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246 Comments
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+69I've done this before, but never with such balls. That's a great story.
- pondster, on 10/12/2007, -3/+50oh, and this comes with 12 years retail experiance - you bug the manager enough until you know he WONT give in then ask to SPEAK to his DM - the DM only cares about making you happy - not the lousy $50. But most of the time the manager will give in.
But always remember - whoever your speaking to has a boss - just move up the food chain until you get what you want. sales associate - asst. mgr - manager - District Manager - General Manager - You prob wont go higher than GM - soogy, on 10/12/2007, -5/+43You don't need balls for that. Never ***** with a man's hard-earned money.
Oh, and pondster, if they don't give in, I'll just ask for the President. - pondster, on 10/12/2007, -1/+36Same here - not like that though - I did it at seperate stores, took my opened copy to one store for an exchange only then took my now NEW game to another store 10 mins down the road for a refund.
- mvprj84, on 10/12/2007, -5/+34However, I was a customer service manager at Target for 3 years and when someone would exchange for an open game we would open up the game they were exchanging it for...thus preventing this situation from being able to happen.
- iamnos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29Check you local consumer laws. There is usually something that states that the product must be free from defects, unless you know about them before the sale. Laws superceed "store policy".
Usually just mentioning the "Consumer Protection Act" (as its called here) is enough to stop any discussions and proceed with returning the item in question. - ComputerWiz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+29I've done the same thing a few times. I didn't do it for any illegal purposes or any copying things. One time I did something similar but my story had a bit of a twist. I had purchased a game at a store with the same policy (I think it was OfficeMax or Staples). It turns out that the game didn't work at all. There were no visible scratches on the CD but I figured that it was the CD not my computer. So I went to the store to get a new copy. The cashier said that they wouldn't take it back. They would have given me an exchange for the same title, except that I had purchased it on clearance. Their policy was to not allow ANY type of returns/exchanges on clearance items. It was looking bad for me since I not only had a clearance item, but an opened one.
Here's where I got angry and got revenge.
After talking to two managers, I finally said that I would take my CD home. I didn't want to leave empty handed however. I had a few coupons that I printed online. I asked for a gift card with the coupon, but of course they said no.
"Ok, fine. I'll take this DVD player."
I give her the coupon and get $10 off.
"I would also like to return this DVD player."
I handed her the same DVD player. She looked confused, but took it.
"Can I have your receipt?"
"Sorry, I lost it.”
"But I just gave it to you. It's right there.”
"I'm sorry, you must be mistaken. Your policy says that you will give me store credit for returns without receipts."
Again she called the manager over. He didn't look pleased, but wanted to get rid of me.
So at this point I had a useless and broken game, and a credit of $40 (the price of the DVD player).
I went back to where I picked up the DVD player, and got another one.
"I'd like to purchase this."
She rang it up with the store credit I just got and another coupon I had.
I repeated the same process again.
After it was done, I got back $20 more store credit than I paid for the DVD players (the same amount that I was out for the game). Later that night, I sold the gift card on eBay, and never returned to the store again. - ippersiel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28I actually agree with Pondster...
How else would you get your money back by "respecting" the clerk behind the counter?
The system is now setup where the clerk has no discretion except to go by company policy. The manager has some discretion, but is bound by company discipline if he does something against company policy (like getting written up... which btw, wtf is that? Oooh... a piece of paper at RadioShack headquarters sais I wasn't a model employee this one time....)
It basically does boil down to having to stand up for yourself and demanding the service that should be in place.
I find it sad that if it's an electronic medium, we cannot return it if it does not meet our acceptance, yet if I by clothing, furniture, tools, whatever, I can still return it within 15~30+ days if I am unsatisfied with the product.
(Hypothetically, what if I took a desk from Ikea home, just so I can copy the design with some wood and then return the product? Wouldn't that, technically, be considered copying?.... and I know that example is kinda bad since it would cost you more to do the mentioned "copy", but I hope you get the Idea I'm trying to illustrate) - analdisco, on 10/12/2007, -2/+22mdawg, no one mentioned that because it's illegal. I assume you mean placing your opened product on the shelf, but if you're willing to do that, what's to stop you from just stealing a second copy and returning it? This article is about getting a refund for a legitimate reason by legitimate but unconventional means. It's not about conning people.
- ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20According to the United States Consumer Protection Act Section 13 of Category 2 (Sale of Products and Provision of Services):
"In case of any defect, flaw, or imperfection on a product, upon request and by option of the consumer the trader is obliged to replace the defective/flawed product[...], return the amount of money paid and compensate for the actual reasonable cost of return of such defective/flawed product, or repair the defect at the trader's expense. [...] If the consumer detects a hidden defect or flaw [not able to be seen at time of purchase],the request should be submitted within eight days [...]. - newevilmind, on 10/12/2007, -1/+19Where I live when they give you the new copy of the item you are exchanging they OPEN it for you before handing it to you.
that way you don't get a sealed copy to return. - darthleppard, on 10/12/2007, -4/+20@TheGalacticFork:
"that's awesome for the tools at Gamestop and EB, but is most uncool to do that to Barnes & Noble..."
Gamestop (and EB now) are (still) subsidiaries of Barnes & Noble...so there's not much difference in the matter.
@MDawg:
"walk into the store with your receipt, pick a new item off the shelf, take it to the counter, and say, "I'd like to return this please.""
wouldn't work at most game stores as live product is not kept on the salesfloor. - Darrelc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17I know at computer exchange in the uk that wont work, and gamestation as they ask if the game will run on your machine. And as they ask everytime you can't go back and say "My PC is too *****" as they've already said that to you.
Reminds me of when I baught age of empires about a week ago for about 50p, the specs are something like a 100mhz processor and 8mb of ram, he asked me if my machine could run it and I said "My phone has higher specs than this so im pretty sure my pc will run it"
Hehe.
Darrel. - master_of_fm, on 10/12/2007, -7/+19one time my wife had bought a game from target and the game simply would not install on my computer, when I explained this at the counter they simply gave her a refund. sometimes you get lucky like i did. conversely, way back in the day when I was a manager at a blockbuster i had a group of 5 kids probably between 10-12 years old come in with 20 bucks and buy a used N64 game. nothing unusual about it, until a couple hours later the dad came in and said the his son took the money from his wallet without asking and wanted a refund. i informed him that we did not take returns on previously viewed movies/games (i know for games it would be played, but at the time i still think the lumped them together). he told me felt that it wasn't his fault that his son took the money while he was sleeping and that i should give him a refund. i told him that he shouldn't have left the money accessible to his son, he then said so are you saying that i am a bad parent? i told him yes and he actually didn't question me and said okay i will find something to exchange it for and I said no problem.
- boomerxl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13In Ireland, don't know about anywhere else, Game have a 10 day "no questions asked" refund policy. When I bought Another Code, and was mightily annoyed that I completed the game in under 4 hours, I decided to test this out. I brought that game right back the next day, and walked out with my €45. It's a great policy, but one that gets abused far too much.
- CedanticPunt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13I think he's roughly right about the UK law. I'm no lawyer (or law student), but I did a lot of reading on the government's website (I forget the address) and their guide to consumer protection laws in the UK. I was trying to force Apple to give me a replacement for a G5 when they wanted to try and repair it again and again, all without success.
You have the right to your goods that are fit for the purpose for which they are sold, free of defect, and this is for a 'reasonable' period of time (depends on the item you bought). If they're not, you have the right to a replacement, repair or refund (of your choice, not the store's). Store policy cannot override this law, and mentioning the 'sales of goods act' is usually a good way to get your way.
Obviously this only applies if you've not damaged it yourself, and the defects were there when purchased (though they don't need to have been apparent at time of purchase, they might not surface till days or weeks later).
If they give a refund, it's illegal to charge a 'restocking fee' or anything like that. Similarly, you don't have to accept store vouchers, and they can't force you to take them.
If you bought something that you simply don't like then all this doesn't apply either.
If you bought it over the internet, by phone or by post, then you have 7 days to check the goods over (different act to the one above). If you don't want them (for any reason, you don't have to say), you can return them for a full refund. The cost of postage may be up to you, I can't remember exactly.
