Call Kurtis: Will You Get Full Price When Returning Gifts This Holiday Season?

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- Holiday shoppers may be wary to give gift receipts with presents this year, after seeing Call Kurtis investigations on Walmart. But was the problem of short-changing some customers isolated to just Walmart? We wanted to do a check-up not only on Walmart, but also on five other hot shopping spots.

With Black Friday and the holiday shopping season approaching, you have a decision to make; give gift receipts, which hide the price you paid, or give original receipts, displaying how frugal or generous you were in your gift-giving.

It's a decision you should consider carefully. Our hidden camera investigation earlier this year exposed Walmart short-changing some customers returning items with gift receipts in several stores across the country.

Walmart blamed cashiers for not following its policies. When we and our sister station in Dallas got short-changed again over the summer, Walmart told us they're disappointed and will continue to make sure associates understand the process.

"It's basically stealing. They give you a receipt and they don't honor the receipt," says David Schmitz.

We launched our investigation after Schmitz, of West Sacramento was offered half back when returning an item to Walmart after last Christmas.

"I initially paid $15 for the cosmetic set. And when I came in, all they would give me is $7.50." says Schmitz.

He argued and got a full refund, but he's now part of a class-action suit against Walmart.

Senator Barbara Boxer asked the FTC to investigate Walmart after our first investigation. And just this week, during Federal Trade Commissioner Jon Leibowitz's confirmation hearing, Senator Boxer reminded him of her request.

"I would hope that in the near future we would see a response from you on this. It's very disturbing," Boxer told Leibowitz.

But is it just Walmart? We tested five more major chains by buying items and returning them when they went on sale.

We started off at Sports Authority and bought a women's tank top for $20. When we returned it, we got a full refund. At our next stop, Kohl's, we bought a men's t-shirt for $32. Weeks later we got all our money back. At Toys "R" Us, we bought a "Cars" costume for about $15 and that's what we got back with our gift receipt. We purchased a girl's top and skirt for about $30 at The Children's Place and we got the full amount back. Finally, we checked out Ann Taylor Loft. We found a tank top for $44 and once again, when we returned it, we got the full price back.

We also decided to check in on Walmart one more time. We bought a bee costume for $20 and the return was successful, with Walmart giving us a full refund.

Our six stores all pass the test, but it appears Walmart didn't pass the test of a TV station in Portland. They report buying $92.69 in Halloween items but only getting $79.21 back. Here is Walmart's response to the Portland test:

As we've said previously, we take these matters seriously and apologize for any inconvenience to our customers. It's our expectation to refund the original purchase price when returning an item with a gift receipt and have a process in place to return items using a gift receipt. We are reviewing that process to look for ways to make it more efficient and reliable for our customers. In the meantime, we will continue to work with our associates to make sure they understand the process.

In this case, there appeared to be a scanning issue that required our associate to process the return differently. However, as soon as we were made aware of the error, the customer was reimbursed for the full amount.

If customers have questions regarding a gift receipt, we encourage them to speak with the store manager at their local store.

-Ashley Hardie, Walmart Spokeswoman

Walmart may still have return issues to clear up; issues that may have gone unresolved, had David not come forward.

"I'm just glad that I was the one who realized that it's not going to get solved unless you stand up and point it out and bring it to light," says David.

It's worth noting that our sister station in Dallas tested out Loft, Sports Authority and Carter's earlier this summer and got shorted at all three. Those tests were conducted before ours and all three stores told our sister station they should have received the price paid.