Eli thought he could just walk into a Best Buy with a TV and a gift receipt and walk out with a refund or store credit. But this is Best Buy, where nothing ever ends up the way it’s supposed to.

According to Eli’s post on his Google+ page, when the Best Buy staffer went to process the return, they somehow made the mistake of crediting the money back to the original person who had purchased the gift, meaning he was left empty-handed.

“They admit it was a mistake and they meant to give me store credit, but refuse to do anything to fix it,” he writes. “If I make a $240 mistake, I’m out $240. If BestBuy makes a $240 mistake, I’m out $240.”

Eli claims that when he insisted he shouldn’t have to leave the store without either the TV or a refund of some sort, Best Buy staff threatened to call the police. Instead, he beat them to the punch, calling in the cops to talk some sense into the store. Unfortunately, the officers ultimately sided with the store on this one.

“The cops agreed with me at first,” says Eli, but after they talked to store management for half an hour, the officers changed their mind and stood by guarding the TV “because apparently I look like as gonna run out with it.”

The only resolution for that Best Buy could come up with for this situation was for Eli to contact the original gift giver and get the money from them. But why should he have to endure that awkwardness for a store’s error? What if that gift giver is either reluctant or refuses to hand over the money Eli should have received?

“The Best Buy employees were not jerks, and the cops were not either,” writes Eli. “Everyone who is at fault is nowhere near the situation but in some… office somewhere and thus makes it easy for them to make broad policies that defy logic.”

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