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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.
This kind of reminds me of a fellow often sighted on the outskirts of the parking lot of the shopping center that houses the Best Buy here in Springfield, Missouri, particularly during big sales. There's a landscaped border to the lot, with small grassy ridges and trees and things, and this fellow will bring a lawnchair, thermos mug, perhaps a parasol for shade, and set up right there on the hill overlooking the entrance with a big posterboard protest sign. I can't remember exactly what the sign said--I'm sure he had different ones on different occasions--but it was basically warnings like not to trust Best Buy's warranty plans, don't shop at Best Buy, etc.
I never quite worked up the nerve to approach him and ask him about it, but I did ask a couple of Best Buy servicepeons I happened to encounter while eating in the nearby Subway one day. Apparently the fellow had bought a video camera, damaged it in a fashion not covered under warranty (apparently dropped it over the side of a boat into a lake or something, I can't remember exactly now) and then got upset when Best Buy refused to honor the service plan.
So now he's getting his money's worth back by carrying out this oddball protest. Takes all kinds, I suppose.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Why people ever shop at Best Buy I will never know. Sadly I was tricked into going there just last night...
I have a problem with Best Buy at all times of the year but especially at Christmas when they block off lanes so you can only enter/exit in one spot. That way they have an easier time trapping you in there to tell you that they do not work on commissions but that they are happy to help you look for everything they offer.
The second to last time I went to Best Buy I was looking for a wlan CF card for my iPaq. I went to Circuit City first and they had one for $40. I wasn't a huge fan of the maker (never heard of them) so I went to the Best Buy (less than 2 mi as the crow flies). I went into the area with the CF cards and looked at their gigantic selection of two CF cards. Both were over $75. Immediately the vultures descended on me. For once I had a question, "where are the rest of your CF wifi cards?" "That's it." "Wow, these are expensive." I was then dismissed with a wave of the hand and an insult about my lack of wifi CF card knowledge. I told them to start shopping at Circuit City, their discount couldn't even help to match their prices.
So last night I go in there to pick up a SD card reader. Their selection was, again, fantastically lacking. Five card readers. Two took SD the rest were for Sony format. $35.00 was the cheap one. Huh? Newegg.com here I come. So as I am leaving I am asked why I am leaving without buying anything, "Not here for Madden 2k5?" "No, I was here for an inexpensive SD card reader, it's obvious you don't carry those."
Now I was lying a bit when I said it was $35. It *was* $35 but I was not-so-politely informed that I could buy it at $35 and wait X weeks for my refund to come in the mail. Sorry about that Best Buy but I could get I online for $14 including shipping and no need to wait for my money to come back. Perhaps Ohio should force Best Buy to pay interest on the money while you wait for a rebate... Don't they make you pay back all the interest accrued if you don't have it all paid off when their 0% APR offer is done? It would be nice for them to taste their own medicine for once. Perhaps they would care about their customers more if they did.
For Best Buy being on nearly every block here in Minnesota (there are 5+ within a 5 mile radius of me) they suck. How the hell did they get so popular? People are really willing to put up w/lack of choice and expensive prices?
I'm sorry, I forgot I was in Microsoft-taught hell.
an interesting little insight from a disgruntled staff member.
Top 5 things Best Buy doesn't want you to know
I should have posted this long ago. As a former employee, here is an insider's look at the top 5 things from the HT department of Best Buy (where I worked) that I guarantee they do not want their customers to know.
5. Barely legal bait and switch schemes. They push the limits of the laws with many of their flyer ads with some cheap product, like a 40 dollar DVD player to get you in the store, in hopes of encouraging you to buy something better, ie more expensive. That's the salesmen's job under any circumstance, so it doesn't change with these cheapo sales events either.
4. Open box items are usually returned items, not something that just happened to get opened in store, which rarely happens. I've seen many store employees try to avoid saying it was returned, in fear of losing the sale. Also most employees don't take the time to properly label the open box tags so you may think you are getting all accessories when you are not.
