Sound like a lot of people with unjustified problems. First off I worked at sears up until 3 months ago and trust me I never would have left if I was making $1000 per credit app. If you made 81, 000 in one month you probably wouldn't be using that .94 cent gift card. You are coming across as stupid, from what I remember it is $2.00 per app if you get at least five in a month. Can you even define embezzlement, I currently work LP for another company and I have never heard of a store level employee being fired for 'embezzlement'. Sounds like your not showing the whole story.
As for samantha, since your boyfriend is under 18 most likely not unless they call his former employer. How it typically works is an employee caught stealing, is usually put into a retailer database that almost all large retailers check before hiring an employee. Because he was under 18 though there is a chance he was not entered into this database. Bad way to get started at such a young age.
Although I am not an advocate of the restocking fee I will present it from the retailers point of view. As for sears policy, technically if it was returned and was defective and you did not purchanse another product they could still find a way to charge you the restocking fee although they almost never will. This is not just something at Sears though, almost all retailers have the options to do such a thing and other companies such as Best Buy are even more strict on this policy. Sears is in no way making any extra money off of you though when you get charged with a 15% restocking fee. When a large product is returned at sears one of two things happens to the product. 1. The item is sold as a 'closeout' open box item and is sold for a priced reduced 15% from the original price. 2. It is sent back to the manufacturer for a reduced salvage value off of the original cost. The loss is evident in both cases if you return the item and do not purchase anything else. In the first incident they simply lose resale value and in the second case they are faced with not only a highly reduced salvage value but costs related in shipping this item back. The reason for this restocking fee is it prevents people from abusing return policies, such as 'renters' who buy an item for a one time use then return it, and it also reduces loss in returns. From a customer service standpoint, though I think it needs to be more flexible.
I agree that sears phone system is flawed. I worked there for two years and don't bother with the automated system as it doesn't really work, no matter what department you say you always go to the operator phone. The operator is just a low level manager who can't always answer. Even with a departmental transfer, there are not always employees in a department, and many times there is only one employee there as sears is a fairly slow retailer without a ton of business. When I worked as a salesman I knew I would rarely walk away from a customer to answer a phone, as to that alienates the customer who is right there right then. I understand the pain, but it is not necessarilly the fault of the employees.
I have worked at sears and to be honest with you the management team is not the best there. This is a very small dispute and I honestly don't see how the manager saw it worth while to fight you over $10 on a large purchase. It does sound like you have a bit of an imagination though with you exaggerated story of being 'embarassed' and being chased out of the store.
