Returns and Exchanges

What You Buy From The Apple Store, You Must Return To An Apple Store
Apple recently introduced in-store pickup at all of its retail stores. They call it "Personal Pickup." order an item online, and you can go fetch it in person at your local Apple retail store, assuming that you have one. But you can't perform this trick in reverse. At least, that's what Randolph was told when he tried to return a sealed AirPort Extreme without taking it to a retail store. More Â»

Best Buy Screws Up Gift Return, Causes Family Awkwardness
Whenever we post a Best Buy story, commenters scold the tipster: don't they read the site? They should have known better than to shop at Best Buy in the first place! It's impossible (I hope) to blame Todd, though—his mother-in-law bought him a gadget gift there. A car dock for the wrong type of smartphone, along with a gift receipt. This should have been a smooth and simple transaction, right? Of course not. More Â»

Was I Wrong To Profit From Returning An Online Purchase To Walmart?
A frequent reader who we'll call M. wrote in to offer his post-holiday moral dilemma. Well, it's not so much a dilemma, since he he's already done it. He bought a Microsoft Kinect controller online, but wanted to return it after the holidays were over. Too lazy to package the controller and mail it back, he instead took it to his local Walmart and returned it for store credit. $50 more than he originally paid for the device. More Â»

How Long Should You Expect To Wait For Refunds From Online Retailers?
We are now three days into the official Holiday Returns & Exchanges Season, and while those shoppers who paid a little more — and put on pants — to go shopping at bricks-and-mortar stores, it's usually just a matter of waiting in line to get your refund. But for gift-givers who did their buying online this year, that wait for a refund could be anywhere from a few days to several weeks. More Â»

What To Do With All Those Gifts You Hate
The blur of the past couple weeks may have littered your home with useless trinkets others gave you in exchange for the equally useless stuff you gave them. If you had wanted any of these things you would have bought them yourself, but you're stuck with them until you manage to simplify and declutter. More Â»

3 Ways To Recoup Money Wasted On Trips Gone Bad
When you're on vacation, high expectations crushed by mishaps can transform you into a steaming ball of rage. It's easy to lash out at those you feel who have done you wrong, but it's smarter to take a step back and use tact and strategy to get problems fixed. More Â»

Target Demands Extra $189 To Exchange Camera No Longer On Sale
Coco took advantage of a great deal at Target, buying a digital camera on sale for $189 below list price, with a $75 Target gift card on the side. Neat! Trouble was, he didn't open or test out the camera until a week later, once the sale was over and the gift card had been spent. Photos taken with the camera didn't come out, so he took the camera back to Target to exchange it for a working one. The trouble was, they couldn't exchange it for him unless he paid an extra $189 and return the $75 gift card. More Â»

Returning Wedding Gifts To Walmart: Not All That Easy
The greeters aren't the only ones at Walmart who demand your receipt. If you've registered for your wedding or other gift-lavishing occasion at there, know this: Wally World treats registry returns without a gift receipt as returns without a receipt. Even though they've got your registry right there, showing that someone else bought the item for you and precisely who bought it. Nope, being a registry item isn't good enough. Reader Chris shared his sad tale, which ends with him being stuck with an air compressor and an awful lot of Walmart gift cards. More Â»

Pay Target.com With PayPal And Return Stuff, Only Get Store Credit
Cora has a warning for the Consumerist community: while you can pay on Target.com using your PayPal account and then return it, it's not necessarily a good idea. You'll get your money back, but it won't be automatically credited back to your PayPal account. Instead, you'll receive the balance on a Target gift card. This can be either frustrating or convenient, depending on the amount of the order and how often you shop at Target. More Â»

Fashion's Night Out: Dolce & Gabbana Made Kids Buy $35 Lipgloss To Get Bieber Autograph.
Shoppers have figured out that Fashion's Night Out in New York is a great time to scoop up freebies, like tshirts, prizes and free champagne. But in a recessionary move, this year retailers are making attendees pay a price if they wanted the privilege of attending their promotions and getting celebrity autographs. At Dolce & Gabbana, kids were told that they could buy a $35 tube of lipgloss to get Justin Bieber's autograph, but then he only popped down the stairs to sing one cover song. Then he sped back upstairs without signing anything. More Â»

Report: 30 To 40 Percent Of Some Android Device Purchases Are Returned
Android phone sales surpass those of iPhones, but to compare the popularity of the two classes of smartphones you have to take returns into account. According to a report, customers return Android devices at a far higher rate than they do their Apple rivals. More Â»

Atlanta Thrashers Season Ticket Buyers Still Waiting For Refunds
Back in May, we shared the news that the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers were still taking orders for season tickets right up until the announcement came that the team would be sold and move to Winnipeg. Disorganized and anti-consumer, sure, but as long as people who put down season ticket deposits for next season get their money back, everything would be okay. Yeah... about that. Fans who had already put down deposits for their season tickets are now getting a runaround, and the team owes each anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. More Â»

How A Sears Promotion Gobbled Up $25 Of My Money
Kenneth isn't quite sure what to do. He bought enough men's clothing items at Sears to trigger a deal giving him a restricted $25 gift card to Sears. Hooray! Only when he came back to return some of the items, the card's value was deducted from his refund, forcing him to spend $25 more at Sears than he had ever planned to. More Â»

Return Merchandise To Bankrupt Newport News, Get Sent To Collections
Late last month, the company that operates the Spiegel and Newport News women's clothing catalogs filed for bankruptcy. There's some very interesting background questions about why the company is bankrupt for the second time in eight years and why it's being sold to an affiliate of its parent company. But that's not what reader Angela is concerned about. She returned some merchandise to the catalog that she paid for with her store credit account. She sent it back several months ago, and still insist that she pay for it. This is not a practical way to get out of Chapter 11. More Â»

Sears Takes Four Appliances Back, Refunds You For One
By Sears standards, maybe Benjamin was lucky. More than two months ago, he bought two washers and two dryers from his local store to go inside a coset. When they didn't fit in the appointed space, he sent them back under the rational assumption that Sears would credit him back for the purchase. This was an incorrect assumption. More Â»

When GPS Suction Cup Won't Suck, TomTom's Customer Service Does
To be fair, it's not that the customer service agents that Dave spoke to at TomTom were unfriendly. It's just that their RMA process is needlessly complicated. He received a defective suction cup thingy with his GPS unit, and called up the company so they could send him a new one. He spent more than an hour on the phone with various customer service reps to get a replacement. How much did TomTom spend paying their employees to verify that Dave was, indeed, eligible to receive a small piece of plastic that's not very useful when one doesn't already own a TomTom GPS? More Â»

Is It Amazon's Fault They Still Have My $200, Or Mine?
David ordered a Kindle and cover from Amazon shortly after Christmas, but it disappeared in transit and was never heard from again. These things happen in commerce. What David doesn't understand is why, after he was too busy to respond after an initial e-mail exchange, Amazon didn't try to contact him or just automatically issue a refund or replacement for the missing Kindle. More Â»

Sheen To Heckler: "Sorry Dude, Already Got Your Money"
According to a newspaper report, disgruntled actor Charlie Sheen's "My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option" tour started in Detroit Saturday night with a thud, leaving a dissatisfied audience and an unfulfilled request for a refund. More Â»

