Exchanging gift items at the store after purchase

Hi there -
My husband received a gift for his birthday that we happened to already own. We went to the store (Saturn) to exchange the DVD's for something else, mind you we had the receipt, and were completely flabbergasted by the apparent policy. First off, we kept getting routed to different areas. When we finally did get someone to help us, they told us the money had to go back onto the original card it was purchased with. Is this correct? Or was it perhaps faulty translation on our end after being so exasperated by the continual lack of help.

I just cant accept that people cannot exchange items here, what do people do around Christmas time?! The woman who purchased the gift for us ended up getting all of her money back on her card - and we paid out of pocket for the items we purchased. And of course, we are too polite to ask for the money from the gift giver...that would be just down right rude.

What is the basic Germany policy on exchanging items in a store?

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

There isn't really a common policy, it varies, as in any country. Saturn are one of the better shops, IME.

The requirement to put the money back on the purchasing card is a security requirement designed to stop money being laundered from stolen cards, which is a popular trick - buy something with a stolen card, take it back and get cash.

Man - I still cant believe it. Thanks Guy for the help though!

thats pretty normal for refunds but not come across that for straightforward exchanges tho.

I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding - there's no reason you can't do a straight exchange, providing the new item is of an equal or higher value. It's the same here as in any other country.