Buyer beware: Lowe’s might hold your refund unless you sign ‘release form’ — how a Missouri retiree beat the process

Mike Funderburk

Mon, February 23, 2026 at 3:50 AM GMT+9 9 min read

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Brian McMillan didn’t set out to pick a fight with a frequent Fortune 50 corporation. He just wanted a garage door.

McMillan, 74, lives in Gladstone, Missouri, a quiet suburb north of Kansas City. A few years into retirement, he found the kind of second act most people only dream about: he turned his garage into a woodworking shop and started making handcrafted toys for local children in need. Toy cars, rowboats, articulated trucks — each one stamped with a small wooden heart painted with the year and “G-pa.”

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“I just absolutely love doing this,” McMillan told FOX4 Kansas City (1). “Both my grandsons are too old to be playing with these things now, but that’s okay. I now have many, many grandchildren.” If you need to catch up on or grow your own savings to enjoy a retirement like McMillan’s, review these proven strategies from Moneywise.

He works through the winter so that once the glow of the Christmas season fades, he can still put something special into the hands of kids who could use a lift. He’s even restoring a dollhouse he picked up at a garage sale, with plans to donate it to Children’s Hospital.

But last October, as temperatures dropped, McMillan realized his workshop needed better insulation. So he ordered a new insulated garage door from Lowe’s. He paid $1,400. And then he waited.

Getting the runaround

By December, with temperatures plunging and no garage door in sight, McMillan made a practical decision: cancel the Lowe’s order, get his money back, and hire a local company instead.

“If they would’ve processed my refund, life would’ve went on and everybody would’ve been happy,” McMillan said.

Simple enough, right? Not quite. When he tried to process the refund at his local Kansas City Lowe’s, the store manager couldn’t handle it and pushed McMillan to corporate, where things took a strange turn.

Before Lowe’s would return his $1,400, they asked him to sign a document. It wasn’t a return receipt. It was a confidentiality agreement with a nondisparagement clause.

The form stated that the details of McMillan’s issue with Lowe’s “shall remain confidential and shall not be shared with any third party, including but not limited to, any media outlet or public forum.” It further specified that his refund was “conditioned on him/her not disparaging Lowe’s in any manner.”

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“Heck, the only thing it didn’t say is I can’t dream about it,” McMillan told FOX4.

What Lowe’s and a law professor say about that

When FOX4 reached out to Lowe’s, a spokesperson clarified that the documents are not technically NDAs but “Release of All Claims” forms. The company said the forms help bring “clear, mutual closure to the situation by confirming that the concern has been fully resolved.” The spokesperson also said the forms are voluntary.

But in practice, the effect is the same as an NDA, according to law professor Patrick Perkins.

“They want to be able to resolve it and then keep it quiet afterwards,” Perkins told FOX4. He noted that while the form may be called “voluntary,” once signed, it’s a legally binding document, and Lowe’s could take legal action if a customer violates the agreement.

Perkins added that while confidentiality agreements are common in lawsuits and large settlements, requiring one for a routine product return is unusual. “It is weird,” Perkins said.

But this isn’t the first time Lowe’s has asked for a customer to sign a release form like this to get their refund. In 2021, a Kokomo, Indiana, man faced a very similar situation, ultimately refusing to sign and thereby forgoing his refund to raise awareness. At the time, Judith K. Wright, a clinical professor of business law at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, noted to WRTV that she was “a little surprised the company adopted this.” (2)

Ultimately, McMillan refused to sign. He said he spoke with 10 different Lowe’s customer service representatives trying to get his refund without signing the agreement. It took FOX4’s Problem Solvers team getting involved before Lowe’s finally issued the refund without requiring a signature.

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A growing trend: retailers are tightening up and not always in ways you’d expect

McMillan’s story might sound like an isolated customer service headache, but it lands against a backdrop of retailers increasingly rethinking how they handle returns.

According to the National Retail Federation’s 2025 Retail Returns Landscape report, retailers estimate that roughly 16% of their annual sales will be returned this year, totaling roughly $850 billion. Online return rates are even steeper, with an estimated 19% of online purchases expected to come back.

In response, retailers have been quietly tightening their policies. Nearly three-quarters of retailers now charge fees for at least some returns, according to the NRF (3). But a confidentiality agreement as a condition of a standard product refund? That’s a different animal entirely.

The practice of companies attaching NDAs to consumer refunds isn’t entirely new. NBC Bay Area investigated the trend back in 2018, finding that businesses across multiple industries were requiring customers to sign confidentiality agreements before receiving refunds or compensation (4).

The concern, as legal experts have pointed out, is that these agreements don’t just keep a customer quiet, they can also prevent people from filing complaints with regulators, warning other consumers, or participating in class-action lawsuits. That’s a lot to give up for a $1,400 garage door refund.

“I did nothing wrong”

What makes McMillan’s case resonate isn’t just the corporate overreach. It’s the context.

Here’s a 74-year-old retiree spending his winters handcrafting toys for children who need a little extra joy. He’s not running a scam. He’s not trying to game a return policy. He paid $1,400 for a product he never received, and when he asked for his money back, a multi-billion-dollar corporation wanted him to sign away his right to talk about it.

“I did nothing wrong,” McMillan said. “I just want my money back. I acted in good faith. That’s when it became a fairness issue. Is this the way they treat their customers?”

Fortunately, McMillan had the instinct to push back. Not everyone would. Plenty of consumers, especially older adults navigating corporate bureaucracy, might sign a document they don’t fully understand just to end the hassle. That’s exactly what consumer advocates worry about.

What McMillan’s story can teach us about retirement readiness

McMillan’s story is just one brush stroke in a portrait of retirement done well. He has a passion project that gives him purpose. He’s financially stable enough that a $1,400 dispute is frustrating, not devastating. And he’s sharp enough to recognize when something doesn’t smell right.

Not everyone gets to that point. If you want to be in McMillan’s position when you hang it up, here are some steps worth taking now:

Build a cash buffer that can absorb a hit. McMillan could afford to fight for his refund because $1,400 didn’t threaten his financial stability. A general rule of thumb is to keep six to twelve months of living expenses in liquid savings during retirement so that if an unexpected expense, or a drawn-out corporate refund battle, comes along it won’t derail you. If you’re one of the millions of Americans working their way towards the financial freedom McMillan has gained, consider these 7 simple steps anyone can do.

Keep meticulous records. McMillan documented every person he spoke with during his refund ordeal. That habit is worth cultivating for all your financial dealings in retirement. Save receipts, take screenshots of order confirmations, and keep a log of phone calls with customer service. Documentation is your best leverage when a dispute drags on.

Don’t let bureaucracy bully you. When corporations make it harder to exercise your rights, whether it’s burying return policies in fine print or attaching legal agreements to routine refunds, they’re counting on you giving up. If something feels off, escalate. File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, contact your state’s attorney general, or reach out to a local news station’s consumer protection team.

McMillan is back in his workshop now, building toys for kids who need them. Lowe’s got its form back unsigned. And hopefully, the next time a retiree is asked to trade their voice for a refund, they’ll think of the 74-year-old toymaker from Gladstone who said no.

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Article sources

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines_._

FOX4 Kansas City (1); WRTV Indianapolis (2); National Retail Federation (3); NBC Bay Area (4)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

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