So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

Ever been in Walmart and seen something stocked behind the wrong sign? They gladly give it to you for the price marked, as it was their mistake. Right? Of course. Not Best Buy though. I was in there a while ago when Tears of the Sun was on ad for $5.99(?). This particular Best Buy has part of an isle that's all weekly ad items. So there was a space just for Tears of the Sun with a sign that says "Tear sof the Sun" and "$5.99." Well, the shelf was full of the Extended Cut of the film, which is obviously more expensive. Figuring it was their mistake and they'd honor the price just like Walmart, I grabbed one. Some prick customer service manager refused to give it to me for that price, instead insisting I buy a copy of the theatrical edition that he went and found. BULLSHIT. Any other store would've honored the advertised price on the wrong edition because it was on the ad rack like that. I had no problem with a mispriced item at Circuit City once a while back. I seriously hate Best Buy. I don't like going in there anyway, since the assholes don't open til 11 on Sunday mornings and CC is open at 10. I know if I ever find an item like that in Best Buy again I'm not leaving til I talk to the store manager/director. I walked away too easily last time.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

Wow.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

"Wow" is right.

How were you "screwed"? You tried to get them to give you a sale price on a different item than what was advertised. They refused. Who cares where it was shelved - everything is computer inventoried these days, and the CS manager was within his rights to refuse the sale price on the Extended cut since the ACTUAL sale item (theatrical cut) was in stock.

If the Extended cut had been physically stickered with the sale price, then I might be a little more sympathetic.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

Too much caffeine, my friend!

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

I got The Hills Have Eyes II ($10 tag) for $2.97 at Walmart becuase of this same type of error, and the clerk at Walmart didn't give me the slightest amount of trouble over it. Best Buy just sucks.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

I have a “I’ve been screwed by Best Buy story” as well….but it is a little different.

For the Holidays, my wife wanted a new iPod nano – I picked one up at Best Buy…..but when I brought it home, I found I got the 4 GB version instead of the 8 GB….

She is really into digital photos….so I figured I better take back the 4 GB and get the 8 GB so she could store some photos….

During that week I decided to make the upgrade, I got a coupon in the mail for triple the rewards bonus points if you spent over $100.00 on any purchase in the next week….so I figured I might as well redeem this coupon when I swapped the un-opened product and forked out the extra $$$$ for the more expensive one…

When I went to do this, the guy say that the purchase really only counted in the difference in the two products, not the whole cost of the more expensive product. I asked him what the difference is – if I would just return one, and then come back the next day and buy the other – then the full cost would be applied to the triple points. It is a little bit of a drive for me to make, so I asked him to just allow the full purchase price to count for the reward points.. He wouldn’t budge.

So instead of around a $200.00 purchase showing up as a $600.00 rewards perchance, I was credited with a $50.00 purchase and could not use the 3X coupon…..

What pissed me off is why would he care if I used this coupon or not – the rewards just send you a discount in the mail if you reach certain levels….and these are only good in their own stores. It just didn’t make much since to me….

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

Why not just return the 4GB model. Walk around. Get the 8GB model, and use the coupon for the 8GB model purchase.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

I've had good and bad at Best Buy. In the past couple of weeks it's been good. Got the Best Buy exclusive Aquaman pilot bonus dvd on a $14.99 Smallville set, Wow. Picked up Star Trek HD DVD season one for $179.99, then, the following week they had it for $129.99 and matched the price. No fuss,No muss. I absolutely love that 30 day policy of thiers. Now,Circuit City is my biggest pain in the ass store. Every time I go there no one in that store knows a damn thing about anything other than when thier next F***ing break is. Now, that may not be every CC, but, it damn sure is the one in my area.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

On one hand I understand your frustration, as it was misleading, but consider both sides of the argument. If they made that policy widely known, any asshole (pardon my french, and this is not in any reference to you) could take the price tag off an expensive item and put it on an identical but more expensive item. Especially in a store like Best Buy where most everything is rather pricey. Walmart can afford anything, you could rob a whole store and that'd be worth less than a penny to the people who make the store's policies. Just consider both sides of this plight before getting too upset.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

No, I'm pretty sure that's every Circuit City.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

"Why not just return the 4GB model. Walk around. Get the 8GB model, and use the coupon for the 8GB model purchase."

I was on a lunch break and needed to get back....time was running out - I did point this out to him though, but at this point I had to get going. I learned my lesson - never return and/or exchange something with a time crunch....

