Best Buy or not such a best buy

**Markj** · 07 May 2001, 15:48 Monday

Ok Lex I will stop buying at Best Buy too. There are other stores that I can spend my money in. If a saleperson indicates that there would be no problem than the store should honor that!

**Lex** · 07 May 2001, 17:15 Monday

Mark, thanks. I am really not looking for a solidarity movement here or anything. I just wanted to share with you guys the story, and my action.

I addressed this letter to the President of Best Buy, the Vice President of Best Buy, and the Southern Region Manager. I also requested store 169 be copied on the letter.

Soon, I will find out what kind of company they in fact are. Or will I?

Lex

**Andrew Pratt** · 07 May 2001, 20:04 Monday

Doug my advice is to get in touch with the regional manager and the sales rep for that brand and go to town...only then will you likely get the results you want

**Bing Fung** · 07 May 2001, 22:36 Monday

Well Done Lex... And in a show of solidarity, I too will not buy from Best Buy :B

Bing

**John Holmes** · 08 May 2001, 00:56 Tuesday

Sorry to hear about the BS. I have never shopped there anyway so this will give me more reason not to!

"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

**Robbie** · 08 May 2001, 10:39 Tuesday

Sorry for your pain, BB has always had the worst service and knowledgeable sales staff of any of the large chain stores.

Hope you can resolve the issue without blowing up the place.

Robbie

**Lex** · 08 May 2001, 17:41 Tuesday

Here's the standard reply. I know a form letter when I see one.

Boy, don't I feel special.

----------

Thank you for taking the time to contact Best Buy's Corporate Headquarters
via e-mail. I was sorry to read of your difficulties. Please allow me to
address your concerns accordingly.

Please accept my apologies, on behalf of Best Buy, for any frustration or
confusion that has arisen from your recent attempt to make this return or
exchange. In regards to your inquiry about our return policy, those products
normally falling under the 30 day return and exchange policy that are
purchased on or after November 1 through December 24 qualify for the
holiday/gift return and exchange policy. These items may be returned or
exchanged, within normal policy guidelines, from December 26 through January
24. Since this 30-day time frame has elapsed, our Knoxville store correctly
informed you that we would be unable to accommodate your request to return
or exchange the CD player. You do have the option of having the unit sent
in for service. If you have a Performance Service Plan on the unit, you may
bring it into our store to have it sent off for service. However, if you
are under the manufacturer's warranty, I would advise you to contact the
manufacturer regarding repairs to the unit.

In closing, thank you again for your e-mail. I am sorry if these experiences
tarnished your opinion of Best Buy as a whole, and I truly hope that you
will continue to be a valued customer.

Sincerely,

Angela Schmidt
Consumer Relations Internet Correspondent
Best Buy Co., Inc.

**P-Dub** · 08 May 2001, 18:13 Tuesday

Are you sure it's a standard reply? They did mention Xmas, and Knoxville. And they do hope that you'll continue to be a valued customer.

Yeah, right. You think this person's job is to type these things out everyday?

**Lex** · 08 May 2001, 22:49 Tuesday

I figure it's a standard fill in the blank reply, but could be wrong. Fact is, I didn't address it to her to begin with, it was addressed above her.

Lex

**Markj** · 09 May 2001, 09:58 Wednesday

Once again the sale drone gave you miss-information and BB doesn’t give a rats ass about that. Sorry that this happened to you Lex.

**Lex** · 09 May 2001, 11:04 Wednesday

My Reply to her after the above message:

I think I made myself perfectly clear what it will take to get me back into
this store. Nothing short of a return, did I not say?
You big companies think you can tell a person one thing at the time of the
sale, then when a problem arises, hide behind your written policy. Perhaps
you should spend some time and money educating what appears to be an
incompetent Sales staff that probably was only working after school. I
would not have bought it at all for Christmas had I been told the truth-
The option of going back to the manufacturer is NOT NOT NOT good enough
when one of your agents told me I would not have a problem returning it if
there was a problem. Doesn't matter what's written on policy, it's what
your agent tells me that should be done- I told him we were not getting her
car until close to May, and my being responsible for a product that was BAD
when I bought it is not fair given what I was told!!! Further, your not the
person that I addressed this letter to anyway, now are you?
So, in short, if that's the best you can do, I will be shopping at Circuit
City, Comp USA, and other stores that actually have taken care of me in the
past.
ANY company worth it's salt has exceptions for situations that crop up where
one of their salespeople told the customer he would do something. If you
can't take care of me better than this, then I DON'T WANT TO DO BUSINESS
WITH YOU.
Please send me the phone number for your Southeast Regional Manager. That's
who is responsible for this store, not you. Perhaps he will want to do a
rundown by CC history just what I have bought there, and see what a VALUABLE
customer they are turning away. Not only that, but one that communicates.
Your right about one thing, it is frustration, but your not right about the
confusion part. I am not confused about what I was told AT THE TIME OF THE
SALE.
Doug

