!@#$%& Best Buy! And Ent. Weekly, Too!

The BBQ Pit
1

SO last October I go into Best Buy and pick up a USB cable. I get to the checkout and the little FemBot asks me if I want 10 free issues of Entertainment Weekly. I tell her nom I do NOT want 10 free issues of Entertainment Weekly, thank you very much.

So what starts showing up in my mail box? Entertainment Weekly.

I go back to the Best Buy I purchased the cable from, with the two issues of Entertainment Weekly I had so far received, go to the Customer Service (HA!) counter, slap down the magazines, and tell them:

A) I don’t want these magazines;
B) I didn’t ask for these magazines;
C) I want them to take my name off of their mailing list;
D) Thank You Very Much.

SO what keeps showing up in my mail box? Entertainment Weekly!

Now, I was unemployed for a good bit last year, and December was a very tight month for me (regualr bills, XMas, property taxes, etc.). But I watched my budget (and balance) like a hawk, and had ~$30 to my name at the end of the month.

When, lo-and-behold, a charge of $39.95 appears on my account for (drumroll, please!) the annual subscription fee to Entertainment Weekly! Overdraft ensues, along with overdraft fees, yada-yada, you know where this goes.

I call up Entertainment Weekly, and get the “let me connect you to the dept. that handles that” runaround for precious minutes of my life, before being told that I had had ample opportunity to cancel my subscription prior to being charged.

I (initially, at least) explain that I never had a subscription to Entertainment Weekly, had declined any free offers to Entertainment Weekly at the checkout counter at Best Buy, and had indeed taken my first two installments of Entertainment Weekly back to Best Buy with explicit instructions to remove my name and address from their list.

The drone on the other end tells me that because I continued to receive weekly installment to Entertainment Weekly, and because I never returned them, that I had de facto agreed to a subscription.

Blood pressure rises, steam shoots out of my ears and nose, eyes turn red, and I go ballistic on the drone, with threats of legal from me and my bank, and governmental action from my state’s Consumer Affairs Bureau if I’m not creditied $39.95 back to my account. This seems to pierce the veil of obtuseness on the other end of the line, and I’m promised a full refund, “stat!”

Apparently, to the folks at Entertainment Weekly, “stat!” is almost three weeks.

But the money is back, the overdraft fees refunded (Thank You, Bank of America!), and I’m of a mind to never, ever, under any circumstances, set foot in a Best Buy again.

So a Hi-Ho-Hearty “FUCK YOU!” to Best Buy and Entertainment Weekly!

2

Best Buy is the devil. Their clerks lie about the benefits of their extended warranties. Doing business with them is like doing business with Russian vendors with mafia ties.
Pay cash for merchandise you know is good and made by a vendor that stands behind what they sell.
But basically, I won’t go in again. Ever. Unless it’s with someone else who’s shopping there, but my wallet will remain in my pocket. I’d rather give my money to NAMBLA than those crooks.

3

What do you mean by this: *a charge of $39.95 appears on my account *?

Did they charge your credit card somehow without your permission? If so, that’s way, way out of line.

I wish we consumers had more control over credit card payments and charges. If somebody sends me a bill for something I didn’t ask for I can just throw it away and not pay it. The situation changes dramatically once they have my credit card numer in hand. Then they can just take your money and it’s up to you to dispute it later.

4

It’s fun to mess with the drones who work there. I never give out my zip code, which puzzles them sometimes. The semi-smart ones just randomly punch in 5 numbers and continue with the checkout. The majority, though, just vapor-lock. This can be a very entertaining way of spending a few minutes if you aren’t in any kind of a hurry. But yeah, Best Buy is Satanistic at best.

5

Well I paid for the USB cable with my debit card, at the same time declining the 10 free issues thingy. Maybe the cashier drone accidentally hit “yes” instead of “no” on that, and enrolled me in the subscription program. But that should’ve been rectifed in early Nov. when I went back to Best Buy specifically to get Entertainment Weekly to stop clogging my mailbox with their craptastic magazine.

I suppose I could’ve initially called Entertainment Weekly direct, but since it was a Best Buy promotional, and it’s fairly close to where I live (and closer to where I work), I started with them, first.

6

What happened to you sucks, but you really should’ve contacted Entertainment Weekly immediately. BB couldn’t be counted on to not fuck up and give you the unwanted subscription - why would you think them competant enough to cancel it?

7

Hindsight is 20/20. I would anticipate that if I called EW on such an issue, they’d say, “I’m sorry, you need to talk with Best Buy about this: it’s their promotion, and all subscriptions are handled by them.” If someone fucks up, I figure they’re the ones with the power to fix it, not somebody else who didn’t fuck up.

