I am posting this on behalf of CHOICE Journalist Brendan Kearns -
HI there, I’m a journalist with CHOICE. I’m looking into companies that refuse to issue paper receipts and ask consumers to hand over phone numbers or emails to access receipts. Have you been refused a paper receipt by retails stores? Comment below with a tip or shoot me an email through to [email protected]
Hi, I can’t recall ever being refused a paper receipt however, when I buy stuff at JB Hi-Fi I’m asked if I want a receipt emailed to me. Also at Bunnings, at self checkout, one can have a receipt link sent to their mobile.
I always scan receipts (or take a picture) because not only they fade in time, with all hopes to demonstrate proof of purchase, but also because it’s much easier to file a digital copy somewhere and search for something like: “2024-08-07-Receipt (hairdryer)”, then looking all over the place for a faded receipt. Of course all should be backed up as well (I love the free OneDrive 1TB I get by having an Office 365 subscription). Regards
Never refused a printed receipt. Saying that, our own business we send almost all receipts/tax invoices by email. If someone asked, we will specifically print a copy as well. It is worth noting we offer credit card printed receipt at the point of payment. For our type of business, most who want tax invoices want them electronically for booking keeping purposes.
We find Chemist Warehouse checkout staff only offer text receipts. One has to specifically ask for a printed receipt. It is a bit annoying. I would prefer the approach of other retailers where they ask if you want a receipt, if you answer yes, they then ask if you want it texted or printed.
I haven’t been refused a paper receipt. But in recent days I have discovered the disadvantage and inconvenience of saying no to one. I purchased a bottle of wine and because we’d had it before I presumed my house-sharer daughter would be fine with it, I said no to a paper receipt. But because I paid with card and used the Coles rewards card I knew I was safe.
‘Not that wine. It gives me a headache,’ said my daughter.
On my next visit to Liquorland I requested a swap for another.
‘I can’t do it without the last 6 numbers of the receipt’.
'But you can get the details from the Rewards card or here’s the proof, ’ I said, showing her my bank account record of purchase.
She reiterated her statement, she needs to know the last 6 digits.
I’ve still got the $10 bottle. I’ll return again, hoping the usual guy in charge has returned from his break and competes an easy refund of it and maybe 6 bottles of another, or that she has been educated.
Chemist Warehouse - Ashgrove 4060 to be precise. Earlier this year, late last year.
On my most recent encounter (last week) it’s possible they have dropped the campaign. I specifically asked on that purchase for a receipt before the transaction was completed. There was no attempt to steer me to use a digital option. Prior experience has been the register staff asking for my mobile or email details before advising of the till total or requesting payment, or when the offer of a receipt was accepted. When challenged the staff would reiterate it was necessary for me to receive a receipt. There was never an offer of a paper alternative. I received both a paper receipt and the offer optionally of a free carry bag with the latest purchase.
To consider - when paying on a Square terminal Square track a customers CC number and automatically connect your mobile or email if used previously anywhere on their network. Some stores ask if one requires a receipt (paper or digital). Others appear to assume it’s OK not to ask. Since many of these are small businesses we use only once or rarely it’s difficult to point to any reliably.
Or that the guy in charge has the same problem … needs to know the last 6 digits. I would be interested in an update.
I can’t comment on Coles Liquor but I had to return an item at BigW and they wanted those digits (which wasn’t a problem because I had the printed receipt).
It’s not about “proof of purchase” - which may well not be disputed. It’s about locating the transaction so that it can be reversed. (NB: The payment mechanism typically has to be reversed e.g. if you paid by credit card, you can’t get refunded in cash - and some combinations may even be illegal, although for $10 perhaps not so much. However I understand that in this case you were after an exchange, not a refund.)
Also note that your situation appears to be a “change of mind” and they probably aren’t obligated to do anything. Keeping customers happy … sure.
Maybe trawl through: Businesses Tracking Customers, digital invoicing/receipts
It is also a change of mind where the retailer can rightfully require a copy of the receipt to allow the change of mind to be processed. This is one of the potential traps of not taking (or throwing out a receipt) as they can be required for such purposes.
Hi RolandoF, just be aware that Onedrive is not a real backup. This is a very common misunderstanding. It’s a syncing service between your devices and the cloud.
If your computer dies or is stolen you will be able to get back your files from the cloud, but if any files are accidentally deleted or corrupted on your device, because of an error, virus etc, all the errors will sync up and down the cloud everywhere.
