My husband brought home the items on our grocery list, no problem.  The next day, we opened the package of bread he had bought and found it moldy.  We usually have receipts around for a few days, but not this time. We dug through the trash. Nothing.

My husband decided to take a chance and return the package of bread anyway.  Good for him. It was the grocery store we almost always used, stopping there at least two or three times a week for several bags-worth. He got the bad loaf exchanged for a good loaf with no questions asked, no forms required, no waiting, no problems. As it should be.

Now we know a number of companies have return policies like this, and we also know some have been sorry when a “no questions asked” policy is abused.  My husband—the returnee—explains that he once owned a bookstore.  His cost to sell a C.D.  was the same as he paid to procure the book from his distributor.  A customer might return the C.D. with its cellophane wrapper gone, but my husband never complained or rejected the return.  It cost him nothing to take the C.D. back and provide a new one.  NOT taking it back would cost him everything—a lost customer and bad feelings. Why would any company risk that?