Policy For Returning Defective Recliner Chair

On Oct 27, 2013 we bought a Victory chocolate brown, soft material recliner chair at the Big Lots, store #4045, Victorville Ca. We purchased it w/ our American Express card. I see the receipt say's 30 days BUT our receipt says at the bottom, in BOLD letters, "RETURNS WITH THIS RECEIPT WILL BE ACCEPTED THROUGH 1/15/2014.. Recently we noticed the padding in the seat area is wadding up and there's a big lump in the seat. I went to the store today and spoke w/ a very nice lady. She said I could not get a refund because it had been more than 30 days even though I told her of the date on my receipt. She also made the mistake of telling me that they had other chairs returned w/ the same problem??? I said "well can we upgrade to a different chair, she no. Can we get a refund, she said no. She said we don't have any chocolate color in stock but you can take a taupe color. I asked, what if this chair does the same thing in a few weeks? She said, "well you can only get one return in the span of the year warranty. I"m worried that another chair may also be defective and we'll be stuck w/ a defective chair. At this point wwe are thinking we would rather just get a credit but from what she said that's not possible. Please let me know what your policy is regarding furniture returns. I don't mind getting another chair from the store, even the same type, but I want some sort of warranty in case it happens again. Thank you Richard Feeley