Botched Exchange at Best Buy

I agree it was botched, by your mother losing the receipt.

It doesn't even sound like you were trying to return it to the same
store your mom bought it at.

Since the topic of receipts / large cash purchases / etc has already
been covered, I wanted to touch on something else.

The fact that multiple employees felt the need to open the box and paw
through it when they made it clear they had no intention of accepting
a return is pretty bad customer service. If we assume that the camera
was purchased fairly and all, the OP has every right to want to try to
sell it or somesuch, and having the package scuffed and repeatedly
opened won't add to it's value. It also may make the OP's case worse
if the OP did try to bring it to another location to process the
return.

I wish you luck, and hopefully the camera will work out, as another
user pointed out that it can be used with a USB port.

People who are above doing devious underhanded things can never seem
to comprehend why people do those sorts of things in the first place.

As others have pointed out, there are so many red flags in this
situation that it's like a drum corp marching in the Macy's
Thanksgiving parade! High end item. Paid for with cash. No receipt.
And all the OP "wants" is to "upgrade" to a more expensive model for
the difference. Even if you aren't the corrupt type and your dear
sweet mother (can she adopt me? I'll take that high end camera and
MAKE it work!) had only the best intentions, surely you can see where
this would look fishy.

I have to wonder though. Your mother knew you wanted a camera.
(Presumably this model or a camera similar to this one or else she
could have gotten you a nice Sanyo for $199!) How would she have
shown up at Best Buy with enough money to pay cash for that camera?
That's a scary thought thinking about some little old lady carting
around hundreds of dollars on her person at Christmastime. That
worries me more than Best Buy's refusal to help you out.

Lessons for mom:

1. Don't purchase high-end items or any electronics with cash.
Credit cards offer purchase protection that cash just cannot. Plus,
purchases can be looked up via the credit/debit card, which may have
helped the OP in this situation.

2. Don't buy *any* electronics item unless you know for sure it is
compatible with computer/hardware/software already owned. Even if it
means spoiling a surprise for someone. Better a spoiled surprise
than, well, THIS situation.

3. Save receipts.

Signed,
Captain Obvious

If all else fails, I believe there are many Firewire to USB2
converters available on the market, or you could attempt to sell the
item through eBay or Kijiji.

Maybe you just don't want this model and want the higher priced
camera. I don't know. If that's the case, I can't help you. But you
aren't stuck with a product you can't use. Open the box, look at the
contents and check the users manual and camera. Do you see the
included USB cable? Turn to page 76 of your users manual and it will
tell you were to plug it on the camera. (Hint: its on the side). I
have no idea why you decided it needed firewire to work. Canon boxes
usually have a bunch of pictures on the side of the box and the USB
symbol should have been one of them.

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategor
yid=177&modelid=16206

not many people make $800-900 purchases with cash, so I can see why BB
would maybe want to hold to their policy. I understand that you think
that by paying the difference for the higher priced model you are
actually giving them more business, but without that proof of purchase
they are selling a $1200 camera for only $300-400.

When someone says "There is absolutely no way at all that I can
process this return," I suspect that they mean "There is absolutely no
way at all that I MAY process this return." Just because there is a
way to do it with the register (which, of course, doesn't mean that
the employee knows what it is -- one of the ways to discourage
employees from doing things they shouldn't is to refrain from teaching
them how to do those things) doesn't mean that the person's employer
isn't going to fire them for using it.

It is regrettable that whoever helped your mother didn't know they
were selling her a device you couldn't use. It is regrettable that
your mother lost the receipt. (Poor woman, she must feel horrible
right now.) It is regrettable that there are people who try to return
things to stores where they weren't purchased (either because they
were purchased from a different legitimate source or because they were
stolen) and cause stores to need to tighten up on their return
policies. I wish that at least one of those things was different so
that right now you would have the device you wanted (although you
still would have been charged a restocking fee if your mother had not
bought you the right device in the first place). But I don't
particularly wish that a retail employee didn't jeopardize his job,
whether it is a short- or a long-term position, whether it is a small
supplemental income to help pay for bigger Christmas presents than he
could otherwise afford or the only way his kids are living in an
apartment with heat, to violate the rules for you. Jobs are hard to
find these days and I just don't think enforcing the return policy on
a camera is an immoral act.

There are, of course, a couple of ways you can "use" the camera: you
can sell it to someone or give it to someone. I realize that neither
of these is what your mother was hoping you'd do with it, and I
realize that neither of these is what you had hoped you'd do with your
mother's gift and I am sorry about that, but you do at least have some
options, even if you don't have the option of exchanging it at Best
Buy.

At any rate, since I'm pretty sure I know what holiday you celebrate
at this time of year, I would like to wish you a merry Christmas.

You say that you understood the logistics but obviously you don't.
You have absolutely no proof that your mother purchased the item
there. No receipt=no proof.

I agree with the other two posters. Stores have rules for a reason,
especially rules regarding receipts. The item you are returning isn't
a $5 toy, it's an expensive electronic. Stores cannot simply take
someone's word every time they wish to return something but can't
produce a receipt. If you haven't already asked your mother for the
receipt, I would do so. See if she happens to have kept it. If not,
Craig's List or Ebay might be your best bet.

You made a point in telling us right in the beginning that your mother
paid cash and lost the receipt. So you already know how this is going
to turn out.

They are well within their right to ask for a receipt to accompany any
returns or exchanges.
He did get frustrated with you because you were trying to wear him
down by insisting he do this.

So either your mother finds the receipt or you sell this and purchase
another as there are no other options for you.

And if you do get to return it to another Best Buy let us know...I
know a lot of people would love to take their return electronics back
to that particular store.

Yes, but why should they make an exception for you? You are asking
them to accept your word, but what if that item is stolen? The store
has no way of knowing if you are telling the truth. It would be nice
to trust everyone, but if you work in retail you KNOW not everyone is
honest.

You are asking why they don't track serial numbers, but they could
more appropriately ask why you didn't keep track of the receipt. I
don't know of any store that tracks serial numbers on electronics.
You are grasping at this because of your mother's error.

The ONLY thing that "links a purchaser to a product when paid with
cash" is a receipt. Unfortunately your mother lost the receipt, so
you are out of luck.

llias,

This is not what you want to hear but the only proof of ownership you
have with a cash deal is the receipt.
Not having that means...well you know the drill.

You might ask your Mom to track back all her coats, car, etc.

If push comes to shove you might try eBay or Craigslist.

Stop back when you hear back.

BillR.