Final Best Buy Experience and Insurance Update

Well, as many of you know, I've had an experience with Best Buy that might be called "less than encouraging" by people with an unholy talent for understatement. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear I'll ever get the issue resolved, so here's my entire experience with them. Hopefully, others can avoid my mistake of doing business with this terrible company. If this doesn't convince you to avoid them like the plague, Google for "best buy" and check out the 7th hit. There's all sorts of interesting stories there from people who have enjoyed their Best Buy experiences (both as customers AND employees) as much as I have. Unfortunately, it's not a very professional site, so it's not going to sway too many opinions in the meantime....

At the end of April, I tried to purchase a laptop on bestbuy.com. The item was listed "In Stock". However, when I received my order confirmation, it said the item was out of stock and would be backordered for at least 2 weeks. I figured this wasn't a problem, I'd just cancel the order and get something else. However, when I contacted "Customer Service" (I use the term loosely for reasons that will become clear later), they told me the item had actually ALREADY been out of stock for MORE THAN 2 WEEKS. On top of that, Best Buy had immediately put a 1300.00 hold on my credit card anyway - even though they knew they didn't have the item! After discussing it with them, they agreed to remove the hold within 24 hours and cancel the order. That's the first and only help I ever got from Best Buy's phone C/S.

The next day, I purchased a different item from Best Buy online and was given the option to pick it up in the store (Harrisburg, PA location). I chose to do this and picked it up the same day. I stood at the Customer Service counter for more than 40 minutes waiting for someone to become available. Finally, when they did, it took them another 20 minutes to get the stupid thing because nobody had bothered to actually fetch and prepare the item, although the pickup notice said they had it right at the counter for me. At this time I asked about 3 rebates on the items purchased: a PNY rebate for RAM I purchased with it, a Best Buy rebate for the laptop at 150.00, and a HP rebate for 100.00. I was given rebate forms there at the counter. It was at this point I stepped into crooked retail Hell.

I sent my rebates off and got the PNY rebate about 2 months later. About a month and a half later, the HP rebate came back because I forgotten to write the model number on the rebate form (never mind it was on the receipt clear as day and highlighted by the person who had processed the form...). A week after that, the Best Buy rebate came back with "invalid" marked in red pen on the rebate form next to "Copy of Reciept" under the requirements (note that there are no qualifications for what magical type of reciept I must have needed). What I sent included all the information that the rebate form said it had to, and the reciept I sent was clearly labeled as a "Store Pickup Reciept". I called Best Buy, and the short story is: if you buy an item online, there are special reciepts and rebate forms. If you buy it in a store, the store has its own rebate forms and reciepts. All store and online rebates and receipts have the exact same information. They cannot be mingled according to Best Buy "policy". Apparently, I'm not the only person that didn't know this, since the people at the Best Buy store gave me store rebates/reciepts to begin with. To be fair, however, the non-management, non-phone plebes I dealt with behind the counter in the store itself did try to help me throughout this ordeal.

I called C/S up and, much to my dismay, there is no way to skip the automated system. Sitting on the line or hitting buttons just gets you this messge in the most condescending voice you can imagine: "I know these automated systems can be a pain but..." at which point it starts over from the beginning of it's list... no, not the sublist, the WHOLE damn tree of lists. On top of that, it's one of the most annoying systems ever with an obnoxious male voice pretending to be a rep typing things into a computer and whatnot (which means from time to time it pauses to pretend it's looking over it's screen... "*#!%$ peice of $*@#& just give me the %*#&% options and shut the ^*@&#! up!" is something I found myself yelling out loud more than once...). I swear on whatever holy book your particular religion uses, I honestly believe that it is meant to get people to hang up before they have a chance to speak to anyone. Finally, fuming, I got through to a rep who helpfully (read: snottily) told me that I was SOL and would have to take it up with the store because THEY gave me the wrong rebate form. The store then told me that they would try to return it and resell it to give me a store reciept that I could use with the rebate form I already had. When they tried, the computer system wouldn't allow it, however, and I was told to try returning it to bestbuy.com. I tried to call again (the number, in case you ever feel like working yourself into a homicidal rage, is 1-888-BESTBUY - people with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or who are taking certain medications should NOT, however, dial that horrible line at any cost. And oh how I wish that was a joke...), and, after being directed through 4 people in 3 departments and hanging up on the automated system twice because I chose the wrong options (ha ha - silly me to think that if I was asking about an online rebate I should call the "bestbuy.com" department... why no, I should call the "rebates" department which is actually the "all other questions" option on the second menu and the "refunds and rebates" option on the 3rd menu), I was finally given a return address and told I could return it for a 100% refund. I don't buy this story, and I tried to e-mail Best Buy C/S to get something in writing that said I would get a 100% refund before returning it, because, frankly, I think they'll keep the laptop and not give my money back. One and a half weeks later and I still haven't gotten a reply. Of course, they provide no confirmation that you sent anything (neither when you send it in the form of an HTML page or an e-mail confirmation), so I have my doubts that the form they have on their site really does anything. I was going to send something to the cc company to dispute the charge on my card, but it's taken so long to get to this point that my 60 days is up). And that, my friends, is where it stands now. If that doesn't make you wonder how the capitalist market system beat out communism (economic, not political...), I don't know what will. I'm hedging all my bets on making a huge scene in the store to get my money back and get rid of this damn thing (it wasn't even that good of a laptop...), but I'm not holding my breath. If not, I'll be out 250.00 because the foot-dragging on Best Buy's end has delayed my action on the 100.00 HP rebate such that the timeframe for sending it in has passed.

