Target employees share the most ridiculous returns they've seen customers make

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Target employees share the most ridiculous returns they've seen customers make

Target employee cashier

Getty/Scott Olson

One shopper decided to return a single banana.

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  • Target's return policy allows for most unopened items to be exchanged or refunded within 90 days.
  • A total of 22 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.


Target's return policy covers most unopened items for 90 days.

"Most unopened items 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."

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

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Business Insider recently corresponded with 22 Target employees to get a sense of the strangest things they've witnessed customers return - or attempt to return.

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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An entire lawn set

An entire lawn set

"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."

A bag of unopened chips

A bag of unopened chips

An 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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A single banana

A single banana

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

Hundreds of dollars in DVDs

Hundreds of dollars in DVDs

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

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Items bought at other stores

Items bought at other stores

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

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."

Lots of suspicious bedsheets

Lots of suspicious bedsheets

"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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A useless Xbox

A useless Xbox

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

$400 in Christmas decorations

$400 in Christmas decorations

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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A rather old CD

A rather old CD

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

Plus:

Plus:

• An opened box of condoms

• Bloody swimsuit bottoms

• Action figures that had been put back in the wrong cases

• A suit with an ornament in its pocket

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

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