[gottorf]

> In the US you have to rely on retailers who treat good consumer protection as a competitive advantage

For the most part, credit card chargebacks serve a similar purpose, though of course the retailer may ban you from their store afterwards.

Absolutely agreed that the retailer is on the hook. The customer is not making a deal with the manufacturer to buy the good; the customer is making a deal with the retailer. Along the same line, I dislike it when retailers try to weasel out of shipping issues by blaming it on the parcel carrier. That's only valid if the customer went to ups.com and created and paid for a shipment themselves!