I want to be explicit as to the details of this situation, since Best Buy appears to be picyune, and I don't want to be accused of twisting the facts. On 12/20/07, my wife, after having saved up for several years unbeknownst to me, purchased a 42" HD LCD Phillips television from Best Buy for my birthday and Christmas combined (it cost $1054.34). She presented the television to me on 12/23/07 in the box, just three days after purchase. I carefully took the television out of the box and followed the instructions on how to connect the stand to the television and hooked it up to the cable. As soon as the picture came on, I could see there was all sorts of distortion. We called the Phillips tech help line and were told that the screen was probably bad and to return the set to Best Buy. My wife called Best Buy and spoke to the manager of the "Home Theatre" department, who indicated they would exchange the set so long as we got there that day by 6:00 P.M. We arrived at the store well before 6:00 P.M. And after waiting in line at the Customer Service Dept., the clerk there told us that the "Geek Squad" would have to look the television over before they could exchange the set for another. After the "Geek Squad" looked at the set, the clerk stated that since it was out of the box, it was now considered "used" and they could not exchange it.
When we made a fuss about that and asked to speak to the store manager, their story changed and they now stated that since the screen was damaged and since they presumed that it was in perfect condition when it left their store, we obviously must have damaged the screen by pushing it in. We explained to the manager that we had just opened the box a few hours earlier and did nothing to damage the set. My wife paid for a new working television set and we expected to get the benefit of our bargain—for the $1054.34 she paid, we expected a working set. The manager was adamant that we damaged the set ourselves and intimated that we were trying to pull a fast one on him. He steadfastly refused either to exchange the set or refund our money. We called our credit card company and they stated that if Best Buy would not refund our money or exchange the set and if they would not sign a receipt for the television (which they would not do), then we would have to take the non-working set with us. Since that time, my wife and I have done some research into Best Buy's policies and issues others have had with them (the Florida Attorney General, in fact, has filed a civil lawsuit against them for different issues related to this type of thing), and it appears to us that Best Buy has made some sort of corporate policy regarding the return of damaged goods. Even if you return the damaged goods immediately, it seems they will not take it back or refund your money. The are presuming that if the goods are damaged, the customer must have been the one to damage them, disregarding the fact that prior to the sale, these boxes are thrown around by all types of people (airline personell who ship them, truckers who deliver them, stock persons who move them around in the store, etc.). Apparently, if you have not opened the box, you can return it (sometimes with an accompanying "restocking fee, " however), but if the box has been opened and the goods are damaged, forget it. They will not take the item back. This is just wrong! We are out over $1000.00 now and cannot afford to waste that kind of money on what is now a very expensive paper weight.
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