L.L.Bean scraps lifetime return policy

[Doctor Strange]

Honestly, I'm astonished that they didn't end this policy years ago.

I've been wearing largely Bean stuff since the eighties, and in the very rare instances when something hasn't worn like iron, I've never considered returning it... Because the vast majoity of their stuff has been seriously well made and held up to ordinary use for remarkably long.

But it's long been obvious that their old school standing behind their merchandise left them open to all kinds of scamming and abuses in our now largely post-personal honor and integrity, post-morality, I'm-gonna-take-whatever-I-can-from-these-suckers society.

 

[Fading Fast]

Honestly, I'm astonished that they didn't end this policy years ago.

I've been wearing largely Bean stuff since the eighties, and in the very rare instances when something hasn't worn like iron, I've never considered returning it... Because the vast majoity of their stuff has been seriously well made and held up to ordinary use for remarkably long.

But it's long been obvious that their old school standing behind their merchandise left them open to all kinds of scamming and abuses in our now largely post-personal honor and integrity, post-morality, I'm-gonna-take-whatever-I-can-from-these-suckers society.

Once gain, the "like" button isn't strong enough, we need a super like button for posts like this.

 

[belfastboy]

I am not disputing this ⇧ one bit - full stop. Separately, I believe I've read that their traditional boots are still made in Maine (but don't remember where I read that, but it was in the last few years, so it might have changed).



I would not take the other side of this as we've seen it to often (you just describe Coach to a tee (or "to a T"?) - I'd probably shorten your timeline to five years. The only thing I'd add is that the outsourcing you describe might be replaced by automation as wages rise in developing countries (in part, thankfully, as some of the worst labor abuses are being addressed - not everywhere, not fast enough, but it is having an impact) and robotics technology improves while its costs fall.

According to TweedyDon those boots are still made in Maine using original techniques. And their Oxford cloth shirts are the best I have ever owned at a very fair price, regardless of country of origin.

 

[belfastboy]

I wonder how much longer Costco will hold their return policy? Anyone else catch the facebook posting of a woman returning her Christmas tree, post Christmas with tinsel still dangling? I had a now (ex) friend buy a floating inflatable wharf, take it to the lake for his holidays and return after the weekend. My wife says you either have a criminal mind or you don't.

 

[3fingers]

I wonder how much longer Costco will hold their return policy? Anyone else catch the facebook posting of a woman returning her Christmas tree, post Christmas with tinsel still dangling? I had a now (ex) friend buy a floating inflatable wharf, take it to the lake for his holidays and return after the weekend. My wife says you either have a criminal mind or you don't.

People who engage in these types of behavior need to be beaten with a stick. I've heard similar stories about Walmart and others. It is simply theft, nothing less.

 

[Bugguy]

Prom or special occasion dresses that are worn with the tags tucked inside and returned with sweat stains intact?

My own favorite Craftsman tools. You break the blade of a screwdriver because you used it to pry a brick out... now days they trade for a non-Craftsman replacement. I do give Sears credit for honoring the program for years. On the other hand, I've had slugs looking for old Craftsman tools at my garage sales so they can have them replaced. Same song, different verse.

 

[NattyLud]

And now, as if to underscore how anachronistic Bean's goodwill return policy is in today's culture, there's been a class-action suit filed against them for the policy change:
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/LL-Bean.pdf

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think you can argue that America has always been a land of chiselers. In colonial times, the majority of coins in circulation were short-weight counterfeits, in the 19th and early 20th Centuries you were likely to find that the loaf of bread you bought from the village baker had sawdust in it along with the flour and the neighborhood butcher had to be watched closely to keep his thumb off the scale, and during the Era you didn't have to go far to find someone selling telephone slugs or chances on a rigged punchboard. How many here ever pulled a fast one on Ma Bell by making a person-to-person collect call using a code name designed to tell the person on the other end of the line that some event had occured? And the good lord himself knows how often I clean up after a show and find wrappers and bottles and cans from products we don't sell, smuggled in by people who have no shame.

I can't speak for other countries, but it isn't just "this generation" that's at fault. America has from its very foundation been the home of the knave. "Getting away with it" is a fundamental part of our national character.

 

[NattyLud]

Although I don't put a class-action suit in the same category as sneaking candy into a theater, I get your point. I had misgivings about stating it as "today's culture" when we know that playing angles is nothing new. Perhaps what's changed is in the sort of social barriers that no longer exist that would keep someone from filing such a suit, and/or perhaps in the odds that it would actually result in a settlement. But whatever it is, things have changed which make such a policy now appear quaint and naive.

 

[Harp]

I think you can argue that America has always been a land of chiselers.
America has from its very foundation been the home of the knave. "Getting away with it" is a fundamental part of our national character.

That's American League baseball for you. Black Sox-White Sox scandal and a lotta other stuff too.
That dossier Mueller pegged for wiretaps, in-like-Flynn's mendacity and whatever material relevance offered for a plea bargain. Gotta love it.
Those Russkies ain't got nothin' on USA.

