GOLDEN DAYS OF
REGINA WAL-MART RETURN POLICY OVER

REGINA, SK -- In the glory days prior to 2006, I would recommend people buy their electronics at Wal-Mart rather than retailers like Futureshop, if Wal-Mart had the same product. Firstly, Wal-Mart was sure to have the same or lower price, but foremost, Wal-Mart's return policy was so consumer-friendly, it was like getting a free warranty.

A shining example of this was when I returned my Memorex 27 inch TV when it blew up, thirteen months after I bought it.  The official policy was to return it within a year, receipt or not.  Had I bought the cheap piece of crap anywhere else, I would have been screwed.  They replaced it with the subsequent year's model, one that was new and improved.  It's worked for me for several years now. 

I then bought a Sanyo 37 inch TV from them which has worked flawlessly for two years and is an excellent TV. (BTW, don't ever buy Memorex, but Sanyo is a quality reliable brand.)

I brought back faulty merchandise or products I wasn't satisfied with for years without fear. That liberal policy was one reason I bought certain products there.  However, tragically and sadly, that has all come to an end.  Wal-Mart has thrown out their old return policy and has become no better than the evil doers at Futureshop or other similar retailers.

In the fall we bought a cheapass DVD player for $29.99 from Wal-Mart to reluctantly replace one that was stolen during our home invasion in June. It broke within a month and we returned it. They offered to replace it and even let us (Janice) upgrade to a more reliable brand name for twice the money. (Jan and other women have had way more luck than me when it comes to dicey returns.)

Now that's fine.  We had a good DVD player for five weeks until Boxing Day sales came and I discovered if I took back the Wal-Mart player I could buy a DVD-Audio/SACD player on sale at another store for a mere twenty dollars more.  This wouldn't have been a problem in the old days.  The old days being last year.

I begged, I pleaded, I even whined but they told me about their new Nazi-like return policy. They told me people like me, but not me, screwed them many times with their liberal return policy, bringing back products that were bought at other stores. (The box for my DVD player had Wal-Mart stickers all over it.) They would only switch it for another DVD player, something they refused to do until I got ugly with them. 90 days with receipt is their new policy.  And sometimes they give you a gift card with a store credit instead of the cash. They have a jar full of used gift cards which they will reach into if you work them right.

So I'm out of luck and I'm not motivated to buy anything breakable from them again.  Unless, of course, they have the lowest price.  But do they have the lowest price?

I've been shopping for a compact deep freezer for months.  We finally bought one after Christmas with our xmas loot.   Where did I find the lowest price?  Costco?  Wal-Mart?  How about London Drugs, notoriously slightly more expensive than every other store.  We found a Danby 5 cubic foot freezer at London Drugs in a flyer for $199.99.  The exact same model at Wal-Mart is $30 more.  Costco's was twenty dollars less but almost half the size.

In the olden days, I might try to get Wal-Mart to match the advertised price at London Drugs and get a warranty of sorts by knowing I could return it any time down the road should I have trouble. Not this time.  This time I bought Canadian and it feels good.