Picket Best Buy

Ok, get this, I bought a printer with a 4 year extended replacement and service plan. I only did that 'cause it was an 11" wide printer and they can be hard to find, figured I'd be guaranteed of getting another one that way. The printer died, they had to replace it under the no-lemon part of the plan, but apparently THEY decided to change the rules on me (in spite of the fact that it was a legally binding contract) and only offered a $20 credit towards another printer. The plan cost like $69 (I think, it was a while back) so they basically ripped me off for $49. The manager at the store acted like >I< was trying to pull a scam. Of course Best Buy managers always like to act like customers are trying to rip them off personally by trying to get what they actually paid for, this is a trait common to most Best Buy managers in my experience from listening them talk to other people AND my own experiences. Hello idiots, A PERSON IS ENTITLED TO WHAT THEY PAY FOR!!!!! GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULLS!

Another example, this weekend, I bought little portable DVD player of a brand that's exclusive to Best Buy, bought and paid for online and supposedly brand new. I got a confirmation email that it was in stock. I get to the store about 6 hours later and they can't find it, it's in some stock room limbo in the back (but at least they DID pull it and put it somewhere) and it takes them about 25-30 minutes to find it. I get it home, open it, and discover that the battery won't hold a charge and the case has a couple of scuffs in it, which only would happen if the item had been used (and it had little scuff marks on it, the assholes sold me an open box item at full price). It's also missing some crappy little A/V cable that I don't need that would allow me to hook up a game console to it. I ATTEMPT to exchange it for a working model. They have a hard time arguing with my receipt and the amount of wear on the DVD player considering that it's supposedly only 24 hours or so away from being brand new. They try to say I dropped it, but the scuff marks on the bottom of the DVD player match up perfectly with a lip on the battery pack. The guy argues with me for about 20 minutes, but I won't give up, I keep explaining to him that I HAVE A RECEIPT THAT SHOWS IT'S ONLY A DAY OLD, how do THEY explain the wear and tear unless they ripped me off by selling an open box item as NEW? One of the other customer service representatives try to say that the fingerprints I left on the screen are scratches... I wipe them away with my finger. Eventually I tell them flat out that I don't care what it takes. Anyway, they finally take my return and give me a piece of paper saying that they're crediting back my card, and I TRY to explain to them that I want another machine, and one that works, and that ALL ALONG I've been asking for an exchange, but it's apparently too late because they've credit my card. I give up, I get another DVD player and pay with cash. Of course, SOMEHOW I end up with some other dude's receipt for a laptop docking station and I'm so mad I don't remember if the cashier asked me for my phone number or not. This is just f-ing great because THIS portable DVD player has a screen that rolls after the machine is turned on for about 30 seconds. Oh this is just a LOVELY brand that Best Buy carries, I'm glad that it's exclusive to them BECAUSE I REFUST TO SHOP THERE AGAIN.

So, here I am with the wrong receipt and a DVD player I paid for with cash. I figure I'm smarter than those thieves at Best Buy, and so I buy a THIRD DVD player, using the online store, because that way they can't lose the receipt or give me the wrong one, and I go to a different store because I hate the people at the first store already and am about an inch from violence towards the guy who tried to stick me with the open box player they sold me as new by trying to say >I< damaged it. How could >I< have made the battery not hold a charge when it's only a DAY OLD (SUPPOSEDLY). Anyway, I get my confirmation email, supposedly my DVD player is pulled, I go into the Best Buy about 8 hours later in the evening, and they don't know where my player is. Keep in mind, this isn't the same Best Buy as before. They make me stand in line to wait to pick it up, I have to wait for 20 minutes while a guy scavenges the store and finds the last one in stock, and gets it for me.

Now this guy and the customer service girl WERE really helpful and I have no complaints regarding them. I should have gotten their names so I could write the company a complementary letter but I worry that would just get them in trouble if they were shown to be helping someone rather than forcing magazine subscriptions down their throats or trying to get them to spend hundreds of $ on a USELESS service plan.

