Rob, I feel your pain. I am a firm believer in customer service. Yes,
I can understand that a-rule's-a-rule, but what happened to you was
really not good customer service. This is the sort of thing that leads
to the "buy another one and use the receipt to return the defective one
then return the second one for store credit" scam that we saw in an
earlier post.

My biggest frustration at HD is the lack of knowledge -- knowledge
about product, knowledge about application, knowledge about customer
service.

In this case they didn't even give you correct information about the
policy. Did you take it up with the store manager or head office? You
might be more apt to get some 'discretionary judgement' at that level,
even if it does take up some of your valuable time.

And thanks for this lesson. I'll never make another purchase and let
it sit around in a box.

Steve