By CHRISTOPHER LAWTON
May 8

Many consumers have grown accustomed to being able to bring electronics goods back to the store for just about any reason. Now, retailers and manufacturers are taking new steps to stem the tide of product returns.

The U.S. electronics industry last year spent about $13.8 billion to re-box, restock and resell returned products, according to a study by technology consultant Accenture Ltd. Especially galling to manufacturers is that many returns are preventable: Only about 5% of returns were because a product was truly defective. Instead, most consumers give up on products for other reasons, such as the device being too confusing to use, the study found.

Defects aren't "even in the top three reasons for returns," says Mike Abary, a senior vice president at Sony Electronics. The primary reason consumers return Sony products is because they "didn't meet expectations," he says.

With an economic downturn threatening to sap consumer spending, companies are taking a number of actions to cut down on customer returns. Some manufacturers, including TV maker Vizio Inc., have begun including more information on packaging to help consumers avoid buying the wrong products. Other companies such as Seagate Technology are replacing lengthy instruction booklets with simpler guides to get users up and running faster and with less confusion. And a few companies, including retailer Best Buy Co., have set up consumer concierge services, sometimes for a fee, to resolve complaints before customers have a chance to return the product.

Jason Brady, an auditor in Jacksonville, Fla., recently returned to Best Buy a $400 Sony Playstation 3 that his wife bought him for Valentine's Day -- not because it was defective, but because he learned his particular model couldn't play his old Playstation 2 games. "I wasn't happy with it," says Mr. Brady. "I returned it and got all the money back."

The harm to companies from returns can be lasting: Accenture found that one-quarter of people who return an item don't buy that same brand again, while 14% of such people are unlikely to buy from the same retailer again. The estimated return rate for consumer electronics devices ranges between 11% and 20%, with the highest rates for wireless phones, GPS units, MP3 players and wireless-networking gear.

Among companies fighting back against returns is Vizio, which says many buyers of its high-definition TVs don't understand some of the basics, like where to get the sharp-looking new programming. To make this clear, the Irvine, Calif., company several months ago added a notice on its packaging material that instructs people to hook up their TV sets to a high-definition source, such as a high-definition set-top box from a cable service. Consumers who connect a high-definition TV to a standard set-top box won't notice much difference in picture quality.

Vizio also has included with its instruction booklets a one-page quick-start guides that focus on the basics of set-up. And the company recently began including with its TVs the latest kind of cable -- known by the designation HDMI -- to connect its VO series TVs to high-def products. A major reason was to head off unnecessary returns from customers who were used to older cables with different connectors.

Vizio says its efforts have reduced product returns as well as the number of customer-service calls, but the company declined to quantify the change to returns.

Disk-drive maker Seagate Technology did away with installation CDs and lengthy instruction booklets when it launched a consumer line of digital storage products called OneTouch last fall. The installation software now comes preloaded onto the device and a short leaflet is included. The Scotts Valley, Calif., company says return rates have declined since the changes were made.

Sony Corp. has taken a different approach with some of its products that makes it harder for consumers to bring them back. The company in 2006 added an option allowing consumers to engrave their name or other message on a Vaio computer. It expanded the program to its digital cameras last year. Sony says the program was started to let customers personalize products, but a side benefit for Sony is that engraved products can be returned only because of defects or other reasons that are the company's fault.

Return rates on engraved Sony Vaios are negligible, compared with about 5% for non-engraved PCs, the company says, saving more than $1 million so far. "I have a feeling that people are understanding the condition that you can't return it," Mr. Abary says. "But also once they have engraved it, they feel like it's a part of them."

Some efforts are targeted at buyers of big-ticket items. Sharp Corp., for example, last year launched an added help service for customers who purchase high-end Aquos TVs that are 42 inches or larger, which can cost upward of $1,200.

The Aquos Advantage program allows members to get free telephone and Internet advice, including how to set up your equipment, for more hours than the standard Sharp helpline, with an option for Saturday in-home service. Members also receive promotions for extended warranties, installations and accessories.

Ricardo Casas, a retired Army officer, purchased a 42-inch Sharp LCD TV from a military exchange store in El Paso, Texas, in December. When he got it home, Mr. Casas says he had trouble hearing the TV, which he purchased on sale for $750, marked down from $1,500.

When he called Sharp, a customer-service person dispatched someone to Mr. Casas' home the next day to upgrade the sound technology in the TV at no cost. The service person also registered Mr. Casas to the Advantage program over the phone and added three more months to his warranty, for a total of six months. Returning the TV makes little sense "when I get that kind of service from them," says the 62 year old.

Best Buy has credited its in-home technical service arm, called Geek Squad, with helping to reduce returns of home-theater systems by 10% and of PCs by 40%. But such services typically aren't free. Geek Squad charges $129 to deliver and set up a computer. For $100, it will consult with customers on beefing up their home theaters, and then charge $200 to set up the new system.

Adam Junglen, a 20-year-old professional poker player, paid $500 to have Geek Squad hang his $2,400 Pioneer 50-inch plasma TV on his wall and set it up with surround sound and Mr. Junglen's video-game systems. The Stow, Ohio, resident says the installation price didn't bother him. The installers showed up within a couple hours of the TV being delivered and did a good job hiding the wires inside the walls, Mr. Junglen says. "I wanted it to look nice," he says.

Write to Christopher Lawton at christopher.lawton@wsj.com