Re Guinastasia in her capacity as K-Mart clerk.
It wouldn’t be up to the front-line grunt at the register. Your friend would be sent to the service desk, where there would be a Manager (that god-like being) who is specially trained to deal with this sort of thing.
So, you’re bringing Broken Phone #1 back with the receipt from Phone #2, and asking for a refund. Will it be because “it’s broken”, or because “I found the same thing cheaper on the Internet”?
Management tends to assume that the goods on their shelves are in working order when the consumer adds them to his shopping cart. If you show up at the Service Desk with something that you claim was “broken when I got it home,” you have a better chance of getting a refund if you come back to the store almost immediately, like the same day.
Admittedly, it’s not likely that the Manager is going to take the phone out of the box and test it, especially during the busy Christmas season. However, if you’re returning it because “I found the same thing on the Internet,” and if the Manager does take the phone out of the box and test it, and finds that it didn’t work, she not going to simply shrug and say, “Oh, this phone doesn’t work. Here’s your money back anyway.” She’s going to say, “Oh, this phone doesn’t work. You must have broken it while it was in your custody. No refund.” (italics mine)
And if you then go on to explain that it was broken when you got it home, her well-honed suspicions are going to be aroused, because she knows that if it was broken when you got home, you would have turned right around and come back to the store and SAID, “It was broken when I got home.”
Now, maybe you can pretend to be surprised when she tests it and finds out it’s broken. How good an actor are you? Probably Saturday or Sunday afternoon, when they’re totally swamped, would be the best time to attempt this.
Of course, it’s totally dishonest, and I’m ashamed of you for even suggesting such a thing. Sooner or later, somebody in Management will test that phone to see whether it works, before putting it back on the shelf, and it won’t be repaired, it will be thrown away or remaindered to one of those Big Lots stores, and either way, Best Buy will have to eat it.
I’m with YosemiteBabe, you should talk to these people. Best Buy WANTS you to be a satisfied customer. Honesty is the best policy; get hold of the manager, be polite but firm, explain the problem, and see what happens.