A real backup service will enable you to restore any, or all, files from any day right back to whenever you started the backups.
Good point, I think one can set up OneDrive not to delete or not to mirror one’s computer, but there’s also a recycle bin available. I also have a NAS (RAID1) at home that mirrors the OneDrive for additions, so if the internet is down, my home intranet is still available and I can get to my “cloud” files. Just in case the house burns down too, I do a full backup 6-monthly to 2 encrypted HDD I keep at work. A bit painful …
I haven’t been ever refused a paper receipt, but I am prepared for the time it happens.
In my pocket is a pen and paper. Write it down manually money taker. And sign it.
no one refuses to issue a receipt. I usually refuse to take them unless it’s for something that I might require warrantee
I have not been refused a paper receipt, however it is now common practice for the employee to ask whether a receipt is required. In my view most people say “no” and have no idea what they have paid for. Restaurants and Cafes are particularly good at this, as they can add on stuff that you haven’t ordered, or received. Just check your receipt next time, and it’s likely there will be a wrong entry. A nice little earner for them.
You may think I’m being cynical (suspicious, yes and for good reason.) The Bunnings example is good for all the wrong reasons where the electronic receipt is sent to your mobile. Then, when fiddling around with purchases only to find out they’ve charged you twice for one item, or overcharged. Just try to navigate this to get a refund.
This isn’t Bunnings bashing, it happens at K Mart and Target, Woolworths and Coles etc where they treat you as a criminal before you enter the store and bleat about theft. Well, how about their corporate theft of overcharging where many customers either don’t notice, or just take it on the chin?
I digress, suffice to say it’s another tactic to screw as much out of the customer/consumer as possible by methods that nobody seems to be doing anything about. Interesting to note that there were few, if any comments about this when I brought it up a few weeks ago on this forum.
I expect the shareholders are happy.
Regards
Ray
Sundowner
The Maccas machines that allow a person to order and then pay, I find often do not have the paper necessary to print the receipt. This then requires an employee (usually a manager as they need to have the password to access the records) to search through the list of transactions on another terminal to find the customer’s transaction.
Considering that it is a legal requirement to provide a receipt without the need for a customer request for transactions over a certain amount, this failure to print one after the transaction completes on the machine is aggravating to me to say the least and maybe to others who experience similar outcomes.
Hungry Jacks machines offer a QR code to access the receipt on a mobile device, no print out occurs from their self service terminals.
Recently at Gourmet Life in Edgecliff I made a purchase of over $60 and wasn’t given a receipt. I asked the sales assistant for one, but was only given a credit card receipt. This was annoying as the amount charged was higher than the price of the items and what she asked for when she present the card reader to me. At the time there was no notice or text anywhere regarding a card surcharge.
The issue is more trying to get a credit card/eftpos receipt, not just a tax invoice.
(I thought a tax invoice was an absolute mandatory item if requested.)
Getting the eftpos receipt, which, these days, can reflect a different amount from the tax invoice as there’s that surcharge the register doesn’t often reflect.
“Sorry, no paper”. “Oops. I cancelled the print and we don’t know how to reprint”. “No. Our (eftpos) machine doesn’t supply receipts”. and a variety of other reasons (and excuses).
I’ve always been able to get a receipt, sometimes as an email (good old square) but it’s that eftpos receipt that is the elusive one.
Continuing the discussion from Have you been refused a paper receipt? - Journalist callout:
I have been refused a paper receipt a couple of times. Once from a clothing shop in Elsternwick and the second time from a gift stall at the South Melbourne Market. Both times I was required to give my mobile number in order to receive proof of purchase, which I was not happy to do. As a result I will never purchase anything from either business again. Having said that, I have never never been refused a paper receipt from a major retailer.
I was once refused a receipt from a popular chain clothing store. I told her she had to give me one. She said blame head office because it’s their policy. I left without the merchandise. Fast forward when I visited this store again there was a different assistant, I chose my goods and went to pay saying you don’t issue receipts do you? She said of course we do. To cut a long story short the original assistant had been fired and charged with theft I don’t need to explain why I wasn’t given a receipt.
As to the original question, I’ve never been refused a receipt but 2 places I go to don’t issue one but email them to me. One is a massage place and the other a psychologist.
Always have to ask for receipts in many places and some don’t offer a paper receipt but say they can email receipt to me and I’m made to feel like it’s an inconvenience to provide the paper receipt
Yes , refused a few times at local markets on the Gold Coast. They seem to use the Square payment system (small white square you tap).
