Converter Box Drama

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

You know, I was reading on an article about how they didn't have enough coupons to go around, and that's why the delay happened.

Of course, my first thought is that all the dimwits signed up for coupons, because they were confused/convinced by someone in a store (not any of you, I'm sure! ) that they needed one when they most certainly do not.

I never thought about it--that people would be coming into stores demanding a refund on converter boxes they don't need. I sure hope there's a record of transaction when coupons were used. Not that anyone will be returning their coupons/40 dollars to the government when they find out.

Somehow, I'm sure that this will be a fiasco, and a lot of people will be pretty smug about getting 40 bucks for free.

[Shamus]

I'm really hoping that most retailers will put something into place to prevent that kind of phony refund, or else most stores are going to get hit with MASSIVE amounts of fraud.

[persephone]

With regards to the returning thing -- don't most stores have the "no receipt, no return" policy? If so, even if it's going to be annoying as heck to deal with all the returns, at least you won't have people getting money they didn't paid -- cause the receipt will show if they used a coupon and, like with any coupon or discount, you don't get that part back, right?

Or am I being too logical?

[digilight]

About the returns, don't most stores have a limited amount of time for a return policy (14-30 days usually) allthough we all know that management will crumble like a house made of cookies on this.

I went to my parents house a week or two ago and noticed 2 of the infamous converter boxes (still unopened) lying on the counter. I asked my dad "Why in the hell did you get those converters....You've got satalite". Well it turns out that the 2 tuners on the Tivo/Divo boxes that D-TV gives them isn't enough to feed the dragon at times. So they will record 2 shows at once and watch one from the roof top antena at times. So one box in the den (Most of the TV watching happens here). And my dad has a little TV in his shed (A tuff shed mini barn actually, bigger then a average effeciancy apartment) so he will chill in there and smoke some days, or when he can't sleep he will go out there and watch tv for a while at times. so he needs a box there since it relies entirely on rabbit ears in the shed.

[RetailSlave]

My inlaws live way out in the country where they don't have cable, and being on a fixed income they can't afford satellite. I ordered their coupons for them, and when they came in they gave them to me and I got them at my store...we had a good deal going that day so I ended up paying 95 cents each for them. We came out and set them up for them. We ended up having to get another antenna for them only because theirs came down in the windstorm we had in the wake of Hurricane Ike back in Sept.
All the convertor boxes we have sold say right on the box, "Do NOT return to the store," and the only thing we will do is exchange a defective box for another just like it.
I had one guy who had bought one box from us and another (Magnavox brand) from Wally World. Dude decides he likes the Magnavox better and tries to return the 2nd box to us for a full refund. I explain to him that we can't return it and point out the statement on the box. He says he thinks this one is defective (the remote didn't work well), so I call the Electronics Team Lead and he says we can't return it...he has to call the toll-free number on the box. Dude is really upset and demands to see the manager. Manager comes up and tells him no refund, no exchange. After the customer rants a bit, manager agrees to let him exchange it for another one just like it. Customer doesn't like it but he finally takes the exchange and leaves.
Our posted policy now is for exchanges of defective boxes only...no refunds or instore credit.

[Shamus]

Update - got a couple SCs in the store today with rainchecks for the converter boxes. Both had a raincheck for two boxes; there is no way they were going to find four anywhere at this point, but apparently had gotten wind that our store had received a number of boxes.

I had to deny them to these customers. We had taken a list of customers, noted the expiration dates of the gov. coupons, and were calling those customers in order of expiration to help make sure everyone would eventually get the box at the full sale price.

This did not sit well, especially as the boxes were slightly visible behind the counter, all tagged with customer names - those people had already been called about their boxes. The woman, a figure with the eyes of an irradiated frog, threw everything at me: we can't do that, (we can and did) nobody told her about the list, (we might not have started it when she first came in) and they were there and the customers the boxes were reserved for were not, so they should get the boxes. (fat chance) They were frightfully rude, and started to even complain about having to travel to the store. I added their names to the list, but goodness, I was tempted to toss their entries into the trash. Well, there are roughly seventy people ahead of them, so I don't think they'll get a box from us anytime soon.

[Demolition Man]

If you think its bad now... wait until Feb. 17th if the shut up happens. Even after all the announcements, ads, and everthing else you know we'll all be hearing the "well NOBODY told me" crying that day. Trust me I've already heard from at least several people who think "oh we'll be just fine its all just hyperbole."

[Calie]

You know, I was reading on an article about how they didn't have enough coupons to go around, and that's why the delay happened.

That's why I don't have a converter box yet...we kept putting it off, figuring we'd get a coupon later. Oops. Has anyone heard if they're releasing more coupons? 'Cause last I heard the waiting list was a few miles long.

Anyways, I don't really care. Our ancient rabbit-ears and all analog TV was free from DH's grandparents. I think it might be older than me. We turn it on no more than once a month. Everything else we just watch online...we pay top dollar for teh fastest interwebz that hubby can find, no way I'm paying for cable too.