After thousands and thousands, I have spent my last dollar at Best Buy (1 Viewer)

[AnthonyC]

Why didn't you just exchange it for another FS version, don't open it, then come back a week later and exchange it for a WS?

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Michael,

I have to disagree with you here. Unless they are running one of their 3/20, 2/15, 2/20, etc., deals, their catalog prices are getting worse and worse by the year. More and more 14.99 list DVD's are being sold at 12.99, when they used ot be 9.99. Plenty of 19.99 list are now going for $3 more at 17.99, and so on. In fact, in my eyes Best Buy is only good for their release week sales if they are the lowest price. And even then I will only go there specifically if I have coupons or Reward Zone certs to redeem. I'd rather give my money to the small specialty shop that puts things out a few days early, or online shops that are rock solid and steady with their service level.

I have not had as bad an experience as Vince did, but Best Buy's overall policy changes regarding pricing have gradually weened me off their store.

 

[Brandon:W]

We should all feel lucky to have the customer service we have here in the USA. Try the service in Germany. Here, I can return an item to a store, for a full refund, up to three months after I've purchased it. Or for a store credit at any time without a receipt. In Germany, you can't return anything after two weeks - and if you don't have the receipt, forget it. Even if the item has the store's price sticker on it - they won't return it.

Customer service is horrible there. They are just not a market driven culture.

It's all relative.

[that said, I get pretty p-oed with the lousy service at some places too.]

Brandon

 

[EnricoE]

i've ordered a few months back "the fast and furious" tricket out dvd at dvdsoon for cad16 and it was a widescreen copy i've ordered. 2 weeks later the dvd arrived here in germany and when i opened the envelope i couldn't believe what i saw: a foolscreen copy of the movie!!! ok, an email written to dvdsoon about the matter and they wrote back and asked for returning the dvd to them. well, the problem here was that it would've cost 8,- euro (yes, this it how much it cost from germany to canada for a single dvd ) just for shipping cost but dvdsoon was kind enough to give me refund even it's against their policy to refund the full amount of shipping cost when it goes over cad3. when the dvd arrived at dvdsoon i got a notice email from them and that i get a store credit for the shipping cost and the dvd price - no widescreen copy was send to me i surely was angry about that but then i thought "what da hell, then i buy deferent dvd" which i did.
i still buy lot's of dvds at dvdsoon but i always hope that i don't get a broken disc or a false copy since the returning could cost more then the actual dvd itself.

 

[Don_Limey]

I have really never had any problems with Best Buy but with Circuit City I have. Example Fry's has a Friday ad paper in our Fridays edition & they had a "1 Day only" sale & had Need For Speed Underground for PC for 9.99 & I took the Fry's ad to CC like I normally do & the stupid blonde bitch refused to price match it & says "We do not price match on 1 Day Only sales" & I told her that you've done this before on these type of sales & then she said "That is not our policy". So I left & took the ad to Best Buy & matched the price with NO QUESTIONS ASKED OR STRINGS ATTACHED.

 

[Jeff_HR]

I don't buy DVDs priced higher than $9.99 at BB, and only if I don't wish to wait for it to be shipped to me from an online purchase. My return experience with BB has been uneven. Sometimes easy & sometimes terrible.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Not true, but you're close. Actually, merchant agreement says you're not required (as opposed to prohibited) to show ID with a signed valid Visa or Mastercard. It's a bad, under the radar agreement (somewhere Visa and Mastercard are laughing their way to the bank), but since you signed away to use their credit cards, you live with it.

But with Discover and American Express you have to see if it's signed, and if not, you have to provide provide ID.

I've been complimented by my customers (working full-time until I get into med school) that I check for ID. Sad fact is 999 out of 1000 don't know about the merchant agreement. So I make it a point to So to you folks out there that just love to protect every facet of your privacy my advice to you is this: don't lose the damn card. You wanna roll the dice that way, your perogative.

Vince, sorry to hear about your experience. Fortunately for me, I have had nothing but great experiences with return and exchanges, both at Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

Strange as this might sound, the employee is correct in one aspect: widescreen and fullscreen are two different products. But that is only as far as inventory is concerned (all other artistic and principles aside).

And yes, it is Best Buy's policy that you can only exchange for the exact same product.

This is where the difference in people come in. Unfortunately, you dealt with assholes. Me? I always come into contact with great people.

A great shining example is the Two Towers Expanded Edition. I bought the gift set (cause I'm a nerd despite the muscle I'm putting on). My 3rd and 4th disc pixellated bad and wouldn't play. I go to Best Buy and explain to them the situation. By the policy logic, I can't exchange the DVD's because a TT expanded edition out of a gift set and one that's by itself are two seperate products, right? Right, but the manager (who is one of my favorite people at the store), tells me to go pick up a lone copy of the TT EE. He opens it up, takes disc 3 and 4, and exchanges them for me, and asks, "Is there anything I can help you with?"

