Consider this a cautionary tale for those of you who may be gamers, but have a non-gaming significant other.

Consumerist reader "Bang" has a wife who fits that criteria, and though she doesn't engage in the hobby herself, she is not one to stand against it. To that end, she went so far as to try to get her husband something for Valentine's Day from Best Buy, and that's when the trouble began.

As it turns out, she didn't know what console Bang owned, and so turned to the Best Buy staff for help. They told her that he "probably" had an Xbox 360, and went on to sell her not only a copy of Modern Warfare 2, but an Xbox LIVE Subscription card as well.

Sadly, the gift was a complete bust-- Bang not only owns a PlayStation 3, but he also had Modern Warfare 2 already. With unopened goods and store receipt in hand, they did what anyone would: they went to Best Buy to attempt to return it.

So we went to Best Buys and tried to return it. The CS rep told us he would take back the game but we are stuck with the Xbox game card. He flipped over the receipt and circled a statement in a big red marker that says "Best Buys does not take back consumable like phone cards. I explained it to him, that it was a gift and I have the original receipt, the game unopened and the game card was unscratched as well. My wife was getting livid as I explained the we don't even own a xbox and she was told by the sales rep when she bought it that most likely I owned a Xbox and upsold her the 12 month subscription to Xbox Live with the game.

They argued for five minutes before the rep offered to pass them off to a manager, who after a 20 minute wait never came. Defeated, they left with game and card in tow.

"My wife and I were so embarrassed at that point and with the receipt being circled with a big red marker, I don't even want to try to take it back to another store," Bang notes.

What makes me so mad is that over the past 10 years spending thousands at Best Buys and this probably being first return in years, Best Buys gives steady customers like me, the shaft. What's even more sad, is that I have defended Best Buys to my family members over the past years when they had bad experiences at Best Buys.

The Consumerist notes "Personally we would feel bad selling a nonrefundable item to someone who is a) buying a gift and who b) doesn't know if it's the right thing and is c) asking for help, but that's probably why we are not CEOs or something by now."

It's a pretty slimy move on the part of the Best Buy employee(s) involved, I must say. From there, The Consumerist recommends taking the issue up with Best Buy's executive customer service and seeing if they fare any better there.

Several people commenting on the story feel it's a lost cause, and that a better solution is to just sell the card online at a loss. Others note that the wife should have educated herself in what her husband owned before setting off for the store; I wonder if she might have somehow been blissfully unaware there was more than one platform in the marketplace, similar to when the NES dominated.

"Refusal to read is the root cause of so many problems consumers suffer," notes one comment. "Whether it be the contract they're about to sign, or the logo on the game console they want to buy accessories for. Not reading is a real problem in our society..."

Regardless of whose fault this was, the fact remains that being an informed consumer is the best preventive measure. So if you have a generous mate who isn't very familiar with what you have, it may be a good idea to share a little information, so that this doesn't happen to you.

And that goes for those with other systems, too; I doubt the Nintendo Points or PlayStation Network cards are any more refundable than the Xbox LIVE cards.

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