Steamed at Best Buy [Archive] - Straight Dope Message Board

12-02-2008, 07:04 PM

Ok...so, some of you are probably going to be shaking their heads at me on this one. It just pissed me off so I figured I'm come here to vent.

I got a new iPod Nano for my birthday from my sister. I had asked her for an iPod Touch but she didn't realize there was a difference. It was REALLY sweet of her to get it for me, and I really did appreciate it...but I really wanted that iPod Touch. Anyway, she bought it at Best Buy. I didn't have the heart to ask her for the receipt...I figured, what the hell, they will just exchange the thing (and the case and all the other peripherals she bought for it for me). The thing is unopened after all.

Nope. They won't take back any item unless you have a receipt for it. Even though it's got a (partially obscured, to be sure) Best Buy tag on it (and on all the other stuff), they won't take it back even for an exchange.

I guess I'm getting old. The last time I took back electronics (yeah...years ago), the store took it back with no fuss, no muss...as long as I exchanged it for in store credit. I figured this was still the case...but I guess times, they have a changed. This is the second thing that has pissed me off about Best Buy in the last month though.

A friend of mine purchased some software from them a few weeks ago...but it turned out he didn't need the software after all. So, last week we went to take it back. Now...he DID have his receipt. And the software box was unopened. However, the lady at Customer Service (snort) refused to take it back, saying that Best Buy does not take back software once purchased, regardless of if it's opened or not.

Not that I usually shop at Best Buy, and not that I have any idea if this policy is the same there as at other electronic stores these days...but I'll be damned if I EVER shop at one again. It wasn't just that that their corporate policies are so stupid...it was the indifferent sort of 'fuck you, move along' attitude of the customer service at both stores (in two different cities)....hell, the chick at the store here could have been a clone of the one (attitude wise) as the one where my friend lives.

Anyway, just wanted to vent. I'm guessing that some 'doper will be along shortly to tell me that I'm just OLD, and that this sort of thing has been going on for a while now...I just haven't been paying attention! :p

-XT

Simplicio

12-02-2008, 07:12 PM

I had a friend who ordered a computer from BB recently. It was defective, so he brought it back and they told him they'd ship a replacement to his house. Sure enough the computer arrived on time, but several weeks later a second, identical computer showed up as well.

He's been trying to return the second computer for weeks now, but BB refuses to take it back, and everytime he calls, he spends hours getting shuffled around from one call center to another. He says if he can't get rid of it by Xmas, hes sticking it under the tree with a tag saying its to himself from Best Buy.

They apparently really hate taking stuff back.

MikeG

12-02-2008, 07:15 PM

Hell, I need a computer, tell him I'll pay the shipping even:)

I use the chains to physically examine the things I want to buy, then go online. Sucks for them but it saves me a ton.

Miller

12-02-2008, 07:17 PM

I was having computer problems last week, which I thought might be due to a faulty hard drive. So I bought a new one at Best Buy, installed it, and found I was still having the same problems. Boxed it back up, took it back to the store (with the receipt) and they refunded me the full price of the drive on my credit card. So it might not be a corporate policy you're dealing with, so much as a store policy. Maybe try your luck at a different Best Buy?

12-02-2008, 07:33 PM

Well, this was two different stores in two different cities...but there is another Best Buy across town I could try. If not I'll just keep the thing...I'd rather do that than ask my Sis for the receipt and let her know she got the wrong thing.

-XT

Jeff

12-02-2008, 07:37 PM

Ro Carter

12-02-2008, 07:38 PM

Best Buy's returns are beyond silly. I once got a DVD from there, started watching it, only to have it completely degrade then stop at the climax of the movie (it was Serenity, and they were about to land on Miranda). I tried it on three other DVD players, including my laptop, to ensure that it was in fact the DVD, not my player, before I decided to try to exchange it.

I read the return policy completely before even trying, and it said that opened DVDs could be exchanged for the same item, in store. Great, that's what I wanted, and it is even still the same price as when I got it, so there should be no worries. I head in with movie and receipt in hand.

I walk into the store, head over to the return desk, which has a HUGE wall mounted version of the return policy behind it, and it says the exact same thing. However, when I walk up to the desk, the clerk hems and haws about how she's not sure they can do that. I somehow manage to not scream at her to look right above her freaking head and READ for once in her life, as she is currently calling the manager over. The manager hems and haws some more, but instead allows me the opportunity to PROVE to them that the DVD is faulty, and asks me where it skips. I tell them, and they go play it on their old busted DVD player, and to my everlasting pleasure, the DVD fails even faster on their player than it did on mine.

They finally allow me to go pick up another copy of the DVD, but I then have to wait through about 15 minutes of the girl trying to figure out how to ring up the new copy, and convince her that, no, I do not have to pay the difference between what I paid the first time around and the current price, particularly as there is no current difference in price.

My feelings on Best Buy: Go in, get what you want, pay, and get out. Hope you don't have to actually talk to any of the employees beyond general pleasantries and direct answers to questions, and for Og's sake, don't ask questions or expect help.

MsWhatsit

12-02-2008, 07:42 PM

Best Buy posts their return policies online and the backs of their receipts, iirc. This isn't rocket science.

Your friend was probably outside the 14day return policy for software and you trying to return an ipod without a receipt was just plain dumb. I can't believe you're going to just let your sister waste her money like that.

Yes, I'm always sure to check the return policy on the receipt before someone buys something for me. ...wait...

As for his sister wasting her money, please. Brand-new iPod Nanos are selling for what appears to be near-retail on eBay right now. xtisme hocks the Nano on eBay, uses the proceeds towards a nice new Ipod Touch, and sis is none the wiser.

