So all’s well that ends well? Perhaps, but in an age where vendors insist we should treat the fine print they hide inside the box like a binding contract, it’s worth noting how ready one company was to disavow what it said both inside the box and on its packaging. As the situation unfolded over the holidays, readers had many observations about the lessons to be learned from the ReplayTV episode.

"If you get a free three-year warranty for a new computer, can they claim the warranty is void next year because you got the thing too cheap?" one reader mused. "If an ISP gave you a price for one year of prepaid service, can they ask for a monthly fee after 6 months? If ReplayTV can do this, a car company should be able to do this also. Then what's value of a warranty or prepaid service if it’s OK for the providers to adjust the agreement AFTER the purchase."

Some of those who had purchased a ReplayTV unit wondered if they couldn’t turn the tables on the digital video recorder maker. "I too bought one of these, unaware of Replay's scam. It was activated and registered on December 17th," wrote one ReplayTV customer at year’s end. "Last night it stopped working and said to call customer service. After 45 minutes I was told I would have a grace period to prove the purchase price. What a bunch of BS! I reset it like they said and it is still in doorstop mode. I guess I should call them and let them know they owe me $300 for the time I've spent messing with this and waiting on the phone. I just forgot to mention it to them before I called the first time -- apparently it is OK to change deals after they have been made."

The timing of ReplayTV’s move was what many readers found suspect. "Replay made a radical price change and did it at Christmas -- or so near as to make no difference," wrote another reader. "I have a big problem with a company that takes away a service that is promised at purchase time. But they did AT CHRISTMAS with no warning. This is when people are looking for gifts and will buy things they normally might not, retailers are extremely busy, everybody is rushed, and when products may sit in a gift box for some time before being used. Under those conditions, it is absolutely certain there will be confusion, and some people won't get what they expected."

And confusion is what some readers thought ReplayTV intended to sow. "I don’t believe ReplayTV’s excuse that Circuit City and the other retailers were to blame for not removing the stickers, but suppose it was true," one ReplayTV customer wrote after the smoke had cleared. "That would mean that instead of selling the box for $499 with three years of service, what ReplayTV meant to do was to put a $149 price tag on the model that used to be $499. What would be the purpose of that other than to fool us into thinking we're saving $350, like the sign in the store said. But at $12.95 a month to activate, we would have paid even more than $499. Either way you slice it, this whole thing was just a scam to move their backed-up inventory."