I called three retailers in my area, national electronics and computer chains, all of them had return policies for defective merchandise, from 7 days to 30 days, exchange only of course, two had extended warranties available that would extend the exchange period to one year.
I wouldn't expect any store to cover the full warranty period, that would be unreasonable, but at least in the case of a DOA item, if any store pulled that one on me, as one or two have, I wouldn't even argue with them, I'd walk out and the next thing they would hear from me is a summons to appear in court or a phone call informing them that the charge is being contested depending on the circumstances, and I would win, the ONLY exception being is if the store could prove they made me aware of that policy prior to purchase, at which point I would be a fool to go to court, but not as big a fool as I would be for having purchased the item knowing what the policy was.