A $1,225 brick and piece of wood

Just thought you guys would enjoy this. My friend showed me it, I guess it's one of his friends

Quote:

On August 4th, after a haircut, at about 7:15 I went to the Best Buy store in the city of West Covina, CA—in the Lakes Avenue--mainly to buy a Wireless PrinterServer. After picking up the Wireless PrintServer, my interest in purchasing a big flat screen monitor awakened.
I had seen the 21.3" LCD Samsung monitor previously and had always got my attention. Before I couldn't buy it because it was a big spending… so after working hard and staying up long nights I felt safe to finally buy it. I talked briefly to one of the sales representatives and decided to take the monitor. I was eventually asked if I needed to buy it with cash or credit card. Given that I am one of those who get point on credit cards for each dollar spent; I decided to pay with my credit card. The cashier by the laptop section apparently doesn't take credit cards, so I was redirected to another cashier. I was also offered to buy a three year warranty once I was in the line. I didn't take the warranty because that would be about $250.00 more. All this time I was carrying the box of the monitor. When I was up next to the line, I asked the cashier to put each item my reward zones membership.

She first scanned in the PrintServer, and then she scanned in the monitor. To scan the monitor, she "pulled" it towards the scanner. This transaction was completed at 7:49pm as noted in the receipt.

I got home at about 8:10pm…and decided to open the box and install the monitor. I was very anxious see what had cost me so much money. When I opened the box up, to my surprise, I found that the box contained instead of containing the expensive 21.3" flat monitor, it contained a brick taped to a piece of wood. (see picture: http://www.eguate.com/misc/Monitor2.jpg) I was of course shocked and immediately started to panic; thus, I put the item back into the box. I went back to Best Buy as fast as I could and got there at about 8:30 and told the person at the entrance of what had happened. At this point, Best Buy also looked confused. I asked some of Best Buy's employees who were around if this had happened before; some of them confirmed that they had seen it happened before—with VCRs.

For the next 30 minutes or so, Best Buy store manager was eventually deciding what they would do. During this time I was left standing at the entrance with the brick taped to the wood. Best Buy would open the box and eventually took the item out…and then force it back in the box to the point that the box eventually got damaged (see picture: http://www.eguate.com/misc/Monitor1.jpg). There were at least six staff member that were examining the box. Best Buy said that it would go down to the cashier because she was the only person that lifted the box, aside from me. So the worst thing happened at this point—the cashier claimed that the box she had lifted was heavier than that one I had brought back!!! This was such a humiliation. The store accussed me of having replaced the content of the box. Moreover, this was a box that she didn't even lifted and that she only pulled towards herself with ONE HAND to scan. Eventually Best Buy took the cashier's words and then decided that I must have replaced the real monitor with the brick taped to the wood. At the end, Best Buy decided not to take the monitor back.

By this time, I was alaredy stressed for the mal-theratment I was getting. I was being accused of having replaced the content of the box.
Best Buy DOES NOT CARE IF ONE IS A FREQUENT CLIENT. Best Buy for example didn't take into consideration my history as a customer for them. I had bought so many items at this store—each year. I have bought several laptops, even bought a washer and countless electronics and software. I am a software developer—computer hardware and software is something that it is a necessity for me. FURTHERMORE, I spent so much money at Best Buy that I decided it was worth buying membership in their reward zone. But, to Best Buy--all these meant nothing…and they instead went with what the cashier told them—that the box she ‘lifted' was heavier that the one I was returning.

The store manager gave me the number of the corporate office and said to call them the following day (Thursday). That night, I came back home—so humiliated.

The following day I called the corporate office and talked with Leanda, the consumer relation. At least it didn't take her almost an hour, as they did in the store, that Best Buy couldn't take the merchandise back. She told me that it was not their problem and that I had to call Samsung for shipping me a defective item. Keep in mind, I bought the monitor in Best Buy and not from Samsung. Eventually event if Best Buy was the direct sales for Samsung, Best Buy didn't want to do anything to help. So, here I am stuck with a $1,244.86 piece of brick taped to a piece of wood.

