failure

Refunding Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 is going to be a pain in the ass. The store where I bought it, Staples, says they can't accept the product back once the packaging's been opened. Why? Because according to them, there's no way to know whether I downloaded the product and then brought the CD back, falsely claiming the installation didn't work. The manager I spoke with said I'd need to visit the Adobe website and follow their return procedure. So I went there today, and this is what it says (please note the paragraph in red):

Return an Adobe product purchased from a retail store

To return an Adobe product or support contract that you purchased from a retail store, you must first try to return the product to the store. [I did this.]

If the retail store won't accept the return, Adobe will refund the purchase of the product under the following circumstances:

You contact Adobe to request the return within 30 days of the purchase

You purchased the product from a store in North America

The store refused to accept the return

Note: Adobe doesn't refund shipping charges for products purchased from a retail store.

Return a product for a refund

To return a product purchased from a retail store, please do the following steps:

1. Contact Adobe Customer Service with the following information:

The order number

Your name

The product being returned

The serial number, if applicable

The reason for the return

The name and location of the retail store

The reason the store provided for refusing to accept the return

A copy of the store receipt showing proof of purchase

2. The Customer Service representative will request that you do one of the following:

If the purchase price of the product before tax is less than US$800 don't return the product to Adobe. Instead, print and complete a Letter of Software Destruction, and return it to the address or fax number listed on the letter. (Be sure to tell Customer Service if you prefer to receive a copy of the letter by mail or e-mail.)

If the purchase price of the product before tax is greater than US$800, Customer Service will provide you with a Return Merchandise Authorization (RMA) number so that you may return the product to Adobe.

Note: You have 30 days from the date that Adobe issues the RMA to return the product to the Adobe warehouse. RMAs remaining in Adobe's system past the 30-day limit are cancelled.

If you think I'm hallucinating all this, here's the page. It appears I have to download and complete a letter, send the letter back by snail-mail or email, receive the refund (when??), and in the meantime I have to remove the software from my computer's system (that happened right away; the thing simply never finished downloading), and destroy the CD myself. Adobe, meanwhile, will take it on faith that I've done all this.

Companies deliberately make it difficult to get refunds-- I realize that. But Dad just told me that his copy of Photoshop Elements is version 4, which I'm sure will work on this computer. I may as well give him version 6 as a gift so he and my brother David (the family computer guru) can make the proper updates.

Yeesh.


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