{"id":2464538,"date":"2018-02-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-02-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/uncategorized\/ll-bean-tightens-generous-return-policy\/"},"modified":"2022-05-12T12:43:54","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T18:43:54","slug":"ll-bean-tightens-generous-return-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-gear\/gear-news\/ll-bean-tightens-generous-return-policy\/","title":{"rendered":"L.L. Bean\u2019s Lifetime Return Policy Is No More"},"content":{"rendered":"

For over 100 years, Maine-based outdoor brand L.L. Bean<\/a> has been known for its famously liberal return policy: if you\u2019re unsatisfied with a product, bring it in and get it replaced for free at any time, no receipt required, no questions asked. Today, that policy died. Customers will now have one year to return L.L. Bean products, and they must provide a receipt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIncreasingly, a small but growing number of customers has been interpreting our guarantee well beyond its original intent,\u201d L.L. Bean executive chairman Shawn Gorman wrote<\/a> in an email to customers this morning. \u201cSome view it as a lifetime product replacement program, expecting refunds for heavily worn products used over many years. Others seek refunds for products that have been purchased through third parties, such as at yard sales.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a follow-up conversation with ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø<\/em>, an L.L. Bean spokesperson elaborated that in the last five years, the\u00a0<\/strong>percent of returns that violate the guarantee policy\u2014which was designed to protect customers who received defective products\u2014had doubled to 15 percent, costing the company approximately $250 million. \u201cThe financial impact is remarkable,\u201d the spokesperson says. \u201cIt\u2019s not fair to the customers who honor the original spirit of the guarantee, and it\u2019s certainly not sustainable from a business perspective.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The spokesperson emphasized that the change in policy will have no effect on the remaining 85 percent of L.L. Bean customers who were not abusing the policy\u2014the retailer will continue to make good on manufacturing defects and other product malfunctions outside of the one-year return period.<\/p>\n

L.L. Bean isn\u2019t the only brand to do away with its lifetime return policy. In 2013, REI went from a lifetime, no-questions-asked return policy to a one-year return policy. \u201cWe stand behind the performance of the products we sell,\u201d an REI spokesperson told ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø<\/em>. \u201cA product with a manufacturing defect in its materials or workmanship can still be returned at any time. For other items, members and customers have a year to return or exchange items they are not satisfied with.\u201d Much like L.L. Bean, REI made the change after abuses to the system grew too rampant and too expensive to sustain, as reported in this\u00a0Planet Money<\/a><\/em> podcast. Per their original return policy, REI would replace returned items with either a new product or a gift card, entirely at the company's own cost.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Matt Powell of NDP Group, a third-party marketing firm that specializes in tracking retail sales, corroborates that \u201creturns are one of the most expensive transactions that a retailer goes through today.\u201d Even during my own stint working in a Patagonia store in New York City four years ago, I watched a customer return a $550 Tres Parka\u00a0<\/b>because it smelled weird. The customer had purchased the coat hours earlier at a different store in the same city. Store employees\u00a0took in the offending jacket and replaced it with an identical new one.\u00a0Because the tags had been removed from the original\u00a0jacket, and the garment had been worn outside, it could not be re-sold. REI had similar problems: During the Planet Money<\/em> podcast, Tim Spangler, REI's senior vice president for stores,\u00a0listed\u00a0various nicknames\u00a0that customers had bestowed upon REI\u2014such as Rental Equipment Incorporated and Return Every Item\u2014to poke fun at its lenient return policy.<\/p>\n

Yet other brands are holding fast to their lifetime return policies. Take\u00a0Patagonia: the California-based apparel maker has an Ironclad Guarantee, which ensures that customers unsatisfied with the product they\u2019ve bought can bring it back for \u201crepair, replacement, or refund. Damage due to wear and tear will be repaired at a reasonable charge.\u201d Notably, the option for “repair” means that not all returns at Patagonia stores end in the customer walking out with a brand new product, sometimes just their refurbished old one. According to Patagonia spokesperson Corey Simpson, the success of the brand's Worn Wear program helps to support their Ironclad Guarantee.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t feel that [our guarantee policy] is a drawback, nor that customers are abusing it. I assume that there are some abuses somewhere along the line. But the benefits outweigh that,\u201d says Simpson. \u201cI feel bad for L.L. Bean, because I can imagine some of the abuses [that were going on]. It\u2019s a bummer. It\u2019s such a rare and important thing to have that kind of guarantee.\u201d<\/p>\n

*Update<\/strong><\/p>\n

An Illinois man named Victor Bondi has filed a class-action lawsuit against L.L. Bean, claiming that “As a result of L.L. Bean's deceptive and unfair breaking of its promises \u2026 L.L. Bean customers did not receive what they bargained for.” The suit requests that L.L. Bean either “recover damages” or “honor the warranty as warranted.”<\/p>\n

L.L. Bean issued this statement in response to Mr. Bondi's suit:\u00a0“The recently filed lawsuit misrepresents the terms of our new returns policy.\u00a0 L.L.Bean products bought prior to February 9, 2018 will not be subject to the new one-year restriction. Proof of purchase will continue to be required. That is what we have consistently told customers since the new policy was announced last Friday.”<\/p>\n

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø reached out to Ben Barnow, Mr. Bondi's attorney, but did not hear back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For over 100 years, Maine-based outdoor brand L.L. Bean has been known for its famously liberal return policy: if you\u2019re unsatisfied with a product, bring it in and get it replaced for free at any time, no receipt required, no questions asked. Today, that policy died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48341,"featured_media":2280646,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"uuid":"41e9389e860d0273f4dad944a61a4dfc","footnotes":""},"categories":[2567],"tags":[2649,3083,2960],"byline":[2023],"ad_cat":[],"legacy-category":[],"class_list":["post-2464538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gear-news","tag-clothing-and-apparel","tag-hiking-boots","tag-maine","byline-ariella-gintzler"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"L.L. Bean\u2019s Lifetime Return Policy Is No More","url":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-gear\/gear-news\/ll-bean-tightens-generous-return-policy\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-gear\/gear-news\/ll-bean-tightens-generous-return-policy\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/09\/anna-chernichko-ll-bean-boots-creative-commons-2_h.jpg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/09\/anna-chernichko-ll-bean-boots-creative-commons-2_h.jpg"},"articleSection":"Gear News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"cthompson"}],"creator":["cthompson"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Online","logo":"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/favicon-194x194-1.png"},"keywords":["clothing and apparel","hiking boots","maine"],"dateCreated":"2018-02-09T00:00:00Z","datePublished":"2018-02-09T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2022-05-12T18:43:54Z"},"rendered":"