Under the circumstances, IMHO, and you are free to quote me, they should not require you to return the items before sending you free replacements. At the worst, and even this would be pretty CS given the amount involved, they should allow you the option of charging you for the replacement and then credit when they get the old ones back. As I said, still CS under the circumstances, but at least it offers a viable solution. They are obviously defective and are so by their own admission. It's the holiday season and these were bought as gifts. They should be happy that they have only inconvenienced, and potentially pissed off, one person instead of all the people for whom you bought them. They should be falling all over themselves to make this right. 3. You should not have to pay for return shipping for items that were essentially defective virtually out of the box, as I understand the situation. <br><br>That's my take on it and the position I would take if it were me. I will be interested in hearing how this works out and also if you find it is a bigger problem than yourself, which I would be surprised if it wasn't. This sort of feedback is invaluable wheh I assess the customer service and reliability of manufacturers and vendors.