I received a call earlier this week from a Best Buy automated phone system informing me that I’ll be receiving a $50 gift card due to my purchase of the now-dead HD-DVD player.

I purchased the Xbox 360 external HD-DVD player the day it came out from one of my local Best Buy stores. I rarely watched movies on it (I’m more of a fan of watching movies on my DVR) so it merely collected dust until I sold it to a nearby Gamestop for $50 or so. Now that I know I’m going to get a gift card for “losing out” to Blu-Ray, suffice to say I couldn’t care less what the end result was from the High-Def war (read: a “war” between two companies that will be forgotten five years from now when the next version war sparks).

Will I make a smart purchase or buy something that I’ll end up regret purchasing in a month’s time? Likely the latter, but I’m glad it won’t be coming out of my bank account this time.

This is one of the reasons why I’m glad to join customer programs such as Best Buy’s Reward Zone and the like. When a company feels compelled to reimburse their customers when a product sours (read: never), they have the necessary contact information and you’re usually first in place. The last time that I can remember this happening was when I was given the $100 in-store credit from my early iPhone purchase after their price reduction.

I’m not sure if this is a growing trend amongst retailers, however I’m glad to be apart of it when it happens.