Stupid Shipping Gang Underpackages Glass Jar, Mauling Customer
We like to post pictures of items comically overpackaged by the Stupid Shipping Gang, in order to point, laugh, and call attention to the wastefulness. Nicole's experience shows what can happen to consumers when an item is stupidly packaged: Amazon sent her a woefully underpackaged glass bottle of vitamins, which broke in transit and cut Nicole's finger when she went to open it. Now Amazon won't give her a refund until she sends the box of broken glass, vitamins, plastic wrap, and a tiny bit of blood back. More Â»

Sephora Replaces Fancy Skin Care Stuff Broken In Mail, No Questions Asked
Alexis ordered a few bottles of, in her words, "fancy skin care stuff" from Sephora, and one bottle arrived broken and making a huge, soapy mess. Preparing to fight for a replacement, she was pleasantly surprised when the Sephora representative told her that they'd send her a replacement: no need to return the bottle. More Â»

Busted Swingline Stapler Gets Replaced Without Hassle
The other day I was talking to a cab driver who has an air-conditioner that's still going strong after 18 years. Now when he buys new ones that are from the same brand, they only last four years. He blames it on the company switching manufacturing from Germany to China. Indeed, in this day and age of racing to the bottom of cheap, wherever you look on the shelves, it seems it's a never-ending seas of "they don't make 'em like they used to." But even still, reader Jospeh never expected his metal Swingline stapler to fracture outright. And he was likewise surprised, this time, pleasantly, when they replaced it for him swiftly and painlessly. More Â»

Walmart Employee Claims Returning Books To Store Is Illegal
Have you ever purchased a book and then returned it, unread, to the store that it came from? If so, you're a criminal. According to an employee at Myra's local Walmart store, it's illegal to return books to a store. It just can't be done. Except that when the employee tried putting the return though, it worked just fine. More Â»

REI Ate My $385.04 Store Credit Like So Much Trail Mix
REI, the outdoors equipment co-op, has a very generous return policy. Brandon returned something and received a store credit in return, but can't actually exchange it for merchandise. Company representatives told him that the credit still exists, but is mysteriously "on hold" - but no one knows why, or what that means. More Â»

Roku Has Your Returned Player For 2 Weeks, Still Won't Issue Refund
Consumerist readers (and editors) seem to love their Rokus, but has anyone in our audience ever tried to return one? June writes that she changed her mind after purchase, and can't get the company to issue her a refund for the player that she's already returned. More Â»

Kmart Doesn't Remember That It Sold These Shirts Without Ironclad Receipt Evidence
Roger is stuck with some clothes that relatives bought him for Christmas that don't fit. Did these relatives cut the tags off? Buy him shirts from an obscure store with only a few locations? No. The shirts come from Kmart, which has so much trouble remembering its own recent inventory that they've deleted all trace of this recent merchandise from their systems and can't take the shirts back. More Â»

The Pitfalls Of Buying And Returning Swimsuits Online
Amanda is frustrated with Amazon's decision to only refund half of her purchase price on some swimwear she bought and returned because it was too large. She says she may have violated the site's returns and refunds policy because she opened the plastic package to see if the suits fit her. She left the tags intact and believes she deserves a full refund. More Â»

Book Chains Won't Honor My Exchange Unless I Buy Discount Cards
Clifton says two book stores, both part of large chains, refused to accept his receipt-less returns unless he signed up for the stores' discount cards. A former bookstore employee, Clifton balked at clerks' assertions that the exchanges weren't possible unless he signed up. More Â»

Verizon Tells Us We Can't Return Phone Because We Bought It On A Promotion That's Over
Andrea and her husband took advantage of a Verizon buy-one-get-one-free promotion, taking comfort that if either didn't like their new devices, they could return them thanks to Verizon's 30-day guarantee. But the company has refused to let her husband exchange his device because the BOGO promotion had ended. More Â»

BBB Offers Tips On Returning All The Unwanted Stuff You'll Get Tomorrow
Face it — you don't actually want anything you'll receive tomorrow, otherwise you would have found a way to have gotten it yourself by now. So you'll either be lazy and shove all your gifts in a closet, or get ambitious and go on a returning spree. More Â»

Get A Gift From Target? Guard The Receipt Carefully
When giving or receiving gifts from Target, keep careful track of the gift receipt. If you don't, the store's policies might cause you to lose some money, then feel some rage. That's what happened to Chris when he exchanged a set of sheets that were the wrong size. Even though he swapped them for a smaller (and thus cheaper) set, he had to pay Target extra for the privilege. More Â»

Levi's Provides Fantastic Service Once You Email Their PR Department
Last week, we shared Francis's story of a package mixup at Levi's. The company sent him the wrong box, and customer service reps seemed more worried about getting the incorrect package back than about making sure that his order was correct. Francis wrote to us, but shortly afterward he sent the same message to every Levi's PR contact he could find—and heard back within the hour from a wonderfully helpful employee in the Corporate Affairs department. Yay! We love happy endings. More Â»

Target Sold Returned Product With Free Bonus: Someone's Address
Dana bought a fake Christmas tree at Target and realized a UPS label bearing another woman's address was still on the box. More Â»

GameStop Guy Denies My Trade, Saying 'You Might Have Stolen It'
B received the game Mafia II as a gift, but wanted Red Dead Redemption instead. Without a receipt, he went to GameStop, where it was purchased, hoping to swap games. When the clerk denied his request because it violated the store's return policy, B asked instead to trade the game in for store credit he'd apply toward the game he wanted. The clerk refused the trade because he wasn't sure whether or not B was trying to pawn off a stolen product. More Â»

Intel Needs Proof Of Your Citizenship To Give A $200 Refund
Ricardo is really confused He returned a product to Intel under warranty, and is due a refund. Unfortunately, he can't obtain that relatively small refund until he gives Intel some information about his background, including his place of birth and citizenship. More Â»

I Can't Play My Video Game, Nor Can I Return It (Updated)
Stephen has a word of warning for Mac users who want to use their machines to play PC games: Don't buy games unless you're sure they'll work on your machine. He runs Windows 7 on his Macbook Pro, but can't get Fallout 3, which he purchased through online distributor Steam, to play properly. He asked the publisher's customer support service for help, but was turned away at first. More Â»

Target Charges Me Restocking Fee On Returned Netbook, Resells It Before It Hits Shelves
Many consumers believe restocking fees on returns, which can be 15 percent of the purchase price or more, are a con run by retailers to discourage people from lugging their unwanted stuff back into the store. But theoretically the fees are at least somewhat merited, given the fact that the store may have to sell the item at an open-box discount and spend the manpower to ready the item for resale. More Â»

Microsoft Lost My Xbox, Won't Help Me Get It Back
When N's Halo 3 Xbox 360 gave up the ghost, he sent it in for repair, but apparently Covenant forces have intervened because now the console is lost and not even the eagle-eyed scouts at Microsoft have been able to track it down. N has been hounding Microsoft since early October but he's no closer to bringing his Xbox back from the void. More Â»

Man Threatens To Kill Employee Who Won't Accept Cell Phone Return
No matter how angry you've gotten when denied at the return counter, it's doubtful you've sunk to the level of a Seattle man who allegedly threatened to kill an employee who wouldn't let him return his cell phone. More Â»

Bed Company Sells Me Sheets That Are Too Short, Won't Take Them Back
A reader writes in complaining that some Tempur-Pedic sheets she bought for her bed of the same brand don't fit, which sort of defeats the purpose of bed sheets. She says Tempur-Pedic refuses to offer a refund for a product she can't use. More Â»

Best Buy: 'Sorry, We Sold You A Laptop, Not An Operating System'
Sharon's husband had Best Buy repair a laptop, and when he got it back the Windows 7 operating system was missing. They complained to Best Buy, which refused to reinstall the system, saying it had held up its end of the bargain because it had originally sold them a laptop, not Windows 7. More Â»