**Lex** · 09 May 2001, 11:07 Wednesday

Her last reply, and note she did NOT give me the phone number I asked for above-

Lex

Thank you for your reply. This office was created to assist with customer
questions and concerns related to our Best Buy retail stores. Therefore, I
replied to your e-mail. I have filed a complaint on your behalf here at
the corporate offices. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience that our
adherence to company policy may have caused you.

Sincerely,

Angela Schmidt
Consumer Relations Internet Correspondent
Best Buy Co., Inc.

**Lex** · 09 May 2001, 11:13 Wednesday

My last reply:

Angela, this is absolutely nothing personal. Exactly what does that mean you have filed a complaint on it? Is that a black hole, where you throw all disgruntled customers? Is that a higher up Manager that will be in touch with me? Just what does this mean?

Is there a reason you did not give me the phone number I requested for the Southeast Region Manager?

**SiliGoose** · 09 May 2001, 12:07 Wednesday

Lex,

What about Aiwa? I feel bad for the raw deal you've received but it seems to me it's more Aiwa's fault than Best Buy. After all, Aiwa made the piece of junk that is the bane of your troubles.

The warranty from Aiwa is almost certainly better than any you'd receive from a retailer.

-Sili

**Trevor Schell** · 09 May 2001, 12:58 Wednesday

They should give you a credit for the unit,,done deal since the store will get a full credit on the stereo anyways. Sure there are store policies,,but the manager could make an exception and in this case he definately could have and should have. He made a big error and misjudgement.

Keep being persistant Lex!,,Hopefully they take care of you in the end..To bad it had to go this far already.
I will never shop at Best Buy!,,but that's easy since we don't have one in Toon-Town.
OK,,I won't shop at Future Shop anymore.

Trevor
My HomeTheater S.E.
Sonically Enhanced
C5

**Lex** · 09 May 2001, 15:29 Wednesday

As it turns out, the store has the final say on this matter, just talked to a manager, and that's no go, he won't do dick. I pleaded my case, and lost.

I talked to the supervisor at corporate, and he won't do dick either. I told them I was a professional, internet entreprenuer, home theater addict, and could spend thousands with them over the next few years, but nothing made any difference. They are for a fact a company so big, as to not consider each individual customer and the importance of them, NOR the ramifications of not treating them right, and obviously do not subscribe to the idea of a "satisfaction guarantee". NOR the idea that they do what their sales people tell customers they will do.

Their attitude is apparently "Never believe the customer, unless you can verify it." It's a sad day in America when this is what shopping has come to. No longer will I shop at Best Buy. Officially, I am completely boycotting their store, products, and services.

I tell you folks, NEVER buy from BB without reading their return policy. Never believe a word out of the ordinary the rep tells you, unless you get it in writing.

I hope that this proves of benefit to someone considering major purchases. Yes, my situation was out of the ordinary. But isn't the true measure of a store or service how they take care of you in the exceptions? the routine stuff is easy.

In fact, the old saying that "the customer is always right", couldn't be further from the truth now at most of corporate America.

Lex

**AndrewM** · 09 May 2001, 16:30 Wednesday

Doug,

I'll pull this advice from when I was the sole purchasing agent for all the technical stuff for a fairly large sized business. Don't do anything by email, sure it leaves a paper trail, but that don't mean a whole lot right now. All you have is form letters and some $10/hr customer care dweeb who doesn't really care if you are happy or not. Pick up the phone, call the Best Buy corporate HQ and ask to speak to the CEO, you'll most likely get headed off by an admin assistant (but not always), and plead your case there. Don't get "pissy" over the phone, although your correspondence so far has been great, but let them know you are upset over this deal, and that you would like and quite frankly expect a little more service. You're even in better luck if you get to talk to the big man himself, they're usually cool people to talk to (I've talked to the CEO or Presidents of HP, NEC, Seiko, Epson and countless other non Fortune 500's) and will actually do at least something to help. Which is usually just making a call to a top level manager, who calls the district office, etc but the order came from the top guy, and stuff gets done when that happens. Also mention your websites and the number of hits you are getting (inflate them a bit just for grins to), no company likes bad press, especially over somebody getting screwed trying to give their daughters a gift. I had a problem with a $400 Seiko watch I bought, the gold on the band was chipping and wearing off. Which I wasn't happy about (I expect it on a cheaper watch, but not something that costs that much), so I called the customer service people and they weren't much help since I was just outside some warranty period or something like that, and after talking to countless customer service people and managers, I took it to the top. I explained my problem to him, he was very sympathetic and told me to send the watch directly to their HQ with somebodies name on it (not his) and it will be taken care of, and sure enough 4 days after I sent it, I had a new watch in the mail (and an upgrade no less).