A lot of stores think they over-counter signs (like "we don't give refunds") are above the law - they're not. Also, items in sales or reduced are subject to the same laws, even if they say "no refunds" or "as seen". If any defects are clearly marked then you can't use those to get a refund/replacement/repair as you knew about them at the time you bought them.
I don't have all the details exact here, and (being law) there's a lot of subtleties, so don't quote me on them. Hopefully a law student will correct me :) - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10Just so you guys know, this doesn't work everywhere. At Fry's electronics and at EB in Phoenix, they open up the exchanged game so you can't do this. Happened to my brother when he (legitimately) returned a game that was already scratched.
- dtfinch, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11The last time I bought a defective CD (System of a Down: Hypnotize from Circuit City, produced by Sony), I downloaded a non-defective replacement. It saved the hassle of a very long drive back to the store. The "crime" of downloading a CD I already own does not compare to that of selling pre-damaged CD's.
- mycatsboots, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Worked very well for my Professor. He originally claled up HP to complain about a defective printer, and after hours of fighting he climbed the phone chain up to the Vice President. The Vice President was very nice, shipped out a brand new UPGRADED printer for free. (The Printer my professor bought was just a basic $90 dollar printer, HP sent him one of their Cadillac Printers with all the bells and whistles).
On top of that they sent him all kinds of coupons for free ink and discounts on his next HP purchase. - ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I do this occasionally, but I leave the store with the new disk then come back a few hours later.
- MrCobaltBlue, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Easy way to return a computer game:
Say you don't agree to the licencing agreement. Its not printed on the box so you don't know about it until you install the game. Legally they have to give you your money back. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9100 Shrink Wrap Bags:
http://tinyurl.com/qzc46 - ryogahibiki, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8It's actually illegal to do what Software Etc. did. If a store is going to sell a "used" product, it has to inform the customer that it is "used" or "refurbished" and then usually sell it at a discount.
- Fantt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Heh. I worked at another unscrupulous place (a computer store) where our boss would have us shrink wrap up stuff that customers would return and then we'd send it back to the vendor as "unopened merchandise" which would get us a greater return than if we'd sent it back open.
- DannySpace, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7You'd be surprised at what you can get from a company if you just take the time to compliment. Try writing a letter to a company that you have spent money and shown loyalty toward their product. In the letter, explain your compliment and show a little knowledge in their product. Just send this to them out of the blue and wait for the return letter. It's usually packed with Free product coupons or a substantial amount off your next purchase. This works exeptionally well with restaurants.
- brandonking, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7I had a similar experience. I had a Netgear FM114P wireless router. I liked it so much, i got my parents one too. The power supply on their fried, so they exchanged it. Then it died on mine. Turned out ALOT of these routers were having similar problems (with a few bursting into flames). On top of it, it lacked support for some of the advertised features. I brought it back to CrapUSA, here's what happened:
"You would have to go through the manufacturer for get a refund or exchange for a different model."
"There are alot of defective units of this model, and that features advertised aren't supported. A salesperson helped me pick it out. (actually a lie, but it was on the shelf and the people at this particular store didn't know Linksys from Linux)"
"You could exchange it for the same model. That's all I can do."
"What would happen if you didn't have it in stock."
(pausing) "We'd give you a refund."
"How many do you have in stock?"
"7"
"I've changed my mind. I'd like to buy 7 of these routers."
"What?!?!?"
"Yes, then you'll be out of stock, I can get a refund, and then return the 7 routers with the receipt for a full refund, sicne the packaging is not opened."
"Ummm... you can't do that."
"Your policy allows it. We can do it this way, or I can send a friend in here later to buy those 7 routers, and then another friend to exchange this broken one. However you want to play it so you don't get in trouble."
"*****. (He did actually swear) Okay, how about we just do the exchange for a different product?"
"Fine by me."
