# Steamed at Best Buy **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 3, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432 "2008-12-03T01:04:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/21 "2008-12-03T03:10:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > 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.” ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/22 "2008-12-03T03:18:40Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > 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!” ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/23 "2008-12-03T03:27:23Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/24 "2008-12-03T03:32:16Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/25 "2008-12-03T03:32:41Z")
It’s people like [Caricci’s brother](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=495643) that lead to rants like this. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/26 "2008-12-03T03:33:13Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/27 "2008-12-03T03:44:07Z")
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. 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/28 "2008-12-03T04:30:28Z")
> [@MikeG](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/29 "2008-12-03T06:08:36Z")
> [@Santo\_Rugger](#): > > 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 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/30 "2008-12-03T19:45:26Z")
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”. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/31 "2008-12-03T19:58:57Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > 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! 😛 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. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/32 "2008-12-03T20:14:08Z")
> [@astro](#): > > 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. “Well duh, bro… you have to take it out of the BOX first!” _\_ ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/33 "2008-12-03T20:19:00Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Well then it’s a good thing sis didn’t give you diamonds! 😛 > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/34 "2008-12-03T20:28:26Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/35 "2008-12-03T20:34:23Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![scule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@scule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scule)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/36 "2008-12-03T20:39:17Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Well then it’s a good thing sis didn’t give you diamonds! 😛 > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/37 "2008-12-03T21:00:59Z")
> [@scule](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/38 "2008-12-03T21:44:10Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/39 "2008-12-03T21:53:55Z")
Wait, so Best Buy is the bad guy because you have some sort of issues with your sister? ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432/40 "2008-12-03T22:02:00Z")
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 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/steamed-at-best-buy/475432.md?page=3)