From my earlier post, I did point that out to the guy, but he was not having it....and seeing that this is the guy that would have to give me the store credit for the item in the first place, I was kind of stuck....

"I asked him what the difference is – if I would just return one, and then come back the next day and buy the other – then the full cost would be applied to the triple points. It is a little bit of a drive for me to make, so I asked him to just allow the full purchase price to count for the reward points.. He wouldn’t budge."


Either way, I felt that this was poor customer service on his part....why make me jump through hoops when all he had to do was say "Yes, if you returned the 1 item, and bought the second item, you could use the tripple points - since you have both items in hand, let me do that for you"....instead of the "You only spent $50.00 today, so I guess you can't use your coupon...." crap....

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

Did you ask for a manager once the "help" became uncooperative? If this was the manager, you could have asked for his name, and then sent a letter to the corporate office for Best Buy. It may not have helped, but you would have given them a piece of your mind on this inflexible employee of theirs.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

I can see the OP's point, however. There was a large display with several mis-marked titles. The store should have honored the price then hauled ass over to the display and made sure it was right. That's good business practice. You screw up, you fix it (and keep the customer happy) and then fix the price.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

In one way I can see both posters' point, particularly Martino's. On the other hand, I would hardly call not getting to take advantage a retailer's mistake as "being screwed." I have never had the slightest problem making retailers follow up on mistakes like that though. The few times that has happened with me, I simply state that they are required by law to honor the price they have posted. If you argue with them, you simply come across as weak and seem like you are trying to change their stance. You won't. The goal is to force them to do what they are required to, not to convince them of anything.

Regarding the iPod, it is kind of a similar situation. In the time you spent arguing and trying to get them to do it the way you wanted them to, you could have just returned the unopened iPod for full credit, then walked over to a checkout and bought the other one, using the coupon. It probably would have taken less time, and you would have gotten what you were really looking for. That is, unless your real goal was to convince them they were wrong.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

I was not there to argue with the guy.....he already had my retured iPod, and was the same guy that had to process the return. I was on my lunch break, and had already waited in line for 20 minutes to see the guy in the first place. Like I said, it is not good to be in a hurry when returning items, and I didn't expect it to be such an ordeal. He had already processed the entire thing. In hindsite - I guess I could have said - Void the entire transcaction, and just refund me the money on the original one"....and then did as you sugested......if I had the time...

It's too late now...what's done is done....I'm just not too happy about it.....

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

Hi all
I have a thought!
If thay had the right DVD for the sale,YYYYYYY was the wrong or
more $ DVD in the slot sounds like bait and swich?
Brian

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

Bestbuy in my area (silicon valley) sucks big time, the magnolia home theater is even worse.
It should be worstbuy.

Circuit city a little bit better on price adjustment.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

Couldn't possibly be because someone--a customer or their child perhaps-- picked it up and put it back in the wrong place or because someone moved the price sign in the hope they'd be able to convince the store to give them the lower price on the higher-priced item...

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

I have Worstbuy. I would never ever spend a dollar in that place again. I purchased a 32" flat panel tv through their website. I also purchased the mount that was recommended for that tv from the website. I bought it for my brother as a house warming gift. Since he just bought the house, he was fixing it up and didnt mount the tv until 2 months after i bought the tv. We spent an hour mounting the tv to the wall only to find that the mount was made for smaller tv's. So I took it back with the packaging and receipt to exchange for the right mount, and they wouldn't let me exchange it or get a store credit. I told them that the website recommended the wrong mount and that it was their fault and I just want to exchange it for the right one and pay the difference. They refused, so I was stuck with a mount I couldn't use and had to go somewhere else and buy the right mount. I will never spend another dollar at that scam store.

Re: So who else has been screwed by Best Buy?

Since the item was in the store, they didn't bait you to come in and purchase it. Also, they had the correct item in stock available for the advertised price.

I have had a negative experience twice with Best Buy, and so has my neighbor (his was with a Giant Flat screen, I felt really bad for him)...as a family...we just won't buy from Best Buy. Both times were do to expensive electronics failing under one year, and in one instance the extended warranty that we purchased for a top of the line digital camera was no where to be found...they had told us it would be in the "system", not to worry...right. They wouldn't do anything for us...not a repair, exchange, N-O-T-H-I-N-G.  I even wrote corporate, because I couldn't believe what was happening...no response. BOO Best Buy.

End of story, we buy elsewhere and so should you..there are electronics dealers that will do more.

Same reason why I shop at Macy's vs. other clothing department stores.

I heard that best buy would price match from amazon. I was able to get the panasonic 80 bluray player for that price..it was like 286 compared to the 350 that they were asking for it.