OfficeMax Needs To Get Its Story Straight Before Selling Any More RAM
Daniel writes that a recent experience with OfficeMax taught him an important lesson: don't believe a damn word of what anyone at this particular OfficeMax says. A store employee assured Daniel that he knew what type of RAM was the correct one for his Macbook Pro...and was wrong. When Daniel tried to return the RAM, a manager told him that opened RAM couldn't be returned, but he could dispute the charge with his credit card company...but the chargeback was denied, with OfficeMax claiming that Daniel should have taken the item back to the store. More Â»

EA Won't Let Me Swap Failed Game For New One
Electronic Arts drew some friendly pats on the head for manning up and letting gamers substitute failed subscription fee-based game APB with a different title. Anthony discovered he was the victim of some fine print in the deal, though. Because he bought the game before July 16, EA says he had enough time to play the game before it shut down the servers, and thus isn't entitled to a replacement. More Â»

Hobby Lobby's Return Policy: We Don't Have To Take Back Anything
Michael says the first bullet point on the Return Policy plaque at his local Hobby Lobby (and also online) reads, "If for any reason you need to return merchandise purchased at Hobby Lobby, please return the product with the original sales receipt within 60 days of purchase." That sounds great—you can shop with confidence that they'll handle returns without too much trouble—but the reality is that the store can and will refuse any return, with or without a receipt, if someone there thinks it might lose them money in the short term. More Â»

You Can Get Any 42" Samsung Plasma TV From Target, As Long As It's Smashed
Steve's TV buying experience with Target has not gone well. If he wants to try this a third time, the store is more than willing to let him, but they say he has to pay full price now and there's still no guarantee a broken TV won't show up on his doorstep. More Â»

Sunglass Hut To Customer: Italy And China Are The Same, Don't Be Picky
Brett tried on a pair of "Made in Italy" Ray-Bans at a Sunglass Hut and liked them, but they were the display model so he had to come back to pick up his own a few days later. When he did, he discovered that the real pair he bought said "Made in China," and in his opinion they felt lower quality. More Â»

Destroying Underwear Returned To Stores: Wasteful Or Good Hygiene?
G. writes that she learned something during a recent shopping trip to Gilly Hicks that shocked her. While customers can't try underwear on in the store fitting rooms, they can try it on at home and return it. However, once the underwear is returned to the store, it's destroyed. G. finds this shocking and wasteful, but it's no big secret. It's a common retail practice for returned underwear to be "damaged out," or put aside for later destruction, when it's been returned. More Â»

Acai Berry Company Temporarily Shut Down By FTC Over Billing Practices
Last summer, Central Coast Nutraceuticals settled a deceptive practices charge from Arizona's Attorney General by promising to pay $1.4 million in fines. Now the company, which peddles acai berry and colon cleansing products, has been forced to temporarily stop selling or marketing its wonder products completely under an injunction obtained yesterday by the FTC. More Â»

Borders Tells Me Returns And Exchanges Are The Same, I Can Do Neither
Quadmama wanted to exchange a pair of books she received as gifts, but the manager stonewalled her because she was 60 days outside of the return window. When Quadmama reiterated that she wanted to exchange the books for replacements, not return them for money, the manager told her that for the bookstore's policy purposes, a return is the same as an exchange. More Â»

Overstock Accepts Returned Sony Reader But Charges $93.41 For Missing USB Cable
If you ever wondered why Sony eBook readers cost so much, it's apparently because of the included mini USB cable—at least according to Overstock.com. When reader Matt forgot to include the cable when returning his $147 Sony Reader Touch Edition, Overstock smacked him with a $93.41 charge. More Â»

HP Won't Repair My Out-Of-Warranty Laptop -- Do I Fight Or Bail?
R would like to press HP to fix his broken 3-year-old laptop because he's found forums on which several other users have experienced the same breakdown, but feels skittish about fighting because his computer is long out of warranty. He'd like to test the Consumerist waters to see which way he should go. More Â»

Sony Gives Me Game To Make Up For Hard Drive It Won't Admit It Lost
Chris says he sent his broken PS3 to Sony, which sent it back sans the upgraded hard drive he'd installed, claiming Chris had sent the console to them that way. He fought the callous treatment and received a consolation prize: A game the CSR semi-suggested he could sell to help pay for a replacement drive. More Â»

Why Does IKEA Need To See My ID To Exchange A Defective Bed?
Pity those of us who live in the hinterlands, far from any IKEA stores. When we do manage a trip into civilization to buy cheap furniture with strange names, we take a risk. We risk buying a defective item and having to drag it hundreds of miles back to the store it came from. Jason tells Consumerist that's what happened to him when he bought a set of bunk beds with a manufacturing defect. But that's not his main concern. What he wants to know is: is it unreasonable for a store to scan your driver's license when exchanging an item that is obviously defective? More Â»

The Children's Place Doesn't Understand How Parents Shop For Children's Clothes
Kim tells Consumerist that she was dismayed to learn that The Children's Place has started limiting how many returns customers can make, scanning driver's licenses to track repeat returners. She wonders, have company executives tried to corral multiple preschoolers into trying on stacks of clothing in a store fitting room? More Â»

"New" Sprint Phone Pre-Loaded With Porn
A Detroit woman is saying "What?!" after buying a supposedly new Sprint phone that had an unwanted free feature: it already had several X-rated porno videos on it. More Â»

My Nexus One 'Express Repair' Is An Express Train To Hell
Keith bought a Nexus One phone, which broke within four months. He submitted a repair order to HTC, which said it would put him on an express track and take care of him within 5 business days. He said goodbye to his phone June 23, and the only "express"-ion he's got is his bitterness. More Â»

Best Buy Wouldn't Exchange My Broken Xbox Because It Was Saving Stock For Sales Event
Sean bought an Xbox 360 at Best Buy, took it home and it did what Xbox 360s tend to do, never mind that it was a redesigned Xbox 360 S model. He took the insta-broken console back to the store, which was sold out of the 360s. An employee called a nearby Best Buy that had plenty of 360s in stock, but that location refused his exchange because it was saving consoles for a sales event. More Â»

Make Sure Someone Hasn't Punched Your Redbox Kiosk Before Reserving A DVD
Reader G is a little ticked off at Redbox because he reserved a new release using Redbox.com, headed over to the kiosk to pick it up and found that some angry person had smashed the touchscreen. No big deal, he'd just call and get a refund, right? Apparently not. Redbox only offers "free rental codes" that G says he can't use on reserved DVDs. This kinda bugs him. More Â»

After Replacing My Broken Nook Four Times, Barnes & Noble Has Given Up
Lisa's luck with the Nook e-reader is bad enough to make Xbox 360 owners weep. Since buying her first Nook in February, she's had to warranty it out five times. On the first four occasions the customer service department was quick to replace the busted device, but the fifth go-round has been anything but charming. More Â»

Walmart Is Trying To Fill My Yard With Plastic Garbage Cans
Shantelle tells Consumerist that she ordered one garbage can from Walmart online. No one is entirely sure how, but she ended up with five cans instead. She could give them away or start a drum circle, but now she's stuck with a dilemma: how does she return something to a store when she never bought it in the first place? Will Walmart ever catch up with her and charge her for the four additional cans...even though there's no documentation that she ever received them? More Â»

