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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.
The customer is not *always* right. The business is not *always* right. No one is always right. That's why treating your customers with respect (which sometimes means saying "no" to the truly asinine requests) is the best way to be successful.
Having been a Best Buy employee for three very long months in 1999, I can tell you that respect for the customer is *far* from BBUY's focus--it's all about PSPs, PSPs, PSPs--that's Product Support Plan, or BBUY's in-house extended warranty. I was told to lie about service policies, suggest that the product would be broken and unusable in a year without the PSP, and even offer discounts off of an item's price up to the amount of the PSP (and I worked in PC & Home Office, so the PSP was $199)--ANYTHING to get the customer to buy the damn thing.
That place is as close to evil as any company that exists. Not honoring rebates is probably in one of their SOP manuals.
I am damn proud to be living in Ohio right now. Thank god somebody stepped up to the plate and did something about this. Best Buy's customer service has been on the skids for years ever since they have become too large for their own good. I now go out of my way to go buy electronics and anything of substantial dollar amounts at Circuit City. I am guessing that other people are doing the same thing.
It is kind of funny that Best Buy's shit service is the one thing preventing it from having a total monopoly. Does anyone else feel that CC has a huge edge in terms of service? I'd imagine in some cases it is the lesser of evils, but still, Best Buy needs to re-evaluate themselves. Too bad to see we are seemingly in an era where customer service has gone by the wayside...
I try to shop online to get a 7% discount avoiding the sales tax penalty for local purchases. I would not mind buy locally but I ran into just as many problems at a local retailer as online.
You know, you're supposed to claim all online purchases on your tax returns anyway. Also, I'd hardly call the 7% sales tax a penalty. It puts alot of money into the state. You don't want your state ending up like California; billions in debt.
Bugs are just features that have been fixed.
I never buy from Best Buy anyways... of course, I live in Canada.
Umm, dude? I hate to tell you this, but they're here already. In fact there's a store in Markham, at Markville Mall (scroll down to see them on the floor plan)
You can accomplish anything you set your mind to. The impossible just takes a little longer.
PSP. This little acronym stands for Perfomance Service Plan, or better known to most as an extended warranty. It is the single biggest thing harped on by managers to their sales staff to be absolutely certain to sell.
Now, I realize that these service plans are absolute CRAP to me and you. But imagine the poor bugger who buys an eMachine? Their hardware dies within a year, almost every time. What are they to do? That plan comes in real handy. Sure, it's cheaper to fix that box on your own. But these people are what we call "idiots." It's cheaper, for them, to not learn about their computer, and pay someone else to deal with it. Sure, these are the same people who never update their Home edition, who don't know much else besides email and a browser, but that's not the issue. For these people, the service rape... er plan, is fine.
Besides those, most of the rest of your complaints are that salesmen are expected to try to sell stuff. Big deal. I may not particularly like being on the receiving end of it, but I recognize that's what they're there for (and getting paid to do). If I wanted to avoid them, I'd just tell them to leave me alone, or go elsewhere.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
Yah, but crazy thing, I can't find anything I've bought online or through mailorder, no matter how hard I look.
You don't want your state ending up like California; billions in debt
You're right, I don't. They should rein in their spending if they are spending more than they are taking in.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
It doesn't excuse the guy in question from reading the fine print before blowing his money on one of these worthless "service plans,"
I'd like to point this out as a fallacy and a fraud. It is no secret that no one reads the fine print. There is no such thing as fine print. For the greatest part everything is in the same font size. It's called fine print because it's obfuscated. Obfuscation is deception and is also FRAUD. Fine print is an art of fraud. There is no secret in this.
Is it really nothing more than dishonest greed and graft which prompts the courts to uphold fine print?
+++ATHZ 99:5:80
You should have told the manager why you were leaving. They'll never learn otherwise.
My blog. Good stuff (when I remember to update it). Read it.
She loves it and I don't have to mess with it, yet we don't lose the "income".
Come and see the violence inherent in the system!
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
In the Best Buy around here, it's okay to test out things like speakers that would have management eyeing you strangely in other stores. I went in, found the best price/performance ratio'd speakers I could find, and left, to get them 50 dollars cheaper off newegg.
Boycotting buying is fine by me, but everyone (even Best Buy) has thier uses.
I hate to say it, but in this case the seller is in a tricky circumstance. Customer comes in mad about his TV being broke that was sent to him as a replacement. The TV in question has obvious physical damage that a customer is claiming to have simply not noticed for 4 months. Sounds too fishy. Now if you had immediately checked and seen it, no excuse, but there is a serious amount of reasonable doubt here.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
I love how all the complaints about the service plans state "the employee told me it is like this". People never say "the contract I signed told me that it was like this..."
And then people wonder when something breaks why they don't get what the employee said and instead best buy follows what the contract says.
People are morons, customers are NOT always right (they aren't even occassionally right).
Caveat emptor
Thinking with a caveat emptor mentality only further reinforces that insurance is an art of fraud. How can I sell you a product which protects you from risk if it's accepted that you assume all of the risk?
+++ATHZ 99:5:80
And... the customer is always right. Unless you happen to be shopping at Best Buy, CompUSA, Circuit City, Fry's, Future World, Radio Shack, Microcenter, yada yada yada...
:-)
NewEgg ROCKS tho!
--
jr
I can only conclude that either I've been very lucky for the last 6 years, or else there are alot of morons out there who can't fill out rebates properly and don't know how to finesse their way into a successful return/exchange.
If I spend money on a warranty or service plan, I shouldn't have to "finesse" my way into a successful return/exchange.