Anyway, back to my story, I have to wait in ANOTHER line to have the item scanned out because there's nobody at the product pick up desk who can do that, my only complaint is that I shouldn't have had to wait in the customer service line when I already waited to get my product, you shouldn't have to wait and wait and wait just to get checked out on something that should be ready for you. Anyway, I get the DVD player, swap out the defective player and it's box, and return them, praying that I FINALLY after all this get a DVD player that works. I must have driven an extra 50 miles or so and wasted about 4 hours of my time on top of my wait to get the initial defective DVD player, when all Best Buy should have done was swap out the defective part for me out of another package and sent that back to the manufacturer for service. Of course, that would only have worked if Best Buy hadn't tried to hustle me into paying full retail for an open box item and would have had to explain to the manufacturer why they were sending back a used and misused battery that had been sold as new for replacement. Best Buy is an awful corporation, we can post tens of thousands of these letters, but the only thing that will cost them money truly because of the huge volume they deal in is a picket line. YES we should protest!

As an aside, the store mentioned in the first part of the story is located in Las Vegas, NV and the stores mentioned in the second part are in Tucson, AZ. The problems with Best Buy are company wide and will never be fixed until it they start to cost them money. Best Buy does such huge volume though that they can afford to treat thousands of us like crap and drive us away and it won't hurt them. Many best buy customers don't have internet access and are unaware of the large numbers of problems and unethical practices by Best Buy. Highly visible protests might be away to draw attention to this. In this country we have the right to peaceful assembly and allowing a company to get away with this without any repercussions encourages other companies to act this way. There are other stores that will match Best Buy's prices, both advertised and not, so don't feel like you have to shop there for the best price!

I took a receiver back to BB that has a 4 year service plan. I had to stand there for 30 minutes while the guy tried to hook it up just to see that it didn't work-it clicks and everything but no sound at all! DUH! I told him it was broken. Then he decides it has to be sent out for repair. I figured as much. I should not have had to wait 30 minutes for that.
BB is notorious for putting open box stuff back on the shelves for sale. Happened to me several times with computer monitors and phones. Finally, I told them to shove it and bought a Dell. The staff at my BB is a joke too, no knowledge of anything. So I'm right there with you and I agree totally with your 'rant!'

BB=

__________________________________________

Edit: BB called today (1-29) and my receiver can't be fixed so they are giving me a new one (new? or will it be refurbished?) of equal value. Actually, this was part of a home theatre system so now I have to take down all of the speakers and huge heavy sub-woofer thingy and drag them back to BB. The good part about it is I purchased a warranty or I would be out over $200 to buy a new one. (just a receiver)
Let the games begin.

You drove from Vegas to TUCSON for a DVD player??

This isn't the first (nor the last) rant I've heard about BB. I won't be spending MY money there.

Got treated horribly when I went there for computer parts a while ago.
"No, littile kids aren't susposed to be in this section". I get redirected to the console section. (Fact is I go at consoles. I was the 9 year old who used to work on PCs and actually take them apart and reassmeble.)
Pretty bad. They infact turned away a customer who needed to get some replacements.
This is why internet stores are killing brick and mortar stores. Horrid service.

heh, I just posted similar rantings about their ludicrous prices and service in another thread a couple of weeks ago. I also have completely sworn off Best Buy.

They make a killing on those warranty extensions because they try so hard to sell you one and then never pay up.

I wont go so far as to picket them, I'm no longer that angry, but I'll never give them a penny of my money again, online or locally.

My view of Best Buy has been slowly getting worse after I hear story after story like this. They are still the most convenient place to go around where I live for computer accessories and the like but I'm going to look elsewhere from now on.

Aww, man. I'm sorry you had to go through all of that crap.

I have my own favorite Best Buy stories, one of them involving an idiot manager who refused to acknowledge that there were some major problems in the public restroom.

I suggest that you write to your state's attorney general, with a copy to the BBB, and then find the most rabid local TV news channel and call that into their tipline. They love stories like that, especiually when the caller has been fastidious about keeping receipts.

