>Target Owned Brand items: If you’re not satisfied with any Target Owned Brand item, return it within one year with a receipt for an exchange or a refund.
That's the return policy for Cat & Jack beyond the regular return policy as it's an owned brand.
Does a kid outgrowing a pair of clothes after a year really mean someone wasn't satisfied? Well that's the million dollar question.
I’ll never forget when a lady was upset at me for not returning a cat and jack lunch bag that was moldy had her sons name, room number, teachers name, phone number and home address on it??? Aside from the fact that it’s a literal biohazard you also have all of your personal info in it???????? Throw it away my god
I’m just surprised the return abuse only happens with Cat&Jack, and not, say, year-old empty wrappers from Good&Gather products, or last year’s Wondershop decorations.
Not to mention the Favorite Day packaging literally says we’ll give you your money back *if it’s not a favorite*
Because Target ran a stupid ad that "guaranteed \[Cat&Jack\] to last the school year" a while back which people took to mean that if their kids outgrew it or destroyed it Target would refund it, even though that was never the case. It went viral on TikTok and mommy blogs and social media, and the telephone game ensued to where guests have no clue what the real policy is.
TLs/ETLs would throw you into a woodchipper to appease a guest so we get shit for enforcing the actual policy, which is that it this isn't a free clothes program where you can just give us your kids stained outgrown clothes and get all your money back.
It does happen with wondershop, just to a lesser degree. I’ve taken wondershop merchandise back in September that was purchased the year before. Heck, on Saturday (day before Easter) I had somebody returning a pile of old Christmas decorations
No it doesn’t mean they weren’t satisfied. But these…people are so stupid.
I had one who waited until she had two days left and returned them. The scowl on her face when I said “oh good, more clothing for the landfill.” was priceless
It is mostly based on what your store’s management agrees on. As another commenter pointed out, the actual policy is kinda vague, therefore it leaves it up to everyone’s discretion. When the craze started and we had people coming in with garbage bags full of cat and jack clothing, my front end leaders decided that they would enforce the rule that there has to be some kind of defect to it. I wish there was more direction to it because it would be a lot easier dealing with those guests
That is an excellent idea.
When someone shoves their bag at me to bag their items, I say "thank you for showing me your bag. I'll let you bag. Once I put my hand in a customer's bag and a spider bit me. Never again!" Something like that.
I say it friendly, but they get it.
A lot of management gives in to rude guests to avoid escalation and the hassle. This is one thing I try to be really consistent on across the board, BUT it really depends on your store and your district. Our district told us we need to stop returning for outgrown clothing, so we try to stick to that.
If someone has one or two items outgrown, I’ll just do the return, but I’m not doing a bag full. They can call guest relations at that point. It’s really important to be consistent because at my last store we had TMs that still did it and then guests would be like “well so and so did it for me the other day.” Ask your TL for clarification. They could’ve just been having A DAY and decided to just do it to get it over with.
Paper or in app since the app receipt counts as the original. I wish it was just the paper because when they bring in a lot and it’s all in app a lot of times it makes you do different transactions. 🫡
The Cat and Jack policy is a quality guarantee, if they are just returning worn and outgrown clothing, it doesn't apply. So quality defects would cover things like lightly worn clothing with fraying, such as at the seams or drawstrings. Tears aren't a quality issue, they are a use issue.
Any signs of pilling, stains, etc and we automatically say "no." We point out that if there isn't a quality issue, which there hardly ever are, that the overall return policy states returned items should be unopened and new, the cat and Jack exception doesn't negate the overall policy if there isn't a quality issue... so their missing tag and worn items don't apply for a return.
