“I hope that doesn’t make me a criminal.”
I think that’s a perfectly legitimate use of these return policies, and is not the sort of thing that this article is about. It’s about people who buy stuff with the intention of returning it after they get the use they need out of it, like the camcorder for the big vacation, or the big-screen TV for the superbowl. Often these policies are called “satisfaction gurantees”, or something like that - if you’re not satisfied, you can return it.
That's what drove Timothy Eaton out of business.