Daniel

8

And did the BB person make some sort of response to this which would reasonably lead you to believe that this course of action would prove to be successful? You left that part out.

9

I regulary give a fake zip code when asked. 90210 comes to mind…

10

To antagonize you even further, I got a USB cable at wal-mart once, for about $9, versus $25 at Best Buy.

11

I do this too. I give them my work postal code. I used to be in the “no, you cannot have my postal code” camp, but I gave up. While playing with the drones and managers was sometimes fun, most times it just elevated everyone’s blood pressure.

Actually, I think I’m going to start giving them the postal code and phone number of the prime minister’s house. Let him get all the damn flyers…

12

I’ve gotten asked for a second phone number a few times, when I had my phone number printed on my checks, so I just made one up.

13

Had an interesting Best Buy experience last weekend.

My washer died, and my dryer had been dying for some time, so I elected to get a new laundry. I’m working long hours these days, so I had to wait for the weekend to go looking. All the small local businesses were closed. I went to a medium sized, semilocal business, found a washer dryer combo I liked, pulled out my credit card. At that point, the salesman mentioned I would need to stay home from work sometime during the week for the delivery.

I explained that this isn’t an option for me, and could they deliver on the weekend, in the evening, or could they even plan to deliver it at lunchtime, when I could run home to recieve? No, they couldn’t. My only option was to stay home from work all day waiting for their arbitrary delivery time. I told the salesman “If you’re not able to work with me on this, I can’t do business with you. I can’t lose my job to recieve a delivery.” His response? “I’m sorry.” Turned his back and walked away.

My last option was BB. I’ve never been thrilled with BB, but in the absence of any other options, what could I do? They had the same washer/dryer I wanted in the other store, but for $50 more :rolleyes: . When I explained that I couldn’t wait for delivery during weekdays, the fembot told me “Well, we have the same delivery restrictions as the other place you went to, but we will work something out, I promise. This won’t be a problem.” And they did. Made me take back a lot of bad things I’ve said about BB.

What’s depressing about this is that this is exactly why BB exists and continues to thrive. Call them evil if you will, but they’re simply doing a better job than everyone else, which is why they will continue to dominate the marketplace. If other merchants don’t pull their heads out of their collective butts and start giving decent service and hours like BB, then pretty soon we’ll only have BB.

And given what I experienced last weekend, that might not be such a bad thing.

But you’re right to be angry about the Entertainment Weekly thing. That’s just slimy.

14

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again here: go to Best Buy if, and only if, you know exactly what you want (meaning you’ve researched the pros and cons of that particular product and are familiar with its features and reliability). If you do that, you can usually save yourself a few bucks; their prices are pretty good. If you intend to do any amount of “shopping around”, or have even the most minor of questions about the ups and downs of various brands/models, avoid BB like the plague, or you will get burned.

Also, if BB wants your zip code and you don’t want to give it, give the the zip for Plattsburgh, NY (12901). Their commercial sector is growing rapidly and they could use a discount electronics joint.

15

Regarding the OP, did the receipt indicate in any way that you’d agreed to the EW subscription?

16

I like Best Buy. Not only have I never had any problem here, but they are exceptionally nice and helpful. This is Upstate NY, btw.

17

This same magazine subscription deal happened to my girlfriend through Ulta II ( a discount hair/makeup/lord knows what store). She apparently agreed to receive a subscription to some fashion magazine that took up most of our little apartment mailbox when it arrived. To be fair, she did say she wanted the free issues, but what gets me is how can they do that without implicitly stating that you’re getting a subscription charge eventually? Where’s the “fine print” on a deal like that? I can’t imagine that it’s legal to do.

18

They’re bending over backward to satisfy the suddenly exploding demand in Plattsburgh.

19

The one time I fell for the “free magazine issues” offer, the very first magazine I got had a special cover over the normal cover informing me that after the trial period I would be charged, and in order not to be charged I had to notify them before a certain time.

20

Magazine Guy here.

Yep, utterly legal. And, mostly, a first-year money loser (based on sub price) for the magazines involved. Mostly consumer-oriented, they use those ‘free’ subs to make rate base and keep advertisers happy.

I don’t condone the practice and I’ve rarely worked on consumer mags. But it’s legal and done all the time.

Your best response is always to decline the offer. If you DO receive the magazine for some reason call them or write ‘cancel’ on the offer form they should include with the first few issues. Either of those methods should end the trouble PDQ.