3. I've discussed this before, but here is more on this subject. As part of employee training, monster cables are drilled into employee's heads as a part of all applicable sales add ons from day one. In fact it is part of the "Total Solution" mechanism in place that all employess are to follow during their sales routine. Employees are told straight up that monster's products are superior, but never given any detailed reason why this is supposedly so. The employees I witnessed would typically memorize much of the fluff that was written on the package, on their own behalf, as a way to more quickly answer customer questions, preserve "expert" status, and eliminate possible reservations that the customer might have about spending more on something that was already provided in the box. In fact, this was often lied about. Employees don't like telling customers that zipcords come with their dvd player when asked. If they employees are forced into telling a customer, they will be quick to point how poor in quality they are in comparison to monster's products. One manager would actually say "The only thing (the customer) better be using zipcords cords for is to hold their trunk shut after they've just bought something". AR cables and recoton cables are seen as a failure of doing a proper sale at Best Buy and used only as a last ditch effort to get the customer to buy a little something extra. If an employee doesn't ask you "do you want cables, an antenna, blank discs, tapes, etc. with that?" when you are buying an applicable product, then they are simply not doing their job as instructed.
2. Employee know how. There was a recent Home Theater magazine article on the knowledge of Circuit City, Ultimate Electronics, and Best Buy employees. The rag was trying to determine how well each store knew their stuff. I knew what the results of this absolutely retarded article were going to be before I even began reading it, but as a former employee I read it anyway for curiousity's sake. The results, of course, depended on the individual knowledge of the employee that the writers happened to speak to.
Best Buys's policy is for each employee to know as much as they can about the products they sell in their primary area of responsibility. Yet, in order to do so they have to research the product almost entirely on their own time. During slow times throughout the day when you would think an employee could do a little studying, typically this is when the merchandising manager obegins running around being his/her most concerned about the store's cleanliness and the straighntess of the product on the shelves etc., so employees rarely get to know their products that well and also because of the constant product turnover. Also keep in mind when selling something such as a DVD player you can
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."
for the first time in years, and it will probably be the last time.
I wanted a bluetooth keyboard for my notebook and some other accessories. I got all the accessories and then I was looking at the keyboards. The sales girl came and said that if I'm going to get a keyboard, I should get the extended warranty.
She didn't even try to see how interested I was in the keyboards or try to convince me to buy one. When I said "that's okay", she said I should read about it and shoved a brochure in front of me. I said "no thanks", and she angrily shoved it even closer and said "I really should at least read it; it's a great deal". I ignored her and she kept trying. I finally just abandoned my cart full of things I'd already decided to buy right in front of her and walked out of the store.
In summary, I didn't RTFA, but I hope this lawsuit breaks them.
I had fun getting Best Buy and Circuit City to go back and forth concerning the 50in TV I have in my living room now. I got the price down 500 dollars just from them going back and forth. J
On August 29, 2003, the Panasonic 27" television that I purchased at the Best Buy store in Columbia, MD was replaced with a model comparable in specification, according to the 4-year Performance Service Plan (hereafter PSP) that I purchased with the unit. The salesperson informed me that, under the PSP, if anything ever goes wrong with the television, I can bring it back to the store for repair or replacement. When the original unit was replaced, the salesperson informed me that, under the PSP, the remainder of the 4-year term of the PSP would carry over to the replacement unit.
Since my roommate and I found a substitute for the unit in the interim, the unit sat unmoved and unopened in my parents' house for approximately 120 days. (Yeah, I know. I probably should have checked it out, but I mean, i didn't really have the room to open this thing, especially when I didn't immediately require its use.) When I opened the unit that was given to me as a replacement, it turned out to be defective, with considerable cosmetic damage in the form of cracks and warps in the case. On January 6, 2004, I returned to the Best Buy store in Columbia, MD to have it repaired or replaced according to the PSP, the salesperson at the store told me that the PSP did not cover physical damage. I told the store salesperson that the unit was in that condition when I opened it. Then the salesperson said that the situation would be different if the unit did not function. I then told the salespeople that I did not turn the unit on, so I did not know if it functioned at all. Once it was determined that the unit did not function, the store salesperson agreed to send the unit to their authorized repair facility, saying that they would contact me when it was returned. They did not contact me. On February 3, 2004, I finally contacted the store myself--at which time I found that the unit had been in their possession for the past 3 weeks--and they told me it was repaired and I could pick up the unit. When I arrived, the store salesperson told me that the unit was not able to be repaired. When I asked for the unit to be replaced according to the PSP, they told me that I must have caused the damage myself, and that it was therefore not covered under the PSP. This is unacceptable, as the salesperson who sold me the unit and the PSP told me that if anything goes wrong with the TV, I could return it for repair or replacement, and since the full disclosure of the terms of the PSP were not given to me until after I purchased it.
