Lowes selling refurbs

Is Lowes selling refurb Task Force 2c flashlights?

My girlfreind just bought me one and its dented on the switch. Its got random scratches and the lens has scratches on the inside.

Anyway, its the Luxeon version, I am returning it for the Cree version.

misfit77 said:

Is Lowes selling refurb Task Force 2c flashlights?

My girlfreind just bought me one and its dented on the switch. Its got random scratches and the lens has scratches on the inside.

Anyway, its the Luxeon version, I am returning it for the Cree version.

Click to expand...

Might have been a return. If all the contents are there and the product still works, stores usually put returns right back on the shelf.

The package was unopened. I opened it myself.

I will point it out to the customer service, but i doubt they will believe me.

I'm banking on it being a return. If a customer returns a product they'll reseal a package and restock it, sometimes the customer will take extra care to make sure the don't destroy the packaging. You'll have no problem returning or exchanging it.

returned it for the Cree version....looked at 3 places to get it.

Lucky me it was the spanish only packaging.
Unfortunately it didn't work.
Next one worked.

Nicer beam...more focused.

This forum is the best.

I almost bought the same exact item two times from Radio Shack some years ago.. I bought it, took it home, it was non-functional. Exchanged it for one on the shelf, it too was non-functional. They said "we have one in stock, try it" and guess what..... It was the first one I had, the box had a particular crinkle in it.

I asked them explain it and the manager basically said "those are fairly complex and most poeple just don't know how they work, so we assume they're returning them for no reason."

Gee.

I never realized until working in retail that this was a common practice.

In my store, items tend to fall into three different categories based on cost - Do Not Repair, Remanufacture, and Repair. If somebody returns something defective, we do one of the three - cheap stuff is not repaired (destroyed and removed from inventory), Mid-range stuff is basically sold back to the manufacturer and refurbished for resale at outlet stores, and repair items are high-end pieces that it's less expensive to ship out, have rebuilt and get back.

As an associate, I can only be thorough with the items I return. My store manager doesn't like for us to scrap inventory, though, because it comes out of his profit and thus bonus money. There are lots of items in our store that were returned for one reason or another, and he's elected to mark problems on the box and try to sell the item at a discount rather than getting rid of it. Not a problem, except for the fact that if a customer grabs the box to buy an item themself, I might not see the comments written. Customer then gets to return the item, wasting their time to bring it back..

Now, not all returns are actually defective, either - we have people "rent" items all the time, buying a product to work on a specific project and returning it when they're done. And some buyers are idiots, who return items simply because they're not smart enough to use an item properly.

Long story short - knowing that any item in a retail store could potentially be a returned item, I shop a lot more cautiously than I used to. Stores are generally easy-going about exchanges, but I don't want to take any more of a chance than I have to..