Today I went to return a large lunch bag to Walmart. I had purchased it at the end of December 2007. After about 1 month of use, the bag started to rip where the shoulder strap was attached. I decided to wait until the spring to return the bag since I did not have the time.

When I got to the return counter, the customer service person told me that it was more than 90 days from the purchase date and that they would not take the return. I explained that the bag was defective and that I did not have the time before now to return it. She insisted that Walmart has a 90 day return policy.

Then I remembered something that I had heard on CBC radio on Brent Bambury's Saturday morning show called "Go". He had a guest, "Lisa Merchant", who decided to use the same techniques used by automated telephone customer service systems. The technique is to inform the person you are talking to that you are recording this conversation for quality purposes.

I pulled out my Sony Clie, a Palm OS PDA, pressed the record button and told the customer service person that I was recording this conversation for quality purposes. I then asked her what the policy was and whether she would give me a refund for the lunch bag. She told me that the policy was 90 days. She then changed her mind and said that she wanted me to go home happy. She then proceeded to give me a gift card for the value of the lunch bag.

The audio link is below.
http://webserver.smphoto.com/audio/080418000.WAV