So yeah, I probably should have checked it out to make sure it was ok, but I didn't really feel the need - the box had no signs of damage or trauma, was sealed, etc, etc. But that will surely be a lesson to me not to trust Best Buy ever again, ESPECIALLY not their so-called "service plan."
For more stories - FAR more offensive and appalling than this one, I might add - check out http://www.bestbuysux.org/.
I think Best Buy treats customers just like banks treat their customers. Money talks, and when you have it, you get a higher level of service. But when you have free checking with $50.00 in it all the time, or when you only come in for special deals and then send in the rebate and return the item, then you shouldn't expect these companies to ask "how high" when you say jump.
Here's a "banker" joke that i heard from my banker recently:
An older guy walks into a bank and walks up to the lady teller.
old man: "I want to make a goddamn deposit!!!"
lady teller: "Excuse me?"
old man: "I want to make a goddamn deposit!!!"
lady teller: "You can't talk to me that way sir, let me get my manager"
bank manager: "Yes, How can I help you sir?"
old man: "I want to make a goddamn deposit for a million dollars!"
bank manager: "Is this bitch bothering you?" (points to teller)
Man, the one thing that cracks me up more than anything.... you know, the $100/ft oxygen free copper wire that supposidly has less resistance therefor better sound than lamp cable from the hardware store...
Anyways, the ignorance finally showed with the release of the TOSLink fiber optic cables used that carry the digital data (SPDIF format I believe).
Monster and other companies sell high grade TOSLink fiber optic cables that, according to the packaging, provide better sound than the factory throw ins.
It costs more than your SC to SC multimode fiber optic patch cords that you would use for a gige switch. Shit, probably more than a SM MRTJ cable for 10gig...
But the truth is, it works just as good as the cheapo. ZERO difference. It is all ones and zeros. I have a 10$ cable I used between a PC and my MD deck, and also between two MD decks. The secret is, there is a hidden option to enter a service mode where you can video the errors received on both toslink and the optical pickup.
The fact it, it is false advertising. Sure it might have more plastic wrapped around it and look cooler, but it is all just a plastic lightpipe (unlike computer cables which are indeed glass). I saw zero errors on the most budget cable out there.
Don't, (jibbie wack), don't believe the hype.
Southeastern Virginia REPRESENT!
Well, while she was taking her final I decided I would go to the local mall and hang out for awhile to burn some time. I ended up at Best Buy (most guys, when left to their own shopping accords with no woman at their hip and money to burn, will end up at an electronics store. Call it Jay's Law). Anyhow, I went inside and was glancing at everything: computer stuff, DVDs, video games, TVs, stereo stuff, etc., basically deciding what I wanted to get that day. I didn't have a cart on me in their defense just because I may have gotten a DVD or a stereo; I wasn't sure yet.
So, about 15 to 20 minutes into the excursion I notice a pretty big guy in tattoos looking at The Sims' latest expansion. A little odd, I decided, that this wanna-be biker guy was checking something like that out. I filed it in the back of my mind and went to look at digital cameras.
Not 5 minutes later I am leaving digicam land to examine TVs and, while deciding between one model and another (had my mind made up at this point as to what I wanted) who do I see but Mr. Tattoo "looking" at plasmas. Now I know I am being tailed. Having time to burn, I decide to have fun with this.
I abandon TVs, deciding any major purchases from this point on will be done at Sears or CC. I walk over to the car stereo section, and change the display test model to the most annoying rap station I could find, then proceed to blast Puff fitty cent or what-have-you at an annoying level. I get the "can I help you?" not too long afterwards and start chatting with the clerk about what subwoofer is the best. Dollar signs in his eyes, I proceed to listen with half an ear as he extols the latest and greatest 12" with case and built-in amp. Meanwhile, I catch tattoo guy moseying on over to check out - I shit you not - Celine Dion CDs that are stationed close to the stereo section!
Breaking the poor salesguys's heart, I interrupt his explanation of how badly I'll need a PSP on the sub and ask him straight up does tattoo guy work for you? He glanced over at the guy and looked back at me and gestured me over to the cable section and said "Yeah, he does. He's security."
