I saw this story over at Gizmodo and though it was worth talking about here.  It seems a guy purchased what he thought was a brand new Western Digital 1TB hard drive. When he got it home and opened the package, he instead found a 9-year-old 30GB drive. When he took it back to get what he paid for, Best Buy refused to replace it or give him his money back.  Once again, Best Buy shows its true colors.

This is not the first time that something like this has happened at Best Buy (as well as many other stores). Clearly, someone else bought the hard drive, replaced it with an old one, and returned it to the store for a refund.  My guess would be the store clerk took the return without paying any attention and just re-shrink wrapped the box and put it back on the shelf for sale.

It is a shame that Best Buy treats its customers this way, but there is a way that you can avoid such problems. After you purchase an item that comes in a box you can’t easily open or is shrink-wrapped, open the item right there in the store next to a sales clerk. They can’t deny what they see with their own eyes.