Well, following my gut feeling that I was dealing 'in the Valley' and that all rules change here, I phoned Sears National Customer relations...for the second time. Give them their due, they had the story up to date.
A very switched-on lady said, not only can I change set type at this time, but that their replacement policy is (something like) a super deal. Also, I was right about the tax. If I was given $1800, and I spent $1801, I pay tax on the dollar. THANK YOU!!!
Having owned an Austin computer company some years ago, I was fairly sure we would have had to give back the sales tax if we had to refund a client. ( we never had to, cos I built ever single computer and tested it for two weeks. Not one single one went wrong - despite UPS.) Anyway, I've learned not to count me chickens...probably be offered a 1950s 9" under some pretext found in teeeeeeeenzy writing on the back of the screen cleaning bottle.
I'm going in on Monday armed with lots of little pieces of paper. I anticipate their counter-move being hiding of the staff. Not that you'd see much difference.
So, to get a pure LED machine is something that is on the cards cos I've got a $200 gift voucher to get rid of as well. I'll no doubt do all this then end up in an Essex flat with an obsolete 19"...that's what happened last summer.
Loyfss Loyke that, according to Dud and Pete.