[pinmagic]

I dunno. There are some aspects of this that don't sound great, like basically forcing you to use the same installer, if you want free shipping. But as for having you pay for a new one upfront, I'm not so sure that's so egregious. They may have your credit card number, and your address, but that does them pretty much no good whatsoever. They can't simply charge a credit card without authorization, even if someone walks away with the second hood.

The fact that they have your info makes it easier to find you, if they need to sue you, but that's time-consuming, expensive, and basically not a realistic option for a $1000 item, especially if you're not local to them.

I actually see an upside to how they handled this. They didn't require that you return the hood to them, so they could inspect it themselves. Most companies require that you return the item, AT YOUR EXPENSE, for a warranty claim. They could have required that, but they didn't.

So while it could have been handled better in some respects, I'm not so sure I share your outrage.