A few weeks ago, I bought the second season of Torchwood on DVD.
As I was driving home, I got to thinking that maybe I had already bought. When I got home, I checked through my DVDs and saw that I didn't. So I didn't feel so stupid at that point.
However, this week, I was cleaning some things up (
and yes I KNOW how weird that is, in and of itself) and I found that I actually HAD bought it before. It was still in the bag, still had the Best Buy sticker on it. I felt stupid, but I figured at least I could return it and get a Dr. Who DVD set instead.
Yesterday, I left work a bit early to do so. Ghostie was coming over at 4:30, but I figured I could return the Torchwood and get the Dr. Who set and get home in plenty of time. I should have known better.
I got to customer service, and explained the situation to a nice girl working there...although to not appear as stupid as I was, I told her I bought it as a gift and the person i bought it for already had it. Plus I told her I didn't want my money back I just wanted to exchange it for something else. She told me without a receipt there was nothing she could do.
I think for two or three seconds, I just looked at her uncomprehending. "I don't want my money back," I emphasized, "I just want to exchange it. And it's still wrapped with your sticker on it." She asked if I paid with a card, and if so, if I had it with me. I did, and gave her the card. She typed it into the computer and said she couldn't find any purchases on this card, and asked when I bought it. I told her mid October, I thought. She said that's over 30 days, so even with a receipt there was probably nothing she could do. She told me she was sorry but there was nothing she could do.
I told I needed to talk to a manager. She assured me she understood how I felt but there was nothing she could do. I informed her that I bought this here and no longer need it, so its worthless to me, and I'll either need to exchange it or have my money back and I will need to speak to her manager.
I hated to become that customer, I really did. I used to work at Borders, and I hated people that once you explained policy to them, haughily demanded the manager. The exception is, at Borders, as long as the item wasn't damaged, we could exchange it without a receipt, with no problem. And frankly, I never found that unreasonable. But here, I DID find it unreasonable, and I had to, reluctantly, become that type of customer.
She got a manager, and explained the situation. The manager asked me if I might have used another card. I gave her the other two cards I might have used, and she checked them, finding nothing. Then she kept typing something in the computer and said she just needed to check if she had it in stock. I told her I bought it at this store, and the sticker was still there. She ignored me. After fiddling around a little bit she handed my cards back and told the other girl to do a no-receipt return. I asked if I should go find what I wanted to get instead and the girl told me yeah.
As I went to look, I was a bit torked, cause the girl said there was nothing they could do, but apparently they DO have something called a 'no receipt return', so there
was something could have done. Whatever.
But when I got to the DVD section, things had changed. They used to have a BBC section, where they all the stuff from there. But that was gone. So i looked and looked and couldn't find the Dr. Who stuff. I eventually found the Torchwood stuff, which told me they should still have the Dr. Who stuff. I did find Dr. Who stuff, but that was all from the original old Dr. Who stuff. There was nothing from the new Dr.Who series.
I couldn't think of anything else I wanted, so I just had to skulk back to customer service and tell them I couldn't find what I wanted, and so I'd take the Torchwood stuff. I didn't want my money back, IF they'd even give it to me. What I thought I'd do is peel the sticker off and take it back to Borders and see if I could exchange it without the hassle...and maybe they have the Dr. Who DVD stuff.
POLT
Listening to the Eagles-Ravens gameI am full of interior rules that act as brakes on my desires. - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