Freejooky

12-02-2008, 07:44 PM

Blame everyone who has ever gamed the system. Most retail stores have gotten downright draconian with their return policies due to people scamming the system for years. Target recently did an across-the-board "no receipt, no exchange, no exceptions" change, which will bite a lot of people in the ass after Christmas.

12-02-2008, 07:46 PM

Your friend was probably outside the 14day return policy for software and you trying to return an ipod without a receipt was just plain dumb. I can't believe you're going to just let your sister waste her money like that.

I saw the receipt...he bought it 3 days before. The woman at the desk told him flat out their policy was that you could return no software whether it was opened or not (it wasn't...again, I saw the seal). Whether this is their supposed policy or not I couldn't say...I simply know that my friend argued with this lady AND her manager for about 20 minutes before storming out of the store and vowing never to shop there again (I'm with him on this one...I certainly won't be going in there again).

Sorry I'm 'dumb' enough to want to return an unopened item as an exchange...I'm sure it's a hardship in these trying times. As I said, the last time I needed to return something like this it was no problem...obviously things have changed.

As to your lack of belief over the situation with my sister, since you know nothing about the situation you should probably keep that to yourself. It's not relevant to my rant.

-XT

sundog66

12-02-2008, 07:52 PM

Bosstone

12-02-2008, 07:59 PM

Target recently did an across-the-board "no receipt, no exchange, no exceptions" change, which will bite a lot of people in the ass after Christmas.To be fair, they're usually very good about printing 'gift' receipts, which work just fine for returns but don't have the prices on them.

Jeff

12-02-2008, 08:03 PM

Sorry I'm 'dumb' enough to want to return an unopened item as an exchange...I'm sure it's a hardship in these trying times. As I said, the last time I needed to return something like this it was no problem...obviously things have changed.

As to your lack of belief over the situation with my sister, since you know nothing about the situation you should probably keep that to yourself. It's not relevant to my rant.

-XT

Welcome to the 21st century. We've also invented fire recently, give that a try too (don't forget to keep your receipt).

And don't get pissy with me just because your sister made a mistake and there's some sort of Intense Family Drama involved over saying so. You put a rant about your own stupity and family issues online. Tough shit if you don't like the responses.

If it was 3 days, your friend sounds like he was screwed. I was just running off your comments about it being 'weeks' for that one.

12-02-2008, 08:14 PM

Welcome to the 21st century. We've also invented fire recently, give that a try too (don't forget to keep your receipt).

Well, thanks bunches for the heart felt welcome! :p

And don't get pissy with me just because your sister made a mistake and there's some sort of Intense Family Drama involved over saying so. You put a rant about your own stupity and family issues online. Tough shit if you don't like the responses.

No, you are just a clueless asshole who decided to shoot off your mouth about something you have no idea about. No worries 'mano...it's expected! Wouldn't be a pit thread without someone being contrary after all. :p

If it was 3 days, your friend sounds like he was screwed. I was just running off your comments about it being 'weeks' for that one.

You are quite correct...I mis-spoke there. You were quite correct that as I stated it things would have been beyond their supposed 14 day policy.

-XT

Jeff

12-02-2008, 08:32 PM

No, you are just a clueless asshole who decided to shoot off your mouth about something you have no idea about. No worries 'mano...it's expected! Wouldn't be a pit thread without someone being contrary after all. :p

FACTS ARE FOR THE WEAK!!!

But I understand. You have issues and you badly want to let the world know that you have issues and these issues are super secret and while we must know you have issues we must not mention the existance of these issues in whatever form they manifest because there are issues involved, and Best Buy is full of jerks. I am fully on board with that.

But you still don't have an ipod touch, so nyah.

12-02-2008, 08:39 PM

But I understand. You have issues and you badly want to let the world know that you have issues and these issues are super secret and while we must know you have issues we must not mention the existance of these issues in whatever form they manifest because there are issues involved, and Best Buy is full of jerks. I am fully on board with that.

You are reading WAY more into all this than I wrote there 'mano. But I do understand the need to take out your own issues by blowing up mine. As I said, it wouldn't be a pit thread unless some contrarian type wandered in spouting off on a tangent.

But you still don't have an ipod touch, so nyah.

Nope...nor am I likely too at this point. Still...nothing wrong with an iPod Nano. And I do have a rather nice Zune 120, so all is not lost.

-XT

Jeff

12-02-2008, 08:44 PM

Nah, now I'm just poking fun at you. You did seem to be getting mighty upset there.

Nothing wrong with nanos, in fact I'm even willing to trade you my old one for your new one. :p

Chefguy

12-02-2008, 08:46 PM

My feelings on Best Buy: Go in, get what you want, pay, and get out. Hope you don't have to actually talk to any of the employees beyond general pleasantries and direct answers to questions, and for Og's sake, don't ask questions or expect help.

Asking for help in almost any national chain store is pointless. I can't count the number of times I've asked where something is, only to have the employee start wandering up and down the aisles to look for it. HEY MORON! I CAN WANDER ABOUT AIMLESSLY ALL BY MYSELF!!

12-02-2008, 08:48 PM

Nah, now I'm just poking fun at you. You did seem to be getting mighty upset there.

I kind of figured that after your last post. I also admit, I was kind of pulling your chain too. ;)

-XT

Jackmannii

12-02-2008, 09:05 PM

An anti-Xmas carol Pit rant, a slam at ignorant shoppers, and now a stomping of Best Buy.

Yes, the holiday season is truly upon us.

Let us not in our joy overlook the eternal War on Christmas and the unsubtle commercial pitches of jewelry store chains ("Buy your girl an expensive bauble, and you'll Git Some!").

