Well, I don't know what to tell you. For instance, in the US you have 24 hours to cancel a flight booking for any reason if booked more than 7 days out. In Europe, you might get a 4 hour window if you're lucky, but often times not (especially with the vicious European LCCs).
Quality of life is highest in most respects there, but only really so long as you're happy to go along with things and not rock the boat. Get paid well, enjoy the contryside, but know your place were the vibes I got ha.
For the first 6 months, the legal assumption is that any defect was present at purchase which means - in practice - you can return pretty much any defective item no questions asked.
What did you want to return and could not?
Back when I was in the US, I could have bought a wetvac from a major chain store, shampoo my carpets, then returned it for a full refund. It would have been a fully functioning item that I gained beneficial use from, but the store would still take the used item back and return all my money.
This comes with a huge caveat. It’s a semi-official store policy, but not a legally binding requirement. If the manager doesn’t like you, then you’re on your own. Granted, the manager doesn’t care that much, because they’re just going to put the used wetvac and sell it to someone else. That person might discover that I broke the unit and they legitimately can’t use it. However, if they don’t have the same magic sprinkles I have (e.g. a title, a midwestern accent, white skin), the store might decide not to give them a refund, even though I’m the one that broke the appliance in the first place.
Since leaving the US, I haven’t had a store try to unload used merchandise on me and I like that I don’t have to put on a performance to get a refund on faulty items, but I’ve encountered other expats who found it a culture shock.
Most instances were in Switzerland as I mentioned, although a few were in the EU. Some weren't defective items but rather unneeded items. Returns based on changing one's mind, even if the item is in unused condition and remains re-sellable, seems to not be a "thing" in at least several European countries whereas American consumers typically expect these consumer protections not by law but by convention.
Another electronic device was defective, and even after selecting this in the online purchase return form I was charged a restocking fee despite returning the item within a few weeks of purchase. Not budging on this and refunding the fee would be unheard of for any serious US retailer.
As far as conventions go, I check some larger retailers from Europe, like Zalando, and they offer a 100 day return policy [1] by convention.
Maybe Switzerland is the outlier here?
[1] https://en.zalando.de/faq/Returns-and-Refunds/About-our-100-...
By contrast, in the US it all depends on store policy and, apparently, luck. I had some pretty bad customer experiences in the US, and there was nothing I could do then.
For example, this whole Saga on GamersNexus (check other videos) is a good indicator that the US system may not be perfect https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fnXsmXzphI
As Steve says in the video, in the US you have no recourse. There's no law. The shop in question didn't feel like being "nice" and the person is out of 500$. For Steve, this amounts to a scam, but the burden of proof is on him. For specifically this reason, the EU has a law that says otherwise.
In practice some stores do accept returns if you have a receipt, but personally I have never done that, didn't know it was even an option before an expat was asking about this online. The default is to sell forward in online second hand marketplaces. Especially gifts you receive, those are never returned (as apparently happens in the US said that expat).
Source: American expat in Europe.