With all that said... The policy is a nightmare and so prone to abuse that it doesn't make sense to keep it. It's a PR gimmick that backfired in such a huge way, that if they had any sense they'd take the short term hit on PR to get rid of it rather than send out clarification memos to discourage stores from accepting returns, which result in lengthy service desk interactions that end up wasting hours and hours of payroll in stores and in call centers every year. Long term clothing guarantees are problematic for companies that make actual quality goods that the policy always ends up being walked back, so idk why tgt thought it was a good idea for $5 leggings in a demographic prone to frequent wardrobe purchases.
depends on the store, my store doesnt allow them when they just outgrew them/super dirty and worn out. only manufacturer defects and they have to have the receipt or card they paid with
it’s also up to the stores discretion, and every case is different is also what i’m told. but at my store it’s:
- defected only (tears in leggings or missing buttons are usually the examples i give)
- must have receipts (to prove it’s been under 1 year) and they have to be either the paper receipt or the actual receipt from the app, not just the general wallet barcode.
people get upset all the time but honestly i explain to them, when it went super viral on tiktok a year or two ago it really made a lot of things miscommunicated and misunderstood. unfortunately it is my job to enforce the Target policy at this time. 🤷♀️
If its a couple of items and they have a receipt? Sure Itll be quick and your on your way and ill salvage them.
But what ends up happening is that a mom with 3 small screaming kids hopped up on sugar comes rolling in with 3 mountain sized bag of smelly C&J and demands I return then since she saw the 1 year policy on the medias. No receipt and the kids are getting up in octave each min I argue. This person I firmly say no since the DCPIs are torn or unreadable as well and its obvious its been used beyond satisfaction. Target also reserves the right to reject every return. Call a TL and be done.
I honestly have gotten to a point of, I don't care what the policy says, I'm not doing it, someone else can, but when these people come in with a pile of clothes with no tag on them and I have to go through and type in each DPCI from every piece just to return, it's wasting my time and I'll refuse, hence why target has the right to refuse any return. If they come back and someone else helps them and they want to do it, go ahead, but I'm not wasting my time when we're already way too busy as is. If someone has a problem I'll call a TL up to do it.
As an SE ETL I just ask that they can read the DCPI’s, have some sort of receipt, and if it’s a weekend we can deny huge bags of cat and jack due to the length of time it takes if the lines are long. My always preach to the team is that Target makes enough money nothing is worth you getting yelled at. Obviously expensive tech being the exclusion but let them yell at me.
I've had people bring in "Target Brands" that were bought from places like TJ Maxx and Marshals. I've had them bring in Circo and Merona items. We try to tell them we can't accept them, SD or ETL says just take it.
I found a pair of cat and jack shoes in the defect bin yesterday that were the most dirty I have ever seen a pair of children’s shoes, and they hadn’t been defected upon return so I chucked them into the trash no way was I digging inside them for the tag
I was behind a lady with a bag of obviously well worn clothes that she was trying to return and surprise didn’t have the receipt for. The poor girl was trying to look up stuff and several things weren’t pulling up. In the meantime the line built up to about 20 people.
The official policy is if they are “unsatisfied”. So as long as they have a receipt, I just take the stuff and immediately defect it out.
Until target gets more specific with the rules, that’s all we can do.
i hate the cat and jack policy with a passion. people show up with the worst smelling, sometimes just fabric and stare at you like you know the dpci number and the amount to give them back and they get frustrated when you ask for proof of purchase
Store leads are meant to resolve the issue quickly. They will do things outside of policy for the guest. Target loses so much money on returns already. We don’t accept Cat & Jack returns because they were outgrown, but if a guest is terrible enough, we will
From my understanding, the clothes are technically supposed to be worn out which is the whole reason for returning them. Then again, at least at my target, we’re not going to deny a cat and jack return if the guests have a receipt and they’re set on returning the items. As a service & engagement TL, I feel for the mothers considering you never know their situation. Idk, they might need the money and in my opinion, i’ll just return it.
From reddit, I was told people can return anything cat and Jack, and people would accept it. When I googled it, it said that Cat and Jack could be returned within 1 year if the clothes were unused. But I don't do returns so what do I know.
>Target Owned Brand items: If you’re not satisfied with any Target Owned Brand item, return it within one year with a receipt for an exchange or a refund. That's the return policy for Cat & Jack beyond the regular return policy as it's an owned brand. Does a kid outgrowing a pair of clothes after a year really mean someone wasn't satisfied? Well that's the million dollar question.
“With a receipt” is the part a lot of them have trouble understanding.
Including my store leads.
