My question involves a consumer law issue in the State of: WI
I'm currently looking to buy my first flat screen TV. After doing some research on ones I've seen at Best Buy, I've come across a surprising number of complaints online about how Best Buy has been refusing to refund or replace TVs people buy and discover to be defective or broken (usually a cracked screen) after they're brought home. The common theme is that Best Buy says that damaged merchandise is not returnable, inferring that the customer is assumed to have broken the item. I'd like to buy a TV, but would like to know what my legal rights are if I were to buy a TV, then find that the screen is broken when I take the TV out of the box (since this seems to be a common occurrence).
I know I could have them open the box so I could inspect it from the open end before taking it from the store, but I'm told that it's very hard to see a cracked screen that way and the only real way to know for sure is to take it out completely and plug it in. If I opened it in the store and didn't see a problem that I ended up discovering later, they could say that it's proof I damaged it since it was inspected beforehand, so I'm reluctant to go that route. Removing it completely from the box and plugging it in at the store would not be practical.
As for my legal question: When a person buys something at a retail outlet like Best Buy who has a return policy of 15 days, is there a legal contract that the customer and retailer are entering into that can be enforced? Also, if an item is discovered to be broken or defective after the customer opens the package and tries out the item, is the presumption of guilt/innocence on the retailer, or the customer? IOW, if an item is broken, is it assumed to have been that way originally in the package, or is it assumed that the customer caused the damage in transport or at home? Who has the legal burden of proof?
I'm currently looking to buy my first flat screen TV. After doing some research on ones I've seen at Best Buy, I've come across a surprising number of complaints online about how Best Buy has been refusing to refund or replace TVs people buy and discover to be defective or broken (usually a cracked screen) after they're brought home. The common theme is that Best Buy says that damaged merchandise is not returnable, inferring that the customer is assumed to have broken the item. I'd like to buy a TV, but would like to know what my legal rights are if I were to buy a TV, then find that the screen is broken when I take the TV out of the box (since this seems to be a common occurrence).
I know I could have them open the box so I could inspect it from the open end before taking it from the store, but I'm told that it's very hard to see a cracked screen that way and the only real way to know for sure is to take it out completely and plug it in. If I opened it in the store and didn't see a problem that I ended up discovering later, they could say that it's proof I damaged it since it was inspected beforehand, so I'm reluctant to go that route. Removing it completely from the box and plugging it in at the store would not be practical.
As for my legal question: When a person buys something at a retail outlet like Best Buy who has a return policy of 15 days, is there a legal contract that the customer and retailer are entering into that can be enforced? Also, if an item is discovered to be broken or defective after the customer opens the package and tries out the item, is the presumption of guilt/innocence on the retailer, or the customer? IOW, if an item is broken, is it assumed to have been that way originally in the package, or is it assumed that the customer caused the damage in transport or at home? Who has the legal burden of proof?
Retailers: What if a Store Won't Take Back a Defective Product
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