Hey man, that sucks. The same thing happened to my mom last Christmas with a Playstation 2 game she bought at best buy. When my brother opened the box on Christmas morning, it was empty. Took the issue up with the store and they passed the buck on to the games manufacturer who passed the buck back to the store. To make a long story short, and yes I still have emails from both sides claiming no responsibility, she paid using her mastercard and mastercard took the purchase off the bill and persued the matter. That is the only I can say a credit card came to the rescue!

Call your creditr card company and tell them. They usually work really well and most of the time they give you your money back.

I've done some work for bestbuy, so I know how their system works. Bestbuy 'licenseplates' all items that are returned to the store. They know exactly who purchased it before you and if it was returned to a distribution center. Go back to the store, tell them to look up the licenseplate for the TV to find out who the customer was who purchased it before you (obviously, someone did the swap). If they give you a hassle, or it seems you're talking to someone 'new', tell him/her to call the helpdesk. They have 'howto' people they can ask about these things. Then ask to speak with their District Customer Service Manager on the phone if you're not getting anywhere or if it shows another customer had the TV before you. You will get a full refund or a different TV if you bring the matter up with the district office. The store might not care about your history with BestBuy, but the corporate staff will. Hope you get somewhere, if not, reply here with the store number and I'll see what I can do.
Ryan

Over the years of buying many electronic "toys" I learned a long time ago that BEST BUY is the sorriest in the business. I would not buy anything from that group of crooks for any reason. Not even if I was going to get some kind of rebate that paid me back more than what the item cost. BEST BUY, from the store managers to the biggest wheel in their corporate office could not care less about their customers. They are one sorry bunch of greedy *******!!

Throw it threw the window.

Man, I would throw it threw the window. I will give you a small example of how lame Best buys is compared to your situation. I purchased a brand new computor from them ( IBM, them are crap). I also got the extended warranty. I have children and am no PC guru. Anyway, my son decides that the floppy slot is his personal piggy bank and decided to place his pennies in it to save for college. (because all of his dads money goes on this 4,000lb boat in the driveway). So I take the PC a part and remove the pennies. I decide to take the pc bac because it isnt working right. Best Buy gladly gives me a brand new one instead of long awaited repairs. So two weeks later I finally get around to installing the printer and my CD is gone. Eventually after a month I figure out its still in the one returned. I go to Best Buy and ask them if they found a Cannon Printer CD. Ofcourse they didnt. So, I figure ah! what the helll! I go and look at the pc on the floor and guess whats in it. My printer CD. They are so lame. They put my sons piggy bank on the floor as the model. Needless to say accompanied with their lame stereo installs. I shop at Circuit City now.

The really pathetic thing is that it was probably an employee who stole the TV in the first place!!! We had an incident here where kids working at Best Buy were stealing DVDs, PS2 games, etc and throwing away the cases and taking the games home in their "CD collections" every night. They got caught with over $1500 in DVDs/games/etc.

It's sad, now we're stuck with Best Buy here in Topeka becuase Circuit City went out of business. Oh well.... that's what Internet is for !

Nick

I refuse to purchase anything from the St. Louis area Best Buy stores...they have crappy customer service and try to over sell the consumer every chance they get.

I like Circut City much better.

David

TV station

Do any of your local TV stations have a Consumer Help Line? You can contact them, & they investigate.

Local businesses will usually give you anything you want, when they see a big satellite NEWS truck pull up in front of their store & start filming a TV news spot. They get real nervous when they realize how many people will be hearing about how they flucked you over!!!!!!!!

Just an idea!!!!!!!!

68COUGAR

I would keep pursuing the matter. Chances are it is an employee doing this. Or it could be happening during distribution of the TV. I would call BestBuy on a frequent basis just to see if anyone else comes forward with this happening. At least if there is more than one of you, things will be in your favor. Basically don't give up, be persisitant as hell, to the point of being annoying to them. They got you for 1200 something dollars. Tell them to review their security tapes if they have them in the back rooms. Man I would go nuts if I ever got burnt like that. Good luck!

