I have sitting on my desk an as of yet unused and unopened Onyx Nintendo DS Lite. Still sitting sealed in its' package and yet I am unable to return it. I've had this unit sitting around for a while now and decided that I would be much better off with cash in my hand then yet another DS boxed on the shelf. So off to Toys R Us I go... but I can't find my receipt anywhere. Not even a trace of those pesky gift receipts they always push on you. When I present my situation to the customer service rep I am told that there is absolutely nothing that I can do without a receipt.. No returns, No store credit, no excanges. Without proof that I purchased it at their store there's nothing they can do. I don't know when their policies changed, but I was SOL. So I head out the door and over to Wal-Mart. People return everything to Wal-Mart. Hell my brother in law likes to joke that Wal-Mart will exchange items that they don't even stock. Even if you don't know where it came from it's possible that they'll give you some amount of store credit for it.. After waiting in line for a while I explained that I had this unopened unused DS Lite system and no receipt and asked if there was anything they could do. I was told that they could give me store credit... But only after the customer service manager checked a few things out. Apparently she was able to run a check on the DS Serial and found that although brand new, it was purchased at a Toys R Us and even had an exact date of purchase. What The Fuck! How is it that Wal-Mart can verify the exact date and time of purchase and at what store for any DS unit in a matter or minutes, yet Toys R Us can't verify anything without a receipt. Moral of the story here is don't be a jack ass and lose your damned receipt. Now I'm off the list this thing on ebay and pray that I don't get scammed.
Maybe you could ask Wal Mart to print you out a letter stating you bought it from Toys 'R us and take it back to them saying "You competitors know when you sell stuff...'
Can't you just go back to Toys R Us and demand they do a serial check? Or write a letter to management asking why they have no system in place to check purchases. I don't know how it works in the states but here in the UK, trading standards dictate that if you don't hold a receipt you are entitled to exchange the purchase for the same thing or for store credit. Therefore we have to have systems set up to check the origin of the product or if they do not have such a system, benefit of the doubt must be given to the customer.
No guarantee this will work (especially with them checking serial #'s) but one thing I did in the past was to buy another exact item I wanted to take back and ask for a gift receipt. Then I would take that item back with the original receipt and the other with the gift receipt. It helps to have one person return the original and you the gift and also choosing the right time to do it. Hope this helps
If you used a credit card, look for it on your statement and then bring that to them , they can use the transaction number to look it up.
Unfortunately I used a debit card so I'm not sure if that will work in my favor. I'm trying to determine if they tie the serial to the transaction number on the receipt. If they don't then A. Snows idea might work out. I'm really not to pissed about this as it is my fault, but it seems rather insane to absolutely require a receipt for any type of customer service.
All you need to do is bring the card there and they can look it up by the card. just ask the manager when it isn't busy. I used to work retail, you can search by card number, it just takes about ten minutes.
I am uncertain about the Toy's R Us database system. It is possible that their system simply doesn't allow returns without a receipt (like target's system). With all the financial problems Toy's R Us is having they have probably had to change several policies. I don't think it is a matter of if they will go out of business, but when. The reason that Walmart can pull up all that from the Serial Number is because they use Nintendo's authorization system that records the place, and time that it was purchased. This is to prevent the old buy a new one and return the old one game. Ebay is probably your best bet. I have only been scammed one time and that was just a failure to pay. The best way to be safe is only to accept paypal to a confirmed address. This requirement usually keeps the scam artists away.
I'm not sure that buying a second DS Lite and return both would work. When I worked as a clerk for Zeller's (canadian Wal-Mart) we had a lot of pressure to verify that the system's id was matching the id on the receipt, but again, you can be lucky and deal with a lazy employee. Good luck
If the purchase is over 30 days old, they don't need to do anything, with or without a receipt. Legally, if you don't have a receipt, a store is not obligated to accept a return unless they specifically have a policy to do so (which Walmart was the only one that I knew of, though Gamestop does occasionally too) or there is a specific law for that class of purchase (e.g. car, house). Unfortunately, good luck with ebay.
Target needs a receipt? I was going to recommend bringing it there since in the past you could return stuff without a receipt. If they verified that they sold that item model they'd give you a refund. That was about 10 years ago tho....probably before they had the ability to track items.
Target had a lot of problems with internal fraud and they enacted the policy. The manager has 3 over rides a year, and I doubt they would waste one on a DS unless you gave them some story about needing the money for your mothers medical bills or something along those lines. Other chains vary from store to store, high shrink stores usually have the least amount of wiggle room. If you want to go that route your best bet is an unauthorized reseller that doesn't record serial numbers. The other option is craigs list, cash only, local pickup only (meet them at a mcdonalds or something like that
Yup, credit / debit card purchases should be traceable so you can use that as proof. You can always take in your statement or print out a mini statement at an ATM if it was a recent purchase. Your statement should be itemized. Other than that, get Wal Mart to print out that info from their system, and take that as proof. You should have a returns cut-off date. It is often a month. Past that, you might well be out of luck. Yes, the lesson should be: ALWAYS pay by card. ALWAYS file your receipts in one place as soon as you get home. *DISCLAIMER* It has come to my attention that their may be some FUCKTARDS who misconstrue what I say. I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that you have a contract with your credit card company, and it is YOUR responsibility to borrow responsibly and make your payments on time. I accept NO liability for any mess you get yourself into by misusing your credit card. Also, I shall point out that "card" does not necessarily mean credit card. It can also mean debit card, and I would recommend using such a card where you can only spend what you have in your account.
always pay by card? that's some risky advice there retro, imagine if someone took it and start going ape-shit and then owing the bank, they'd have you to blame
Nah, of course you should ONLY ever pay by card when you have the funds, and pay off your balance in full every month! Duh! ;-) hehe. *EDIT* Debit cards take the money from your account. You have to have the money to spend it. I didn't specify CREDIT card, did I? ;-)
"That's good advice, Marty!" ;-) Can you get an air miles card, pay off the balance in full every month, and reap the benefits of the air miles, then? That's pretty cool. Hell, buy things on the Internet for your friends who don't have cards... for a small fee! Bulk DVD purchase FTW! ;-)