Good luck and keep us posted!

customer service sucks just about anywhere you go! They rather hang out together and chat.. If I wait in a section and no one ask me if i need help (doing their job!) I'll take my money elsewhere! It's not my job and track someone down and make them help me!

I frequently read in posts elsewhere that it's a REALLY good idea to open the box before leaving the store, to verify that it's the correct item.
I can't recall if the recommendation is right at checkout, or at the security desk by the door.

I also read an article awhile back about BB not wanting to sell to folks who had a clue. They're primary interest was in the "soccer mom" types who would beleive the BS the sales people were shoveling. (seems like the internal name for these types were Brad's and Betty's, or something like that.. ) No success finding the article now using google.

friend of mine bought an early pentium III computer plus service contract(about $2700 total)from BBuy. contract stated that after 4 repairs, he would get a new computer. he had 3 repairs done over 2-3 years. he always opened the case to see the repairs. it broke again before the service contract was up thus entitling him to $2700 worth of new computer. they no longer had the p III and would have to give him a pent IV with lots of goodies. he took in his broken p III for the claim. they called him back 3-4 days later and said "come pick up your p III; we can not find anything wrong with it." he took it home and it ran like new. upon opening the case, he found lots of new parts!! they had secretly repaired it, thus avoiding giving him a new computer!! he was very angry. we now both shop at newegg. i still buy some small things at BBuy.

I won't go into the details but about 5 years ago I made a $900 puchase one day. Later that same day they refused to do anything at all to fix a problem I hade with my purchase. To do what I thought was was right was only asking them to spend <$10 and I would have been satisfied. Instead, they gave me the customer no-service treatment. I haven't bought there since.

I'm not real fond of best buy either. I bought a wirelss range extender that turned out to be incompatible with my wireless network. I brought it back within an couple hours. The box said "ONLY compatible with hardware X and Y" and I had neither. I noticed that out before opening the box.

I had to wait. When it was finally my turn the woman took as long as she possibly could. She opened the shrink wrap to confirm that all the parts were there. She examined the serial numbers. She got a manager to confirm that all was OK. I seem to recall that she tried to push a store credit rather than a refund. 45 minutes and it was finally over. I decided not to buy the other model, even though they had it in stock.

A few months later I ended up back in the best buys. I asked a clerk if he could open a box so I could verify the contents. He said that he could not, but that I could open it after I bought it, and just take it to the returns counter if it was not what I needed. When I was done laughing I explained that I did not have the extra hour to spare and left without buying.




A better story involves Frys Electronics. A west coast chain of electronics superstores. They are natorious for putting returns back on the shelves. They even have a special sticker they always put on the package to let you know that it's been checked out by their experts.

So I bought a motherboard and case. I get home and find I need a different garphics card. This one locks up on me every time I boot into Linux. So I take it back. It takes an hour to wind my way through the return line, They are out of that video card.... 30 minutes to decide on a different video card, another hour to shop and buy $400 worth of crap I did not need but had to have. Checkout (a normal Saturday afternoon) was only 25 minutes between standing in line and waiting for the manager to OK the refund that was OK'ed before because I was given the wrong form.

So I get home and the afternoon is blown. We have dinner. I start to rebuild teh PC and realize I put a part from the PC in with teh video card. ARGH! On a whim, I drive the 20 miles to Frys to see if they sell that part by itself. They don't. So I swing by the video section. They have not just 1, but 3 video cards liek the one I had returned. As I looked down at the top, pristine box I recognized the barely visible cut across the box made by my knife as I took off the shrink wrap. I slit the plastic, opened the box, and there's my part. Now two of the boxes have the "inpected by fry's" sticker, but not this one.

I've been very, very leary of buying anything thorugh fry's since.

*LESSON* Just because it's shrink wrapped does not mean it's new.
*LESSON 2* I now put a stick note inside the manual of defective parts before I return them. It explains to the next guy that the part was already bad when he got it. I figure it may save someone some grief.

Daniel

He he... I've had reasonably good experience with Best Buy but it's the luck of the draw... I'd never recommend anyone GO there...