Also, if any of that doesn't work, involve your credit card company, explain to them what happened and what you have done to try and resolve the issue. Most likely they will credit you back the money and go fight Best Buy about it, in most cases the Credit Card company always sides with the consumer and it basically goes away (since Best buy isn't going to risk losing their Visa/MC/Amex/etc accounts for your radio). Explain that you have this option to which ever top level person you talk to, but don't make it seem like a threat, make it seem like a last ditch desperate act.

Andrew

**Lex** · 09 May 2001, 19:10 Wednesday

Andrew, thanks for the detailed reply. I tried the CC thing already today, and past 60 days, I have no recourse there

As far as calling? Well, your not given the option at the number they publish, and they won't patch you through to the managers.

In the end, it just looks like I am totally fucked on this deal. Sure,I can go back to the manufacturer and get the CD player fixed, but in reality, after how I have been treated by BB, I shouldn't have to. Only one man was what I would call nice, and that was the manager today at the local store. He wouldn't do shit, but at least he was sympathetic somewhat. However, IMO, they still suck.

Lex

**AndrewM** · 09 May 2001, 20:54 Wednesday

Doug,

Worst case scenerio is you can get it fixed and unload it on ebay and recoup some of your money, so all is not lost (not that I think this is 100% about the money anymore).

Did you try calling this number? Phone: (952) 947-2000
And then try and talk to any of these guys,

Richard Schulze, 59
Chairman, CEO, Director $2.6M $27.5M

Bradbury Anderson, 50
Vice Chairman, Pres, COO 1.4M 8.0M

Darren Jackson, 36
CFO -- --

Allen Lenzmeier, 56
Pres, Best Buy Retail Stores, 957K 6.0M

Elliot Kaplan, 51
Director and Sec. -- --

Thats the number to their corporate HQ. If you tried that number, I'll try and see if I can find another number by looking through some of their SEC reports (the SEC doesn't like getting customer care computer voices hehehe).

Andrew

**Lex** · 09 May 2001, 21:37 Wednesday

Andrew, thanks for the information. I don't know whether any of those guys would even pick up a phone or not. But your right, this really isn't about money now, it's the principle of the thing that gripes the hell out of me. The fact they think they can just run over a customer over "policy", regardless of what a representative of theirs tells a customer, and that's NOT right.

I do realize it could be sold, ebay, my own site, at school by my nephew, whatever.

But fact is, if they want me back in their store, they must concede for the customer ahead of policy. My boycott definitely extends through the rest of year 2001. Beyond that, I won't look to buy from them, but might weaken by then to the point I return to the store. But not this year.

Lex

**Lex** · 09 May 2001, 21:44 Wednesday

Andrew, thanks for the information. I don't know whether any of those guys would even pick up a phone or not. But your right, this really isn't about money now, it's the principle of the thing that gripes the hell out of me. The fact they think they can just run over a customer over "policy", regardless of what a representative of theirs tells a customer, and that's NOT right.

I do realize it could be sold, ebay, my own site, at school by my nephew, whatever.

But fact is, if they want me back in their store, they must concede for the customer ahead of policy. My boycott definitely extends through the rest of year 2001. Beyond that, I won't look to buy from them, but might weaken by then to the point I return to the store. But not this year.

Lex

**KennyG** · 09 May 2001, 22:09 Wednesday

WOW, I go away for a couple days, and ALOT happens!!!
We don't have a BB here, but after reading this I'd stay away if we did.
It doesn't matter what they say, this is a big company that cares about one thing...their bottom line.
They will try to spin this as best they can. One fact remains, the idot who sold the unit to you should be fired.
While it is acceptable for business to lie to us, we do not tolerate it from the people we associate with, we shouldn't tolerate it from business either. If a person has got to lie to make a buck, they're worthless.
Any company worth a damn would fire this type employee.

