95 percent of all returned gadgets still work, Americans don't read manuals
By Joshua Fruhlinger 
posted June 3rd 2008 9:43AM
posted June 3rd 2008 9:43AM
posted June 3rd 2008 9:43AM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
I may not always read my instructions, but I can usually figure it out.
I think some of these returns could be more than a few of the old "What was I thinking, I can't afford this right now"
That's my thinking
There are many reasons for the high rate of returns, but I suspect the manual that comes with the gadget is often the culprit.
I am often told RTFM by my geek friends when I am trying to figure a new device like a video camera or a phone. Curiously, many times when these same geeks have read the manual they have been thoroughly confused by what they read and end up having to call somebody to figure it out.
I suspect the culprit is the way in which the manual is written. These manuals are many times poorly organized and either dense in their explanation or have poor sentence structure (has anyone tried to assemble a piece of furniture and read the directions?) What is amazing is that companies spend so much time, money and effort in marketing and creating this new fangled device and often leave the technical writing part to the end, and the result is poorly thought through manuals.
The one product that had excellent manual was Edirol. Along with the manual they had a simple one page explanation on how to turn it on and start using their product. It was a breeze. Can't say the same for many products that I buy...I end up preserving the manuals in zip lock bags and gingerly pull it out when I need to look up how to use a new feature etc.
Here is the other thing that I have discovered: many of the new devices are over-loaded with features that many of us don't use. I have always wondered the logic behind that..
Thanks for this timely post.
Kamla Bhatt
I used to work for a regional retailer of electronics and appliances, and was in charge of the electronics side. We would have people trying (we were VERY strict on what we would take back) to return items with no problems all the time. Now, a lot of our returns were cheap portable crap made by Coby, and those tended to be legit.
But we had people bring back printers because they didn't work...yet the people never bothered to try installing them, they just expected it to instantly print. Or those that needed a software update from the website (for Vista) and that was "too hard" for them to deal with. Or people buying those $29 POS Lexmark copy/scan/printers with ink that cost $65 to replace, returning those when the ink ran out, quickly. Or that would copy but do nothing else...again, because they never bothered to install the software for the scanner or printer drivers.
But my favorite attempted return? We sold the Wii in a bundle, with the system, 3 games, and an extra remote/nunchuck. One family (and yes, all 7 of them had to come back to say it didn't work) wanted a whole new bundle because the second controller didn't work. Why didn't it work? Because they couldn't figure out that you had to hit the "connect" button on the Wii first! And after explaining this, they STILL wanted a new one!
Needless to say they didn't get it.
Bottom line? You would be shocked by just how stupid and lazy the average consumer can be.
Many people purchase things just to try them. They know before they make the purchase that it may not be something they really need. Often times the 'reason for return' is false. Who wants to say "I tried it and didn't really like it."
I have to think this would really skew the statistics.
You are very very much correct "Peter. R"
Thats gotta be a great point.
never never never RTFM. if you read the manual then it knows it's got you.
Stuff should do what I want it to and, yes, it should intuit what I want it to do that from my body posture and brain waves. And then do it.
Anyway, IT support need something to keep them busy between twinkies and pr0n
Please note that Accenture takes these numbers from the companies themselves. How can you trust such a biased source (especially when 3 of Accenture's boardmembers sit on the boards of 11 of the companies polled)?
This is why Engadget will never be taken seriously as journalism: a total and complete failure to impose even the simplest, barest shred of a critical framework onto arguments presented by the industry it covers.
I can agree that the total working units being returned is high and it might be as high as 95% since most of you peoples response who worked retail or computer say different, even though you have done no study on the subject other than on your observations that say yes the World is flat. I've seen far too many people post messages on different boards on how to break an item so that it can be returned for a newer model or buyers remorse. I think more than anything people just don't want to be called stupid but hey instruction manuals come with almost all products and if not there is always the companies website that usually covers Faqs and Tips and Solutions but people are lazy.
I think we just got trolled by engadget.
From my time at Best Buy I can tell you that many items get returned that actually worked. The best example is computers and wireless routers. We had so many people return wireless routers that we started testing them for customers in store after they returned them to show them they actually worked! I had countless people not know how to set up a DVD player for crying out loud. It is amazing how many people have little to know electronic smarts. I bet this number is dead on
Before I purchase some electronic device, I do my research on that product and competing products to try to reduce the chances of returning the item. Now, on rare occasions if I can't chose between two products, I might purchase both with the intention of returning one of those items. In other words, since both products might have a flaw or two, I try to see which flaw(s) I could live with.
I've noticed more minor flaws than years ago such as visible cosmetic blemishes on Chinese-made products which might make me return the item if it's bad enough. I don't expect everything to be perfect, but if I paid a lot for it, there's a good chance I'll return it if it bothers me enough. I don't always read the manual from cover to cover, but I will if I run into problems. I'll also call tech support, especially if it's software-related. So for me returning is usually my last option, not my first.
