that return. Be courteous. Turn on the charm, because that's really going to help you get that transaction done much more quickly.
O'BRIEN: And those are all people who have been working around the clock and they're tired and they don't want to be there, necessarily, either.
CULLEN: Exactly.
O'BRIEN: Finally, what if the store absolutely, positively says no, you can't return it?
CULLEN: Well, do what I do and regift. If you know somebody in your family, maybe a friend who -- maybe it's not your style and taste, but it might be theirs, it's a great idea to just turn around and regift it next year.
O'BRIEN: Wrap that puppy up, give it away again.
All right, well, we're actually going to do a segment a little bit later this morning on regifting.
So thank you for getting us right into that.
CULLEN: Great.
O'BRIEN: Terri Cullen, nice to have you. Thanks so much.
We should mention that you also write a personal finance column for the "Wall Street Journal." And you can check that out online at wsj.com.
Thanks.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