Last time I shopped at that store. As a general rule, always return to the most upscale store for a chain. If there is a Best buy right next door, and you live in a middle income neighborhood, make the 30 minutes drive to the posh Best Buy. I have found that 100% of the time, the nicer the neighborhood, the more amicably they deal with return. I'm not saying rip them off, I'm just saying you will get the least aggrevation. In general the nicer teh store, the more big ticket items sold, so losing one customer to poor CS could mean tens of thousands of dollars lost over a year. In more average areas (I do live in an 'average' area), they rely on quantity of lower priced items, so losing one customer isn't a big deal. - deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8He followed store policy 100% That's kind of the whole point of this article
- foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Gamestop accepts PSP games even 2 months after I bought them for FULL PRICE back. When Star Wars BF2 on PSP got annjoying (Grenades kept spweing out of my gun barrel instead of lazers). And I was bored of the game, they gave me a FULL refund
- BGFeltenink, on 10/12/2007, -5/+10That is just bastardly of Target!
- afrazkhan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6
Once you know you can't return a game after purchase, you make damn sure you want that game. Could this be why sales are down, and not piracy? I'm unlikely to buy a game with mixed reviews if I know I'm stuck with it, even if it's pants. I used to take risks on game purchases all the time, and they paid off enough times for me to continue - I don't do that anymore, and I suspect I'm not the only one.
This can't be good for the industry.
I stopped buying games from HMV a few years ago because of this. - Fantt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Way back in the day I worked at Radio Shack. One day a guy came in with a black plastic garbage bag. From it, he dumped a bunch of old, dirty, nasty broken phones (about 10) on the counter and demanded his money back. My manager told him no freaking way. Dude called up the DM and spoke with him a little while. DM asked to speak with my manager and he had to give him half credit for every single phone. Was pretty disgusting. We threw them all away right after the guy left.
- Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Right, because wanting a refund on a defective product is such a wrong and immature thing to do. He should be ashamed of himself.
- fohat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5That's a good point, however i believe that you would be obliged to return the game to the manufacturer directly in that case.
- Darrelc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6And sold a faulty game? Isn't that Illegal on Ebay / Auction Sites unless he states that It's broken?
Kinda Immoral too, I'd be pissed to hell If that happened to me.
-Darrel. - Otto, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I've never had that problem.
I own a shrink wrapper. :) - ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6That's because it is so easy to go home and copy a CD then return the original. Everyone would be getting games for free.
- ccanni1028, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5It is also called the CPA in the US.
- mrgreen4242, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"In this case the manager really screwed up. He should have given the guy the replacement game unwrapped in the first place. Yes, I understand the game had a pretty significant bug in it, but the store is not the one to take that up with."
I disagree. It is without question up to the store to deal with this issue. They CHOSE to sell that product, from that publisher. You can't call up the games publisher and buy the game. You can't call them up and get a refumd. By your logic, no one should be responsible for the games quality.
Stores don't MAKE things, they resell them, and they deal with customers. This policy kills me. Console makers and game producers go through huge trouble to make games hard to pirate, which in turn makes it more or less impossible for the average Joe to backup their games, and now they can't even return them. If you buy a game, you basically have absolutely no recourse if it sucks. It's the biggest scam out there. - dragonflight, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6thats pretty clever, but I've never seen it done before.
I've always had this idea in the back of my head, but I end up not returning too many games anyways. One notable was back in the day of Tribes, and the first disc wouldn't install and the second had garbled text. The Wal-Mart Manager finally gave in after we argued with him that we hadn't copied it and that our machine exceeded the minimum. - sneakerelph, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4right, but how do you know what the terms are before breaking the seal? thats like...
"i'll only let you read this book if you like it."
how are you supposed to know? - MrCobaltBlue, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4It depends, I used to work at Best Buy, and they're required to take back Microsoft products if someone brings one in and states that they don't agree with the EULA.
- asteron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5If you are going to steal the game you should do the manly thing and just download it from the internet.
- Wyzard, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4In a free-market system, everyone looks out for their own interests and on the whole it works out to an equilibrium. It isn't the buyer's responsibility to give in and absorb a $50 loss for the sake of the store manager.
- pondster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3oh and mxpxpx, I tried respect FIRST. I asked nicely to return the game - after the sales associate was very rude I tried to explain to him the game ran like crap on my machine even though it met the requirements, he basically told me tough. There is SO much that is wrong with this industry, I am very glad I left it. Sales people just dont care about the consumer anymore, You have companies like Best Buy trying to scam the customer any chance they get. Its nothing like when I ran my stores - times have certainly changed.
