Complaint Rating:

Company information:
Brookstone
Illinois
United States

I received a gloved ice scraper from my mother-in-law for Christmas. I was pretty excited, as it was from Brookstone and looked pretty cool. The first time I used it, the scraper broke. No problem, I'll just take it back and get store credit. WRONG. As I was approaching the store, in a mall, the manager was standing near the front. I told him that I needed to return an item that had broken on first use, and he, a little too close for comfort, asked me if I had a receipt. I told him that it had been a gift and that I was hoping for store credit (generous, I thought). He said "I cannot do that, without a receipt, but I will replace it." I said something to the effect that I didn't really want another one, and was surprised that store policy was to replace broken items, but not to give store credit (What's the functional differences??). He didn't really say much, just went over and gave me another one. At the time I had been working in the mall, and was wearing my work clothes. I wondered if he had suspected me of theft, from the way he treated me, I felt as if I had to prove that it had been a gift. He was quite rude, and so I decided to check up online about their return policy, with every intention of reporting the manager. Sure enough, they will absolutely accept NO returns without receipts. I found quite a few other complaints about Brookstone's service as well. So, the take away message is: BUYER BEWARE, BROOKSTONE DOES NOT BACK UP THEIR OWN PRODUCTS. The days of the customer being right are gone, welcome to a new Millennium where managers are rude to customers, where store policies are clearly in the store's best interest, treating customer's like criminals. I, for one, will never shop there again. I intend to inform my friends too.