I walk away with two new discs. Like I said, it is store policy to only exchange for the same exact product, but it's up to the people to have some sort of logic and common sense about doing things like that.

On a somewhat related note, I make it my job to make sure people get the right version. I can visually remember two (although I claim three) seperate instances where somebody has brought the fullscreen copy of Eternal Sunshine to my register and asked them if they wanted that version. Same way with Star Wars.

I'm not making it an obligation to cashiers around here (whoever they may be) but try your best in the OAR wars. I know I'm doing my job.

 

[Tom Brennan]

Best Buy Sux

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I am going to have to agree that it is NOT the same item.

However, if it is unopened, he can return it for a store credit, and then p/u the OAR version. A clerk that swaps them out is just saving time.

Any store that wouldn't accept an unopened package - of any kind - would be on my boycott list, but I have a feeling that their main office would start kicking some heads in if they found out about it.

This really isn't a store problem, IMO, as much as it is a 'store clerk' problem. If a clerk gets fired, they'll go to another store of the same type, and probably start their attitude up all over again. I would drop by the store every few months and just wait for them to be gone, and then try the store out again.

Glenn

 

[Dewitte]

Andrew wrote in Post #62:
They picked up this trick and the "Reward Zone" from when they owned the Musicland company (the folks who bring you Suncoast). The mentality behind that boner is that folks will pay a couple more dollars for a catalog title if they're buying that week's hot release for cheap.

One of the wacky things now that Suncoast is no longer owned by Best Buy, is that Suncoast tends to have first-week prices comparable to or better than their former masters.

Has anyone had any luck doing the 3 for $20 on Best Buy's website?

De

 

[AnthonyC]

Yes. Once you check out, each DVD's price is reduced to $6.66.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I really haven't noticed the prices getting higher except on Columbia titles that retail for $24.95. Some of them like THE CHASE were $21.95 when they were usually $19.95. The $14.95 retail titles from Fox, Paramount and MGM are still $9.95 at least in the stores at Louisville and Elizabethtown.

I've also earned $115 this year from my Reward Zone card, which is basically 11 free movies so BB has been very nice to me and I will continue to use them.

I've thought about ordering off the net but it just isn't any fun. I enjoy going into a store and looking at every title they got. I know what I'm looking for when I go in but I also like to do impulse buys. Other than BB I usually shop at Wal-Mart due to the $5.50 bin. Sometimes CC to get the older title but I find them higher than BB. Some recent Fox titles were $11.99 when they were $9.95 at BB.

I've got a store in Louisville where I could get titles a week or two early but the thing is they are $2-$5 higher than BB. I don't mind supporting the "small guys" but I usually buy 5-15 titles a week so that extra $2 adds up over time.

 

[Dennis Heller]

I've been soured on BB since about 6 mos. ago when I wanted to buy a digital camera. While I understand the policy, I just can't get past the fact that if you open a digital camera and return it, you're on the hook for the 15% restocking fee. A digital camera is a very personal item, where preferences and ergonomics are just two of the variables. It's extremely difficult (if not impossible) to get a feel for a camera from using the store's shelf sample. So I didn't buy it there.

Another problem is their not matching their own online prices. I was told (on the same camera) that I could order it online and pick it up there but couldn;t get the price itself. This familiar complaint really bugs me. If there were a computer in the store, I could order it and wait until they put it aside,; just give me price.

Customer service is, of course, a dying art. One drone at BB told me that the signal through a DVI cable will be degraded if the cable is curved, and not as straight as possible from DVD player to TV. I don't claim to know everything about the technology, but really.

What I hate most about the situation is that the drones everywhere are not allowed to exercise discretion and simple common sense. I am 36 years old and was just carded the other day trying to buy wine in a Price Chopper store in VT. I showed my ID, but my wife (who is 38 - don't tell her I told you!) didn't have hers. Needless to say, we didn't get the wine. My wife looks young, but even she realizes she doesn't look 20. I don't know what would have happened if we were with her 19-year-old son.

The worst I have been through was at Wal-Mart, where I wanted to buy CO2 cartidges for a bicycle pump I have. Apparently, you have to be 18 to buy these, and I didn't have my license. I am balding with graying hair and a nearly full beard, and the guy wouldn't sell them to me.

The upshot of all of this is there really isn't a whole lot we can do about it. You can, and should, complain to the proper people, but it's getting to the point where you can't really avoid bad service. It's everywhere. A sense of entitlement, lack of pride in honest work, lack of dignity, all these and so much more have combined to make it nearly impossible to go through a day without wanting to chuck it all and move to some godforsaken place like Vermont ( ) and live off the land. Albeit without wine.