[Bloody Sam Roberts]

If you've ever taken an item back to Wal-Mart, then you know what I mean. They don't care what, if anything, is wrong with the product, if you don't like the item for whatever reason,it's refund time.

Not strictly true.

I purchased a PC game on CD-ROM and installed it properly (I'm a software engineer) and it caused problems with my machine running properly. I tried several modifications to my system to get things straight but eventually reached the point where I said, "Enough".

I returned the product to WalMart and explained the above to them. They politely showed me their written policy regarding "opened" software and would not refund my purchase price nor would they allow me to choose another title. I had one coice: take another disc of the same title and try again.

I'm reasonable to a point so I agreed. I opened and installed the disc and got the same result. And this is a machine that is beefy and runs some heavy, graphics intensive applications.

I returned to WalMart, knowing what I was going to get for an answer and explained the situation again. They wouldn't budge. So I was stuck with a piece of software I couldn't use. Eventually I sold it on eBay and got my original investment back, but it was a pain in the ass nevertheless.

[discostu]

All the stores (at least the ones I've dealt with) are taking that policy with digitally copyable stuff (DVDs, CDs, and CD-ROMs). The excuse I've heard is copy right law which I'm not sure I buy but I am sure that touches on why. My guess is that you can copy stuff for so cheap and leave no evidence of ever having touched it (unlike analog stuff like videotapes) that they're afraid of getting scammed (buy the software and a blank CD, copy the software to the blank CD, return the software, keep the blank, brand spanking new software for $1). Knowing how this stuff goes somebody probably got scammed big time before they figured out they could be.