Hey I read the manual!!! I love reading manuals and seeing how it works. If I've done everything the manual says and it still doesn't work then I return it. I hate returning actually. I will return non-working products, maybe some few items that I thought I didn't purchased yet but end up seeing that I do already have it. Damn shinny gadgets!
I would say it's more than that like 100% Nobody reads the fn manual. *putting on my RTFM shirt"
A Walmart Style return policy gives consumer a sense of protection which simulates their willingness of purchase.
While you guys complains about return rates, think about how much extra deals you get your company with this policy.
Some people may not be sure whether they want this product, but knowing that they can return with no question ask, they would buy and try it first.
I might not be willing to easily signing up for a 2 years cellphone service without knowing that I can try in the first month whether the signal is good in my service.
Food Promote Counters in grocery stores and 30 days Trail Softwares;
didn't all these examples have proofed that it bring more business?
If your product is good, more often than not that the consumers will keep it.
If your product / store have a high return rate, think about WHY.
If your product / your store has a higher return rate than your competitor, there must be some reason.
I used to work the service desk at Wal-Mart, and there were all sorts of bright sparks that would try to return stuff. Ipods were #1. Probably 80% of attempted returns were solved with the Menu-Select Salute, 15% I denied cos they were out of the return period. Only about 5% were legit returns. Lots of people would return the $50 Sansa players cos they wouldn't play anything they bought from the ITMS.
Then there was the woman who got mad cos her HD DVD wouldn't play in her regular player - "The case was pretty" ... the woman who put regular batteries in a battery charger ... and the guy who got all p!$$y cos I wouldn't return his DS after my register told me he bought it at GameStop!
I nearly forgot about the printers that got returned because they didn't come with USB cables or black ink carts, even though the box specifically said that those items weren't included. And all the networking gear that came back from the college students. I could have made buttloads of money setting up wireless networking for the state's finest scholars.
that's funny because when i tried to exchange my iphone because it has dead pixels the fucking moron at the store looked at me like i was talking crazy. he kept claiming that he couldn't see it... asshole!
It's cause the pink princesses out there can't figure out how to work their blackberry or glittered ipod. When you see a 16 year old running around with a pda, you know thats just asking for trouble..
"There appears to be an IQ error on your USR port."
No, it's just that all of our stupid people have access to Wal-Mart / Best Buy / Circuit City. Stupid people never do well with manuals.
This stat mean nothing. People don't always return merchandise because it doesn't work. Maybe actually don't like the item? This statistic gets an F, and any grim consumer outlook it tries to project is a false one indeed.
A man buys a $300 mp3 player, he sees that you can get one for $40 that he can use without iTunes, he returns the $300 mp3 player. This man is an IDIOT. Wow, moron can't read a manual!!!
The article title is a bit misleading.
95% may not be broken, but...
68% Didn't meet expectations
26% Returned for buyer's remorse
5% Truly broken
That only leaves 1% returned as broken but still working. Seems pretty low to me.
I love it when people keep returning items. I have family in the wireless accessories business who purchase hundreds of items a month from liquidators who handle returns from companys like Best Buy. Let me tell you, this story is true. I personally sell some of the stuff my cousin gets on ebay and other e-commerce sites passing the savings to the customers. We get payed and the customers get what they want at a low reasonable rate. Thats why ebay is probably the best place to buy wireless phone accessories.
Misleading. I've returned plenty of working gadgets just because they suck, don't work as advertised, or don't work how I want them to work. Very rarely can you see and play with something in the store. As an exampe I recently returned a "network storage device" that spec'd great, but only delivered 5MB/s transfer rates.
So you basically read someone else's article (http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/06/03/per-cent-returned-electronics), reword it, and then claim it as your own? They call that plagerism. What was wrong with the article the way the Enquirer wrote it? IS Engadget so desparate for articles that they have to stoop to copy cat tactics? At least take the link off the photo if you are going to try and make it look like you made up the article.
I think you don't really understand how Engadget works...
They DO repost articles all the time... that's why every article as a "Read" link at the bottom.
But I guess there should be a manual for you to understand how that website works ?
@(Unverified)
dude this is a blog, not a news site. almost every article is from another site. i use it because i know they bring all the top stories from everywhere to one place. plus it's not like they are straight up stealing articles with the "Read" link at the end of every post.
RTFA (read the **** article): "According to Accenture, 68 percent of all returns work but aren't meeting customer expectations -- or they are simply too confusing to use. The other 26 percent are returned due to straight-up buyer's remorse (AKA significant other budgetary freak-outs)"
Hence: 94% returned are for the above reasons; 1% because of end users who have a PEBKAC issues (problem exists between keyboard and chair), and 5% are really broken.