American Eagle Wants A Note From Charles Schwab Before They'll Accept My $15 Return
Tiffany tells Consumerist that she thought that returning a pair of $15 sunglasses to an American Eagle store would be a simple transaction. This seems sensible enough. What she didn't know that her bank issuing her a new credit card was simply too much for the chain's computers. Bringing in her credit card statement wasn't enough, and now store employees now insist that she have her bank issue her a personalized letter in order to issue the refund. More Â»

Sprint Wouldn't Let Me Get My Money Back Because My Warranty Expired 2 Hours Ago
"Darth" bought a Sprint phone with a two-year contract, both of which have given him nothing but trouble. He tried to bail out of the deal under Sprint's 30-day money-back guarantee, but was told he was two hours too late. He stuck it out and his phone continued to torment him, and when he tried to use the warranty he was told — incorrectly, in his view — that the device had water damage. More Â»

Hollister Provides Refund, Will Show Employees What Washed Shorts Look Like
Roger, whose Hollister shorts shrank a full size after he had the audacity to wash them, sent us an update. He writes that his situation has a happy ending: the company refunded his entire purchase, not just the shorts, and claim that they'll be taking the opportunity to make sure to train their employees to see what a pair of washed shorts looks like. See the effect a good complaint can have...once you finally get through to someone with power? More Â»

Our Smartphones Don't Work, But Verizon Plays Dumb And Won't Let Us Switch Them
Sophia and her husband are loyal Verizon customers who feel burned by the company because it won't let them replace lemon smart phones with anything but refurbished versions of the devices they've come to despise. More Â»

Best Buy Shorted Me $70 When I Returned Stereo Equipment
Ashley says she succumbed to a high-pressure upsell in car stereo equipment at Best Buy based on a free installation pitch, only to decide she wanted to return the stuff. When she completed the return she found out the installation wasn't free, but discounted to accommodate a nonrefundable installation fee. More Â»

Verizon Replaced My Broken Droid With An Even More Broken Droid
Jack thought he might get his Droid with a wonky GPS system replaced with one that worked, but instead he got a nasty refurb with a host of new issues. Now he seems to almost wish he'd kept his original messed-up phone. More Â»

How Many Walmart Employees Does It Take To Screw Up A Return?
Ournextcontestant has a long, amusing story about the surprisingly difficult ordeal he went through to return a necklace at a Hawaii location while on vacation. He says it took the combined efforts of several employees to complete the transaction, sucking away valuable island enjoyment time: More Â»

Soccer Team Gives "Refund" After Epic 4-0 Beatdown
The Seattle Sounders got beat 4-0 by the LA Galaxy, prompting one of the players to suggest that fans deserve a refund and apology from the team. It seem the ownership agrees. Sort of. They're offering a one game credit to season ticket holders as compensation for the crappy play. It's not a refund exactly, but its almost one. More Â»

Costco Tells Me It's Tweaking Return Policy
Shannon says Costco's unreal return policy is about to get a little more sensible, if a lot less awesome. It seems the warehouse wholesaler is implementing something of a 2-year time limit on returns, according to what she hears from the company's legal department. More Â»

Verizon And Motorola Won't Replace My Busted Droid
Chantell bought a Droid and has been stuck in a hamster wheel of hell trying to get a phone that works. Her original Droid didn't work, and that was replaced with an issue-plagued refurb. Now she either has to buy a new Droid or give up her phone while she awaits another replacement. More Â»

Man Sues GameStop For Deceptive Used Game Sales
A California man is suing GameStop because he bought a used game that lacked a valid code he needed to download contest promised on the cover of the box, IGN reports. More Â»

My Walmart Broke Away From Corporate Policy By Refusing My Receiptless Exchange
D says he bought some clippers from Walmart, then turned around and decided to take them back and exchange them for something of higher quality. Management turned him down because he had no receipt, despite the fact that the move apparently broke away from Walmart policy. More Â»

Mercedes-Benz Ordered To Pay $482k Over Lemon Car
Wisconsin's lemon law for cars is pretty strict. If a customer demands a refund on a newly bought car that won't run and can't be repaired, the manufacturer has to comply within 30 days or pay double the purchase price plus legal fees. Marco Marquez has been fighting Mercedes-Benz for 4 years now over a $56,000 E 320 he bought in 2005 that immediately stopped working. He says the company deliberately stalled on giving him the refund in time, and last week a judge awarded him $482,000. More Â»

VIDEO: Stores Caught Restocking Used Underwear & Lingerie
We try not to be too paranoid about the cleanliness of things we purchase. We'll purchase used books, buy vintage clothing, drive pre-owned cars. But the "Ick Factor," as it's known in the world of science, jumps off the charts when it comes to used undies. But that's exactly what NBC claims to have discovered at several retail stores. More Â»

Kmart Wouldn't Exchange Shoddy Briefcase Because I Lost Receipt
Margaret found her Kmart wouldn't budge on its no-exchanges-without-receipts policy, even though she bought a Kmart-exclusive briefcase that fell apart within two days and submitted all the evidence she could think of to prove she'd made the purchase. More Â»

GE Is Taking Forever To Fix My Oven, Sends Me Broken Part
No matter how much heat Joseph buts on GE to fix his oven, he can't get things cooking. Despite dumping big money into repairs, he isn't sure whether or not he should continue the latest bungled fix-up process or just buy a new oven. More Â»

AT&T Offers Me $.08 Service Credit For My iPhone Downtime
Consumerist reader Aaron wrote in to share his experience of attempting to get a service credit from AT&T Wireless after experience a data outage on his iPhone. On one hand, he was successful in getting some money back. On the other hand, he probably spent more money getting the credit than he received. More Â»

Getting Refund For Defective Treadmill Is Like Running On... Well, You Know
After purchasing a large piece of fitness equipment from Amazon, do not move. Ever. This apparently confuses the customer service representatives and sends you on a two-month odyssey of buck-passing, missed connections, confusion, and consumer mayhem. Vu writes that he has learned this lesson the hard way. He would like Amazon to come pick the damn thing up so he can get his refund. More Â»

Delta Won't Let Me Use The $55 Change On My Travel Voucher
Delta Airlines gave Treat a $400 voucher when it bumped him from a flight, but it turned out to be something of a trick. When he used $345 of that to buy another flight, Delta's computer system wouldn't let him access that final $55. More Â»

Amazon's Frustration Free Packaging Still Not Quite Working Out For Electronics
Tom wishes Amazon would use better packaging when it comes to shipping things like hard drives. Their "frustration-free packaging" is meant to save shoppers from dealing with blister packs and unnecessary boxes. For the Western Digital hard drive Tom was trying to buy, it meant bouncing around a half-empty box from the fulfillment facility to his doorstep, where it arrived broken. Twice. More Â»

Call This Number If Your Xbox Has Broken Multiple Times And You Need Your Replacement Pronto
While submitting his busted Xbox 360 for repair, Ben stumbled upon a valuable piece of info for those whose have suffered multiple system breakdowns: A special phone number that expedites the shipping your refurbished replacement console, provided you have your reference number and the extension of a CSR who helped you with your problem when you called 1-800-4MY-XBOX. We first reported the secret number (1-888-236-0927) two years ago. More Â»

Even Costco's Return Policy Has Limits
Costco's return policy is the stuff of legends, and Alon thought he'd test the limits of the warehouse's understanding by attempting to return a 10-year-old ping pong table. More Â»