I thanked him, walked out the door, and was halfway to my car when I felt a tap on my shoulder. There, in the parking lot, was a manager (the name tag alluded to that fact) and a blue-shirt I hadn't remembered. They asked me to come back inside. Having yet another half hour to burn and wanting to clear my name, I went back in. I was escorted to an office. I was asked why I was wandering from dept. to dept. aimlessly. I was asked where was the DVD I stole. On and on. Finally Minnesota's finest shows up. I plead ignorance, knowing I had done nothing wrong. Finally it comes down to tape (I am running behind at this point, and I don't have my cell on me to call my sister and let her know what's happening. Best Buy, of course, won't let me make the local call. Meh, whatever. I'm having fun.)
So, in true NFL action, it comes down to me and the tape. The tape ends up clearing me; at no point do I do anything with any DVD except look at the back of it. After all that, I am escorted from the store by the cop, who says this happens waaaay too often, and told by the manager that I am not allowed there ever.
Needless to say, I'll never browse or buy at a Best Buy again. Their loss; I went to Circuit City and was met with the best of sales staff and dropped $300 on a new TV.
One thing I do recommend when you get good customer service though is to talk to a manager or send a letter. Yeah, it takes 15 minutes from Doom 3 and a stamp, but the feeling afterwards is well worth it. I even got a hand-written letter from the CC employee and a $5 gift card for my feedback. To this day, that $5, the letter, and the amazing customer service has done more for their business for me than anything else. I continue to shop there to this day and extol their virtues to others.
"This food is problematic."
I am a former employee of Best Buy and a current resident of Ohio - I won't say who I am or what I did there but my former supervisor is on their website, on the Executive team list.
I can confirm their rebate practices are less than stellar. For years Best Buy had a "rebate center" in each department that consisted of a rudimentary wire recipe rack, for lack of a better description, with paper coupons from each respective manufacturer. Customers were supposed to use the coupon from the rebate center, send it directly to the manufacturer and wait patiently for 6-8 weeks for their rebate. It was totally hands-off for Best Buy.
Unfortunately, that didn't work very well. Stores were frequently out of the rebate coupons, didn't have the correct ones, the manufacturers would send the wrong ones or too few - whatever the case was, it turned out to be a tremendous headache. Not to mention the "recipe racks" were hard to keep organized and the rebates were freqently misplaced.
Fast-forward to ~1996. In an effort to streamline the process and take some burden off of the sales personnel, the merchandising dept (shelf-stockers) were handed a brand new, nifty, Rebate center that went in the front of the store, organized by department that really ended up just consolidating the recipe racks to a central location. The problem still existed of the missing, disorganized rebate coupons.
Later that year Best Buy decided to make a real effort to fix the rebate problem. That's when the current system was implemented. Corporate management decided to outsource the handling of rebates to Young America, Inc. (www.young-america.com).
Young America did a decent job of handling the rebate outsourcing for a very brief time. I can't speak intelligently of their corporate structure, governance, or policies. However, all of this rebate outsourcing occured during an explosive growth period in Best Buy's corporate history. They are currently opening about 50-60 stores per year in 2004. Between 1993 and 1997 they more than doubled thei size. They had a corporate paradigm shift during all of this when they realized that they were outgrowing their ability to manage it and continue providing the kind of service that enabled them to grow at that rate.
Unfortunately, it seems, the growth spurt never stopped. Eventually the over-riding vision was to break the $20 billion revenue mark. Add-on accessories and service plans became the pot of gold at the end of their rainbow and rebates became the tool to get the sale. This all happened in the mid to late 90's when computer prices were falling rapidly, DVD players were becoming affordable, and the dotcom boom was impending - manufacturers were pushing rebates like mad thus Best Buy was too.
Outsourcing the rebate processing was a mistake for Best Buy. Not that Young America can't handle the volume or the execution - It's because it enables Best Buy to take the hands-off approach and essentially tell its customers that it can't help them because it's being handled by another company. This presents the largest problem for them - they won't stand behind their rebates. Anyone that has tried to resolve a rebate issue should be able to attest that managers at the store level will not do very much to assist in the matter other than hand out the 800-number to Young America. This is unfortunate because the consumer purchased a product from Best Buy and typically makes no distinction between a manufacturer's rebate and where they purchased the product. Consumers rightfully expect a retailer to stand behind the offer they willfully advertised in a weekly sales flyer, not give a brush off that they aren't responsible because the rebate was offered by the manufacturer and is being handled by a third party.
It's not that they willfully and maliciously try to swindle their customers - They truly believe that it absolves them of the responsibility to provide the customer satisfaction in regards to reba
If you do what you always did, you get what you always got.