Some stores make their refund and replacement policies more complicated than they should.

This man narrates how he received a brand-new lawnmower that wasn’t working, so he asked for a replacement.

They charged him $100 plus the repair cost—which made no sense at all!

So, he figured out a way to get the store to deliver a new and working one.

Read the story below for all the details.

Won’t replace a brand new broken lawnmower but will let me return and reorder? Ok!

I bought a riding lawnmower a few years ago from a big home store.

I paid for delivery, and upon said delivery, it didn’t start.

The delivery truck had left by the time I had gotten gas in it and figured this out, so I called the store.

The staff on the phone told this man that replacing his item would cost $100 plus repairs.

I explained that my brand new, just-delivered-today lawnmower was not starting.

And immediately, the person on the phone asked me if I purchased the extended warranty.

I hadn’t, so they told me it would cost $100 to have them come and get the lawnmower.

And then however much more the repairs were.

He continued to argue with the staff but to no avail.

Mind you, this was brand new.

In my mind, they should bring me a new one to replace the one that didn’t work upon delivery.

No matter how much I argued, this worker was sticking to their story.

I quickly changed my tactic, and asked what the return policy was.

As long as a return was initiated within 30 days, I could have a full refund including the cost of delivery.

And the store would come pick up the mower for me at no additional cost.

He tried to emphasize that their policy didn’t make any sense.

So, I pointed this out.

The store wouldn’t replace my non-working item by taking one trip to my house to pick up the non-working one and bring me one that worked.

Instead, they would make two trips to pick up the one that didn’t work.

And then bring me the new one I purchased the second time as a totally different transaction.

The worker said yes, and when I tried to point out how that made no sense, he didn’t want to hear it.

So, he claimed a refund instead.

So, right then and there, I initiated a refund.

I then immediately ordered a new one, and had him set up the delivery date.

After that date was set, we had to schedule the date for pickup of the old mower.

And I made myself unavailable for any date other than the delivery date for the new one.

And the store processed his new order.

So even though he had insisted they wouldn’t just bring me a replacement mower and pickup the first one, they were now doing just that.

But with the additional paperwork of processing a return.

And additional paperwork for delivery of the new mower.

The manager called me later that day to apologize for the hassle.

And they ended up waiving my delivery fee.

Let’s find out what others have to say about it.

This user explains it really clearly.

Congrats on finding a workaround, says this one.

This person shares their personal thoughts.

According to this one, everybody wins.

Finally, this user gives a suggestion.

The sad reality is that many employees are not paid enough to care.

So we’re forced to go to these lengths.

If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.