It used to be customer first - Make them happy, if you did they returned. I had dozens and dozens of customers I knew by name and greeted them as such when they came in, they always shopped at my stores and kept that loyalty. Even when I switched stores they followed me to that store because I treated them right. If they found an item cheaper they told me, and I matched it and they bought from my store rather than just picking it up from the competition.
If these stores will only start to care about the consumer again they can bring their sales back up, but that may be too much to ask. It also doesn't help when they hire people in at min wage who dont give a rats ass to begin with.
Anywho, thats my 2 cents. - kirkio, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4You can also just tell them that you do not agree with the EULA and they will have to give you a refund for the game.
- slapout, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6People shouldn't be too hard on the employee and the store manager. They were not the ones who set the policy - they were only doing their jobs.
- dominowrecker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4man thats the oldest trick in the book (though we would leave and return it at another store)....and most places will now take the plastic off before even handing it to you. Unless of course they have an open return policy anyway.
I do agree that he should have got his money back simply because the game didnt work from a bug. Hell I would have went as so far to show him on the store display console, which I have done in the past.....remember all the faulty Sonic Adventures going out? After the third return I made them put a newly unwrapped sonic disk into the display until I got one that worked. (took 5 tries if you were wondering)
Anyway if you ask me...he got lucky. That guy did not have to give him back his money based on their policy (and his loophole was kinda weak at best)
still dugg for the funny - afrazkhan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I understand your point, but you should know that the shop makes no loss whatsoever over taking back a game, opened or otherwise. This is because they will send the game back to the manufacturer for credit or refund and say it is defective (whether it is or not).
I've spent considerable time convincing shop staff to give me a refund, only to find out after they eventually agreed, that they would send the product back to the manufacturer anyway. Why are they being so arsey over refunds if they don't lose any money? No idea. I used to think it was because they were lazy and didn't want to do the paper work, but that doesn't make sense in the case of large chains like HMV. - iamnos, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5No, I'm in Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't much care if there is a law student working there. The law is pretty clear that when I go into a store and pick a new item of the shelf, I can safely assume it is free from defects. If it is not, I have the right to have the purchase price (and any forseeable expenses occured from said defect) returned to me.
- master_of_fm, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@tempest
until a person is 18 and no longer legally a minor parents are 100% responsible for what their children do. hinten said that since the child was underage he couldn't legally agree to the contract of sale which would make the child not responsible, but you are saying that the parent cant be held responsible for what his child did (complete and utter BS by the way). someone has to be responsible, so which is it? and no it would not be me *****, if anyone under the age of 18 could not agree to the contract of sale then legally you would not be able to purchase anything from any store whatsoever if you were under 18.
and how the hell was i being greedy? i was 18 working at blockbuster video making $7.00 an hour if i was lucky, following store policy in dealing with a 12 year who appeared to be in full control of his facilities, who purchased a $14.99 previously played video game? and why should i be the one responsible for the actions of someone Else's child. like i said, even at the time not unusual for a 12 year old to come in with $20 to buy one game. if he had come in with $200 and tried to buy 10 games and i let him, then yes i would have been irresponsible.
if my kid had pulled a shenanigan like this i wouldn't be blaming the clerk who sold him the game, i would blame my kid. i know that when i have kids that they eventually do something like this and the will be aptly punished to let them know that kind of behavior is not tolerable (just like my parents). most people say that the never want to be like their parents, but me i know that i will be exactly like them and i will be happy for it. growing up we weren't poor, but we were not as well off as most other people we knew. i grew up appreciating the things i had and destroying my toys like the spoiled brats you see on supernanny and nanny911. i have never had anything just given to me in my life and i have always had to work for the things i wanted. at 13 i got my first job, worked all summer and saved up $1000 to buy my first computer. so when i see parents who cant even manage to keep kids from stealing money from their wallet while they are sleeping, you can bet that i wont have sympathy for them.
btw, calling me an ***** is merely a complement, i am a big dennis leary fan -
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