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NeedToUseYou -> RE: Wal-Mart Does it Again!!! (Great consumer news) (11/7/2007 3:19:17 AM)
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ORIGINAL: Invictus754
quote:
ORIGINAL: FatDomDaddy
I also have to agree with the poster who noted Wal-Mart's return policy, even without a reciept, they will take most anything back.
I have a problem with their return policy. They are the bastards that started this whole "use it and take it back" mindset in consumers that every other store has to endure. If someone buys something, they shouldn't be able to bring it back unless it is defective.
Case in point: I knew someone who purchased a tent, sleeping bags, cookware and canoe from WalMart in Missouri, went on a 4 day camping trip - then brought it all back for a refund. He didn't even have to RENT his stuff for his trip. Every other store suffers for their return policy, because it used to be that if you bought it, it was YOURS unless it was defective.
Hey, I get that stuff that is returned like that. (Not from Wal-Mart, I could but don't want to deal with that kind of stuff). I get returns from the big electronic stores though(circuit city, best buy), and some other retailers. It is true, that about 80% of the stuff I get was either display models, or returns that are functional. Of the 20 ish % that is genuinely defective I'd guess half of the damage was caused post return by shoddy handling, and shipping. The way it works, I think is that the retailer, claims a defect without verifying it, then gets a credit from the manufacturer, they sell it off as defective, to people like me, I check it, fix it when possible and sell it. That's the only way I can figure this system working in the retailers favor.
It is disturbing to me though how they just junk a whole truckload of electronics and then sell it to me for 6% to 15% of wholesale depending on quality of the load. Of course you have to buy there returns by the truckload but still. It is crazy, when a huge portion of it is completely functional out of the box.
As far as DVD players and electronics go, the super cheap Wal-mart models, or the super cheap models anywhere, I'd avoid, as they seem to put very cheap motors in them. I'd also avoid buying dual purpose machines, as in a dvd/vcr combo. Better to keep each machine specifc, they tend to break less. A good Onkyo, or Harmon Kardon(spelling) single purpose machine, or higher tier brand, will most certainly last longer, than the cheap magnavox dvd player. And by the way I've messed with probably a 1000 dvd players, and the higher end ones do play better, as in you take a scratched up disc and put it in a magnavox, or whatever, versus a high end player, the high end ones seem to have better alignment and optics, so you don't get the stutter or lockup. I test dvd players using the most scratched up disc I have and its amazing how the good dvd players play it all the way through, and the cheap ones will stutter every once in a while. That isn't defectve, that is the standard it was built to. I've tested enough of them to see a costant, tangible pattern based on brand and thus price. I'd also avoid dvd recorders like the plague, they are just computer dvd recorders literally, shoved in a case, but the failure rate is extremely high. Get a hard drive based recorder, I don't think I've had one of those go bad. And you can on most of them just pop the lid off and replace the hard drive with a larger capacity drive. It's just a standard PC hard drive. You'd need to look up the capacities it can handle first. But you can get the 80GB model and generally throw a 160GB drive in it without paying an obsurd markup.
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