NJ
Norman Jaime
Aug 13, 2026
I honestly don’t think Nordstrom could have handled this situation any worse if they tried.
I went to the Nordstrom Burlington Mall location to return a brown linen shirt. I had proof of purchase directly in my Nordstrom app, and I purchased the shirt using my Nordstrom credit card.
The representative helping me went to speak with her supervisor and came back with this explanation: because I didn’t have the original tag, they normally wouldn’t accept the return. However, they were apparently willing to make an “exception” and put the refund on a Nordstrom gift card.
Let’s stop right there.
If you can verify my purchase through my Nordstrom account and I paid with a Nordstrom credit card that can ONLY be used at Nordstrom, why exactly is a gift card the only option? If the money is staying within Nordstrom either way, why can’t the refund be credited back to the card I actually used to purchase the item?
Then things got even more ridiculous.
I contacted customer service to get clarification, and after wasting even more of my time, I was told the store’s actual reason for refusing the return was that the shirt “looked worn.”
Seriously?
It’s a LINEN shirt.
Has anyone at Nordstrom actually looked at linen before? Linen wrinkles. Linen has texture. Linen has a naturally relaxed appearance. A brand-new linen shirt can look like it has been worn. That is literally part of the nature of the fabric.
So now we’re apparently using someone’s subjective opinion of how linen “looks” as the deciding factor in whether a return is legitimate — despite me having proof of purchase.
Then I call customer service AGAIN, only to be given another explanation. The supervisor tells me that because the purchase was made in-store, the return has to be handled in-store, even though the online return process gives multiple options.
At this point, I’m thinking: Does anyone at Nordstrom actually know what the return policy is?
And then came the grand finale.
I was told I could speak with the store manager. I specifically said Burlington Mall, Massachusetts.
Guess where I was transferred?
DALLAS, TEXAS.
You genuinely cannot make this up.
I specifically identified the location, asked to speak with that location’s management, and somehow ended up speaking with a manager in an entirely different state.
That was the moment I realized this wasn’t about helping me anymore. It felt like everyone was just passing the problem along, giving me a different answer, and hoping I’d eventually get tired and go away.
And congratulations — it worked.
Not because you resolved my problem, but because you’ve successfully made me decide that I don’t want to shop at Nordstrom anymore.
This entire ordeal was over a brown linen shirt, with proof of purchase, purchased using a Nordstrom credit card — and somehow Nordstrom managed to turn a simple return into an exhausting customer-service nightmare.
The return policy isn’t what bothers me nearly as much as the inconsistency, lack of communication, lack of accountability, and complete disconnect between the customer service representatives and management.
I will be canceling my Nordstrom credit card and taking my business elsewhere.
And honestly, I hope someone at Nordstrom reads this and understands that customers don’t just walk away because of one bad return. They walk away because of experiences like this that make them feel ignored, dismissed, and completely unvalued.
So congratulations, Nordstrom Burlington Mall.
You didn’t just deny a return.
You lost a customer, lost a credit-card customer, and lost any future business from me.
I would love to be one of those small reasons contributing to this location eventually having to close its doors. Maybe then someone will finally understand that customer loyalty isn’t guaranteed — it’s earned.
Sincerely,
A former Nordstrom customer who is officially DONE.