Alert: The Return Exchange --
Have You Been Denied the Ability to Make Returns or
Exchanges with Large Retailers? We Want to Know.

You may have noticed that more retailers and retail stores are requiring a state issued ID or license when you return or exchange merchandise. Retailers tell us they do this to keep better track of possible return fraud. But what you may not know is that several major national retailers such as Express, KayBee Toys, The Sports Authority, Staples, Guess stores and others are now outsourcing the collection of return and exchange data to a California-based company called The Return Exchange (http://www.returnexchange.com).

In fact, if you make repeated returns or exchanges to a specific store, you may not be able to do so again at a later date. However, neither The Return Exchange nor its member stores publicly will say what criterion they use to make this determination.

The PRC is concerned about this practice and the possibility that consumers may be denied the ability to make a legitimate return. In general, we want to hear from you if you can provide information on any of the following:

• If you make returns at major national chains, we'd suggest you contact Return Exchange to see if they have a return activity report on you. Their toll free number for requesting your activity report is 800-652-2331. If the Return Exchange has a file on you, we'd like to know which retailers are listed.
  
• If you frequent retailers who use The Return Exchange noted above, please let us know if they post at the Point of Sale that a state-issued ID is required to make a return or exchange.
  
• Or if you have been denied the ability to make a return or exchange based on the information the company has about you, we'd like to hear from you, too.

Please feel free to contact us.

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