Whenever I buy DVDs at B&M's (I also shop via the net), I tend to shop at Best Buy and Borders. However, one purchase I made at Borders last week left me a little peeved. Hopefully, someone who works there can help me out and let me know if I'm in the wrong or not.

I bought a movie last week for $20. Unfortunately, the disc was a floater (I did the shake test - couldn't detect anything) and was scratched up pretty bad. I had some problems loading it, so I brought it back the following week for an exchange.

Three things to keep in mind:

1. I was well within the 30 day return window
2. I had a receipt
3. I wanted an exchange for the exact same item

The woman rang up the new disc and said I owed her $4 more. When I asked why, she said it was because the disc was no longer on sale.

Does this make sense? I was pretty miffed about it and tried to explain my case over and over. This is the first time I ever encountered something like this. Is this typical? If so, I'll have to open every one of my discs as soon as I buy them so I can exchange them that same day in case there's ever a problem.

Any thoughts and suggestions, especially from Borders employees, are appreciated. Should I continue to complain to another manager or should I just drop it?

That's completely ridiculous. I can't believe they charged you for exchanging a defective item, which is essentially what happened. That doesn't sound like it complies with the Borders return/exchange policy that's printed on their receipts. Had it been me, I would have asked to see a manager (who, hopefully, may have possessed a little more common sense than the clerk). Don't know what I'd recommend at this point -- may be too much trouble to go back and try to work it out now, especially for a mere $4 difference.

I would have asked for the manager or told the woman to give me back my money plus 4.00 more then if it was worth more now than when you bought it.

If you still have both receipts I would go back and talk to someone else but it might not be worth it.

No: you were asking them to give you what you should have received in the first instance i.e. goods fit for the purpose for which they were purchased; a DVD of merchantable quality.

And I somewhat doubt that the shop would have volunteered a partial refund had the price fallen since the initital purchase although maybe that particular assistant would have done!

I do work at Borders, and it sounds like you had to deal with a nOOb cashier. I would go back and speak to a supervisor or manager. There is no way that I would make a customer pay extra on a straight defective product exchange. Personally, I would not have even gone through the register at all. I would have just swapped it out on the spot.

Definitely talk to a manager. You were shafted.

Update:

I brought the receipt in and explained the situation to the manager on duty that day. He agreed that the CSR must have been interpreting the policy incorrectly, and credited me the difference. He apologized up and down (which wasn't really necessary, but sincerely appreciated).

Anyway, thanks for the advice everyone.

So the subject of this post should be changed to include the word "Praise" or some other non-complaint word. That's pretty cool how you were treated by the manager. He should get credit in the post subject.

Good idea. Already taken care of. Props to the Borders in Strongsville, as well as Tom and Stan (mgr) for fixing the problem within 1 minute of me explaining it to them.