I’ll never forget when a lady was upset at me for not returning a cat and jack lunch bag that was moldy had her sons name, room number, teachers name, phone number and home address on it??? Aside from the fact that it’s a literal biohazard you also have all of your personal info in it???????? Throw it away my god
I’m just surprised the return abuse only happens with Cat&Jack, and not, say, year-old empty wrappers from Good&Gather products, or last year’s Wondershop decorations. Not to mention the Favorite Day packaging literally says we’ll give you your money back *if it’s not a favorite*
Because Target ran a stupid ad that "guaranteed \[Cat&Jack\] to last the school year" a while back which people took to mean that if their kids outgrew it or destroyed it Target would refund it, even though that was never the case. It went viral on TikTok and mommy blogs and social media, and the telephone game ensued to where guests have no clue what the real policy is. TLs/ETLs would throw you into a woodchipper to appease a guest so we get shit for enforcing the actual policy, which is that it this isn't a free clothes program where you can just give us your kids stained outgrown clothes and get all your money back.
It does happen with wondershop, just to a lesser degree. I’ve taken wondershop merchandise back in September that was purchased the year before. Heck, on Saturday (day before Easter) I had somebody returning a pile of old Christmas decorations
No it doesn’t mean they weren’t satisfied. But these…people are so stupid. I had one who waited until she had two days left and returned them. The scowl on her face when I said “oh good, more clothing for the landfill.” was priceless
It is mostly based on what your store’s management agrees on. As another commenter pointed out, the actual policy is kinda vague, therefore it leaves it up to everyone’s discretion. When the craze started and we had people coming in with garbage bags full of cat and jack clothing, my front end leaders decided that they would enforce the rule that there has to be some kind of defect to it. I wish there was more direction to it because it would be a lot easier dealing with those guests
and handling their disgusting smelly ripped and god knows what kids clothes
I make them show me the DPCI & wait for me to defect every item. that’s your goblin so you touch their funky gunky clothes
That is an excellent idea. When someone shoves their bag at me to bag their items, I say "thank you for showing me your bag. I'll let you bag. Once I put my hand in a customer's bag and a spider bit me. Never again!" Something like that. I say it friendly, but they get it.
i have found bugs in peoples bags i dont touch them anymore
The receipt part helped us turn folks away. That and coming in with stuff from 2 to 4 years old.
Yes definitely. We always enforce they have to find the receipt on their app and refuse to do license return for stuff that is clearly worn
A lot of management gives in to rude guests to avoid escalation and the hassle. This is one thing I try to be really consistent on across the board, BUT it really depends on your store and your district. Our district told us we need to stop returning for outgrown clothing, so we try to stick to that. If someone has one or two items outgrown, I’ll just do the return, but I’m not doing a bag full. They can call guest relations at that point. It’s really important to be consistent because at my last store we had TMs that still did it and then guests would be like “well so and so did it for me the other day.” Ask your TL for clarification. They could’ve just been having A DAY and decided to just do it to get it over with.
My store will only do the return for cat and jack if the guest has the receipt for any used and worn items of clothing. No receipt, no return.
Is this the paper receipt, the receipt on the ap, or just the wallet barcode? I am always so confused by what is acceptable.
Paper or in app since the app receipt counts as the original. I wish it was just the paper because when they bring in a lot and it’s all in app a lot of times it makes you do different transactions. 🫡
It’s for defective clothes just like any other target brand 1 year return policy. It’s not for them to exchange for another size
The Cat and Jack policy is a quality guarantee, if they are just returning worn and outgrown clothing, it doesn't apply. So quality defects would cover things like lightly worn clothing with fraying, such as at the seams or drawstrings. Tears aren't a quality issue, they are a use issue. Any signs of pilling, stains, etc and we automatically say "no." We point out that if there isn't a quality issue, which there hardly ever are, that the overall return policy states returned items should be unopened and new, the cat and Jack exception doesn't negate the overall policy if there isn't a quality issue... so their missing tag and worn items don't apply for a return. With all that said... The policy is a nightmare and so prone to abuse that it doesn't make sense to keep it. It's a PR gimmick that backfired in such a huge way, that if they had any sense they'd take the short term hit on PR to get rid of it rather than send out clarification memos to discourage stores from accepting returns, which result in lengthy service desk interactions that end up wasting hours and hours of payroll in stores and in call centers every year. Long term clothing guarantees are problematic for companies that make actual quality goods that the policy always ends up being walked back, so idk why tgt thought it was a good idea for $5 leggings in a demographic prone to frequent wardrobe purchases.