Qadgop the Mercotan

12-02-2008, 09:10 PM

Let us not in our joy overlook the eternal War on Christmas and the unsubtle commercial pitches of jewelry store chains ("Buy your girl an expensive bauble, and you'll Git Some!").
Oh yes, the old reliables:

"Diamonds: Take her breath away!"

"Giver her a diamond and leave her speechless"

Or in short: "Diamonds. That'll shut her up."

FoieGrasIsEvil

12-02-2008, 09:18 PM

Oh yes, the old reliables:

"Diamonds: Take her breath away!"

"Giver her a diamond and leave her speechless"

Or in short: "Diamonds. That'll shut her up."

Yeah, it's more like "Diamonds: that'll set the bar for future Christmases for her!"

minor7flat5

12-02-2008, 09:27 PM

Interesting...

From the back of a receipt I had from August (I scan and OCR them—forgive OCR errors)
30-DAY RETURN PERIOD We accept returns or exchanges 30 days from the
original purchase. Please review the exceptions below.
14-DAY RETURN PERIOD We accept returns or exchanges 14 days from the
original purchase on computers, monitors, notebook computers, projectors,
camcorders, digital cameras, radar detectors and video games purchased as used.
RESTOCKING FEE A restocking fee of 15% will be charged on opened
notebook computers, projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, radar detectors,
GPS/navigation and in-car video systems unless defective or prohibited by law.
A restocking foe of 25% will be charged on Special Order Products, including
appliances, unless defective or prohibited by low.
REFUND METHOD Refund will be in the same form as original purchase.
Exceptions: Cash, debit or check purchases over $250 will be refunded in the
form of a check by mail within 10 business days.
NOTE REGARDING PERSONAL DATA ON RETURNED OR
EXCHANGED PRODUCTS Please remove all personal data (e.g. computer
or wireless phono data, videotapes) from any returned or exchanged products.
Best Buy is not responsible for any personal data left on or in a returned or
exchanged product.
NON-RETURNABLE ITEMS Non-returnable items include labor and/or
installation services; consumable items such as phone cards, food and drink; or
items that are damaged or abused. Opened computer software, movies, music
and video games can be exchanged for the identical item but cannot be
returned for a refund.
GIFT CARDS Torms and Conditions apply to Gift Cards and can be found
on Gift Card packaging.Nowhere there do they exclude sealed computer software. It isn't even listed under the 14-day list. Your friend should call up the Best Buy customer service line and explain the situation to them. They might resolve things quite easily.

Of course, perhaps a Best Buy in the Trenton, NJ area might have a different bit of stuff on the back of the receipt from your own location, YMMV.

msmith537

12-02-2008, 09:32 PM

Fuck Best Buy. I will never shop there again after buying a copy of Call of Duty 4 that had the wrong disk shipped with it. They absolutely refused to exchange it in the store.

ZipperJJ

12-02-2008, 09:32 PM

It's people like Caricci's brother (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=495643) that lead to rants like this.

astro

12-02-2008, 09:33 PM

Why is this being made so complicated? This is what polite little white lies are for. Tell your sis that the Ipod is great but acting a bit wonky at times that you need the receipt to exchange it for a new one. Exhchange it up for a new touch and move on.

12-02-2008, 09:44 PM

Well, what has that got to do with Best Buy or my rant? I realize that many 'dopers think (perhaps with some justification) that I'm too stupid to breath...but even I could have thought of that. For my own reason, which I prefer not to get into, I don't want to go the 'little white lie' route...or even the more obvious route of simply asking her for the receipt.

:p

-XT

Santo Rugger

12-02-2008, 10:30 PM

I use the chains to physically examine the things I want to buy, then go online. Sucks for them but it saves me a ton.
Do you realize... aww, fuck it. I don't even have the energy to make up a clever rant about how you hate America.

I do that for motorcycle helmets.

MikeG

12-03-2008, 12:08 AM

Do you realize... aww, fuck it. I don't even have the energy to make up a clever rant about how you hate America.

I do that for motorcycle helmets.

Well, I am dating a French girl so I'm practically a terrorist already :)

Mama Zappa

12-03-2008, 01:45 PM

Frustrating. I mean, it's obvious the thing came from BB, and it's obvious it hasn't been opened. And you're not trying to return it for money back, you just want an alternative product. Even if they charged you a small "restocking" fee, that'd be better than refusing it outright.

Were the case etc. also from Best Buy? If so, maybe you could tell your sister that the case is wrong or something and you'd like to exchange it, but they won't let you do so without the receipt.

Sis hands over the receipt (which hopefully also has the iPod itself listed), you exchange the case (er, and the iPod itself), and get the Touch unit you wanted. If sis later notices, say BB had them on sale that day and since they had a higher capacity, you figured she wouldn't be upset "and by the way sis, thanks, I coulda never had such a fun gizmo without you being such a sweet sis".

Dinsdale

12-03-2008, 01:58 PM

I realize that many 'dopers think (perhaps with some justification) that I'm too stupid to breath...
-XT

Well then it's a good thing sis didn't give you diamonds! :p

As Jeff says, welcome to the 21st century and our vaunted "service" economy. But I don't think it is entirely inapproprate to occasionally reflect back to earlier times when stores treated customers as something other than thieves and inconveniences.

Vinyl Turnip

12-03-2008, 02:14 PM

Dangerosa

12-03-2008, 02:19 PM

Well then it's a good thing sis didn't give you diamonds! :p

As Jeff says, welcome to the 21st century and our vaunted "service" economy. But I don't think it is entirely inapproprate to occasionally reflect back to earlier times when stores treated customers as something other than thieves and inconveniences.