Judging by the few people I know in my area that have had a terrible ordeal trying to make good on a PSP, it seems like you've been very lucky.
Hmm,
1. Instead of offering a $20 rebate and redeeming 50% of those, why not just offere a straight at the counter $10 discount. Pisses off less people
2. I bought a TV-tuner card a couple years ago because it advertised a $50 rebate. Buy it, open it up to read to rebate information inside the box only to find out the rebate expired months before I purchased it. Was I pissed off? Damn straight.
People at Best Buy get fired if they don't make their quota on the extended warranty and service plans. Last time I worked there (years ago) we got a small rip on the plans (like $2 for a $50 plan). The threat of termination is more of an incentive than commission on sales. Besides, commission provides for more knowledgable sales people. A good sales person can work that job and support their families for years. They can learn their job and policies inside and out because they are there for so long. It's also harder for them to lie, because it when it comes back to bite them, it will mean more to the older person than some punk kid that works because mommy and daddy don't give enough allowance. You just have to be able to see past the sales techniques.
Actually, don't, unless you happen to be energy independent somehow. Otherwise, you're just wasting energy for absolutely no reason.
Everytime I pass a line of customers at Sears Auto I am reminded that consumers have very short memories and will always forgive a few lawsuits for a glossy bargain ad.
Whenever I'm begrudingly dragged along to Best Buy by someone, I am constantly amazed by all the hoops you have to go through to make a purchase. By that I mean, if you want something, you're going to have to put up with someone trying to sell you a service plan more often than not, and on top of that, now they're trying to get you to buy magazine subscriptions on the way out (8 months free and then we mail you for the rest of your life!). Whatever happened to being able to just buy something?
As for being nice to salesmen? Hell no. Make them hate their job. I don't care if they're working for some mean old manager who's making them sell PSPs. The more misery you can rain down on them, the more likely they're going to quit working there. As the jobs open up, Best Buy has to hire less and less qualified people. As those people quit, the cycle repeats. Eventually, it will be all those asshole managers working triple-time trying to sell shitty service plans to people who are assholes right back to them. And then Best Buy collapses under it's own filth.
Feel bad about being mean? We don't go into war and not shoot the troops because their commanders are the really mean ones. We kill 'em ALL.
A customer on either end of the spectrum will talk about your store with dozens of friends and coworkers. On which end of the spectrum would you like to place that customer? This is exactly why Nordstrom has such a fine reputation among department stores. 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. He also was cheerfully treated when returning a pair of shoes some three years after purchase (hardly worn but poor fit). In response to that urban legend about someone returning 4 used tires for a refund at Nordstrom, their president said in an interview that he'd rather win a customer than save a few bucks from being right. That customer is likely to turn around and spend that refund in the store. He/she will also extol the virtues of the store.
As for my Best Buy nightmare, I'm not really as livid as others. However, because of the way they treated me, I won't shop BB again. The 32" TV they delivered to my home worked fine upon arrival, and then the picture went black an hour after they left. BB frustrated me to no end in trying to get it replaced. For starters, their phone system has a voice menu system that is difficult to navigate (no way to back up after a wrong choice) and nearly impossible to reach a live person. Because all their employees use cordless phones, calls are consistently (intentionally?) dropped. They have no telephone number for their national office, neither toll-free or otherwise. After a dozen calls I was able to reach corporate office from a "hidden" option in one of the menus.
As in the case of Nordstrom, if they simply responded to me up front instead of sending me through voice mail hell, I would remain a customer. Their terrible reponse and lack of interest from the store manager pushed me to the far end of that customer spectrum. The end where I will bad mouth them. Totally their fault for poor customer relations and loss of this customer who could have spent several thousand dollars over the next few years. Oh well, I guess they'll make it up on the next customer.
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Yeah, but it's HARD to prove that someone actually said a lie to you. It's EASY to point to a piece of paper. If you take it to court and they admit to lying, they'll lose. If they deny lying, the judge will find for the defendant, because the only admissible evidence will be the piece of paper, and your testimony, which is canceled out by their testimony.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
I signed up for Comcast at BestBuy and I got a Motorola modem with that, which was free after rebate. But Best Buy didn't honor my rebate. They first sent it back saying I hadn't submitted all the right papers (which I had!) and then when I sent it AGAIN with the right papers AGAIN, they still sent it back to me saying my rebate was rejected since I had not submitted all the right papers. Interestingly, they returned all the papers I had submitted and I checked the list and all the papers were there !!
I just let it go because I had read online that Best Buy sucks as far as honoring rebates is concerned. I am glad to see someone is taking action.
SG
not exactly, I don't think best buy should put returned merchandise back onto the shelves.
If someone returns an item they should make sure it is in original condition. and who is to say it wasn't best buy who sealed it back up? This is the reason why they are in trouble now.
I used to work at kmart and anything that was returned went into the 605 department where the item is checked for condition. if its in saleable condition it is put out onto the floor for clearance. if its damaged it gets returned to the manufacturer where they refurbish it.
You're right, I don't. They should rein in their spending if they are spending more than they are taking in.
The thing is, California's inflation-adjusted property taxes have been in steady decline for a long time due to Prop 13. Because California is more dependant on income and sales taxes than other states, it means in an economic slump they see an even larger drop in revenue than most states.
Simply curtailing spending accordingly is not that practical as it would entail periodic large layoffs of state workers. Would you like to see a surge in public school class size, deferred maintainance, and massive prison overcrowding (or early release) every time there's a recession?
California either needs to run periodic defecits or else institute a reform of Prop 13, but that's a political sacred cow.