Brookstone Replaces Broken Electronic Thingy, Delights Skeptical Customer
Reader Deejmer had a lovely experience at Brookstone that he couldn't help but share. He writes that he received a wireless speaker as a gift and grew to love it. When the device died, he couldn't produce the receipt, but his local store was happy to exchange it out for him. Yay! More Â»

HTC Says They're Shipping My New Nexus One: I Don't Believe Them Anymore
The launch and early customer support of the Google's Nexus One phone, manufactured by HTC, has been a bit problematic. But let's try some optimism! Maybe now that the early hype has died down and HTC has had some time to get used to the situation, warranty replacements will take place in a timely fashion! Or...well, as reader Michael writes, evidently not. Update: Thanks to this post, Michael's new phone is on its way. More Â»

Report: Apple Offering 15% Buyout For Yellow-Screened iMacs
Gizmodo is reporting today that Apple is offering a 15% "refund bonus" to some customers who return one of the numerous 27" iMacs with a nasty yellow tinge to their beautiful big screens. iMacs are not cheap, so that's at least $250 depending on your computer's configuration. More Â»

Walmart And Best Buy Bail From Video Game Trade-in Market
Best Buy and Walmart have backed off on their challenges to GameStop's used game racket, both shelving their short-lived tests of trade-in kiosks, Industry Gamers reports: More Â»

Blog And Twitter Campaign Convinces Sony To Replace Defective TV
Scott has been a longtime and loyal Sony customer, but the company finally disappointed him. He writes that his lovely 46" LCD began to produce strange images on one side of the screen for ten minutes after powering up—not catastrophic, but not acceptable for a $3,000 TV, either. The regular channels of customer service were no help, so Scott took his case to his blog and to Twitter. The result? He heard from executive customer service within hours, and received a new TV for his trouble. More Â»

Fed-Up Xbox Gamer Has Gone Through 6 Broken Consoles
Jay knows his tale of having gone through six Xbox 360s isn't all that unusual, but he rightly expresses that it's pathetic that stories like his are common. The poor guy even bought an Xbox 360 Elite in hopes that the redesign would be more reliable. But alas, his Elite and its replacements now broken as many times as his chain of launch consoles. More Â»

My Kindle Breaks, Amazon Overnights Me New One, Lets Me Take Time Returning Old One
Sam is so elated with the way Amazon handled his broken Kindle complaint that he's almost happy it broke in the first place. The CSR overnighted a new device to him and gave him 30 days to return the busted one. More Â»

Playtex Came Through Where Toys R Us Failed In Replacing Broken Breast Pump
The thing about breast pumps is when they break, you can't exactly sit around for several weeks waiting for a kindly CSR to get you a replacement. Kids need bottles and moms need to relieve the pressure so they can get work. More Â»

Best Buy Sells Box With Wrong Hard Drive, Shrugs
Tony writes that he purchased a Western Digital hard drive from Best Buy this weekend, but not the hard drive he had thought. When he opened the box, he discovered that it contained a different hard drive entirely—not quite a Box of Crap, but still not what he had paid for. But Best Buy stood firm, admitting there was nothing they could do. More Â»

I Got Something From Macy's And Couldn't Get A Cash Refund
UPDATE: Macy's does accept cash refunds with a receipt, according to a CSR at a Tucson location. More Â»

Geek Squad Finally Replaces My Linux-Infested Laptop
An anonymous Best Buy customer told us in December that the Geek Squad refused to honor his extended warranty on his laptop because he had installed (horrors!) Linux. More Â»

Be Jealous Of The Woman Whose Purse Was Slimed By Chipotle
Tanner says Chipotle hooked her up big-time after she bought a burrito bowl in San Francisco only to have the bowl come apart and splattered all over her purse. More Â»

Virgin Atlantic Refunds $220 Hidden Fee A Year Later
Priya complained to us back in November that Virgin Atlantic stuck her with a massive hidden fee for a flight to India in late 2008. More Â»

HP Replaces Battery Problem-Plagued Laptop
We posted Nathan's story about his inability to get HP to help him with his laptop battery problem yesterday. Now the company quickly diagnosed the issue and offered to do a warranty exchange with the computer. More Â»

Palm Coast Travel Sues Customer And A Blogger
Travel blogger Elliott is not having a good year. First Homeland Security showed up on his doorstep with a subpoena demanding he name his sources, and now a travel agency is suing him for his reporting about their unauthorized sale of travel insurance. More Â»

HP Won't Fix My Laptop Battery Problem
UPDATE: HP has offered to replace Nathan's laptop via warranty. More Â»

EECB Gets Logitech To Replace 2-Year-Old Remote
On a lark, Shawn called Logitech when his old universal remote stopped working to see if there was anything it would do for him. After some resistance, he launched an Executive Email Carpet Bomb, which paid off with a free newer, better version of the remote. More Â»

Lady Foot Locker Wouldn't Let Me Keep My Receipt After A Return
Michael says Lady Foot Locker wouldn't let him keep his receipt after he returned an item, and that this wasn't the first time. He writes: More Â»

I Bought My Bro A Downloadable Video Game He Already Owned, Can't Get My Money Back
Ario thought he had bought his brother a downloadable PC game via Steam, but was dismayed to find out his brother already owned the game, so he threw his money away. Ario has struggled to get a refund but his screams have gone unheard in cyberspace. He writes: More Â»

Best Of Return Policies, Worst Of Return Polices
To aid you in your post-Christmas return-a-thon, WalletPop has put together a capsule list of the best and worst return policies. More Â»

Watch Out For Stricter Post-Holiday Return Policies This Year
If part of your plans this week involve trading in some of your holiday gifts for sweet, sweet cash, you may need to plan ahead. According to the National Retail Federation, 17% of stores have tightened their return policies since the end of last year. What should you know before you try to bring back that magenta scarf or duplicate toy? More Â»

Allegiant Refunds Vegas Traveler For Hotel Bumping
Blogger Krystalatwork complained she was bumped from Harrah's on a Vegas trip and had to stay at Flamingo, then was promised a refund that was slow in coming. More Â»

Geek Squad Wouldn't Honor My Netbook's Protection Plan
('')UPDATE: Best Buy replaced the laptop. More Â»

UPDATED: Bumped From A Hotel, Promised A Refund That Hasn't Come
Personal finance blogger Krystalatwork traveled to Las Vegas, booking a prepaid stay at Harrah's. But along with a number of other travelers, she found no room at the inn and was forced to stay at the considerably less posh Flamingo, then promised a full refund. More Â»

Reader's $400 In JetBlue Credits Expire With No Notice
S. had canceled two JetBlue flights some time ago. Instead of refunding customers' credit or debit cards after a reservation cancellation or change, JetBlue issues credits for future flights. Fine. The problem—and the detail that wasn't made clear to S.—is that these credits expire. More Â»

Radio Shack Replaces Its Crappy Mouse Again And Again
Bobby has found that Radio Shack's Gigaware wireless mouse to be shoddily made and breakdown-prone, but is happy that the company seems happily eager to replace it as many times as necessary. More Â»

Wachovia Harrasses Me For Phantom Car Loan Payment
Richard bought a vehicle, returned it and bought another from the same dealership. He says Wachovia erroneously paid off the second loan instead of the first. Once he got the finance department to correct the mistake — a process that took a month — Wachovia started hassling him to make a payment for which he was never billed. More Â»

Hard Rock Sends Collectible Glasses To Make Up For Gaffe
A mix-up at the Hard Rock Cafe gift shot left Simon with different keepsake booze glasses than the ones he tried to buy. He sent a letter to the restaurant's GM, who made things right. Simon writes: More Â»

