Complaint Review: Cingular Wireless Store

I recently migrated from AT&T Wireless to Cingular wireless and purchased my phone from that store. Two weeks after, after many calls to Cingular tech support it came out that my phone might be defective. If it's been less than 30 days after purchase, phone have to be exchanged at the store. Because I submitted mail-in rebate I knew that I cannot return this phone to the store anymore, I had to cut one of the walls with bar codes from the box to send them, box fell a part and was useless, so I put it in the garbage. Now when I came back to the store and asked if they can exchange the phone because it is defective, they said that if I don't bring original box, they will charge $25. This person was unable to produse any written policy containing this rule. Original reciept doesn't have any restocking fee or similar on it. I would understand if'll bring this phone back to return without orginal box, it will be fair to charge 10 or 15% restocking fee for missing item. But this is just one more excuse to not exchange defective merchandise. When I told them that my phone is bad, first question was "do you have a box". i bet I'm not the first person who destroyed orginal box while sending mail-in rebate. They should be sued for that.
If they have to exchange defective item without roginal box they can do like other stores, keep original box with all missing items and exchange only the bad part, the phone itself.

Igor
Los Angeles, California
U.S.A.