I rermember a while back having a problem where they refused to excange the full screen of star wars for the widescreen.
they gave me credit for it and then I got the widescreen set.

Jacob

I don't know where you shop but no one I know of would ever take back a DVD once its open unless its defective.

If I open a brand new DVD and it's scratched, I consider that defective. So do most stores and they'll exchange it, no hassle. Unfortunately, I've had to do it a lot over the years and have only been held up occasionally (but never turned down) by snobby CS reps who think they're personally above the practice.

Five or six years ago, I was returning DVDs whose content I didn't like. That was before retailers/distributors took steps to protect themselves from piracy. Back then, CDs and DVDs were just as returnable as any other item.

Viper, you're right, in a limited sort of way. Let me explain.

Best Buy often sells different versions of a movie. Now, Best Buy often sells the standard single disk version of a movie as well as a two-disk version of a movie. These different versions have different UPC codes/numbers as well as different SKU numbers. More than likely, the version of the movie that Best Buy had on sale was just the single disk version. The two disk version, which often retails for $20-25, will not be honored at that lower price for the single disk version.

Trust me on this. It's like walking into a Best Buy and they have Iron Man (single disk version) for sale at $9. If they are sold out, Best Buy will not sell you the two disk version of that movie, which retails at $25, for that lower advertised priced because they are basically two different titles.

Only thing you could have done was get a rain check.

As far as damaged DVD's go, I have never had an issue with returning a defective DVD or a defective set. Their Customer Service has always been nice about it ... 

I don't usually have good things to say about Best Buy, but this time it's different.  Long post ahead, sorry!  Skip to the last paragraph for the bottom line.

Happened to take my mom out to dinner Monday at the local Houlihans, and we stopped in Best Buy to take a look around.  My parents are in the market for a 37" LCD because that is the max size that will fit in a custom entertainment center that they are not going to replace.  Usually its the width thats the problem but for them the height is the limit.  For a while we have been tracking the Panasonic LN37G1 but it hasn't come down to realistic price levels yet and so far it's only available online, no B&M merchants are stocking it and they would not buy a TV without having at least a cursory look at one in store.

When looking through the 37"s we noted that the Sammy 37b550 was shorter than the 650 I had originally investigated for them but had discounted because it was just a sliver too tall. The 550 isn't in the 650s PQ league of course and its only 60 hz not 120, but it turned out that the size differential was enough that it would just barely fit in their cabinet. It became a matter of whether it was still important to wait to see the Panny in person versus how happy they would be with the Sammy.

I used my iPhone to check some prices and not surprisingly the net retailers destroyed BB on price. When the salesman wandered over I brought him up to speed with our size requirements and noted that we had just found out that the 550 was workable, but I hadn't researched it more than the price. He told me they would match or beat the online price, which I kinda doubted, but then the manager came over and confirmed it. Almost a hundred and a half off the shelf price, and we knew we were in good shape there in getting the 'boss' of the family to finally agree to go for a new TV.

Yesterday I reviewed a few things around the web and figured it still isnt the 'perfect' set for them but its going to be good enough and the price was right, so went back last night and picked one up, brought it to their house and got it hooked up to their fios. They are shocked at how much better FIOS looks than the crappy HD that all the stores use, and are totally thrilled at how the set looks. No dead pixels, color is fine for them out of the box (We'll see if they let me calibrate it or not) and zero complaints so far.   Shame we never got to compare it to the Panny, but not our fault that those never made it to the store shelves. I still think that set would have been a better choice for them, but the $100+ price differential and no retail availability sank that.

The beauty is that Best Buy didn't bat an eye in matching an online-only retailers price, and that retailer was even $50 more than most of the other ones listed on Pricegrabber.  And my parents got to take their set home that night and if anything goes wrong with it they can take it to the store without having to send it off in the mail.  For once we were very happy with BBuy and I hope this price matching policy continues to grow.

Wow.  Good story, Sam.

And it's always nice to see people posting the "good stories" about a retailer when they come along!  Human nature usually has us just complaining about things...especially on the internet it seems. 

Sam, more and more retailers are doing price matching from online stores and local stores because of the competition between retailers. Most of this is due to the state of the economy and everybody is competing for every dollar. You'll find that every store is different when it comes to its price matching policy and not all Best Buy stores will match other businesses online prices.

I know the local Best Buy near me will only match their website's online prices.

Overstock, if you discover a lower price at another website, will credit you the lower price from another website, if you discover it.