The Klipsch G-17 Air Wireless Sound System with AirPlay...

The Klipsch G-17 Air Wireless Sound System with AirPlay was Amazon’s Gold Box Deal of the Day Thursday, discounted by 60 percent to $219.99. The deal was a “special guest deal” from cheeky Woot.com, known for time-sensitive deals, irreverent marketing and a less-than-consumer-coddling customer service approach. The e-tailer said Klipsch’s rectangular sound system resembled a “spacecraft” or a “robot” and added: “It’s not real rock-n-roll until somebody tells you to turn it down.” On its FAQs page, Woot says customer service is “not quite” what people are used to, saying consumers with buyers’ remorse should sell the product at a garage sale or on Craigslist because “it’s probably your fault.” Woot encourages consumers unhappy with a purchase to query the Woot community or to call the manufacturer for assistance. Replacements aren’t likely, but Woot will issue a refund-only option “if that’s all we can do,” with return freight at the buyer’s expense, it said. We contacted Amazon customer support by email to determine whether product returns would be handled by Amazon, Woot or Klipsch and received a quick response pointing us to generic links on the Amazon website. “You can return most new, unopened items sold and fulfilled by Amazon.com within 30 days of delivery for a full refund,” a customer service rep told us. He cited Amazon’s policy of paying return shipping costs on clothing, shoes, “some jewelry and watches, or baby items.” Amazon pays return shipping on other products “if the return is a result of our error,” it said. Meanwhile, the Klipsch G-17 system was selling Thursday at Vanns, J&R, Crutchfield, Abt Electronics and One Call TV & Home Electronics Thursday for $499. Klipsch didn’t comment on sales through Woot by our deadline.