I've been actively working in custom computer builds since 1995 for Fortune 500 companies, financial companies, banks and schools. High end customers. I know about trends and what is needed and what is not needed. I was in a Best Buy in December 97 and there was a little old lady buying a computer for her grand daughter that was going to college. She was obviously on a budget but the sales guy convinced her that her daughters computer would be pretty much worthless without a Jaz drive. This was back when they cost $300 + $40 or $50 for installation. Usually I'm a believer in the customer will (and probably should) get exactly as screwed as he/she allows him/herself to be but this example was absolutely sickening. I went over and told her that the guy was completely scamming her and there were much more reputable companies with which she could do business... the guy looked like he wasn't sure if he should hit me or cry. He did neither. I gave her my name and number and offered to help her if she so decided though she never called.

Also, a friend of a friend helped start a small 'bargain based' computer business (difficult as anyone in the business knows) about 1997 or 1998. They had very little advertising budget but they did manage quite a coup... The bought/leased a major full size billboard in the Best Buy parking lot with a computer screen to one side and the caption read, 'Are you really getting a BEST BUY?' It was there for over a year.

As to their service department, some of them are good guys... I think they start their black shirt techs out at $9 an hour. Even in Indianapolis, you can walk into a job making $12 an hour if you know the difference between a hard drive and memory so they generally either don't get the cream of the crop or they get decenbt guys working there part time. Funny thing is, I applied there a few years ago as a servicee technician (mostly to get a discount on a $1300) TV and was told that with my experience, they'd put me in sales rather than service because all their good guys were in sales.

The warranties are terrible. At one point, the three year warranty on the 42" widescreen Toshiba TV was $300. The TV was regularly $1300 and at one point, was on sale for $1,000. I just checked at Walmart (I know, I know... we all hate Walmart) but the warranty there for a similar TV was $68. I know you can sell cheaper if you sell more but something tells me that probably 40% of Best Buy's profits are in their warranties which they then screw you on when you buy them.

Sheesh...

gadget_lover, Ur post re Fry's cracked me up! Never(!) purchase something in a box that has been opened at Fry's! It will be missing something (like cables/instructions) or be defective to the point of not working! Then you get to stand in the return line (which often stretches into the parking lot) to get credit. Put a "secret mark" on it and come back. It will be there on the shelf for the next unsuspecting victim! You better know what you are doing to shop there! :thumbsdown:

Larry

There is a class action lawsuit working it's way through the courts in Ohio agains BB for 1) selling used merchandise as new 2) processing manufacturer rebates from customers, sent through BB, and KEEPING THE MONEY, and 3) age discrimination. They simply fire older employees.

I stopped buying at BB about 3 years ago. They are nothing but a bunch of crooks, IMHO.

In the low profit-margin world of electronics, there seems to be nothing too low for BB to do to pad the bottom line. Defauding customers seems to be 'business as usual', for the way virtually everyone I know, and myself, has been treated...or shoud I say, ripped off, by BB.

so you're all learning what us Mac users learned a long time ago (cause no retailer bothered to carry our stuff!) It's cheaper to order it! There are plenty of very reputable online retailers that carry more stuff and dont charge tax and some even have reasonable shipping charges and you dont have to waste a whole afternoon standing in line. They also have all the specs online so you can actually know what it is you're buying before you get it!

The title of my thread harping on Best Buy was "retail is dead" and I think that it will continue to die. I hope they open a mini-golf course in the burnt out shell of the best buy in town I look forward to the post-apocalyptic retail world...

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/27/2220256&from=rss

chibbie writes "Best Buy is finally working towards ending mail-in rebates by 2007. Rebates will still be around, but you will be able to file them online, and receive your check much quicker. I guess this means Best Buy doesn't hate their customers after all."

And the article about Best Buy profiling their customers:
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20041108-4382.html
Best Buy hopes to exorcize devil patrons

yes, but how will you file them online? what system could they possibly come up with that would be as much of a pain in the backside as the current system? I promise you it will be just as onerous, just different and save them a lot of printout paper at checkout by not having to print you multiple copies of the receipt.