Crazy Customer Makes Death Threat In GameStop, Gets Hauled Off By Police
A man in Michigan grew so angry that GameStop wouldn't take back his Xbox without a receipt that he threatened to kill someone and went to get something from his vehicle. The GameStop clerk called 911, and "Four Troy police officers, armed with rifles, stormed into [the] Oakland Mall store" and subdued him. He had an illegal stun gun on him but no firearm. More Â»

NewEgg Told Me My HDTV Isn't Broken Enough To Return
Israel says he ordered an HDTV from Newegg and wanted to return it once he discovered it had three dead pixels. In an online chat, a CSR told him the company wouldn't replace the TV unless there were eight or more dead pixels. More Â»

Hammacher Schlemmer Helps Consumerist Reader With Refund
This morning, the general manager of Hammacher Schlemmer saw the post about The Unrefundable Headache Wrap and left his contact info in the comments section. I forwarded it on to Tanya, and she's just emailed me back with good news. More Â»

Meet 'The Imaginary Refund Policy' From Hammacher Schlemmer
It turns out Hammacher Schlemmer doesn't want their goofy products any more than you do. Tanya in Canada has been trying for a month to get a refund on a product she felt didn't live up to its promise, but the company won't even acknowledge whether they've received it. Update: Hammacher Schlemmer has responded, and issued the refund. More Â»

SIGG Responds: Yes, The $50,000 Gift Certificate Was Intentional

—>Last week, we posted the experience of a SIGG customer who received a $50,000 gift certificate credit for the BPA-riddled water bottles she mailed back to SIGG as part of their massive exchange program. SIGG contacted us to clarify what was going on. To sum up: it's intentional and meant to expedite customers' exchanges. And they'll catch you if you try to abuse it, you jerks.  More Â»

Target's New Return Policy Might Be Better: We're Not Sure

—>Target recently changed their return policy. It's more consumer-friendly. We think. What we can tell you for sure is that it's more confusing.  More Â»

Reader Receives $900 For Broken Laptop In Small Claims Court

—>Ryan in North Dakota bought a very nice HP laptop in 2007. This particular model, he DV6000, has a certain flaw, and HP extended the warranty to cover inevitable repairs. But when the computer broke down for the second time at the tender age of two and a half years, and HP wouldn't repair it for free, he was angry. He had expected to get at least four years' use out of the laptop.  More Â»

Radio Shack Acts In Consumer's Best Interest, Hell Freezes Over

—>The Shack Radio Shack is not known in these pages for its high level of customer service. That's why we were stunned and impressed with Chris's story, where Radio Shack salespeople were not only knowledgeable and immensely helpful, but sent him to a competitor.  More Â»

Home Depot Needs To Check Your Receipt "In Case You Stole Something"

—>Rather than make up some line about needing to make sure customers receive everything they paid for, Home Depot is now openly treating its customers like shoplifters.  More Â»

So You Want To Sue The Company That's Screwing You Over

—>Jon wants us to recommend a good lawyer to sue HP for screwing him over on laptop repairs. We do not offer legal advice like that. We do, however, believe strongly in the power of small claims court.  More Â»

Chinese Police Say Walmart Shopper Beaten To Death After Botched Receipt Check

—>Chinese state media says that a woman accused of shoplifting was allegedly beaten to death by 2 employees of a Walmart in eastern China. A police report says that the employees stopped the woman on the street near her home (which is also near the Walmart) and demanded to see her receipt. One report says she refused because she was unsure of the employee's identities, another says she handed it over, then took it back.  More Â»

Retail Return Databases: Fraud Deterrent Or Privacy Nightmare?

—>No shopper wants higher prices because of excessive return fraud, but many people aren't comfortable having their driver's license scanned when making a return at the store, either. We've covered the reasons for this before, but Retail Customer Experience took a closer look.  More Â»

Walmart Enlists Help Of Local Police Officer To Force You To Show Receipt

—>One would think that Walmart would have had enough of the drama that results from receipt checking — but according to reader Eric, that's just not the case. He says he politely declined to show his receipt to the Walmart employee who asked to see it because, unlike with Sam's Club, he had not signed an agreement obligating him to show it. Walmart didn't see it that way.  More Â»

Emailfinder.com Sells Wrong Info, Now Woman Has To Show Up In Small Claims Court

—>Some guy in London fell for an online iPhone scam in January, so he paid $150 to emailfinder.com to track down the identity behind the Hotmail account of the person who scammed him. Now he's suing Kim, who is completely unrelated to this story (or was, at least), for $4,368 to cover the $1200 he lost on the iPhone scam plus travel expenses for him to show up in small claims court here in the U.S.  More Â»

Walmart Greeter Who Was Attacked During Receipt Check Gets $20,000 Settlement

—>Remember the Walmart greeter who was attacked by a police officer when he tried to check the cop's receipt? His lawsuit has been settled for $20,000.  More Â»

Motherhood Maternity Misplaces Misdirected Merchandise

Three months ago, I ordered a batch of maternity clothes from the Gap and Motherhood Maternity. Unfortunately, when I returned the pieces that didn't fit - I mixed up the returns! The Gap immediately returned the shipment meant for Motherhood, but Motherhood did not. In emails they have claimed to have 1. never received it (I sent the UPS delivering confirmation), then they claimed to have sent it back (I asked for tracking info what was never supplied), then they just quit answering emails. I reported them to the BBB saying - yes, this was my mistake but they still should have returned it - and they told the BBB that no proof was every supplied that the items were sent to them (I resent the email thread and the delivery confirmation).  More Â»

Why Is This Store Scanning My Driver's License?

—>Ed went to return a pair of shoes to Finish Line because they were the wrong size. As part of the exchange, the sales associate took Ed's driver's license and scanned it, and he wondered why.  More Â»

No More Free Online Returns From Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, Atheleta

—>Reader Joe sent us a tip that Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Atheleta have changed their online return policy. "They now deduct 6$ from the return refund, no questions asked... " he wrote. Well, that's not exactly it. Here's the official word from Gap Inc.  More Â»

Verizon Loses The Broken Phone You Returned, Suspends Your Service

—>Luis dropped his busted LG EnV in the mail at the end of last year and tracked its progress as FedEx delivered the package to Verizon. Verizon, apparently unfamiliar with tracking numbers, doesn't believe that Luis ever returned the phone, and insists that they're owed a $320 replacement fee. Luis disputed the charge, but rather than investigate his claim, Verizon decided it would be easier to suspend his service. Now they want Luis—a customer of seven years who pays over $350 across six phone lines each month—to pay another $15 to reconnect the service they should never have disconnected in the first place. He writes:  More Â»

Customer Sues Sears Over Bogus Black Friday Deal... And Wins

—>Once upon a time, way back in November, a St. Louis MBA student named Cheri was the one of the first inside her local Sears store on Black Friday morning. She rushed to get the best deal they were offering — a washer and dryer for $599. To her dismay, she found out that the heavily advertised deal was not available — customers were being asked to pay now and get the washer and dryer in 30 days. Even with this disappointment, the deal was too good to pass up, so she agreed. Months later there was no sign of her washer and dryer, so she took Sears to court. And won.  More Â»

Tennessee Suspends And Opens Investigation Of Police Officer Who Shoved Walmart Receipt Checker

—>Earlier this month, we wrote about a Tennessee police officer who shoved a 71-year-old Walmart greeter to the ground after he tried to check his receipt. He originally wasn't going to face charges; now he's been suspended and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into it.  More Â»

Police Officer Shoves Walmart Receipt Checker To The Ground, Won't Be Charged

—>Apparently even more annoyed with receipt checking than we are, a Tennessee police officer shoved a 71-year-old Walmart employee to the ground after the employee tried to check his receipt, then pushed a customer through a glass door. That's a bit much.  More Â»

Every Christmas Target Execs Fight Over Auto-Printing Guest Receipts

—>Regarding this story, turns out, every year at this time, Target has an internal clash of the titans over whether or not to automatically print guest receipts, according to a former employee.  More Â»

Target No Longer Automatically Prints Gift Receipts?

