You can only imagine how frustrated I have become, with the attitude of businesses today. Some retailers, namely Best Buy have such an inflexible policy toward their customers, I am astonished that they can make any money, long term. My sister and I had a horrible Best Buy experience a few years ago. She took the brunt of their abuse, and hasn't shopped there since. I was a bit more forgiving, and gave them a second chance. Now they have blown that.

My experience started out with my receiving a gift from my mom. She laid out over $100 and purchased the Godfather trilogy for me for my birthday. Last night, I opened it for the first time. I peeled off the cellophane, and opened up the first disk to pop into the DVD player. Right away, I noticed deep scratches in the disc, and thought to myself that it probably wouldn't make it through the movie. I was right. About an hour into the movie, it started skipping, and the audio was jumping around. After about two minutes, it only got worse, and then shut off completely. I removed the DVD from the player, and tried to return it to Best Buy today.

Typically, with product defects, you expect them to just give you an exchange, and ship the old one back to the manufacturer. Nope. I get the full Monty. "Do you have a receipt?" he asks me. I don't and inform him of this. He asks, "Can you get one?" Now, you would think that if had the receipt, or could have gotten one, I would have brought it with me. I told him I couldn't get one, and that it was a gift. He tells me that there is nothing they can do without a receipt.

I ask to speak to the manager, and Lila Sharp comes over. She is the operations manager. She told me the exact same story that her clerk did. "Our policy is 14 days, and we need a receipt." I told her that I didn't open the movie until I wanted to watch it, which was last night. I still had the cellophane wrapper and everything. She informed me that store policy is that she cannot exchange it.

Then, she insulted my intelligence by telling me it was because of copyright law. Lila implied that if they didn't ask for a receipt, people could exchange pirated movies as defective. I think she figured I was part of some underworld crime syndicate, that counterfeits box sets to the Godfather. Apparently, we manufacture not just the disks, but the custom cardboard cases, and cellophane too. Apparently I even went so far as to stick the adhesive promo label on the cellophane, just to fool wayward Best Buy clerks into exchanging it for the real mccoy.

I said "Copyright law? You're telling me you cannot take this back because of copyright law?!" She saw that I wasn't buying that reasoning, so she fabricated another. She told me that I could have had the DVD for six months, and that the damage could be from "wear and tear". I guess there are people out there that watch the Godfather over and over again until the disk wears out. Although they cannot keep track of the receipt, they somehow amazingly manage to keep the cellophane wrapper looking like it came off the box just yesterday.

Lila did give me their 888-BestBuy telephone number, and the hidden option #4, where people can register a complaint. I called and spoke to Kara, who reiterated what the manager had told me, save the "copyright law" excuse. I had thought the incident with my sister was an isolated one, and local to that store only. Today I find out that Best Buy's perceived zero-tolerance policy is that people are presumed to be criminals until they show proof of purchase.

I will give Best Buy one consolation. I do have a bad habit of not opening my DVDs until I watch them. Then again, I think a lot of people are that way. In hindsight, I should probably open all my Best Buy purchases at the checkout counter, lest my miniscule window of return opportunity pass by before I leave the store. I can tell you one thing, as long as I'm stuck with this $100 set of cheap coasters, I won't be going back in there.

Editor's note: In case any Best Buy lawyer stooges are reading this, and don't understand what libel is, every statement I have made is a verifiable fact.