Living Social Impossible to return defective item. Washington DC

I made a purchase through Living Social for a product sold by the retailer "WidgetsNThings." It took a month for the product to arrive, and it was defective. I contacted Living Social, they informed that it was beyond the time alloted to return the product to them, and that I needed to contact the retailer. WidgetsNThings refused to refund my money because "company policy" precluded it. 

In essence, neither of these companies takes any responsibility to rectify the situation. This is unacceptable business practice. I have now filed a complaint with my credit card company to resolve the matter.