Help Me Hank: When Return Policies Don't Apply

Take a look at this box. Now here's the question: If you had purchased this at an electronics store, what would you think was inside? Let's ask the man who bought it.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"What did you expect was in here?"

Mr. Almonord
"A CD-rom drive."

If that’s what you thought too, look what Mr. Almonord actually got when he opened the box.

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"Forgive me, but is this a CD-rom drive?

Mr. Almonord
"No."

Even though the box says CD-rom, inside he found this old floppy disk drive!

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"So it was sealed in the box?"

Mr. Almonord
"Sealed in the box."

It was all wrapped and packed with the wrong item inside.

Now this was annoying, but didn't seem like a big deal. The store's 30 day return policy said you just needed a receipt. The problem was that the store refused to give Mr. Almonord a refund!

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"So you had your receipt."

Mr. Almonord
"Yes."

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"And it was two days after you bought it."

Mr. Almonord
"Absolutely."

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"And they still wouldn't take it back."

Mr. Almonord
"They would not take it back."

The store told him to call the manufacturer. The manufacturer told him to call the store. That’s when Mr. Almonord had another idea.

Mr. Almonord
"Maybe well call Hank Phillipi Ryan and she can help."

Now here's where it gets dicey, when I called the store to find out why they wouldn't do a return, they told me they'd decided Mr. Almonord had taken the real CD-rom drive and substituted the old floppy drive, then tried to scam the store out of forty bucks!

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"So they were sort of saying that you had put something else in the box and you were trying to return it."

Mr. Almonord
"That’s right."

Hank Phillippi Ryan
"Is that true?"

Mr. Almonord
"It is not true."

So we asked the store again. He had the receipt, he had the product, why did the store suspect Mr. Almonord? Soon after, without explanation, the store agreed to give a refund.

This time we went with him just to make sure, and now he's got his forty dollars.

Mr. Almonord
"I’m glad that’s all over now!"

State law says stores can post any return policy they want, but when there's an unusual situation they do have some leeway. That’s when there might be problem.