Get this...

I needed a large hard drive quick so I go to the mall. Best Buy has a deal for a 200GB WD drive for $219 after rebate. I pick it up. I get back to the office and open it up. Inside the box is the following content:

• WDC 31600 Hard drive with inkjet 200GB drive label. For those who don't know older WD drive naming conventions, the 31600 is a 1.6GB drive with 3 platters.
• 40 conductor IDE cable (instead of 80)
• Shitty PCI video card (instead of ATA133 card)

I assumed that someone was screwing with Best Buy by buying a drive and then returning it with their old drive in the box. But, the more I thought about it and the more I learned about Best Buy's return procedure, I am confident that this was an inside job.

Needless to say, Best Buy assumes that I am pulling a scam on them and will not refund me. So far I have talked to Best Buy in West Nyack, NY (the offending store), some dork at Best Buy corporate, and a couple people at Western Digital. Best Buy (local store and corporate) couldn't give a shit about me. Western Digital can't help me, but I expected that. The WD guy told me that this is not uncommon with "these stores." He also intimated that my local store has been named in the past.

What should I do before disputing it with American Express and/or suing my store? Can anyone here that works at Best Buy process this return? Thanks. Oh, and if people are interested, I will post some pics of this bogus drive later.