**Lex** · 09 May 2001, 22:16 Wednesday

Andrew, thanks for the information. I don't know whether any of those guys would even pick up a phone or not. But your right, this really isn't about money now, it's the principle of the thing that gripes the hell out of me. The fact they think they can just run over a customer over "policy", regardless of what a representative of theirs tells a customer, and that's NOT right.

I do realize it could be sold, ebay, my own site, at school by my nephew, whatever.

But fact is, if they want me back in their store, they must concede for the customer ahead of policy. My boycott definitely extends through the rest of year 2001. Beyond that, I won't look to buy from them, but might weaken by then to the point I return to the store. But not this year.

Lex

**MRWILLL** · 10 May 2001, 01:37 Thursday

Lex...

I feel for ya`. A month ago I bought a wall mounted telephone for my family room from the Good Guys. I got home, and the phone in the box was different. I called the store (to late to take back) and told them the problem. They told me to bring the phone back in tommorrow. I brought the phone back in and the assistant manager told me his store doesn't play tricks like this. I told him to go get his boss. He told me there was nothing he could do for me, and gave me a customer service number to call. By this time, I'm hot as chicken grease at KFC. I went to another Good Guys and returned the unit for a full cash refund. I went back to the original store and showed the manager what he should have done in the first place. Good Guys is off my list.

STOP!!...LOOK!!...LISTEN!!
DVD...Hear it from the people who
mixed and mastered it "LEXICON".

**Lex** · 10 May 2001, 12:52 Thursday

Unreal Will. For a fact, they thought he pulled this change himself that low life! Nevermind that a casual exchange where the clerk doesn't look at what is being traded back and they are took. The merchandise get's restocked, and boom, first person to order it, if he doesn't look, now faces the big business "anti-trust" scenerio. No, I don't mean monopoly type anti-trust. I am surprised this doesn't happen more than it does. Buy a new TV, get a rock. Buy a new radio, get a rock! Because someone took them to the cleaners.

Lex

**Westly197** · 24 May 2001, 09:17 Thursday

Thanks for the Info! I usually only buy an occasional item at Best Buy, but now I'll really watch it and prefer to give my business to another company. All of the other companies I've dealt with would be willing to correct a problem like this. Most of them have price matching policies, so there not many good reasons to shop at Best Buy! Too bad they'll probably never know how many customers they loose from these policies. Maybe someone will file a lawsuit against them one of theses days.

PS, does the salesmen that gave you the false information still work there? If so, did you try to confront him?

- Wes

My Home Theater

**Patrick Sun** · 24 May 2001, 21:12 Thursday

I dunno, there has to be some time limit, and 30 days is sufficient. I would view buying a birthday gift 5 months in advance due to a sale as taking on a risk REGARDLESS of what any sales drone says to you during the sale. Their return policies are written and posted in huge lettering on their wall near the checkout line, and on the back of their sales receipts. And it's a pretty standard policy among retailers. Heck, even Target's return window is only 90 days! You wanted 150 day window on the return policy? Does that really sound reasonable to you?

Unless you had a store manager PERSONALLY sign the receipt way back in December on that particular purchase about this "arrangement" for installation of this CD player in a car in May, I think you're just going to have to assume the risk of losing the gamble.

This isn't about the customer always being right, but that they are treated fairly, and it's a two-way street. Is it really BB's fault that the unit didn't work 5 months after you bought it? How do they know it hasn't been abused for the 5 months the CD unit was in your possession. They see these types of unreasonable requests day in and day out. They have to, as a company trying to turn a profit, draw the line somewhere, and that somewhere is within 30 days of purchase. The statutes of limitation came and went with this purchase after 30 days. Unless you get it in WRITING, nothing verbal means squat.

I think Lex is being unreasonable here.

Now carrying on this crusade to boycott BB over this seems childish to me. I would let this "thing" go. It's consumed way more of your precious time than the piddly amount of the price of the CD unit. Just let it go.

PatCave; HT Pix;Gear;DIY Projects;DVDs; LDs

**Lex** · 24 May 2001, 22:40 Thursday

Patrick, your entitled to your opinion. I never asked anyone else to boycott BB. I simply said it was a personal boycott. In fact, I went out of my way to say I am NOT encouraging a boycott.

