WATCH OUT YELPERS -- THIS ONE'S A DOOZY…read more
Mistakenly bought a pair of low-bridge Prada sunglasses online and came into this location to try on the regular-fit pair for comparison. I was helped by the manager, Sol, who was initially friendly and helpful.
I decided I preferred the regular pair and mentioned that I planned to make the exchange online so I could take advantage of a Rakuten cash-back offer. Sol specifically convinced me to exchange them in-store instead, telling me I could avoid the hassle of shipping and leave with the correct pair that day.
I stood at the counter for quite a while while she processed what she repeatedly referred to as an "exchange." I trusted that she was simply exchanging one pair for another, as she had presented it to me. I left with the new pair and thought everything was fine.
I never wore the sunglasses because my plan was to have prescription lenses put into them. After learning that an outside optometrist could not offer protection against potential damage during the lens replacement process, I decided I would rather purchase the sunglasses through LensCrafters together with my prescription lenses, where I would have that protection.
So I returned to this Sunglass Hut to return my completely unworn Prada sunglasses.
Sol was working again and clearly appeared to remember me. The moment I handed her the sunglasses to inspect, she immediately told me she could not accept the return because they were "damaged." She repeatedly pointed to what she described as a chip in the lens that neither my husband nor I could see.
I was baffled. These sunglasses had never been worn.
Her reaction also immediately made me uncomfortable because she seemed unusually quick and adamant about denying the return over damage that was essentially invisible to us.
At that point, something felt off, so we went to another Sunglass Hut location.
The employee there inspected the exact same sunglasses and had no issue with their condition. However, while attempting to process my return, he asked which form of payment I had originally used. I told him I had purchased the sunglasses online with my credit card.
That is when I discovered what Sol had actually done during my supposed "exchange."
Instead of simply exchanging my online purchase, she had returned my original sunglasses, used the value to purchase a Sunglass Hut gift card, and then used that gift card to purchase the replacement pair -- all while describing the transaction to me as an "exchange."
I was NEVER told that my original credit-card purchase was being converted into gift-card funds. I was never asked whether I agreed to that. I was never warned that doing so would affect my ability to receive a refund back to my credit card later.
Had that been explained to me, I absolutely would not have agreed to it.
Because of the way Sol processed the transaction, my new sunglasses now appeared in the system as having been purchased with a gift card rather than my credit card. The second employee could not complete the return because what I was telling him about my original payment method did not match what his system showed, and there was no manager available to resolve it.
We then went BACK to the UTC Sunglass Hut to address the situation.
Another manager was working -- the same manager who had been present earlier when Sol refused my return. She told me that because another manager had already denied the return, she could not override that decision, even if she personally would have accepted the sunglasses.
She also confirmed the bigger issue: even if the return was accepted, the refund could not go back to my credit card because the sunglasses had technically been purchased with the gift card Sol created during the original "exchange."
So to summarize: Sol convinced me not to handle the exchange online, processed my transaction in a completely different way than I understood it to be processed, converted my credit-card purchase into store credit without clearly disclosing the consequences, and then later refused to accept my UNWORN sunglasses back because of an alleged defect that another Sunglass Hut employee had no issue with.
Her actions during that first transaction are the entire reason this became such a mess.
What should have been a straightforward exchange turned into multiple trips to different stores, multiple conversations with employees and managers, and a situation where I could no longer simply receive my money back to my original form of payment.
The most frustrating part is that none of this would have happened had Sol either processed a normal exchange or simply been transparent about what she was doing at the register.
I would strongly recommend that anyone shopping at this location carefully review their receipt, ask exactly how any return or exchange is being processed, and do not assume that what is being described to you as an "exchange" is actually being processed that way.