On a related "crooked company" note: I finally got my 500.00 back from the insurance company. Some of you may remember that 8 months ago that kid hit me dead center on the passenger side when she didn't stop or even slow down at the end of a Sheetz driveway. Geico (her company) refused to work out a settlement for the claim with me. My company tried to do the same thing then, but, to put it in my agent's words: "Geico refused to look at any of [the evidence] when I called [the agent]. They're being totally unreasonable...". Instead, they dragged it to company arbitration and lost. I don't know what the plan was since they never stood a blasted chance and, instead, merely made me an enemy of Geico for life. Losers.

I don't suppose you have one of those "looking out for the little guy getting screwed over by busineses" section of the local news? You might be able to send them your story and see what kind of crap they can pull. I always see cheery rednecks on the news down here in tennessee, babbling on about how they got their bad dry cleaning bill cleared up. Could work for you.

I doubt it, but it's worth a shot. Best Buy is too big to be afflicted by something like that, I'm afraid. Hersheypark, a few weeks back, had two water rides break down. One of them, Tidal Force, hurt about a half-dozen people. A TINY article on the event got buried on, I think, the 6th (maybe the 7th or farther back) page of the paper and was nestled away from the rest of the articles on that page between two big ads with some smaller ads around it. Just the other day, that same paper had a front-page article about a "mystery" ride that Hershey just got the approval to build for next year... so.. the local media is pretty well 0wn3d.

The problem with complaining to the general public is that as soon as they see the next Best Buy flyer in the Sunday paper advertising a $300 after rebate desktop (that, incidnetally, is a pos) they forget all about the fact that Best Buy is a lousy company to deal with. I've seen people get screwed by Circuit City on things turn around and go right back the next weekend - all the while complaining what a crummy place it is as they buy a big screen TV At least I have faith that folks that read this here are intelligent enough to consider my experience next time they consider something at Best Buy.

But they're just so darn convenient when you walk in and buy something they have in stock at the store...

I'm sure I'll buy junk from them in the future, just probably not expensive things that require rebates. Certainly not entire systems (though it's hard to piece out a laptop).

General public be damned. Talk to the TV news folks and see if they'll put effort into solving your problem. The public won't be swayed and they'd be greatly deceiving themselves if they think they'll make any difference. Helping people who got screwed over isn't a stab at companies that do the screwing, they're trying to make themselves look good, as a happy helpful group of the veiwers' friends.

LOL

Pit one scum-sucking mutant money grubber against another.... I like it!

Maybe suggest an expose on mail-in rebates? WGAL, channel 8 in Harrisburg has something called "On Your Side", but it's mostly testing consumer products. Maybe they'd be interested though...

Seriously, I'll never buy from them again. I don't even trust them not to screw me over on a CD anymore. Not only that, forget mail-in rebates. I always thought they were ridiculous (and they are) and annoying (and they are), but I never thought I'd get screwed on one like this....

Do you have a small claims court or only Judge Judy? (no lawyers but under $5000)
Or look at the advertising, there are large penalties here for false or misleading advertising (as opposed to little for ripping a customer off).

Its about the amount of stress it is worth to get revenge / compensation........

