The Retail Equation: Stores Use Database To Track And Decline Returns

NBC News is reporting that major retailers are using a database ran by an analysis firm called "The Retail Equation" to track and deny returns. The database uses unknown thresholds to calculate weather or not a shopper is a risk, and subsequently denying them the ability to return a product to a store. Recently, a customer was flagged at a Best Buy attempting to return 3 phone cases he had purchased as gifts, and as informed he was banned from making any returns for 1 year, and was directed to request his report from The Retail Equation. The report only showed the 3 cell phone cases, but when he requested the ban to be lifted, he was declines, and an appeal to Best Buy was referred back to The Retail Equation.