I have deleted this post becuase I don't want to rain on your little piss-parade. Carry on!

The only thing i can say is that I really don't like either company, but I do like best buys warranty better than Circuit City. Because I bought the extended warranty on a CD player from Circuit City and it says that they will replace or give you a updated version if they have to service your equipment more than 3 times. Well the fourth time my CD player broke, now it was up to the service manager if i get a new one or just get it serviced(well it only got serviced). Well now the warranty is up and im stuck with a pos CD player that barely works...guess its time for a new CD player.

Buy the way if you keep up with business, wal-mart is taking a big dent out of Bestbuy's wallet and with wal-mart being the biggest money making company in the world, it might just be a matter of time before bestbuy isn't so popular. The better of two evil's i guess.

Jeez, too bad. What bestbuy did to me involved $2000.00, and I just don't feel like typing the entire incident here for someone that either works for that sorry company, or is a large holder of their stock. They suck, simple as that! Their corporate offices almost laughed at me. They are thieves....And that is the bottom line.

19dCavScout said:

Call your creditr card company and tell them. They usually work really well and most of the time they give you your money back.

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Call your dredit company now and report it as fraud. They will reverse the charges. THAT's how you deal with things of this sort. Be glad you didn't pay cash.

Jeff

West Covina best buy HAHAHAHA I've dealt with them before. My ex gf's dad bough a flat screen TV from them. A day later, it messed up. He had bought extended warranty which claims they would send someone to fix it at your home. Plus it has a lemon law, break the same thing 3 times get a new one.

Well, the first time it messed up, it took them about a week to go and fix it, and they just saudered a wire that had come lose. Second time, it took a week for the guy to go over there, inspect, and order a part that was overheating, causing the wire to come lose since it melted the weld, which was going to take a few more days to arrive. The third time, we took the TV in. Ex's dad isn't too fluent, so the ex spoke for him. She was a bish, just like she always was, to the care rep so I stepped in with a more level head. I asked to speak to the manager. They sent me the acting manager, since the real manager was out on business. I eventually pulled out their copy of the agreement and told him "There it is in plain english, if it breaks the same thing 3 times, we are given a new one." His reply was that since the first time it was a malfunctioning piece which didn't break, it had only been fixed once, and this was technically the second time it broke. I told him he was full of crap, but in a not so nice way. He threatened to call security, I told them if they laid a hand on me, there'd be trouble; we all settled down. I told him to just take the TV back and get a refund, that we'd just walk down the street to Circuit City and do business with them, even if it was 30 bucks more expensive. He said the TV was past the 15 day return period. To which I replied that it was their fault for not sending someone over there quick enough to fix it in the first place.

We argued back and forth, and the ex's dad, being the little bish he always was, just took it back home, waited for them to come and fix it again, and they eventually got stuck with a TV that has been worked on 3 times on the same thing and is still to this day, a POS.

Do you suppose this thread will find anymore supporters of that sorry corp.? Only one so far....LOL.....They really do not deserve to be in business, no matter how cute their new Xmas commercials are.

Sorry man, that sucks...

No personal gripes with the company but the fact that they sued a guy for price matching makes me hate them. I am a CC customer and will remain so. The only time I go to BB is after Christmas when my aunt gets everyone $50 gift cards. I'd go to my credit card company first but then I would definitely go to the local news, but you would have to find other complaints about the store first. Then collectively bring it to the news agency. Sure would suck to be BB if that ran before Christmas. That's store manager firing material right there.

Merry Christmas

markadeck said:

Do you suppose this thread will find anymore supporters of that sorry corp.? Only one so far....LOL.....They really do not deserve to be in business, no matter how cute their new Xmas commercials are.

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The only problem I've had so far was with a rebate with them, and when I went to the store to complain, they gave me the cash right then and there.

Heh heh, nice urban legend...

Should have called the cops while you where in the store and filed a fraud complaint. The credit card company may ask you to do this anyway.