This statement applies to every idiot who didn't RTFA before posting crap, such as the first poster (ginnal).
As someone who has bought many many truckloads of customer returned product sold off bulk by Best Buy and Future Shop, a far more accurate figure is around 65% fully functional goods with all manuals/accessories/packaging still in order.
I 100% believe this, though I don't believe complexity is to blame. I believe that consumers give up on their products extremely quickly, assuming something is wrong when they can't make it do what they want.
I work at a major electronics chain and get to test a lot of these products that are returned because they "don't work". Guess what? They do. At least 75% of the time. In addition, I buy a *lot* of electronics, and I have yet to buy one that has crapped out on me, even the cheaper ones.
RTFM? Have you ever reading the f'ing manual? It's usually a nightmare written by someone that can barely write English!
Don't give me this "I work at a major electronics store and I can tell you that most 'broken' items actually work" line, either. I have had so many problems with people like you, that think that turning on the product and using it once immediately means that the product is perfectly functional, when my original complaint was that the product RANDOMLY failed! So you had one idiot customer, and you have a story to tell about them. Great. So every single one of your customers is a mouthbreather that can't figure out technology. You know what, that's not broad enough for you. Every American must be a mouthbreather that can't figure out technology, just because you had one bad day at work! Furthermore, did you ever stop to think that people that come to a returns desk do it because, you know, they have a problem? That people aren't going to come to a returns desk to say, "Man, this devices works great, thanks 20 something know-it-all!" No, they're coming there because they have a problem, so why should you be shocked when *gasp*, they have a problem?
Oh, and ranting about how stupid Grandpa is sure does make you feel better? Well, guess what. Grandpa might have fought in several wars. Grandpa raised a family and worked his entire life. Grandpa was a productive member of society for 50+ years, and might very well be a war hero. You're some 20 something that still gets money from his parents (I fall into this category, by the way). You have absolutely NO right to criticize his work ethic. He probably has a much, much, MUCH better work ethic than you will ever have, and it's not his fault that he has to deal with a poorly designed UI, manuals written by someone in India, and then a know-it-all store employee. He is not lazy because he can't comb the Internet for hours upon hours to figure out how to get his camera to download pictures of his grandchildren. The company is lazy in making UIs complicated enough that he can't figure out how to do it.
Besides, if you actually RTFA (c wut I did there?), you'd see that Engadget's title is just flamebaiting for the sack of flamebaiting. The article even admits that most returned devices are known to be working by the consumer.
Nah, most ppl r too stupid to read manuals. But maybe not 95% there,but alot of ppl cant read for shiet..
@(Unverified)
A LOT of people also can't write for shit.
There is nothing that says you can't return something because it doesn't work the way it was supposed to.
Say my one MP3 player for example, I got it for christmas last year. I had an issue where when I would change songs, it would give this high-pitched sort of stutter and then start 4 seconds in the song. I was told that the device was supposed to do this and that I simply had 'sensitive ears' and that the 4 second jump ahead was because the device 'lagged' and needed to catch up.
I returned it because it was just bad quality in general, despite being made by Philips, a company I once had an MP3 player of awesome quality back in the late 90's.
Another time with my LG rumor, it had many issues. From sending the same text a gajillion times to not accepting that you read a text if you hit the END or any other button, so it'd buzz silently wherever it was and only drain it's battery in 10 minutes because of it.
Really it's not so much the customer's fault and moreso the companies just looking to make a quick, fast buck and failing to understand that quality checks are often needed. And by quality checks I don't mean a 5 minute runthrough with the person who programmed the software for it, or engineer who developed the way it was supposed to work and it's internal workings. I mean actual customer testing and feedback.
Maybe if manufacturers would try to understand their target market? I've had devices where the user interface slides left when you push a button that is in the "up" direction or similar things, you're supposed to press a button that isn't intuitive for what you get. Sometimes things are poorly translated, I've even seen poor translations on a couple Panasonic products. In short, sometimes things just don't work as well as they should. Some products require a lot of button presses to do seemingly simple things.
I also think that manuals should be better laid out. In the manual exposure section of the manual for my Panasonic GH1, it doesn't tell you how to change the f-stop, nor could I find that in the index. I did figure it out, but if I have a certain problem, I shouldn't have to read or dissect the entire manual to find the answer to a specific problem. Sony DSLRs don't directly let you scale up images in playback mode by turning the dial. The dial changes pictures, but so do the left and right button, you need to press the button with the magnifiying logo first, then you can use the dial to scale up. Three other brands have settled on not needing that.
Why does this statistic even matter ? Salespeople sell people stuff they don't want and can't really afford so most people wake up to this fact after a day or so and take it back, it's called consumer rights.
A return with no faults is a completely different issue to a fault return.