Dynamite belt fiasco

[veebee]

hey hey
So I'd bought a few belts from Dynamite on clearance for $5 each a month ago. I wore one for three days and it started coming apart. So I finally got time to go to the mall with it today and went back to the store. I talked to three different people about it. The first girl said that obviously they would take care of it. The second one asked me whether I had the tags or the receipt, and when I responded that I did not, said there was nothing they could do. I pointed out to her that it still had a SKU number on the printed cloth tag, and clearly stated it was a Dynamite belt. She insisted that there was nothing they could do about it. When I asked her who else I could talk to, she finally relented and walked over to her manager. Now, I've worked in retail before (5 years, and every year during Christmas), and I realize that this is not always an easy situation to deal with- no receipt, no price tag. However, I stuck to my guns about it. The girl talking to the manager explained the situation to her, in a very irritated manner. The manager then told me that they would not refund me the money because she couldn't even remember that particular belt being in the store. (this was the store I bought it from). She suggested I try to find an outlet store somewhere and go there instead....I explained that I had only worn it three times, and the belt hadn't even had time to stretch out the notches, get bent out of shape or anything. She still refused. Finally I told her that it was ok, I would just need a customer service number to contact about this. Finally she gave me the option of returning the belt and putting the $5 towards something else at the store.
God, I don't understand why I have to go through three people to get a thing like this taken care of. If an item I have purchased at their store starts falling apart with minimal use, obviously there is some sort of flaw in the product and they need to be accountable for it. I wasn't being impolite, but the second girl and the manager seemed to take personal offense at my request. I did end up finding a pair of pants on clearance that I got for a friend, and got a great deal on those. I thanked both the people who helped me before I left... But the fact that I had to fight that much to get it kinda dampened my mood. They were acting suspicious about my story, and made me feel like I had something to feel bad about.
Has anyone else had situations like this?
I feel the more I coupon, the more situations like this I get into. I just want value for money and politeness. Is that too much to ask for?

[momof3heathens]

Sorry that sucks.

[web3]

Dynamite, Bluenotes, Stitches, Urban Planet are all owned by the same company I believe. They all have the same style tags. And all are cheap unfortunately. GREAT prices but so so cheap.
I washed a shirt from Urban Planet ONCE and the shoulder seams were coming undone. Went to return it, already tossed the receipt and tag because you expect it to last! Had to go through the same thing, finally spoke with the manager and she gave me a store credit.
Too bad because it was a cute top!

[cookoo]

i make my own belt. no, not from scratch. recycle and reuse is more like it. i got the idea from checking out store belts--some of them resemble the straps on handbags/cross-shoulder messenger bags.