From their return policy page:

Some manufacturers have implemented returns restrictions that prevent CircuitCity.com from being able to accept returns or offer exchanges, replacements or credits on their products for any reason. Please check the item listing on our website to determine if special return policies are applicable to your products. Support as well as exchanges or replacements for products with manufacturer or supplier restrictions, including within the first 30 days of ownership, must be handled directly with the product manufacturer or supplier. You can find the manufacturer or suppliers contact information in your product manual, in the item listing, on the manufacturer's website or at our help center .

Apparently, select products from major manufacturers like Compaq, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Epson, Nintendo, Kodak and others fall into this list—but, as they noted, Circuit City does lay out the return policy for each item on its respective product page. I don't think it's something that should drive you away from CircuitCity.com altogether—but it is something that you should pay attention to should you ever make a purchase there. [Crunchgear]

Other policies include:

•The Market will allow unlimited reinstalls of purchased apps.
•Upgrades must come directly from the developer.
•Sexually explicit material is banned from the Android Market.
•Billing disputes must be held with the developer or your credit card company.

Much of that information was to be expected, but an app return policy is a really big deal. I can't tell you how much I would love to shove Sim City on the iPhone back in EA's face right now. It's been out for months and they still haven't fixed a bug that causes it to crash on launch for some users. I can only hope that Apple will eventually follow Google's lead on this one. [Android via IntoMobile]

Although Jason's colleague eventually got Apple to take the iPhone back for a return, they did charge him a 10% restocking fee even though the phone was under two weeks old. We'll try and find out whether this is a company-wide policy or just a store manager shooting off the cuff, but to play it safe, wipe out your iPhone and put the AT&T SIM back in when you take yours in for a service or a return. [ZDNET]

From what we've seen in unconfirmed reports on the Net, the problem comes from insufficient cooling for the GPU. This in turn causes the three red lights, which means you're going to have to send back your 360 to Microsoft and possibly get a dirty refurbished unit in return. If you're really, really lucky (and French), you'll get a unit with added cooling as well. – Jason Chen

Massive Failure Rate For Xbox 360 Exposed [Smarthouse]

According to the Hamilton Spectator, these scalpers are having a tough time selling the PS3s for their asking price of $1,000 to $2,000, even during Christmas. Thus, they can either open the boxes up and enjoy it themselves, or return it to stores before their return period expires. Most are choosing the latter. Excuse us if we're not crying on behalf of the scalpers. – Jason Chen

Scalpers returning PS3s to stores [Hamilton Spectator via Kotaku]

Because on Jan 1, Costco may be changing their lenient return policy due to abuse, especially in the realm of computers (and other technology we are assuming). This seems like a fair play, considering the rate at which technology depreciates. And having worked in retail, I know firsthand how cheap people can be, even after owning something for two years. But I've been blabbing on all day. What do you think? – Mark Wilson

Exclusive [theconsumerist]

Even the most technologically inclined amongst us encounter products so overly bedecked with buttons and features that we can't imagine how normal people could possibly use them, and it turns out we're right and they actually can't:

More and more, Americans are being caught in a dilemma: They love electronic gadgets with lots of bells and whistles. But they're also frustrated when they get their new toys home and find out they aren't easy to install or operate. Half the products returned to stores are in good working order, but customers can't figure out how they work, says a recent study conducted at the Technical University of Eindhoven in the Netherlands. On average, American consumers will try for just 20 minutes to get a new gadget to work before giving up, the study adds.

Okay, so we're gadget-obsessed, but twenty minutes? That seems a little too fast to give up on getting something to work, especially when you consider how long it probably takes the average person to drive to the mall, find a parking spot and get into the store to buy or return something. We thought it was interesting that the Best Buy supervisor interviewed in the piece said customers tend to take products home again instead of returning them if they let employees show them how to use them. Some kinds of gadgets are more poorly designed (and have more poorly written manuals) than others, and so we'd love to see a chart of the percentage of working return rates broken down into categories, maybe even brands.

Has any product's learning curve tested your patience recently? Share your frustration in comments.

(Photo by John Hartnup)

A fast rate of return [Christian Science Monitor, via The Morning News]

Apple relaxes return policy on 5G iPod, reason unclear [iLounge]
Apple to replace any 5G iPods that exhibit hardware failure [Appleinsider]