My uncle managed Sears in that golden heyday - and almost everything had 100% margin or better on it.

Now I'm in a retail culture of friends and family - you are lucky to have 30% markup. And off that you have to pay all your expense and turn a profit. Now stores have "loss leaders" (a staple of the grocery industry) and companies like Nintendo have you selling the Wii at a fixed price and making no money on it.

No room for "I'll wear the dress to the party and return it" when margins are low.

Dinsdale

12-03-2008, 02:28 PM

No room for "I'll wear the dress to the party and return it" when margins are low.

I'll certainly buy that. But the OP described a clearly unused item, unopened, in box, bearing the store sticker. Presuming the store carries it, they could simply slap a new pricetag on it, put it on the shelf and sell it, gaining a little goodwill at the same time.

12-03-2008, 02:34 PM

I would have been happy to pay a modest 'restocking fee' as well. They didn't even want to discuss it and the manager was 'unavailable'. I'm also not a very confrontational person (probably contrary to many people's impression here on the 'dope ;)), so I just grumbled a bit and left.

It's still in the box and unopened at this point...though I'll probably take it out tonight to put some tunes on it from my old iPod for a trip out of country I'll be doing. I don't have much in the way of music on my Zune and don't see any need to buy any, since I have all those iTune songs already on my PC. I'm fairly confident I can activate for more than one iPod.

-XT

scule

12-03-2008, 02:39 PM

Well then it's a good thing sis didn't give you diamonds! :p

As Jeff says, welcome to the 21st century and our vaunted "service" economy. But I don't think it is entirely inapproprate to occasionally reflect back to earlier times when stores treated customers as something other than thieves and inconveniences.

In the days when stores didn't treat customers like thieves and inconveniences, customers weren't actually thieves and inconveniences. Also, they could pay a decent wage and hire professionals to deal with people. Now, margins are much tighter, as mentioned; wages are comparatively lower, resulting in disinterested youth taking jobs to pay for school or something; and people are straight-up fuckheads in every sense of the word. There are few occupations more soul-destroying than working in retail dealing with the public. I'd rather be a mine sweeper in Afghanistan than go back behind a counter and help morons slowly beat my sensibilities to death.

Also, I have to agree with anyone else who's said it, receipts should always be mandatory.

D_Odds

12-03-2008, 03:00 PM

In the days when stores didn't treat customers like thieves and inconveniences, customers weren't actually thieves and inconveniences. And then Eve bit the apple...

There was never a time when stores of any sort did not have to worry about loss prevention.

Dangerosa

12-03-2008, 03:44 PM

I'll certainly buy that. But the OP described a clearly unused item, unopened, in box, bearing the store sticker. Presuming the store carries it, they could simply slap a new pricetag on it, put it on the shelf and sell it, gaining a little goodwill at the same time.

Well, there are other types of fraud. A huge one retailers get is people shoplift stuff and then try and return it without a receipt. Once again, if you have high margins, you can eat a little fraud and make your honest customers happy. Low margins and fraud is going to put you out of business.

Gangster Octopus

12-03-2008, 03:53 PM

Wait, so Best Buy is the bad guy because you have some sort of issues with your sister?

12-03-2008, 04:02 PM

No...had nothing to do with my relationship with my sister. They were the 'bad guy' because they annoyed me, so I came here to vent. Seriously...people are getting hung up on the sister thingy. I admit that I haven't returned anything in a while to a store, so I'm a bit out of touch as far as how things have changed. The 'no software return' policy (which had nothing to do with my sister btw) came as a bit of a shock. I don't see the rationale behind that (as long as the software is unopened...though I suppose someone with enough forethought could probably fake resealing the thing), nor behind not taking back an unopened iPod with Best Buy stickers on it (though again, I hadn't considered the shop lifting angle...and I AM a Mexican after all, so perhaps that was a factor :p).

The thread has given me some perspective on my annoyance...but I'm still a bit peeved at it and I'm wondering how people who get Christmas gifts are going to handle returns. Are they all going to ask whoever gave them their gifts for a receipt so they can take it back? Are people going to be forced to send the receipts with their gifts just in case the person wants to take it back...or if it's broken and they HAVE to take it back? In which case, the box would most certainly be open as well. How is THAT going to work out?

-XT

Vinyl Turnip

12-03-2008, 04:04 PM

Wait, so Best Buy is the bad guy because you have some sort of issues with your sister?

Good catch: correlation is not causation. Best Buy would suck goat taint whether or not xtisme or his sister even existed.

Gangster Octopus

12-03-2008, 04:09 PM

gigi

12-03-2008, 04:09 PM

Asking for help in almost any national chain store is pointless. I can't count the number of times I've asked where something is, only to have the employee start wandering up and down the aisles to look for it. HEY MORON! I CAN WANDER ABOUT AIMLESSLY ALL BY MYSELF!!

After the hard sell at Radio Shack, I was nervous about going into our Best Buy to look at cameras. No worries, when I actually did have a question, the gaggle of six salespeople grouped about ten feet from me didn't even catch my eye, and I was open to being "sold"! I think I've been back in one time since then, just to browse the music section.

Swallowed My Cellphone

12-03-2008, 04:11 PM

Are there any major retail chains that do not require a receipt for returns or exchanges?Ikea allows you to make returns for in-store credit without a receipt.

But Ikea only sells Ikea merchandize, so it's not like you could have gotten that little rug from some other store. Also, there's a limit to the number of times you can return something without a receipt. We discovered this during home renos, when we had so very, very many receipts for everything from light fixtures to band-aids, from all sorts of stores. Occasionally we'd misplace a receipt after we decided that those drawer handles were ugly after all.