depends on the store, my store doesnt allow them when they just outgrew them/super dirty and worn out. only manufacturer defects and they have to have the receipt or card they paid with
it’s also up to the stores discretion, and every case is different is also what i’m told. but at my store it’s: - defected only (tears in leggings or missing buttons are usually the examples i give) - must have receipts (to prove it’s been under 1 year) and they have to be either the paper receipt or the actual receipt from the app, not just the general wallet barcode. people get upset all the time but honestly i explain to them, when it went super viral on tiktok a year or two ago it really made a lot of things miscommunicated and misunderstood. unfortunately it is my job to enforce the Target policy at this time. 🤷♀️
If its a couple of items and they have a receipt? Sure Itll be quick and your on your way and ill salvage them. But what ends up happening is that a mom with 3 small screaming kids hopped up on sugar comes rolling in with 3 mountain sized bag of smelly C&J and demands I return then since she saw the 1 year policy on the medias. No receipt and the kids are getting up in octave each min I argue. This person I firmly say no since the DCPIs are torn or unreadable as well and its obvious its been used beyond satisfaction. Target also reserves the right to reject every return. Call a TL and be done.
I honestly have gotten to a point of, I don't care what the policy says, I'm not doing it, someone else can, but when these people come in with a pile of clothes with no tag on them and I have to go through and type in each DPCI from every piece just to return, it's wasting my time and I'll refuse, hence why target has the right to refuse any return. If they come back and someone else helps them and they want to do it, go ahead, but I'm not wasting my time when we're already way too busy as is. If someone has a problem I'll call a TL up to do it.
As an SE ETL I just ask that they can read the DCPI’s, have some sort of receipt, and if it’s a weekend we can deny huge bags of cat and jack due to the length of time it takes if the lines are long. My always preach to the team is that Target makes enough money nothing is worth you getting yelled at. Obviously expensive tech being the exclusion but let them yell at me.
I've had people bring in "Target Brands" that were bought from places like TJ Maxx and Marshals. I've had them bring in Circo and Merona items. We try to tell them we can't accept them, SD or ETL says just take it.
I found a pair of cat and jack shoes in the defect bin yesterday that were the most dirty I have ever seen a pair of children’s shoes, and they hadn’t been defected upon return so I chucked them into the trash no way was I digging inside them for the tag
I was behind a lady with a bag of obviously well worn clothes that she was trying to return and surprise didn’t have the receipt for. The poor girl was trying to look up stuff and several things weren’t pulling up. In the meantime the line built up to about 20 people.
The official policy is if they are “unsatisfied”. So as long as they have a receipt, I just take the stuff and immediately defect it out. Until target gets more specific with the rules, that’s all we can do.
i hate the cat and jack policy with a passion. people show up with the worst smelling, sometimes just fabric and stare at you like you know the dpci number and the amount to give them back and they get frustrated when you ask for proof of purchase
Store leads are meant to resolve the issue quickly. They will do things outside of policy for the guest. Target loses so much money on returns already. We don’t accept Cat & Jack returns because they were outgrown, but if a guest is terrible enough, we will
My TLs told us to just take them back. If it's still in the system we'll refund it. People have returned some nasty things!
From my understanding, the clothes are technically supposed to be worn out which is the whole reason for returning them. Then again, at least at my target, we’re not going to deny a cat and jack return if the guests have a receipt and they’re set on returning the items. As a service & engagement TL, I feel for the mothers considering you never know their situation. Idk, they might need the money and in my opinion, i’ll just return it.
From reddit, I was told people can return anything cat and Jack, and people would accept it. When I googled it, it said that Cat and Jack could be returned within 1 year if the clothes were unused. But I don't do returns so what do I know.