"They said they would not take it back because it was missing a one-inch piece of plastic and one battery which remember was a fire hazard to begin with. I asked if this was Walmart's policy or just this Walmart's policy and they said it was Walmart's policy that all parts, even the batteries, had to be returned or you could not return a recall, even if it is a fire hazard."

So, Anne said she took her DVD player home with her and called a district manager to get confirmation of Walmart's policy, and he confirmed what the employee at the store said: that the store needed all parts to process the return. The manager was willing to make an exception for her, just this time.

But fortunately for Anne and the owners of the other 1,499,999 recalled DVD players, that's not the case. I talked with Walmart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien, who confirmed that customers do not need the receipt, the original packaging or even all the parts to get the refund --- "as long as it is the exact item that is being recalled," she said.

She called the Hampstead store, and the manager there did not recall a situation like the one described here, but said that anyone who had bought the product should definitely bring it in. 

With all the recent toy recalls, for example, O'Brien said people received their refunds even if some of the small parts were missing. 

Without a receipt, the dollar value refunded will match the current price of the product, O'Brien said. "The remote control should not have mattered," she said.

UPDATED: I changed the headline on Wednesday to reflect the fact that these complaints stem from only one Walmart location. --- lfk.

UPDATED again: Here's the epilogue to Anne's recalled DVD player refund saga.