12-03-2008, 04:32 PM

Best Buy has a reasonable, not very liberal, but not draconian, either return policy that has a very simple soultion. You decline to engage in this simle solution for reasons that are your own and are of no consequence to best Buy and you come here to vent. Fine vent away, but when vent in public be prepared to have people call you for being unreasonable.

*shrug* I've already addressed most of this. I have no problem with people looking at this in a contrary fashion, or thinking me 'unreasonable'. I also can see why Best Buy might take the stand they have on both the iPod issue and the software. And perhaps Best Buy is representative of how vendors are these days. I admitted that I have been a bit out of touch lately and haven't returned an item in years...and also that times have obviously changed.

Since I have no intention of asking my sister for a receipt for the item, for my own reasons, I have resigned myself to Best Buy's policy due to my own unreasonable-ness. Tell me...are you always reasonable? Never get peeved by something, even if there is a logical reason for someone or something to have pissed you off? If so...well, thou art a better man (or woman) than I am.

Secondly, if someone gives me a gift that is broken or doesn't fit or some other problem with it, then I will have no problem asking them for the gift reciept. However, if I get a GIFT from someone that is not optimally what I want then I may or may not ask for the reciept depending on the relationship I have with that person. However, I would hardly think it is an issue with the seller that I want to avoid embarrassment that I am returning a gift becuase it falls short of my expectations.

To each their own I guess. It SURPRISED me that they would not take the item back due to lack of receipt...just as it surprised me that they would not take the software of my friend back even WITH the receipt. The build up of, um, surprise is what sparked all this. They fell short of my expectations because my expectations were based on how things were with the particular vendor the LAST time I returned something. Unrealistic, to be sure...and obviously 'unreasonable' of me to still have those expectations in our modern times (which is to say, perhaps 2 years since that last time I took something back...maybe a bit longer. I don't remember exactly :p).

At any rate, thank you and all the rest for enlightening me on this issue. I will be sure to take this into account for my next encounter. Hopefully nothing I get for Christmas will need to be returned, as even if it's NOT my sister I feel uncomfortable asking folks for receipts for gifts.

-XT

Polerius

12-03-2008, 05:46 PM

The 'no software return' policy (which had nothing to do with my sister btw) came as a bit of a shock. I don't see the rationale behind that (as long as the software is unopened...though I suppose someone with enough forethought could probably fake resealing the thing)
You are mistaken about the software return policy

From their "Return Policy" (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12101&type=page&contentId=1117177044087&entryURLID=cat12076&entryURLType=page&h=287) webpage.

Non-returnable items
Non-returnable items include labor and/or installation services, consumable items such as phone cards, food and drink, or items that are damaged or abused. Opened computer software, movies, music and video games can be exchanged for the identical item but cannot be returned for a refund.

Also, from their online return policy (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12076&type=page&faqID=1130982684058&h=387)
Exceptions

* Labor and/or installation services
* Items that are abused
* Opened computer software, movies, music and video games
(To get credit for these items, they must be unopened. If the original is damaged or defective, please see details below.)

So, it looks like unopened software is fine.

Polerius

12-03-2008, 05:49 PM

Since I have no intention of asking my sister for a receipt for the item, for my own reasons
What would you have done if you could exchange the Nano for a iPod Touch without a receipt? Wouldn't your sister ask you how you like the Nano at some point? Or, wouldn't she see you using an iPod Touch instead of the Nano she bought you?

How would you have responded/handled the situation? Isn't this similar to handling the situation of asking for the receipt?

interface2x

12-03-2008, 06:42 PM

I've never had that problem at the Best Buy near me. Once I bought a DVD not realizing that it was the single disc edition and I wanted the double disc. I took it back, opened, with the receipt. They said "no problem" but it turns out they never got it in stock because it had a ridiculously small circulation (Munich, in case you're interested) so I had to keep the single disc version.

Another time, I took a sealed CD back to Best Buy (also with the sticker on it) with no receipt. No issues - they took it back, gave me store credit, and let me know that I couldn't return anything without a receipt again for a certain period of time (a year maybe?).

Jragon

12-03-2008, 07:23 PM

I'm convinced I have the only good Best Buy and Gamestop(s) (2 of them!) in existence. People always complain about them, but I've got nothing but good.

The employees there follow policy unless they see a good reason not to, and the manager encourages autonomy in their decisions, not just following a script. I've returned opened software a single time (I didn't use it, and it was obvious by the way the inner packaging was), the other Best Buys I'm hearing about wouldn't even look at it without bursting into flames from the thought. When I was upgrading my computer two geek squad employees that were helping (obviously gamers) got into an argument about graphics cards and did benchmark diagnostics for me, just to settle a minor dispute, and because I wasn't sure which was best (this was when Ge-force and Radeon cards were still competing for the high end market).

However I just walked into my first one in Tempe (I used to live in Tucson) today, and it wasn't too good. But that may have been the shift or something.

12-03-2008, 08:23 PM

How would you have responded/handled the situation? Isn't this similar to handling the situation of asking for the receipt?

lol...ok. The deep seated reason I didn't ask her for it is because she lives in Ireland...so, I'd have to ask her to send it to me via mail. So, to answer your question...she would never have known. She bought it for me from a Best Buy where ever they stopped (I assume in one of the air ports, if there are Best Buys in or around air ports) as a surprise because she over heard me talking about it. I didn't want to ask her while she was out here for Thanksgiving to avoid hurting her feelings...and (wrongfully) thinking that I could simply take it back since it was unopened.