—>Reader Jennifer reports that Target doesn't seem to be automatically printing gift receipts at the bottom of the receipts. Clever way of discouraging holiday returns? Target's official policy is no returns without a receipt...  More Â»

What's New For 2008 Return Policies

—>Some retailers are tightening their returning policies this year, while others are loosening them. ConsumerWorld tells you who's naughty and nice this year.  More Â»

"Free iPod Engraving" Is Code For "You Can't Return This, Sucker"

—>Ever wonder why some places will engrave your electronics for free? It's so you can't return them. Really. That's the reason. Returns of perfectly good, non-defective merchandise account for 95% of returns and "free engraving" is a cheap, easy way to ensure that that item won't be coming back.  More Â»

How To File A Lawsuit

—>Consumerist empowers consumers to take on bad companies, but sometimes even the negative PR that Consumerist can bring to bear is not enough to persuade companies to behave. When that happens, you might have to sue in order to get what you want. Here is a brief guide to your options when you decide you need to escalate your complaint to the courts.  More Â»

What Hell Must You Go Through To Return A Defective Running Shoe?

—>Neal Templin at the Wall Street Journal had a defective running shoe. Within 4 months of buying the shoes, an eyelet failed, so he took the defective shoes back to the store. This is where his tragic tale of rejection begins.  More Â»

Circuit City Wastes Hours Of Your Time, Only To Sell You An Empty Box

—>Reader Chris spend hours trying to buy God of War 2 from Circuit City, only to get stuck with an empty box. Yuck!  More Â»

Customer Sues Delta For Bogus Weather Cancellation, Wins

—>Meet Mitchell Berns. Delta slapped him with a bogus weather cancellation and, rather than sit down and take it, he booked himself and his family on another flight — then sued Delta in small claims court and won a default judgment. Berns is a lawyer, but he didn't do anything that you couldn't do.  More Â»

Tired Of Telemarketers? Try Suing Them

—>In yesterday's post on rude telemarketers and the people who hang up on them, reader/advice giver Amy Alkon said she just successfully sued a telemarketer in Santa Monica Small Claims Court—and won! If you're one of those unlucky people who can't get the calls to stop, here's how she did it.  More Â»

Target Has 79-Year-Old Taken In For Mental Evaluation After She Demanded Cash Refund

—>79-year-old Christina Brown had a sales receipt and bank records showing that Target had taken cash from her bank account, but the retailer refused to give her a cash refund — offering a gift certificate instead. Christina refused. She wanted her money, and said she'd stay at the Target all day if she had to, but she wasn't leaving without $30. Target told her she was trespassing and that they would call the police. Christina said that was fine with her and called 9-1-1 herself. When the police arrived, Target had Ms. Brown hauled out of the store on a stretcher and taken via ambulance to a hospital for a mental evaluation. Does wanting a cash refund mean you're potentially mentally ill?  More Â»

Hey, How Do I Sue Telemarketers Who Ignore The Do Not Call List?

—>We've been getting a lot of emails lately from people who are fed up with telemarketers ignoring the Do Not Call list and want to take the bastards to court. Now, to be fair, sometimes the people who email don't fully understand what is and what is not allowed under the law.   More Â»

Best Buy Calls You An "Asshole" For Not Showing Your Receipt

—>After driving all over Chicagoland with his 7 month old son looking for a DirecTV receiver, reader Bobby was called an asshole for not stopping and showing his receipt to a Best Buy employee. He's a little ticked off, and he CC'd us on his letter to Best Buy. Let's listen in:  More Â»

"An 'Illegal ETF' Destroyed My Credit. Can I Go To Small Claims Court?"

—>"Jurgis" writes,  More Â»

Travel Agency Charges For Airline Tickets, Cancel Tickets, Can't Be Reached For Refund

—>Dhanushka is having some trouble getting money back from his travel agent. He writes,  More Â»

Exchanging A Defective iPhone 3G Is A Huge Pain In The Butt

—>Reader Joshua wants to warn everyone that exchanging your defective-out-of-the-box iPhone 3G is a huge pain the butt. His girlfriend got her iPhone on launch day but quickly discovered that the speaker was broken. She brought it into the Apple store to have it checked out and an employee accidentally dropped it. At that point, Apple told them they'd just replace to the phone. That's where things got complicated.  More Â»

Man Threatens To Sue Extortionist HVAC Company In Small Claims, Wins

—>Last winter, David's old furnace broke down. But things got really heated up when the incompetent HVAC repairmen he hired threatened to report him to collection agencies and put a lien on his condo when they wanted him to pay up for a repair they never finished. Just to give a little atmosphere, this takes place in Chicago, famed for its merciless winters. David's story, and how fought back, inside...  More Â»

Target Fixes Their Broken Wedding Registry, Will Let You Return Duplicates Without A Receipt

—>Reader Jon writes in to let us know that your complaining has had a positive effect on Target's return policy. They will now allow you to return duplicate wedding registry gifts without asking your friends and relatives for a receipt.  More Â»

Wal-Mart Reports You To The Police For Not Allowing Them To Check Your Receipt

—>The epic conflict between shoppers and receipt checkers continues! Reader Michael was unwilling to wait in line to have his cart searched, prompting Wal-Mart to threaten to file a police report as they wrote down his license place...  More Â»

T-Mobile: We Can't Help You, Sell Your Brand New Defective Phone On eBay

—>A link to the following letter to T-Mobile's president just popped into our inbox. It seems that if you receive a T-Mobile Sidekick for Christmas and it's defective... your options are fairly limited. T-Mobile's best solution to your broken phone? Sell it on eBay.   More Â»

"Free Engraving" For Electronics Really Means "Ha, Ha, You Can't Return This Unless It's Defective"

—>Certain electronics retailers such as Apple and Sony offer engraving for laptops, cameras and MP3 players. It may seem like a nice service, but it really saves them lots of money. Why? Engraved products can't be returned just because you couldn't figure out how to use the product or because you realized that you spent too much on it and now have to eat peanut butter and corn tortilla sandwiches for a month to avoid defaulting on your student loan.   More Â»

Target's Super Secret Return Policy

—>Consumer Reports tells us that Target's strict "No receipt, No return" policy has an "unadvertised" loophole — you can return items of less than $20 for store credit. The catch? You can only do this twice a year.   More Â»

Warranties: "It's Been 3 Weeks. I Don't Have Hot Water, And Sears Doesn't Care"

—>Reader Christina has a (broken) water heater from Sears. It's covered under a warranty, but Sears isn't willing to replace it. She's been without hot water for 3 weeks and Sears just doesn't care.   More Â»

Mugger Used Our Credit Card, Now CapitalOne Sued Us Without Us Knowing For $1200 And Won

—>Andrew's wife got mugged, the thief rand up purchases on her credit card, and now CapitalOne has sued them for $1200 and won. How can this be? Andrew writes:

In May of 2005 my wife was mugged at one of the elevated train stations in Chicago. After calling the police and filing a police report, she started calling each credit card company to cancel each account. Except she forgot about one card, her CapitalOne card. A card hardly ever used and only had a $500.00 limit...

