A consumer purchased a HP digital camera at Staples Business Depot during the pre-Christmas rush. At the cost of $425.00, this was a significant purchased and was his daughter's Christmas gift. On the return from a March break trip in Cuba, three months later, the camera had a visible crack in the body, another crack in the view finder and grains of sand located inside the camera.

Returning to Staples Business Depot with receipt and camera, the customer waited for 30 minutes and spoke to three different individuals before connecting with the right supervisor who advised the customer to phone the Hewlett-Packard directly and provide the phone number 1-800-HPINVEN(T). Returning home, the customer phone the number, followed the instructions for the Canadian Customer Response centre, provided voice prompted product number, serial number, name, address, and other relevant data. Eventually, a customer service agent came on the line and determined exactly the possible cause of the damage (dropping and taking pictures in the ocean while playing). After asking carious warranty questions, she provided explicit instructions on:

- How to ship: Purolator overnight air collect 1-800-387-3027

- How to package: Wrapped, tissue paper, box, and tape

- Where to ship: HP Repair Centre, Vaughan, Ontario full address and

- Authorization number: A Customer Service Order# and a Case #, both numbers were in HP's system, and which had to appear on the Purolator waybill and on the package itself.

The customer service rep also advised that this was a new product for HP, that would take between two and three weeks before a response was available and the outcome would be i) Repair under warranty; ii) Repair by HP at customer cost, iii) return without repair. The customer would be notified by email and by phone. Twelve days later the customer received both a voice-mail message and an e-mail message from HP. Unfortunately, HP does not include breaks, sand and cracks. As promised HP returned the camera to the consumer un-repaired via Purolator

1.In your opinion, how did the retailer handle the return?

2.What are the main steps in the manufacturer's return process?

3.Does HP have an adequate process in place to handle the new product returns? Support your answer.

4.Was this a satisfactory experience? Would the customer buy another product? Explain.

5.How could this experience be improved for the customer?