Target’s 90-day return policy may be reasonable but it is not competitive in some areas, so Target should be especially careful about the quality of the breakable products it sells. On two recent occasions, I took back products to Target that had one-year warranties, had broken within 6 months, but did not get returned until after 90 days. Only one store manager agreed to at least try to communicate with upper management about a potential problem with the warranteed product. Two managers claimed that Target tracks poor-performing products, but I determined that there was absolutely no mechanism to do this after the 90-day return period (and no interest on the part of the store managers to take independent note of a potential problem). On both occasions I was told “We don’t make the products - we just sell them,” which is a pretty sure-fire way to lose a customer. I was given a client services phone number to call that just gave a recorded message with the same “We cannot help you” message. I tried a similar experiment with WalMart and management gave a much more appropriate and personal response. Target hires college graduates but does not let them use their judgment. WalMart grows its own talent and lets its managers be proactive. This might be at least one reason why Target is losing customers.

Though I have noticed that The fortune 500 company I work for (State Farm Insurance), hasn’t suffered to drastically…