  More Â»

Nissan Dealership Won't Refund Deposit
Jay writes in with a question: how do you get back your deposit from a car dealership when a deal goes sour? The salesman jacked up the price after an initial negotiation, and now won't refund the deposit: "He said we'd be surprised at what he can make up to keep the deposit." More Â»

Librarian Takes Sprint Nextel & Wells-Fargo To Small Claims Court And Wins

—> Last December, Theodore Karantsalis received a letter from Sprint, where he was a customer, telling him that someone who banks with Wells-Fargo—where he's not a customer—was presented with his invoice and personal data when they logged into their Wells-Fargo Checkfree account. The customer contacted Sprint, and Sprint contacted Karantsalis. Karantsalis decided that he'd deal with the issue on his own instead of bringing a lawyer into it or throwing his hands up in frustration, so he took both companies to small claims court.  More Â»

Why You Should Wash Your Old Navy Pants Before You Wear Them

—>Attention: This is gross. If you don't want to read this post, we understand.   More Â»

Suing Big Companies In Small Claims Court Is Fun And Easy
Taking a big company to small claims court sounds like a big hassle but reader Bill has done it successfully three times. He says the time and effort spent on taking a company to small claims court is far less then how it long it takes to get companies to fix above-average in complexity problems.Here's his typical expenditure for a small claims suit: $24 and 45 minutes. The $24 is the cost to file a claim. The 45 minutes includes his total time of driving to and from court to file, as well as the time spent on the phone with the company when they call to settle.See, in all cases, he hasn't even had to go to court: the company calls him up the day before the court date and gives him a settlement. It seems they prefer to do that then pay to fly a company representative who isn't fully versed on all the facts to court. Here's his true story of how he got what he deserved from Tmobile and Washington Mutual, without breaking a sweat.

How To Get Cash From Best Buy With Only A Gift Receipt

—>Reader Nick writes in with a bit of social engineering.  More Â»

Judge Judy's TV Court Isn't Real

—>We were operating under the misunderstanding that Judge Judy was a broadcast of an actual small claims court somewhere, but then our legal beagle intern Alex informed us that it's really just arbitration dressed up to look like small claims court.  More Â»

What People On Judge Judy Don't Know

—>Recently I've become intrigued by Judge Judy type small claims court TV shows. They offer a fascinating look at how little some people know about the legal system. Here's what America learned in the past week or so:  More Â»

Alleged "Gunman" In Walmart Parking Lot Was Actually A Guy Returning A Toy Gun

—>When returning a toy gun to Walmart here are two things you should not do:  More Â»

Dell Arbitrarily Decides Your 2008 Warranty Ends In 2007

—>Dell has decided that Saundra's warranty, which ends in 2008, ends in 2007, and won't repair her motherboard for free. Saundra has informed them of the error and sent them the relevant documents, to which Dell has shrugged. Saundra has now decided to sue Dell in small claims court. Which mall kiosk which she deliver the court papers to? Who knows, there's got to be thousands of them around the nation... Her story follows.  More Â»

Man Attempts To Return Walmart Ammunition At 1300 Feet Per Second

—>It's Walmart's policy, clearly visible on their website and in their stores, that all sales of guns and ammunition are final. One San Diego man didn't like that policy so he tried to return the ammunition in another way. By firing it in the Walmart parking lot.  More Â»

Returning Gifts At Best Buy Is A Big Pain In The Butt

Let me state clearly what they are having us do: I had to return the camera at the store, the cost of which will be refunded to my brother's card. Then I have to call my brother and explain to him why I am exchanging his gift and ask him to please go back online and purchase a different camera for me. Talk about a pain for my brother who was just trying to get me a nice wedding gift!  More Â»

UPDATE: Sears.com Repeatedly Delivers Wrong Dryer, Doesn't Correct Website

—>We posted about how Ian started blogging his quest to get Sears to make up for delivering the wrong dryer, repeatedly. Now, the executive customer service types are ignoring his requests for a refund, despite their promises to do so in full. Ian has vowed to take Sears to small claims court-the last recourse for aggrieved customers.  More Â»

Opt Out Of Comcast's Arbitration Agreement

—>If you're a Comcast customer and in the event of a dispute, want to retain your right to sue Comcast in a court of law in a trial by judge or jury, a right afforded to you by the Constitution, rather than go by the decision of an arbitration company Comcast hires to mediate your dispute, fill out this opt-out form.  More Â»

Man Gets Brand New Laptop After Suing HP In Small Claims Court For Losing His

—>HP seemed to have "lost" David Barzelay's laptop when he sent it in for repairs. After a month of no laptop, HP wouldn't replace it or return it.   More Â»

How To Take Your Case To Small Claims Court
Small claims or conciliation court provides a way for individuals to settle their differences with the help of a neutral referee or judge.Inside, some tips to help you win your case in conciliation court.The price of admission is generally low, between $50 and $100 most places. The plaintiff (the person who starts the case) files a short statement of the claim, pays the filing fee, and serves the defendant either by mail or by using the sheriff or other third party for personal service.Conciliation court is a great place for consumers to get some justice. Before bringing your claim, however, you will want to check with your state's conciliation court to make sure you can actually bring your case. Generally, the defendant you intend to sue must have some personal or business presence in the state. Also, the amount of money you are seeking will probably have to fall beneath a certain amount. In Minnesota, for example, the total amount of the claim must be below $7,500.You can probably find the complaint forms and other information on your state's or county's website. Fill them out carefully and completely, and bring them to court to file.Here are a few more tips for your day in court:* Spend a bit of time watching the daytime court shows. Seriously. Other than the judge's sass, they're not too different from conciliation court. Notice what the litigants do wrong.* Bring all your exhibits and witnesses with you to court. Make an extra copy of documents, and keep them organized.* Focus on the logical reason you should win. So often I see people want to tell their story. (A) There isn't time, and (B) it's irrelevant. Stick to the facts and why they matter.* Always show respect for the judge or referee. They are the ones who decide whether you win or lose. The no-fail method of address is "your honor."Conciliation court is a great way for consumers to get some justice in the courts. Build your case carefully and present it as professionally as you can, and good luck on your day in court! —SAM GLOVER

Man Sues Dell And Wins... By Serving Court Papers To The Mall Kiosk
A NJ man successfully sued Dell in small claims court using a unique approach. He had the court papers delivered to a Dell kiosk in the local mall. When Dell failed to show in court, Pat Dori, of Hackensack won $3000 by default. A ruling allowed court employees to close the kiosk and confiscate equipment if the judgment was not paid.Dell settled out-of-court with Mr. Dori under an undisclosed arrangement.The victory came after five-months and 19 phone calls to Dell after Dori's laptop fan broke. When he turned it in for repairs, Dell lost his laptop and returned just his hard drive. To compensate, Dell offered a refurbished laptop without an extended warranty."My big issue was, they never wanted to talk to me, never wanted to hear me,'' said Dori. "The little guy found a way to hit them in the head with a rock. You get their money, you get their attention. God only knows how much their legal team cost them.''NJ Man's Lawsuit Against Dell Settled [1010 Wins] (Thanks to Stefan!)

Neteller Takes a Gamble on Hidden Fees

—>Dustin signed up to do a lil online gambling and deposited some funds online. The transfer company snuck in an undisclosed 8% transfer fee.   More Â»