I will never shop at Best Buy again, for life

[wickeddroptop]

This is more of a rant/rave, sorry, just have to get this out as I am trying to get people to stop shopping there as well.

Over the last 3-4 years, my wife and I have racked up the Best Buy credit card everytime a 0% finance rate was in effect. We purchases 2 laptops, 61" T.V., 32" T.V. and 3 Ipods. Not to mention all the DVD's, misc car stereo stuff and what not that we didnt pay attention to. All in All, in the neighborhood of about 6,000 bucks. Were valuable customers...r..i...g..h..t

Our $3200 61" T.V. has been giving us problems ever since we got it, luckily with the $400 service plan, BB was out there to fix it every 6months free of charge, until it qualified for a replacement. I went into the store very happy they were going to do this. Our T.V. is silver, thus we have all silver components, stand, HD reciever, the new T.V. they were trying to replace it with is not only Black, but is on sale right now for $2400. This posed a problem for me. I asked to speak to the manager, who in turn, said I can choose a T.V. with comparable features. There are no silver T.V.s this year, so I politely asked for them to make it up in someway, long story short, if I was 19 again, and not married, myself and the manager would have fought right there in the store, he was a complete jerk.

I immediatly called the help line, to file a complaint, and ask them what could be done, after being on and off hold, talking to 3 different people for an hour and a half, I was finally hung up on by a supervisor.

I went to another BB store to get it done, I wanted to transfer the remainder of my warranty to the new T.V., they would not.

I called the help line again, and expressed my dis-satisfaction and felt they needed to make it up to me in some way, they would not.

After all of this, I am getting a T.V. that is not the same color that we originally liked/bought, is $800 cheaper and we are losing the remaining $200 worth of warranty. After all the money we have spent there, they did not even offer so much as a gift card, or to swap out our stand, nothing.

I will never go there again, as long as I live.

[pitfish]

How old was your 61"? Electronics equipment is quickly obsolete so it doesn't surprise me that they were offering you a $2400 t.v. as a replacement. Sounds like you got a Performance Service Plan. If this is what you got, it specifically states that your replacement may be cheaper than what you actually paid. If you got the Product Replacement plan then they would just straight up give you a gift card and you would pick your replacement yourself. I'm not saying you shouldn't be mad, I would be, but not at Best Buy. They did come out and attempt repairs the required four times, and they did offer to replace it per the agreement. Either way, sorry about your bad experience.

Anyway, if you don't want the replacement TV, I'll take it, I dont care that it's black :) j/k.

[CBlanks]

It seems they are trying to enforce a warranty contract that may be void in its inception. Was the contract a set form or did you negotiate terms? Were you given the option of negotiating terms or was it "take it or leave it?" These types of contracts have been shown to be difficult to enforce legally. See Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc. v. Shute for reference. Although this case deals with a forum selection clause with respect to General Jursidiction, the opinion raises doubts regarding form contracts.

[pitfish]

I immediatly called the help line, to file a complaint, and ask them what could be done, after being on and off hold, talking to 3 different people for an hour and a half, I was finally hung up on by a supervisor.

I went to another BB store to get it done, I wanted to transfer the remainder of my warranty to the new T.V., they would not.

I called the help line again, and expressed my dis-satisfaction and felt they needed to make it up to me in some way, they would not.


After doing all of this and you are still not satisfied you could consider small claims court. I'm no lawyer, but if I wanted to threaten to sue I would write a polite, yet firm, letter indicating my demands. Have your facts straight, (collect photo's of your old tv, the new tv, receipts, the contract, witness statement -did someone see the manager mistreat you?-, etc. ) and tell them you intend to file a case in a couple weeks if you're not paid what you're owed. Sometimes conversations aren't taken seriously, especially by a big company, but the right letter can wake them up.

[swissfish]

Sorry to hear that, that's messed up.

I had bad experiance with them too and will not buy stuff there anymore.

[MrKrispy]

Unfortunately I think it specifically states that the warranty price is not refunded due to replacement. I am not a fan of Best Buy, however when I had to use my extended warranty plans thru them they were very good about it. I have used them 3 times I think and each time they replaced the item a newer comparable model or refunded my money. I would keep hassling them about refunding your money. You are out $400 but you will be able to buy a nice silver TV at Costco for much less than $3000.

[Lo0seR]

I would say go to Circuit City next time, but guess what? If they can fire 3400 employee's and say to our face that it so they can hire cheaper employee's, I would hate to think how they would treat a customer.

[CNCreefer]

Circuit city and best buy will never get my business. Ever. I can't stand being hounded by pushy salespeople when looking to buy something.

