Help Me Hank: Help Me Hank! Defective goods

Whether dribbling for a lay up or drafting up house plans, Josh can do it all. He's a renaissance man and only 16-years-old.

Josh Dickson, high school student
"Right now, I'm working on residential design."

So Josh got this new laptop, and with a gift card, he purchased a wireless mouse.

Josh Dickson, high school student
"I was real excited about it, because it was on sale."

Josh unpacked it, plugged it in and got to work on an important design project for class.

Josh Dickson, high school student
"I was happy to start using it."

But after a week, the mouse died. Josh's hand would move. The cursor wouldn't.

Josh Dickson, high school student
"Sometimes, it would just stall out and stop."

And then one day, it simply quit altogether. Josh tried to fiddle with it and replace the batteries.

Josh Dickson, high school student
"I tried to do everything I knew how to do."

But nothing worked.

Josh Dickson, high school student
"I kind of got fed up with it."

So he called the manufacturer to diagnose his sick mouse.

Josh Dickson, high school student
"They said it was actually defective."

OK, defective, so to get a replacement?

Josh Dickson, high school student
"They just wanted me to mail it back to them."

But mailing would cost Josh about $18! Josh can do math, too. He decided it was not the best idea.

Josh Dickson, high school student
"And they said, 'No, this is the only way we can do this.'"

So, why not return it to the store? Well, he had no receipt and no original packaging!

Josh Dickson, high school student
"I had gotten used to it working and gotten rid of everything."

But the store said how do we know you bought it here? Josh was stuck with an unusable mouse and struggling with the finger pad. His project was in trouble.

Josh Dickson, high school student
"I called 'Help Me Hank!'"

Obviously, Josh needed some proof of where he got the mouse, and we thought, how about that gift card? We told the store you could track the purchase with that! And they did. After that, we reminded the store that Massachusetts law says if a product is defective, the customer can demand a new one. And Josh did. As a result, Josh is back in the mouse business, and his final design project is back in full swing.

Josh Dickson, high school student
"Having the mouse makes it a lot easier to do a lot of the work."

(Copyright 2007 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)