So...now ya'll know the deep, dark, dank secret! :p

-XT

12-03-2008, 08:25 PM

You are mistaken about the software return policy

Well...I'M not mistaken. Nor was my friend, seemingly. The chick (and her supervisor) at the Best Buy were mistaken.

-XT

minor7flat5

12-03-2008, 09:02 PM

You are mistaken about the software return policy

From their "Return Policy" (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12101&type=page&contentId=1117177044087&entryURLID=cat12076&entryURLType=page&h=287) webpage.

Also, from their online return policy (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12076&type=page&faqID=1130982684058&h=387)

So, it looks like unopened software is fine.(psssst... See post 23)

atomicbadgerrace

12-04-2008, 12:29 AM

Well...I'M not mistaken. Nor was my friend, seemingly. The chick (and her supervisor) at the Best Buy were mistaken.

-XT

I'm still not sure why your friend didn't pursue this further. It sounds like tempers were short on both ends, and rather than calmly discussing (and educating) the cashier and her manager on their own policy, your friend just got pissed and stormed out. How the hell does that help him, the store who still employs these people, or the customers who have to deal with these employees in the future?

12-04-2008, 01:10 AM

Well, he argued with first the service chick and then her manager (I think assistant manager) for like 20 minutes. My friend is a bit, um, volatile, in these kinds of situations. He gets frustrated easily. He told me earlier he wrote Best Buy's corporate office for customer support a nasty email laying out the situation and what was said and done...and he linked in the policy that someone up thread provided.

Maybe he'll get his money back after all.

-XT

Black Sunshine

12-04-2008, 01:39 PM

Mr. Frink

12-06-2008, 04:34 AM

Are there any major retail chains that do not require a receipt for returns or exchanges?

Nordstrom's is famous for their liberal return policy. They once allowed someone to return a full set of tires......and they don't even sell tires!

Martini Enfield

12-06-2008, 05:34 AM

I hate Best Buy. I worked there for three days in customer service and had to make a woman cry because she'd bought a super-expensive car stereo system then found out that it wasn't the right size or something. She came back with the stereo, the receipt, the box, the instruction manual . . . whoops! Where's all the styrofoam packing? Already got picked up with this morning's trash? Guess you'll have to sell this at the pawn shop. Sorry.

And that's not even the incident that made me quit.

I worked in Electronics Retail Management for a number of years and this sort of thing happened a lot (People returning incomplete items, not the crying).

Here's the thing: Electronics generally have bugger-all margin in them. As in, if someone returned, say, a $50 Transistor Radio, and it was missing the styrofoam packaging or anything else, we'd have to re-sell it at a lower price; at least $5 off.

If the Radio cost us $35 we were only making $15 anyway. So we cut $5 off that and we're making $10 on the radio. Take $5 GST out and we're making $5 on that radio when it gets resold. Assuming we can re-sell it.

And that $5 isn't even going to come close to covering all the time involved in demonstrating the radio to Customer 1, going through the refund process with them, then demonstrating the product to a second[ customer (People won't take your word on it for what the radio sounds like, they want to hear it themselves).

Now, on a $50 radio we'd just do the refund anyway- happy customer etc. But when people started trying to return opened iPods because someone got them a newer model as a present a week later, or returning cordless phones missing all the packaging and with numbers etc stored in them because their cousin gave them his spare phone which he didn't need, we had to start saying "Look, I'm sorry, but No, this product is not in a resaleable condition, there's nothing wrong with it, and what are we supposed to do with a not-new item that we can't sell above cost price?"

All this is a long way of saying "Low margins have killed a lot of the leeway stores used to have with returns". Remember, they've got a clueless Corporate HQ above them demanding to know why this weeks sales figures are down .087% on this time last year, and when there's so little money to be made on the stuff in the first place, it gets very, very difficult for the staff and management to deal with.

(This was largely why I quit my job, incidentally- we just coudn't win. Make the customer happy and Head Office would chew us out for poor sales. Refuse the refund because the item was unsaleable and the customer might complain; and we'd have to take an even larger hit sales-wise when we replaced the item for the customer AND get a double chewing out from head office. Talk about a Catch-22.:mad:

Nordstrom's is famous for their liberal return policy. They once allowed someone to return a full set of tires......and they don't even sell tires!

Isn't that a well-debunked Urban Myth?

Jas09

12-06-2008, 08:30 AM

I'll just post a quick counter-example regarding Best Buy. I got a Wii game for my birthday in July (it probably wasn't even from Best Buy but I knew they stocked the game). It had no Best Buy sticker and I had no receipt. I selected a game I wanted that was the same price as the one I got as a gift and they did the exchange with no problem. Was this against their store policy? I have no idea. Did they somehow lose money by being reasonable people? I don't see how - they get to sell the item on their shelves (less any cost associated with restocking it). I guess the only opportunity for loss is if the game was stolen.

diggleblop

12-09-2008, 11:46 AM

The Best Buy in my area only takes back unopened software for a refund. If it is opened, you can't get a refund, you can only get another, unopened, exact copy of the software you are bringing back. But I found a loophole.

If you bring back opened software, exchange it for a new, unopened box of the same software. Carry it home and DO NOT open it. The next day, bring it back unopened and they have to give you your money back. It worked for me on many PC games.

hajario

12-09-2008, 11:56 AM

Nordstrom's is famous for their liberal return policy. They once allowed someone to return a full set of tires......and they don't even sell tires!

When is this bit of bullshit going to finally die?

hajario

12-09-2008, 12:00 PM

Hi, Neighbor!

