> There are ways that people can rationalize these gaming of the system behaviors, but it just seems to be a descent to crapitude, where every retailer treats every return as a crime, because often it really is.
I do wonder where the line is, though.
I didn't have a PS3 growing up, but I wanted to play Uncharted and a few other games when I was in High School. Game rentals were long gone by then, much less console rentals—but I realized that Gamestop had a 7-day return policy on used hardware.
So one year, during spring break, I bought a used PS3 and copies of Uncharted 2 and 3. I didn't manage to finish the latter in time, but I still enjoyed myself.
I am to this day convinced I did nothing wrong. The console was used both before and after purchase, and I took good care of the hardware and followed the written return policy. And in the process, I bought multiple non-returnable games from the store.
But I was definitely taking advantage of the return policy, since I had no intention of holding on to the console.
But that doesn't seem like a great way to make decisions, right? "It's okay to screw over this store because I don't like Other Thing X that they're doing."
I do wonder where the line is, though.
I didn't have a PS3 growing up, but I wanted to play Uncharted and a few other games when I was in High School. Game rentals were long gone by then, much less console rentals—but I realized that Gamestop had a 7-day return policy on used hardware.
So one year, during spring break, I bought a used PS3 and copies of Uncharted 2 and 3. I didn't manage to finish the latter in time, but I still enjoyed myself.
I am to this day convinced I did nothing wrong. The console was used both before and after purchase, and I took good care of the hardware and followed the written return policy. And in the process, I bought multiple non-returnable games from the store.
But I was definitely taking advantage of the return policy, since I had no intention of holding on to the console.