Beware “Brick in a Box”
(Image is in the Public Domain)
Sometimes when you buy something online or at a major retailer, you'll get it home to find out that it's full of bricks or bathroom tiles instead of the product you expected. Sometimes this is due to shifty warehouse workers and sometimes because a customer buys a product, says it's defective and returns it even though they replaced it with bricks. If the customer service counter doesn't check the box before accepting it, it goes back on the shelf and you get stuck with it.
The store's response to this is generally not going to work in your favor, but there are ways you can make sure you don't end up with the brick.
Read the article for full details, but here are the two main tips they cover that I agree with:
- Pay with credit card – This will give you many types of buyer protection automatically like the ability to do a chargeback.
- Check the item before you leave the store – Make sure you know what's actually in that box before you walk out. It's much harder for them to make the claim that you put a brick in it inside the store.
- Policies aren't laws – Just because a story says "it's policy" doesn't mean you should give up. They often have very bad policies and even some that might be considered illegal. You should fight for what's right regardless of what the store says is "policy".
