Supermarket boss’s blunt reply to toilet paper hoarder wanting refund

Drakes supermarket has turned down a request for a refund on 5000 loo rolls from a stockpiler.

A supermarket boss has given one of his customers the bird after it’s claimed the man tried to return almost 5000 rolls of toilet paper and 150 bottles of hand sanitiser which he couldn’t sell online.

John-Paul Drake, an executive with South Australian supermarket chain Drakes, said he refused to give the man a refund.

In a video uploaded to YouTube, Mr Drake said recent panic buying of toilet paper had been “absolutely ridiculous” with the company selling eight months’ worth in four days at one point.

But one customer’s behaviour was worse than the others.

“I had my first customer yesterday who said he wanted to get a refund on 150 packets of 32-pack toilet paper and 150 units of one-litre sanitiser.” In 150 packs of 32-roll toilet paper there would be 4800 individual rolls.

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Mr Drake said the man had come into the store to get his money back after website eBay refused to allow him to sell the items online.

In the video, Mr Drake then showed his middle finger and said that was his reply to the customer’s request.

“I told him that, that is the sort of person who is causing the problem in the whole country.”

In a later LinkedIn post, Mr Drake said the customer hadn’t bought the loo roll and hand sanitiser in one trip, but claimed that he had run a sophisticated operation that saw up to 20 people visit several Drakes stores buying a pack in each one.

Panic buying and hoarding overwhelmed supermarkets from early March as people began stocking up on staples like toilet roll, pasta and rice.

Some customers were filmed brawling in the aisles to try to get their hands on scarce supplies, while others are reselling the same items for astronomical prices online.

While retailers have managed to get much of the supply back on shelves, some buying limits remain in place and the presence of toilet paper on shelves is still erratic.

Coles, Woolworths and other stores changed their policy on refunds last month, not allowing customers to get their money back on change-of-mind purchases in an effort to reduce demand for popular products.

Last week, Woolworths chief executive officer Brad Banducci said the store still expected to sell up to 16 million toilet rolls in a seven-day period – double the average. But demand was tapering off, he said, with supply up by 70 per cent.

“But like every week so far, I’d still ask you to only buy what you need.”

Paper towels and tissues were still in short supply, said Mr Banducci, as was pasta sauce.

However, there was more pasta on shelves and the company has shipped in 700,000 units of hand sanitiser, as much as the firm would usually sell in 40 weeks.