 

[LizzieMaine]

You can certainly make a case that so many American archetypes down thru the years have been "lovable rogues" whose whole appeal is the way in which they "put one over on the chumps." Brother Jonathan, the King and the Duke, Br'er Rabbit, W. C. Fields, Groucho, the Kingfish, Bugs Bunny, Nathan Detroit, Sergeant Bilko, Gaylord Perry, Cillford Irving, and right down to any number of prominent present-day personalities who made their reputations by pulling the wool and getting away with it. You can pick up any newspaper this very morning, and pick out half a dozen big-time chiselers in positions of authority without even getting out of Section A.

We idealize "getting away with it" or we chuckle and think it's funny when some fictional character or celebrity succeeds in putting one over, so it isn't hard to see where and how such habits became a part of the national character.

 

[Harp]

Gaylord Perry,...

Perry's in the Hall, and Charlie Hustle isn't. Ain't that a greased ball moral strike out.

 

[scottyrocks]

And now, as if to underscore how anachronistic Bean's goodwill return policy is in today's culture, there's been a class-action suit filed against them for the policy change:
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/LL-Bean.pdf

What this all hinges around is when the policy takes affect, and for when purchases were/are made.

I will agree that if the new shorter warranty is for everyone who bought LL Bean products, regardless of how long ago, then no, it is a violation of the agreed-upon terms of the warranty at that time. However, if the new warranty is in effect only for purchases after the start date of the new warranty, then this lawsuit hasn't a leg to stand on. As always, you can shop there or not, based on how you feel about the warranty, just as you take into consideration the quality and price of the items.

Bean, if they haven't already done so, needs to specify the start date of the new warranty, hopefully only for purchases made after said start date.

 

[LizzieMaine]

He might have gotten in eventually if not for the recent revelations of his -- ah -- taste for the underage.

Pete was a world-class chisler but he was never particularly lovable -- people respected his ability, but outside of the Reds' sphere of influence I think most people latched on to something wormy and corrupt about him and found him distasteful even before the scandals broke about him. I remember my mother would always sneer when he appeared on the screen and call him a "dirty ba***rd." But people liked Perry and Whitey Ford and Preacher Roe and Lew Burdette and other noted baseball cheaters of the day because they always had this sly-little-boy "What? Me cheat?" thing about them. A folksy smile and a cute line of patter that diverts attention will take you far in the U S of A.

 

[scottyrocks]

I remember Pete Rose being distasteful to my immediate male elders as far back as the late '60s. Something very unlikable about him, probably because he wasn't on 'our' teams.

 

[Fading Fast]

He might have gotten in eventually if not for the recent revelations of his -- ah -- taste for the underage.
....

Really, I missed this - when did this much-worst-than-gambling aspect of him become public? Dear God, does it ever stop.

 

[ChiTownScion]

He might have gotten in eventually if not for the recent revelations of his -- ah -- taste for the underage.

Pete was a world-class chisler but he was never particularly lovable -- people respected his ability, but outside of the Reds' sphere of influence I think most people latched on to something wormy and corrupt about him and found him distasteful even before the scandals broke about him. I remember my mother would always sneer when he appeared on the screen and call him a "dirty ba***rd." But people liked Perry and Whitey Ford and Preacher Roe and Lew Burdette and other noted baseball cheaters of the day because they always had this sly-little-boy "What? Me cheat?" thing about them. A folksy smile and a cute line of patter that diverts attention will take you far in the U S of A.

I can remember the Left Field Bleacher Bums at Wrigley chanting, "Rose is a FAIRY! Rose is a FAIRY!" back in '69. He spiked Ernie Banks.... and actions like that have consequences in the Friendly Confines.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Really, I missed this - when did this much-worst-than-gambling aspect of him become public? Dear God, does it ever stop.

He was apparently carrying on with young-teen girls in Cincinnati in the '70s. It came out late last summer which is why Fox Sports dropped him and the Phillies dropped plans to have him in an on-field ceremony celebrating their 1980 team.

I didn't pay a lot of attention to Rose until I watched him plow over Ray Fosse in the 1970 All Star Game. There's a line between "gritty player who wants to win" and maiming a promising young player in a meaningless exhibition game, and I always thought he crossed it there. After that I always disliked him, and his relentless vending of himself in the 80s cinched it for me. Wearing six different shirts during a game just so you can sell them to memorabilia dealers is just sleazy.

 

[Fading Fast]

He was apparently carrying on with young-teen girls in Cincinnati in the '70s. It came out late last summer which is why Fox Sports dropped him and the Phillies dropped plans to have him in an on-field ceremony celebrating their 1980 team.

Ugh. That should rightfully end the Hall-of-Fame discussion once and for all.

 

[scottyrocks]

Thanks for the specifics, folks, for the reason for the claim in post #35.