But the fact is, the law says a Corporation is obligated to do what a representative of that corporation says they will do. Anything less is Fraud in essense. No, I could not prove it, but should I have to? Should not the corporation assume that I am truthful until proven otherwise? Wasn't my request reasonable in the sense it wasn't a 4000 TV, we are talking about a player that cost them less than 100, which they would get back anyway from the manufacturer.

Any corporation worth a grain of salt has the capability to override such decisions in the interest of maintaining good customer relations. IT DOES NOT bide well for BB, that they appear to have no such policy. Regardless of whether my request was reasonable, which I think it was.

Lex

**Patrick Sun** · 25 May 2001, 07:13 Friday

Ever buy a car where the car salesman outright lied in your face about all sorts of promises and warranties? If it's not in writing, all of those verbal promises and warranties mean nothing, and the law won't lift a finger to help you. You need to provide proof that there was an understanding of your extenuating circumstances between you and the store.

Best Buy obviously does have a policy to deal with issues like these, but you don't like their policy.

By all means, boycott BB like the plague. Personally I feel it's a silly issue to boycott them over given your side of the situation.

Do you have a 150-day money back guarentee on your SilverCats? Just trying to see things on both sides here, and playing devil's advocate.

PatCave; HT Pix;Gear;DIY Projects;DVDs; LDs

**Lex** · 25 May 2001, 07:56 Friday

Well, your doing a good job Patrick.

I do expressly state there is a 30 day refund policy on SCs and a 90 day warranty. However, I want to make it clear that I never asked for my money back from BB. I only asked for working product W/O having to go back to the manufacturer.

IFFFF at 150 days, one of my customers has a problem? All he has to do is mail them back and I will fix them at minimal cost.

IFFFF at 150 days, he decides .5s no longer work, and he needs 1 meter? As long as the cables are in as new condition, I would allow them to pay the difference to upgrade. How's that for reasonable?

I would not do a refund at 150 days, no. But I will continue to try and satisfy my customer, even with an exception policy as necessary, but not on the refund policy.

Lex

**AndrewM** · 25 May 2001, 12:12 Friday

So after 150 days a SilverCats customer has a problem, and he returns them to the manufacture (you) and it will be fixed for a minimal cost.

How is that different than Best Buy saying that you should take the unit to Aiwa (the manufacture) to be fixed?

I see both sides to this, although I agree with most of what Patrick is saying, I also think Best Buy probably didn't handle this this in the best way, I've had managers at the local BB store bend a little from their rules, but usually not a whole lot.

As to the upgrade, well some places do have an upgrade policy similiar to what you mentioned, but a lot don't. And I don't blame them for that, electronics is a totally different animal than cabling.

Andrew

**Patrick Sun** · 25 May 2001, 13:35 Friday

Lex, I rest my case.

PatCave; HT Pix;Gear;DIY Projects;DVDs; LDs

**Lex** · 25 May 2001, 21:16 Friday

Well, you cannot really fairly compare the two, as I don't have a local store, now do I? If I had BB's capital, sure I could just say I would cover it. But the fact remains, it is difficult to compare the two. Because I could have just walked in the local BB, and they could have seen that I was satisfied. But they didn't.

We have a local department store that says "no sale is ever final". Meaning, if I don't get the service out of a garment I think I should, I take the receipt and the merchandise back, and in theory, they will replace it. I have done things on these lines. Once on a pair of shoes I had for like 2 years. Never was happy with them, and they never fit right. In short, I was stuck with them. But due to a good policy, I wasn't.

Lex

**AndrewM** · 25 May 2001, 23:45 Friday

Well, I'll play a little devil's advocate here, especially since I've been very closed to being burned by Best Buy, and I have basically only go there to buy DVD's, Music, PC&PS2 games, and that's about it.

Quite frankly I'm suprised that Best Buy would let a customer go so upset over something so small, as you said this isn't a $4000 TV or something. However, they do have a policy in place, and that's all they have to abide by, and as Patrick said, that's posted in plain view in the front of the store, and on the back of the reciept. Whatever the moron sales stooge said (and about 99.5% of them are total morons) doesn't help you at all now, but I can understand (may not agree) that a large corporation can't take what you say as generally true, because for every person with a real, honest problem there will be 5 that will make some story up (sad but true).

In reality I can't blame either yourself or Best Buy, the problem with easily bendable return policies is that it raises the prices of everything in the store, since a return costs the store money. So in this case it's a lose-lose situation.

Andrew

Best Buy or not such a best buy

Best Buy or not such a best buy

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