William thought he had bought a WiFi-only Kindle from Best Buy, only to bring it home and discover he’d actually gotten the pricier version that accesses the 3G network.

Now he’s asking for input from the hive mind on whether or not he should exchange the device for the model he thought he bought. He writes:

I went into Best Buy today to purchase a Kindle for myself because Amazon.com is backlogged for a couple of days in shipments. Strolling over to the eReader section, I find a stack of Kindle DXs and a single lone standard Kindle. I quickly snatched it up hoping that it was the WiFi model that I was looking for instead of the more expensive Kindle 3G. It said Kindle Wi-Fi on the outside slip cover and had the correct Kindle Wi-Fi barcode. The Kindle itself was locked in a plastic security box. When I went to checkout it rang up as the $139.99 Kindle Wi-Fi.

However, upon arriving home from the store, I notice a second barcode on the actual box inside the slipcover that says “Network: at&t” and has a different barcode than the slipcover. I quickly google the barcode on this box and it is for the Kindle 3G, not the Wi-Fi model as the barcode on the slipcover would show. The two were sealed together with a clear sticker that if removed would either break or tear the cardboard and the Kindle was still sealed in its original box with the tear strip. Both were sealed with no of tampering.

When I opened the box, there was indeed a Kindle 3G inside. There is a price difference of $50 between the $189.99 Kindle 3G and the $139.99 Kindle Wi-Fi. Do I spend the hour round-trip to go back to Best Buy and make things right by notifying them of their error or do I just keep my mouth shut and enjoy the deal I got?

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