[reddog-reef]

FRY's is the place i always go when in need of electronic equipment. they have great selections, sales all teh time, and none of those pain in the ass sales persons tryin to upsell you on every corner, and hover around you like sharks........ try frys that my best advice. or as MrKrispy said, go to Costco. thats where we got our TV. they have visios there which is what we got and im completely satisfied with it! GL
Ben

[fishfinger]

I have shopped at Fry's ....no problem's. Best buy........no troubles . And lots of stuff at Circut city. Same thing.......no problems and good service.

[sdfreshwaterkid]

lol...ive shopped at fry's and DEF PROBLEMS...best buy no service...circuit city no service haha....so iam sure its just a preference thing? or timing thing? haha...just keep hassling them, and dont give up!

[vinny73]

I too would just ask for your money back! You worked hard for that money and expect a product to work as hard or harder for you. You bought a product that is supposed to work. If it does not meet your needs then the contract is voided. If they cannot offer you the same product then they have to give your money back! It's the law!

[DaveMorris]

The problem with asking for your money back is it has to come from the manufacturer for Best Buy to do it. I had a huge problem with my 42" Samsung HD set and it took me standing in the main doorway yelling at the store manager threatening to bring back the broken TV and dumping it right in the entrance on a saturday afternoon with tons of people going in and out. He decided that maybe it was worth his time to get on the phone with Samsung and make the demands for service on my behalf. Three weeks later Samsung called me to verify my address and sent me a new TV and took away the broken one. It was a huge PITA but worth it in the end.

[Rushdog86]

The problem with asking for your money back is it has to come from the manufacturer for Best Buy to do it. I had a huge problem with my 42" Samsung HD set and it took me standing in the main doorway yelling at the store manager threatening to bring back the broken TV and dumping it right in the entrance on a saturday afternoon with tons of people going in and out. He decided that maybe it was worth his time to get on the phone with Samsung and make the demands for service on my behalf. Three weeks later Samsung called me to verify my address and sent me a new TV and took away the broken one. It was a huge PITA but worth it in the end.

HAH! whateever works!

[quicksilver]

After doing all of this and you are still not satisfied you could consider small claims court. I'm no lawyer, but if I wanted to threaten to sue I would write a polite, yet firm, letter indicating my demands. Have your facts straight, (collect photo's of your old tv, the new tv, receipts, the contract, witness statement -did someone see the manager mistreat you?-, etc. ) and tell them you intend to file a case in a couple weeks if you're not paid what you're owed. Sometimes conversations aren't taken seriously, especially by a big company, but the right letter can wake them up.

Unfortunately that will not do much. Having work at a retail store for over a year we have been told that if you are ever threatened with a law suit you can no longer help the customer out. You are then instructed to give them a card from corperate and hand the receipt over and you will no longer recieve help from the store. Then you will never really get a chance to swap or get equal value. Your best bet is to ask for the district manager's number. They are typicaly located near SD. It's all about talking to a manager who is willing to help you (which is very hard to find).YOu have to understand these are multi million dollar company and they have lawyers sitting on their a** waiting for situations like these. Besta lcuk to you.

[nanoreefbro]

Maybe you could contact the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint with them.

[SECTER1]

Fry's rules. And they have fish too:D at least the one up here.

[CNCreefer]

Yeah, fry's rules. I'm going there today to get a new digital camera. My old one went blind :(

[Redeye]

those tanks are crazy, they look like a HUGE PITA to clean
atleast the tall ones by the cafe
the cylinder in cool though

[Phischy]

I'd probably read the details of your warrant really closely, I bet there's a clause in there in subsection 5789a that states a current warranty cannot be passed onto new hardware.

I buy all my electronics at Tweaker (er Tweeter), they have a deal there where you can buy speakers and w/in 1 year upgrade them and your trade-in value is what you paid for them. So I made friends with my sales guy and everytime they had a sale on speakers he'd call me up, I'd load up my old speakers and upgrade to a higher end model. A cheap way to go from entry level to badass level. Anywho...everytime I upgraded I'd have to pay the difference for a new warranty as the new warranty was more than the old one.

[lucubrator]

Interesting note on Tweeter: They were formerly "D-O-W DOW!"

[SECTER1]

Remember Federated electronic stores?

[Phischy]

Or Incredible Universe? I think they became Fry's though.

[EncoreDon]

Money money, it's always about the money. If you can't get any satisfaction from the local storem or corporate. personally sue the manager in small claims court. He cannot be represented by their corporate staff or other attorneys there. If you contact corporate ask em who their agent for service of process is (they will then think you are serious). I think they have to have on in each state where they do business. My daughter owns an attorney service and when she returns from the desert will ask her how you can handle this yourself. Another good place to stay away from is tweeter.

[DaveMorris]

I love Fry's selection of products, but why do they make it so darn hard to actually make a purchase? They are a pain in the butt and it takes forever to get through the line.