If you know a lawyer then a good legal letter (asking for a full refund or payment of both vouchers) may get results.

LOL.... i can just see Ctb appearing on Judge Judy

That would be funny.... after that you are one step away from appearing on Jerry Springer

Circut City isn't any better. My Fiance purchased a $2700 laptop that was in the shop 5 times, 2 under HP and 3 under the extended warrenty, in 18 months with a fan problem.

When she went to claim a new machine they offered her a choice of a refurbished laptop (with a smaller screen) or $1000 gift card. After a couple months of haggling that she should get a $2700 laptop or $2700 in cash/store credit back because the computer was a lemon from the second month she had it. Her father has the exact same laptop model and has never had any problems.

She finally settled on the $1000 and got a nice Sony VIAO desktop, which i have now, and the Illinois Attourny General's office is investigating Circut City for unfair business practices because the sales person did say that with their extended warrenty, you'd get full value replacement and this hasn't been the only complaint there.

The fan kept buring out about every 6 weeks and Circut City never asked for it back after she took the $1000 so I took it apart and found that a voltage regulator had burned out on the Motherboard. It took a $5 replacement part from Radio Shack, $10 on a new fan and $50 to a guy to solder it into the motherboard and now it runs cool, well as cool as a 1Ghz Althon will run in a laptop, and have not had a problem in three months.

Although we just gave that laptop to some friends that lost their house in a Tornado about two months ago along with my old printer.

Best Buy is bad about the "Here's a deal but we only have 1 and it sold three days ago, here is a more expensive model". The only thing I buy there are DVD's. I now buy all my RAM from Crusical direct and any other parts I need from either CDW or Apple.

Anyway, fair warning to others...its still buyer be ware.

I don't think I could take Judge Judy... I'd probably be in a "real" court shortly thereafter, having knocked her teeth down her throat... I don't understand how such acerbic people who totally lack any human decency, respect, or people skills become celebrities... it frightens me that people all of the world find that sort of thing amusing.. hell.. I snap at people acting like idiots in parking lots (e.g. parking in firelanes), on the freeway (e.g. tailgating me at 15mph over the speed limit), in stores (e.g. people who stand right in the middle of aisles next to other peolpe and yack), etc. all the time. Only thing that ever happens to me is I get dirty looks.... hell... by this time I should be an international superstar!

I can't file a small claim. That involves suing the other person, and, for it to actually go anywhere, I'd almost certainly need to have the original information from the website (which is unavailable because bestbuy.com removes it once the rebate is over and doesn't let anyone, even their reps, access it), copies of all the contacts (which, since most of those happened playing phone tag and the website submission never gave me a confirmation OR a response, I don't have), etc. On top of that, if you take them to court, they'll send a corporate lawyer as their "representative" for the company and I don't think in PA you can hire a lawyer to represent you in small claims unless they deem you unfit to represent yourself (don't know for sure though - I'd have to check PA's laws on that) - plus who's going to take the case over a measly $250 anyway?

The other problem is that, though the problem originally stems from me being given the wrong info in the store - it's bestbuy.com that's been hassling me and even preventing the store from correcting the problem. I'd probably have to go file the claim in MN if I wanted to go after them.

That thing with people standing in aisles yacking gets me too. About the same as when you are walking in the middle of a crowded shopping mall and the person infront just randomly stops walking. Not to look at something, they just stop and stand there. wth?

Glitch in the Matrix Some kid (late teens kid) once came barreling out of the Gap in the mall right in front of me, not paying any attention. She stopped, stood there and looked at me for 2 or 3 seconds, then promptly got flattened (not by a car... just in case you were wondering) as I refused to move out of the way to go around her. Twit....

We have a problem around here with "merge rage". There's this one onramp up the road from me - people just come flying down it, don't look to see if there's any oncoming traffic, then pull out at the bottom of it. They expect people to just automatically move for them, but there's three major problems with that:

1) THEY have the yield sign so they should be slowing / stopping as necessary..
2) It's illegal to pull into the passing lane to let people merge...
3) If there's already someone next to you, you can't pull over anyway.

That, and sometimes they don't bother to look for oncoming traffic or try to merge, even if it's clear, until they've drifted all the way to the end of the damn ramp at which point they have to drive off the end of the ramp. Then, THEY get mad at YOU. Riiiight.

The only thing dumber than other peolpe is other people driving... I'm just not any good at suffering fools (see that Introvert thread thingy...)