First I am going to say I understand that if there are 'store policies' this has nothing to do with the employees. But as my husband said to best Buy employees as we left - " I feel sorry that you have to work for a place like this!"
We just got back from vacation in Bullhead/Laughlin. After a 7 hour drive home we feel lazy.instead of renting movies for a 'lazy day' we decided to travel the almost 1/2 hour out of town to Best Buy in Santa Maria, Ca. To get a season of one of the shows we collect.
We get there, it HAS to be C.S.I., the original, with Grissom, (all other shows we have the most current). We have 5 seasons, so wanted to get season 6; there's ONE on the shelf but two season 7s - one marked $99.99, one marked $69.99.
Hmmm... interesting.
So, as we walk up to the register, I can hear something shaking around in the boxed set. We get up to the counter and BEFORE the transaction is made I tell the cashier that BEFORE I leave this store I want to open the set and make sure that none of the D.V.D. S are scratched, as I hear something shaking around. She says that's fine but says NOTHING about ANY Best Buy policies.
Nothing!
So I open the set and as thought, one D.V.D. Is loose, scratched, AND had scratched the one beneath it! Figure we'd go to customer service and either get our money back or see if they have another in stock.
Mind you, we had NEVER left the store and the box was opened in front of the cashier.
Over to 'customer service' to see if by any chance they have another one. She checks; tells us there's one in stock. The guy next to her says, "If it says there's 1 in stock there probably isn't one."
Okay... My husband is in I.T.in his work when a part is used, it is automatically taken off of inventory, which should be how THIS place's, Best Buy's, inventory control SHOULD work.
So they check - NONE to be found.
Now they tell us, (this is the 'policy' of the company), that they CANNOT give us our money back as the set was opened, but we can exchange for exact.
For one - how come the inept girl at the cash register didn't tell us the policy when I informed her that I was going to open it and check it right then? If she had, it would have been on me! She finished the transaction AFTER I told her what I was going to do!
AND how the hell was I going to exchange for exact when there wasn't one even if they show it in stock?!?
We did not EVER leave the store, therefore wasn't able to copy or destroy the D.V.D.S., which is probably the reason for this UNDERSTANDABLE policy.
For one: the cashier should have mentioned the policy.
For two: Policy should have been waived since we never left the store and product was defective in the first place.
Two managers and a lot of harsh words exchanged later, we ended up having to get C.S.I. Season 7 for $30 more and told them we'd NEVER shop Best Buy again. We had no choice, other than to take home a scratched brand new set of D.V.D.S. - we didn't want any other sets.
As we left we told folks going in that they should take their buisness somewhere else and why. Funny... A guy was going in to complain to a friend who works in the store (who was also a manager) his complaints about how rudely he was treated while buying a product.
I told him to mention to his friend that we were looking at big flat panel T.V. S and would NOT be buying one at Best Buy.
And we'll make sure we mention to people we know about Best Buy and their crappy return policies.
I'm in a customer service buisness, and I've been required by my old salon to attend buisness type classes. It is a FACT that a really good service will bring in about 3 more people. Bad service will lose you 10 or more. Believe me... I will tell.
So there we go - Comp U.S.A... Circut City... Now Best Buy.
I find that paying a bit more to support a small 'ma and pa' operation is much more customer friendly. Too bad we have no place in our small town to buy D.V.D. S or music.
Lkraus
lompoc, California
U.S.A.
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