Let's Be Reasonable!

One of the most ridiculous and unfair “rules” of most retail businesses here in Saudi Arabia is their “return policies.” Some businesses have absolutely NO return policy whatsoever! You buy a product - and if it doesn’t work, or if it doesn’t fit, or if you just changed your mind – well, TOO BAD! There are some businesses that have a return/exchange policy. However, most of the companies that DO have a return policy have a measly three day time frame in which to return or exchange the product.

Now let me put this in the proper perspective for you so you don’t think that I’m on one of my unreasonable rants again. First of all, women in Saudi Arabia are NOT allowed to drive. Let me stress to you how difficult it is for many women in Saudi Arabia to get around due to the transportation issue. This means that she has to get her husband or father to take her shopping in the first place. Or if she’s lucky enough to have a driver, the driver must take her, or she can pay to take a taxi to and from shopping. So she gets the product home and for whatever reason she needs to return it - she has only THREE days maximum to get back to the store (if that is their policy) to return the item, again involving her husband or father or the driver or a taxi. On top of that, the traffic is horrendous, plus store hours aren’t anything like what you might be used to in other parts of the world. Businesses have odd and limited operating hours because they are required to close for the five daily prayer times.

But that’s not all!

There are virtually no female dressing rooms in which to try on women’s clothing inside shops that cater to women. The religious police have banned female changing rooms for a variety of ridiculous reasons, including that it’s sinful for women to be in a state of undress outside the home, or that lecherous, perverted male sale clerks might sexually assault women in the dressing rooms, etc.

At some malls, women purchase the item, and then go into the ladies restroom to try on the clothing. If it doesn’t fit and she wants to try a different size, she must go back to the store, go through an exchange process for a different size and repeat the scenario in the mall’s restrooms, trying on the clothing again. But of course, when you go back to the shop, it may be closed for prayer times, in which case you would have to wait around to make the exchange. But some women are not able to try on the clothing in the restroom before they leave the mall, so these women have to wait until they return home to try on the clothing. If the item doesn’t fit, she must make another trip back to the store to exchange or return it, bothering hubby again or taking another taxi ride and timing the trip so the shop will not be closed for prayers.

I guess I’ve just been spoiled all my life by clothing stores in America that have changing rooms where I can take items that strike my fancy and try them on without any hassle. I’ve also been spoiled by being able to drive myself to and from the malls when the urge strikes me and not have to bother my husband - who hates to shop and hates to drive - to take me. I’ve also been accustomed to stores in the US which are generally open from 9am til 9pm or longer. And I’ve also been spoiled by the liberal return policies of most businesses in America that normally allow at least a 30 to 60 day grace period in which to return an item that I was able to try on there at the store before I bought it, but then later decided I wasn’t really that crazy about in the first place.

Businesses in Saudi Arabia are ripping off their customers, especially their female customers, by their lack of a reasonable return or exchange policy. I, for one, dislike shopping for clothing in Saudi Arabia specifically because of these reasons.

As a side note, however, I must express my delight and approval of the new Saudi law requiring lingerie shops to employ female salesclerks, so no longer are Saudi women forced to purchase their undergarments and sexy lingerie from male salesclerks. That is definitely a step in the right direction!

Now if we could just get these stores to change their unfair business practices of unreasonable return policies…