12-09-2008, 12:21 PM

Best Buy's return policy has given me many headaches, so you can imagine how pleasantly shocked I was during my most recent return, in which things went SMOOTHLY!

I had purchased a new digital camera because my old one was dropped onto pavement and suffered irreparable damage. This time, I added the store warranty. Anyways, later that night at a Philadelphia Sixers game, I stood up to cheer and my friend put the camera down on my chair. I sat down on it and broke this camera as well.

The following week, I took it to Best Buy and was informed that there was nothing they could do to fix it. My only option was to replace it. That was fine by me, except one thing.. since the time I purchased it, a newer model came out, so the store no longer carried mine and ergo could not swap it. Fuck! Also, the newer model was $30 more expensive. I just purchased an extra battery and other accessories for it, so I didn't just want store credit for another camera.

Anyways, with little fight at all, they upgraded me to the newer camera and didn't even charge me more. My batteries and memory cards were still compatible with this one, too.

Dangerosa

12-09-2008, 01:46 PM

Isn't that a well-debunked Urban Myth?

The tires, yes. But the return policy - Nordstrom does have a wonderous return policy. Of course, the last thing I bought there was a bra for $130 - I think they still have margin left. A nice, functional, rather plain but high quaility bra in an unusual size.

WalMart has a relatively liberal return policy despite have slender margins - if you are planning on returning something - try WalMart. Sometimes they'll take Best Buy's stuff back.

Enderw24

12-09-2008, 02:19 PM

So just to summarize, we have in this thread people who can't understand why various chains have such strict and uncompromising return policies...and other people swapping tips and loopholes that circumvent those policies.
Makes sense to me.

Hampshire

12-09-2008, 02:54 PM

(This was largely why I quit my job, incidentally- we just coudn't win. Make the customer happy and Head Office would chew us out for poor sales. Refuse the refund because the item was unsaleable and the customer might complain; and we'd have to take an even larger hit sales-wise when we replaced the item for the customer AND get a double chewing out from head office. Talk about a Catch-22.:mad:

That takes me back to my BBY manager days. They really did have the managers by the balls. Two of the "measurables" your store was graded on were "customer satisfaction" scores and "return/exchange" over ride rate.
The two were extreme opposites when looking at scores district wide. If you had high customer satisfaction scores your return/exchange rate was crap because it meant you werebreaking policy to keep people happy.
If you had a nice low return/exchange rate your customer satisfaction scores were crap since you were pissing off customers by holding tight to store policy.
You couldn't win.

crazyjoe

12-09-2008, 03:47 PM

Do you know anyone else who bought a nano from Best Buy recently? Use their receipt to return it.

Also, something I found out because of the incredibly cheap shitty thermal ink they use on the receipts....if you're a member of the Best Buy Rewards Club, they can reprint the receipt for you. I had an extended warranty on a wireless speaker, and I tried returning it after about 6 months. The receipt was all but illegible, they had to print out a new one.

Martini Enfield

12-09-2008, 06:58 PM

The two were extreme opposites when looking at scores district wide. If you had high customer satisfaction scores your return/exchange rate was crap because it meant you werebreaking policy to keep people happy.
If you had a nice low return/exchange rate your customer satisfaction scores were crap since you were pissing off customers by holding tight to store policy.
You couldn't win.

And you probably discovered, as I did, that trying to walk a middle ground just pissed everybody off...

SenorBeef

12-10-2008, 04:27 AM

Hampshire

12-10-2008, 08:10 AM

I bought a GPS unit from Best Buy a few months ago. It was faulty - it frequently refused to power on. So I went in shortly after purchasing, full receipt, all that - and they let me exchange it for the same model, less a 15% restocking fee. The unit they sold me was defective, but I had to pay for an exchange. They told me that once it's open, you pay the fee, regardless.

Is that standard for retail business now or specific to best buy? That irritated me.

No, they shouldn't have charged you a restocking fee. From post #23:
RESTOCKING FEE A restocking fee of 15% will be charged on opened
notebook computers, projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, radar detectors,
GPS/navigation and in-car video systems unless defective or prohibited by law.

Harmonious Discord

12-10-2008, 08:19 AM

I had a store give me grief for a defective item return. The problem was their thermal paper receipt was illegible. I was like that's your problem for using thermal paper. Thermal paper printouts easily go bad.

myskepticsight

12-10-2008, 09:23 AM

Who gives someone an expensive electronic gift and no gift receipt? Or just any gift with a possibility of being fucked up upon opening?

Your sister should have gotten and given you a gift receipt. What if the iPod didn't work? SOL? Waste $150 or however much it was?
If you did not like your gift you should have asked for the receipt. It's not like it costs $276675 to mail a letter from Ireland to the US.
If you can't either tell your sister the truth "I'd much rather have a Touch" or lie "Can I have the receipt this Nano is wonky and I need to exchange it" then you should quit your bitching - there was a solution but you just didn't want to try.

I would not expect any store like Best Buy to take something back without a receipt - even if it has a BB sticker on it. Could have been stolen. Could even have gotten lucky and found one in the store that was not locked up. I worked at a Circuit City and while yes that company is a piece of shit, people tried to rip us off, scam us, etc ALL THE TIME. Much as these big box stores often deserve our contempt they are just trying to be profitable.

I don't know if I am just lucky or what but I can't recall returning any items really except a necklace my aunt bought me and she told me when I was opening it "sorry it's ugly I broke the one I was going to give to my son's girlfriend right before she came over so I gave her yours, here is the receipt." I probably should have returned some jeans I ordered online because they were ugly but I didn't.....but all my electronics (albeit a small number) work just fine.

