Stick it to Learning Express

Anything that would drive customers away from paying high prices for items at your store would seem like a dumb idea for a franchisee, especially in this economy. Learning Express of Westport, CT must either be flush with cash or have a lot to learn as they just ensured that I will not return and encourage my friends not to shop there.

What brought this about?

First some background. Learning Express sells many of the same toys (like Lego) that you'll find at Toys R Us, just with higher prices and a smaller selection. Why pay higher prices or have less choice? They wrap toys with Learning Express gift wrap and affix a from/to sticker to the outside so you can write the name of the birthday child and your child who gave the gift. We've been shopping there for 6 years.

Back to today.

My son recently received multiples of the same birthday gifts at his party. We returned a couple of toys to Learning Express of Westport and got a credit a few weeks ago. So far so good. We used the credit to purchase gifts for upcoming other kids' parties. The total was more than our credit so we paid the difference in cash. So far so good for us and Learning Express.

Until it came time to affix the from/to sticker. They wouldn't do it. That's right. The franchisee wouldn't put a 1 cent sticker on the toy because he said he had to spend too much time wrapping gifts. He won't affix a from/to sticker if you used a credit.

Dumb.

Stew Leonard's has a rule - the customer is always right. Learning Express' rule should be something like - for a penny, I'll lose a customer.

Learning Express joins the ranks of Companies Acting Badly for encouraging its customers to shop elsewhere, for making the exchange process cumbersome and for losing a customer over a 1 cent sticker.