Many thanks to all who replied with suggestions.

VERY long day,(yesterday) so very long story short:

Spoke to the gal in the flooring dept at HD, she assured me they do NOT
sell white oak flooring. Sooooooooo, Got the managers name, went up in
person with the unused portion (16 out of 27 bundles) and he not only
agreed, they should never have had a pallet of white oak in the store,
but he gave me credit for all 27 bundles, PLUS a 30% discount on a nice
new Bostitch floor stapler. Took a while to jump through all the hoops,
as they only had 9 bundles of red in stock as opposed to the 94 they
showed on the computer. Had to stop by the other store on the way home
for the balance. Good news: No more money spent 'cept the nail gun,
and Bad news: I have to rip up a 12x15 room full of 2 1/4" flooring. G
But it'll be the way we want it in the end. We've only been working
on this house 6 years as it is. By the time we got headed for the
store, my wife and I had already agreed we'd tear it out even if we had
to buy it again. Live and learn. Read labels, double and triple check
what they bring to the door.

Thanks for all the input.
--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email