Cagey Drifter

12-10-2008, 09:28 AM

I had this exact same situation happen to me with a DVD. Not opened, labels still on it... They wouldn't take it back. I escalated it to a manager, and still no deal. Those guys apparently don't realize that the damage this does for their business is much worse than the "harm" caused by exchanging perfectly good merchandise.

RandMcnally

12-10-2008, 10:10 AM

Fuck Best Buy. I will never shop there again after buying a copy of Call of Duty 4 that had the wrong disk shipped with it. They absolutely refused to exchange it in the store.

Did that really happen? I have never heard of that, I guess from now on I'll make them open the package in front of me before I pay for it.

Really Not All That Bright

12-10-2008, 10:15 AM

AngryIrishLass

12-10-2008, 10:21 AM

You know your sister can go into BB and get a copy of the receipt herself? If she used a credit card, she can do it online.

Jeff

12-10-2008, 10:25 AM

Did that really happen? I have never heard of that, I guess from now on I'll make them open the package in front of me before I pay for it.

I had it happen to me. Bought a copy of Civ4 which had 2 of disk #2 and no disk #1. They flat-out refused to exchange it for me.

Foxy40

12-10-2008, 11:35 AM

Best Buy lost me as a customer several years back. I ordered something on line to pick up at the store. I thought I was being so clever by paying for it, printing out the information as instructed and zipping in and out to pick it up.

How wrong I was. Although they did have a "pick up sign"..there was only one line. A line for exchanges and problems. The line had at least 50 people on it and each one had a story.

I got a manager and explained I only wanted to pick up the merchandise I had already paid for. I asked if I could at least go to a register which also had lines but much shorter. Sorry he said, you must wait your turn at this counter.

I cancelled the order and have never gone back.

diggleblop

12-10-2008, 12:18 PM

The BBs near me all open the replacement software in front of you and put a new seal on (a green sticker) to prevent this.

I guess they got wise to what people were doing.

Zulema

12-10-2008, 02:13 PM

I used to work at a Kmart in a crappy suburb of Detroit and the lengths people would go through to steal merchandise and try to return it for cash was unbelievable. If they spent half that time and brainpower towards pursuing an honest career they could make a good living. I'm surprised we can return anything even with a receipt and I'm certainly not surprised if they demand one. By now the thieves are probably shrink wrapping guttless ipods in perfect looking packaging and printing their own BB stickers.

On the other side is my father-in-law demanding that a store accept a shirt back that they didn't even sell. His justification was that to keep him happy they could go to the other store themselves and get their money. He got what he wanted but I'm sure a lot of people thought he was a super asshole that day.

One more - My mother-in-law would always buy things at Hudson's so we could return them at Dayton's since we don't live in Michigan. We could never figure out why she would send the wrong sizes, they weren't even close to correct. My husband took a shirt to Dayton's to get the correct size, they didn't have the shirt anymore so they gave him 35.00 as a return. Later he called his mom and found out she paid 50 cents for it at the Hudson's clearance place. Now we know she was just grabbing whatever because it was cheap. We started just giving the clothes away or saving them until the children got bigger.

So, can you blame the stores when everyone, in all levels of society, is trying to put one over on the retailer?

Drain Bead

12-10-2008, 03:02 PM

Oh yes, the old reliables:

"Diamonds: Take her breath away!"

"Giver her a diamond and leave her speechless"

Or in short: "Diamonds. That'll shut her up."

Diamonds. She'll pretty much have to. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ur2er-STls)

Septima

12-10-2008, 05:17 PM

The thread has given me some perspective on my annoyance...but I'm still a bit peeved at it and I'm wondering how people who get Christmas gifts are going to handle returns. Are they all going to ask whoever gave them their gifts for a receipt so they can take it back? Are people going to be forced to send the receipts with their gifts just in case the person wants to take it back...or if it's broken and they HAVE to take it back? In which case, the box would most certainly be open as well. How is THAT going to work out?

When someone gives me something that is expensive/easily breakable/maybe the wrong size, I always get a little envelope with it, in which they put the receipt. Some stores even do it automatically, when they giftwrap stuff (typically electronics).

dwc1970

12-10-2008, 06:11 PM

And that's not even the incident that made me quit.

So what was the incident that made you quit? Curious minds wanna know.

Guinastasia

12-10-2008, 06:13 PM

I had it happen to me. Bought a copy of Civ4 which had 2 of disk #2 and no disk #1. They flat-out refused to exchange it for me.

The problem is, how do they know you didn't take it out and then swap it with the other? It's again, a Catch-22.

Jeff

12-10-2008, 06:44 PM

Well as it turned out a lot of copies of Civ4 shipped with incomplete sets of disks, sadly I didn't know that at the time or I might have used that as leverage.

Needless to say I've since discovered an Electronics Boutique near the Best Buy and they will be getting my games business from now on as they have a much better return policy. Not that I'm pissed off at Best Buy, they were simply shipped bad product and the clerk was adhering to their returns policy. But ultimately I'm still out $50 (and naturally will be pirating a copy & burning a new #1 disk), so someone else is getting my business from now on.

zenith

12-11-2008, 11:20 AM

Are there any major retail chains that do not require a receipt for returns or exchanges?

I want to know in case I ever want to try returning merchandise to a place that I didn't actually buy it from. (Just kidding. I do not condone this practice.)

As recently as last summer, Walmart didn't require a receipt.

However, they did ask the approximate date of purchase and scanned the UPC code so as to determine that the item actually was in their inventory on or near that particular date and what the price was.

This type of info is all at Best buy's fingertips, as it was for Walmart. It's just that Best Buy is a bunch of assholes.