The drive on my wife's Karma gave up the ghost and began singing the click of ages. Alas, these things happen and I'm posting it here for posterity.

That's not the interesting part. My tale begins the very first day Karmas were on sale at Circuit City . I call, they have two. I put one on layaway to be sure it's there come evening. After waiting in the customer service line for about 30 minutes behind a man trying to return a $9.00 piece of software that was bought on a card he no longer has (cancelled), it's my turn. 20 minutes and one very confused new sales associate later I'm out the door with my wife's new toy.

Fast forward three months, I'm sitting in my office and I get a call from a manager at Circuit City. It turns out the confused young associate had, well, not charged my card for the Karma, and they would like payment, please. Well, I figured I was well within my rights to tell them to pound, calling three months after the sale, saying they'd messed up and now wanting $400. That course of action, however, would unfortunately however been as my mother would say, 'wrong'. So, after checking my Amex bill from three months prior and confirming the Circuit City's explanation, I call back and give them my card. In return they only charge me the current cost, about $350. 'Cool!' I thought, honesty does pay off. So later that day I trundle down to the store to pick up my receipt.

Fast forward Wednesday. My wife calls and tells me her Karma won't get past 'starting'. Paperclip. No love. 'Does it make a clicking noise, over and over?', 'Yes'. Settled, dead HD. Back to CC it goes.

Forward to this morning. I put the dog in the car and head over to Circuit City. I stand in line for about 3-4 minutes as a very harried looking manager sorts out a line of credit for the lady in front of me. During a pause in the transaction he asks how he can help me. 'Dead Karma drive.' I say, showing him the receipt.

He looks at it and informs me the CC only has a 30 day return policy, and that I'll have to go through the manufacturer. 'Hmmm. Do you have their number?' . He goes off and gets a dog-eared list, looks through it for a minute, not finding the number. 'When did you say you picked it up?'. Gulp...there's an October date as listed as when I put the item on layaway, with final sale of December 15th. I mumble something back. He looks up at me 'I remember this one.' he says. 'Go get another one off the shelf.' I do so and return in a minute. The lady with the credit application is gone. He gets out a box knife, opens up the box and hands me the Karma. 'We'll just swap them, I'll take care of it. I really appreciate your understanding a few months ago, lots of people would have told us to screw.'

I thank the man and head out the door with my wife's new Karma. Karma karma. Life is good sometimes.

-Zeke