“Forget it, msmith537. It’s Best Buy.”
I worked at Best Buy when I was in high school. When I told people where I worked they acted like I just told them I raped children. Everyone hated this store. So I decided to strike a blow for all the people that had suffered under Best Buy’s evil. So to cheer everyone up I stole a few thousand dollars worth of stuff from the place. I also pissed on the toilet seat my last day there.
Oh and I didn’t work that hard either.
Well that would make you the employee with the highest education. Why didn’t you tell people you did something respectable…like child pornography or something?
I don’t understand that either. How can an XBox360 game be shipped with a URL?
Hahaha. Sorry, but I like that line.
“So I got into a bit of a tiff with the manager. I mean, the details don’t really matter, but long story short, my pretrial hearing is on the 28th.”
What you do is this. Since they won’t give money back offers for software because it’s been opened, they usually only give you the exact same software off the shelf to replace the “defective” software. For instance, I bought a Call of Duty computer game there once and got home and found that my mom bought the same one earlier that day, but I had already opened it. I wanted my money back, though. So, I carried it back to Best Buy and exchanged it for another Call of Duty off the shelf and went home. What I DIDN’T do this time was *open the box.
(See, if you don’t open the box, they have to take it back and give you your money back.)*
So, the very next day, I carried it back and got my money back. I’m not sure if this will help you, but there are loopholes everywhere.
Yeah, in the absence of detail we’ll make up our own:
“So I introduces the manager to my pals Mr Smith and Mister Wesson, and after a fun conversation that ended up with a few more “broken” Xboxes, I walked out.”
I think msmith537 is saying that, instead of a DVD with an Xbox 360 game encoded on it, he found a PeoplePC CD inside the box. Basically, at some point during the game’s trip from the DVD pressing plant to msmith537’s hand, someone opened the retail box, removed the game DVD, put a PeoplePC CD in the box, and resealed it. This sort of thing seems to be on the rise. Consumerist has a number of stories where unwitting people have bought new electronics in sealed packages, only to find that the equipment has been replaced by worthless dummy materials, like so:
http://consumerist.com/339194/future-shop-sends-you-two-blocks-of-wood-instead-of-a-router
http://consumerist.com/338093/eb-games-sells-you-a-phone-book-in-a-ps3-box-for-the-low-low-price-of-500
Stores are often completely unwilling to refund such purchases, at least until it gets on Consumerist or similar, where corporate steps in.
Most places will now open the software/dvd/cd what have you when make the exchange to effectively get rid of this loophole.
FYI.
Ew.
This will not end well.
Exactly
I bought a camcorder from Best Buy last year. (Not that location, the one in Soho.) The way they have them on display in the store is with the security device on the bottom so you can’t actually open it to insert a tape and test the record function on the store model. Everything looked great, I had read reviews about that model online previous that were positive, it was a good price and when I asked if they would price match B&H they said “No problem” and took about $30 off the price. (Remember that.) Transaction went fabulous and very smoothly. That day.
I come home and that night I test the camcorder. I find that when it actually has a tape inside and is recording, there is a very loud whining noise that makes the camcorder completely useless for my purposes. I mean, when I recorded a few seconds in a quiet room, all you could hear on the tape was a high-pitched whine. Horrible, and for that kind of money, forget it. I search online that night to find a different brand with all the same features, and finally settle on a suitable replacement. I see that the Best Buy on 44th St has that model in stock. The very next day, I go to the other Best Buy, with everything back in the box, all packaging, receipt, etc, and a printout from B&H’s website of a lower price for the second model. My objective is to simply return the defective one, and buy the other model. Seems easy right?
They will not accept return of the defective camera unless I pay a restocking fee of around $50! It’s defective! I didn’t even have it for 24 hours! And the kicker is I am willing to pay more for the second one than I did for the first and yet they are refusing to refund my money! To restock a **defective **camera!? I tell them I want to speak with a manager about this. I end up talking with them and waiting for around half an hour as several people discuss the matter in the back room, long story short, I never yell or speak obscenities but I make it clear I am not going to drop the matter until they agree to refund my money. Finally, the sales clerk comes back out and says that Yes, they will refund the entire amount but that this is a onetime thing and not to expect it again. (The hell? So he basically just said that if you buy something at Best Buy that craps out on you, expect to have the honor of paying them to take it back.)
At this point I’m standing by the customer service desk, with the second camcorder in my hand, and I just want to get out of there so I ask if they will pricematch B&H for the second one, and the girl (a different one than who was involved earlier) says that they don’t pricematch B&H. I show her on the receipt for the first camera where it says the price was reduced and how the people at the other store had absolutely no issue with it. She says that the other store was incorrect and should not have done that. So finally I just tell them to forget it, I will not be buying the other camera, and leave. Best Buy ends up getting $0 of my money when I was willing to spend much more. The next day I go to B&H and just buy the thing there, where everyone is very helpful and actually knowledgeable about the products the sell!
So in conclusion, fuck Best Buy!
(And the reason I didn’t go to B&H to begin with is they have odd hours and Best Buy is down the block from where I work.)
Laughing and crying, you know it’s a fact
They’re not laughing, they’re crying
Cos’ they won’t be back
No, you don’t come back
Not from Chinatown
Diddly-diddly–EE-EE-diddly-diddly-EEEE!
Their policy is pretty straight forward. It’s even printed directly on their receipts. If it’s defective they will exchange it for the same model.
You decided you wanted a different model. People who decide they don’t like the camcorder they just bought and want a different one (even if the first was defective) pay a $50 restocking fee.
All the “stupid” policies are put into place for a reason. Usually because people have found a way to abuse the system and then they abuse it to death. Give me a “stupid” policy and I’ll tell you why it exsists.
“Why do they want to charge me a 10% restocking fee on a camcorder just because it’s open and I had it for a week?”
Answer: Cause people were abusing the system by purchasing one, taking it on vacation/wedding/birthday etc, making a recording, and then returining the unit for a full refund. Why rent one when you can use this method free of charge right? Then the store suddenly has boxes of one week used/open camcorders. You really think they can ask full price for a camcorder that’s been opened and used? Would you pay full price for an open/used camcorder? Me neither.
Thus comes the 10% restocking fee. Cuts down on the “free rent” abusers and covers the cost of reselling open box units.
That store is less than a block away from my office. I’ve got a bigger problem with the security guards who always want to frisk you on the way out. I’ve got no problem flashing a receipt, but they always seem to want to treat people like criminals. Now I just blow past them when they ask me to stop.
This is one of the better Best Buy experiences I’ve read; you got lucky. Somtimes they handcuff you to a pole, arrested just for coming in, tasered, or have you arrested for something they themselves advertise that they do – comparison-shopping.
Sailboat
I get that. And I can understand why that would the policy if all I wanted was a refund. But the way they had it set up seemed like some kind of scam: Sell defective items and then when people return them they still have to pay a fee.
From Best Buy’s website:
Nowhere in there does it say they will only exchange for the same item. The only things that is true for is computer software, movies, CDs & video games. Stuff that people can copy and send back.
Please tell me this is an exaggeration.
Is this another of your halfwit attempts at comedy, or are you actually confessing to grand larceny?