REI banning some members from making returns and exchanges

DENVER — Lindsay Powell has no idea what she did wrong.

But in a simple email, she lost a privilege that’s the reason she bought a $30 membership to REI 12 years ago – the ability to return and exchange items.

“My biggest complaint is I feel like myself and other members, we’re getting punished for something that we don’t even know what the rule was to begin with,” Powell said.

On Oct. 30, Powell got an email from REI’s Policy and Standards team.

“When we reviewed your account, we found that the number and frequency of returns you have made far exceeds what we typically see from members,” the email reads. “While we stand behind the gear we sell and recognize that we don’t always get it right, we noticed that this was an established pattern rather than an isolated event.”

The email is part of a policy change from the company, a spokesperson confirmed to Steve On Your Side Monday.

“We identified a very small subset of members (less than 0.02% of 24,000,000 plus) who demonstrated a clear abuse of our policy,” Katie Barosky, senior manager of store communications, wrote in an email to Steve On Your Side. “While they will still be welcome to shop with us, they will no longer be welcome to make returns or exchanges.”

Powell said she doesn’t consider herself a serial returner. She shared a spreadsheet of her transaction history at REI with Steve On Your Side. It shows since 2014, she has spent nearly $11,000 at REI and returned about $3,100 worth of merchandise.

According to Powell, she has a diagnosed foot condition and small feet, so often stores don’t have her shoe size in stock. Recently, she said she ordered several pairs of sandals with arch support, as recommended by her podiatrist, but found the sandals didn’t feel comfortable.

She said she also has tried out gear that claimed to be waterproof and returned it when it wasn’t.

“Their whole philosophy is based upon the testing their gear out,” Powell said. “And you know, if you’re not satisfied with it for any reason, you can bring it back.”

“In my mind, I’m purchasing things and I’m testing either it out to say this is going to work, or it’s not, or I’m purchasing multiple sizes of something to see what’s going to work for me.”

Powell responded to REI’s email asking what evidence they were using to make the decision.

“We cannot provide specific details about how we determine policy abuse,” the company responded.

A spokesperson wouldn’t confirm to 9NEWS how Powell violated the policy, either.

Kyle James, a retail expert who runs the website Rather-Be-Shopping, said he has seen stories on social media of some REI shoppers buying gear, using it to hike a complicated trail, then returning it at the end of the journey. 

James’ website tracks individual retailers’ return policies. James said more and more retailers are cracking down on customers who abuse generous return policies.

“Retailers are kind of pulling back on some of these return products, saying, OK, wait, some people are taking advantage of this,” James said.

“It’s hard for consumers, because when people, quote unquote, take advantage of some of these policies, it ends up hurting everybody in the long run.”

But James argues REI should have given members in question some warning before they began enforcing this new policy.

“You didn’t give these folks some heads up saying, hey, we noticed you’re returning a lot more than our other members – we’re going to put you on probationary period,” he said.

Powell said she’s done shopping at REI, despite their offer that she can still buy items, but no longer return them.

“If we violated their policy – I definitely don’t want to do that, but I also, I would like to know what number are they considering too much,” she said. “When did we cross that threshold? And no one has been able to tell us that.”

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