Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in Colorado

College Bookstore

I recently started my spring semester of school at a community college. One of my classes is legal environment of business, but for a long time I have been thinking of changing my major to Criminal Justice to become a Paralegal. The same day the class started I bought my textbook, but later that day I decided I no longer needed to take the class as it would be a waste of money. Two days later I dropped the class and went to return the book for a full refund as said on the receipt. However, they refused to take the book because the foil it originaly came in was not on it. There were no signs and nowhere on the receipt did it say non-refundable if not in foil; the only place it said was on the lower right corner on the back of the book. This was not pointed out to me either. Now I am paying for my own college and I work full time TO pay for it. I do not have the money to just throw away. So I went to the bank and cancelled the check I wrote. I then went into the store the next day to return it and they still would not take the book as it is still missing a CD rom that it came with. I remembered I accidentaly threw away the CD rom, and I am prepared to go back and offer to pay for it. Am I within my legal right to do this?


Asked on 1/29/07, 3:05 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Philip Rosmarin Rosmarin Law Firm

Re: College Bookstore

You are entirely within your legal right to go back to the bookstore and offer to pay for it. (I know, I know, that isn't what you meant.)

But it seems to me you have a different problem: you have illegally canceled a check that was exchanged for merchandise in good faith.

You say when you tried to return the book the second time it was "still" missing the CD-ROM that came with it. That implies that when you first tried to return the book someone knew it was missing. To my mind, sometimes the whole point of buying a book is to get the CD-ROM that comes with it.

My advice is to accept the fact that when you accidentally threw away the CD-ROM, you accidentally threw away your right to return the book for a refund.

You can certainly make your case to the bookstore management that you are an indigent student who can't afford this hardship, but for goodness sake try to project a friendlier and more sympathetic image of yourself then you've indicated by canceling your check. If the bookstore is connected with the college, colleges have a nasty (and legal) habit of doing things like withholding your graduation until you pay their bills.

Not all is lost, though. You've still got the hard copy of a book on the legal environment of business. Who knows, maybe you'll find something in there that can get you out of this jam.

Bottom line is I don't think you have any legal cause of action against the bookstore, based on what you've said here. Another lawyer may disagree.

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Answered on 1/29/07, 5:58 pm


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