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Best Buy Sued By Ohio
liryon writes "The Register is reporting that the state of Ohio has sued national electronics retailer Best Buy for misleading customers by repackaging used goods and then selling them as new, and for failing to pay rebate claims. The Register report can be found here, and the original story is here. I guess this is what you get for deciding the customer is not always right." See also the Ohio AG's press release.
"Firing customers", and now this?
Doesnt look too good for The Yellow Tag.
This is a problem I've had with best buy in the past ... they refuse to honor the Uniform Commercial Codes implied warranties of merchantability without explicitly disclaiming said warranties at the point of sale. It's about time something was done about it.
If you cater your business to the most vocal, whiny, ignorant, unscrupulous customer, you will fail. "No sir, you can't return those underpants. It appears you have worn them as evidenced by these brown streaks here. Yes sir, I know they say the customer is always right, but I don't have to put up with your shit."
"Why people ever shop at Best Buy I will never know. Sadly I was tricked into going there just last night..."
Yeeowch!
I stopped trusting anything mail-in when I was a kid. You see, Kellogg had this "special offer" on the side of their box that claimed you could get a FREE Darkwing Duck knapsack with X number of proofs of purchase, and a few dollars shipping and handling. Being the big DW fans we were, my siblings and I all dutifully at our cereal, snagged our UPCs, and sent in the money (a lot for a kid!).
Never
saw
nothin'
Thats so strange, when I was a kid out of the blue I got 5 darkwing duck knapsacks sent to me. I had no idea where they game from, but I was extremely happy to have them!
Do you Gentoo!?
I am damn proud to be living in Ohio right now.
I do believe that this is the first time this sentence has ever been uttered.
The easy way to shop at these 'burb chains is the same way you shop in the "camera district" in major cities.
Walk in, tell them what you saw in their ad, tell them what it comes with, tell them that's all your going to pay and that's all you want, no shit, and you want to be holding the item FIRST and inspect it FIRST before you hand over any payment.
Q. "But we can't give it to you at that price without..."
A. "FUCK YOU. Good day." (walk out)
Q. "That price only includes A, B, and C, not D, E, and F, I guess the ad was wrong..."
A. "FUCK YOU. Good day." (walk out)
Q. "We don't have it in stock, but we've backordered it for you..."
A. "FUCK YOU. Good day." (walk out)
Q. "You're going to need X, Y, and Z in order to make it work. Now I know you didn't ask for them, but..."
A. "FUCK YOU. Good day." (walk out)
Q. "That price is acutally only after rebate/only applies to gray market model/only applies to members of our sales club..."
A. "FUCK YOU. Good day." (walk out)
It's easy. Salespeople are assholes or pimply-faced teenagers without a clue anyway, they don't come in any other flavor. Use and abuse them and get what you want, ream them hard in the ass if you can, or walk out with your money and don't give it to the chickenshits.
Yeah MC's a decent place. I live in Silicon Valley, the land where Fry's dominates, but I still find myself going to MC when I don't want a hassle.
Hell, I was putting together a computer the other day and the motherboards at MC were cheaper than Fry's. And there's *never* a line at the return counter. And the employees don't have that creepy vibe like the Fry's ones do. I swear to god, that place is run by pod people or they all have brain slugs or *something*.
Were you asleep in math class?
when I bought my laptop the sales guy actually told me the plan covered the screen if I dropped it and broke it. I almost laughed in his face. Looking back, I should have.
Sera
Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.
Best Buy cracks me up.
Went there a couple of weeks ago to buy an iPod. Of course, the iPods were behind some sort of bullet-proof protected glass, so I had to get a salesperson even to look at the friggin' box. Once I found one and told them I wanted to look at the iPods, they started telling me how awesome they were. What a great deal they were. How much Apple kicks ass.
Ok, fine, I say. I'll take it. Let's check out.
Immediately, they change gears and tell me how easy the thing breaks, how bad the battery sucks, how long it takes to get a replacement from Apple, blah blah, buy our service plan. I should have left the store right there. Scum.
That is a new one. We are talking about how evil Best Buy is and so the solution is to recommend Wal Mart??
This isn't likely, but could she have possibly been trying to slip you her phone number on the sly? :p
Read: Rabbit Rue - Free serial nove
Many moons ago, I was working part time in Marks and Spencer's warehouse, Oxford, while I was attending a local tech. college.
Marks and Spencer for those of you who are not UK-centric, is a department store, supposedly of above average quality which prides itself on the level of customer service they provide. They have/had a very liberal returns policy, and were famous for standing behind their products.
Picture the scene: It is January the 2nd. The customer service desk is swamped with people returning unwanted Christmas gifts for cash. As I am taking a trolley load of packaging down to the waste compactor in the basement, one of the customer service assistants is peering quizzically at the inside of a pair of boxer shorts that have been presented for refund.
Her facial expression, and her words, will stay with me until the day I die:
"I'm very sorry sir, we can't accept these shorts: They are soiled".
T&K.
Political language
"Years ago my father pointed out one of the reasons he prefers Nordstrom: they have plenty of seating. Husbands often wait a long time while their wives find clothing. I challenge you to find any major national retailer other than Nordstrom that provides plentiful and seating for their customers."
Other major retailers have tool and/or electronics departments that the stores hope those husbands would browse instead of sitting.