Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[jeffgeraci]

Starflyer, pay attention... sure, the fine print is set up by HSBC. But who contracted with HSBC??? Best Buy did, hellooooo!

Face it, HSBC is stalling payments past their due date, they're changing the due dates without notice, and they are blatantly lying to consumers. Best Buy is equally responsible, because they are aware of such practices, yet they choose to continue the services of HSBC. 

[Nokia]

It's not that easy to just dump HSBC. BB would have to find another bank to take over the entire account, and right now, banks aren't too keen on that.

[jeffgeraci]

I agree it would take some doing, but let's get real here Nokia- Best Buy did not become an electronics giant by having the attitude of "that's too hard, we can't do it"

With my business, I contract out to other companies too, and when a customer is not satisfied, should I just tell them: "Sir, I am heartly sorry for the trouble this has caused you, HOWEVER,  you need to take it up with the guy who actually built your swimming pool. You bought it from me, but he did the actual work, so your beef is with him, not me, and gee whiz, my hands are tied... nothing I can do about your $37K  I could send a more reliable contractor to finish your pool, but I think that would be too hard on me right now. But thank you for calling, and have a swimmingly super day! Is there anything else I can help you with today???"

[Nokia]

For all we know, BB is currently in talks with other banks.

[Melissa-BBY Senior Social Media Specialist]

Hello jettoki,

Thank you for taking the time to share your interest free financing promotion experience, with us. I realize credit card bills can be very frustrating to deal with, especially if there may have been some miscommunication regarding it. I am truly sorry if this was the case.

We do fully train our employees on how our financing offers work, so that they can properly educate our customers when using them. Unfortunately, there are times when misunderstandings can occur, as much as we try to avoid this.

The terms of the interest free financing promotions, are actually provided in several different ways to customers who take advantage of these. This includes being printed on the front of the purchase receipt, in the terms and conditions of the Best Buy® credit card, and on each statement sent from HSBC. With all of our interest free financing plans, you will not pay interest if at least a minimum monthly payment is made, and the full balance of the purchase is paid off before the end of the promotion.

That being said, I would like to see if I might be able to turn this experience around for you. I have sent you a private message regarding this issue. To check your private messages, first ensure you are logged into the forums, and then clicking the envelope in the upper right corner of this page.

Thank you for sharing your story with us.

Melissa
Community Specialist
Best Buy® Corporate

[glorybug]

Welcome to the age of shifty banking policies.

Did Best Buy benefit by promoting a shifty CC to you?  Yes.  They not only get instant credit for the product so they can give it to you, but they get perks from the CC company for referring you.

Does the CC benefit from Best Buy selling you on a new CC?  Absolutely.  It should be clear to everyone now that most CC application information is at best unreadable or understandable.  My guess is that in your case, they told the truth in that at some point your balance would be paid off.  They just always fail to mention that the supposed "o" interest that you were sold on is then immediately due.  With interest on the interest also being due.

The only way to avoid that is to overpay the minimum requested every month.  But then, at the end of your term you'll probably be slapped with a 'pre-payment' penalty, which will be close to or over the amount of interest you would normally have paid.  It's in the fine print somewhere.  My experience is that there is no low-interest or free-interest CCs anymore.

In fact, the fine print on all cards now states they can change their terms any time they want.    And, you'd better mark the due date of each of your CCs on your calendar right next to when you expect your next period every month, because if for some reason you don't get a statement that month, you are screwed and your rates jacked.  The only way to avoid this is to automatically pay before your due date every month.

Perfect example- I switched a 4.5% CC with a transfer to new CC offer of 0% for a year.  I did not get my first statement until 6 weeks later.  It stated that they had the right to change anything, and that they'd changed the due date by 2 weeks.  Meaning that during my first month with them I was late, because I was late I was charged a $40 late fee, and my rate went to 18.99%.  After talking to customer service, I was told it would be corrected, and to pay 'X' amount to cover what my payment should have been.  The next month I got my new statement.  It said I had not paid enough to cover the increased 18.99% and therefore I owed another $40 late fee as well as my rate being jacked up to 29.99%.   The next month I was told they'd fix the 0% rate again- but they didn't.  And because my payment didn't reflect the extra 29.99%, they jacked it to 33 and something percent.

I cancelled that card and every other card I had.  I don't use credit cards anymore.  I suggest that nobody else does, either. They charged 0% because they could count on you opening another account at 5%.  I used to work in banking, back when they actually paid interest on your savings, and when they didn't charge fees for breathing.  Those days are gone.  The present banking and CC system is corrupt and is designed only to drain your hard-earned money into the big-pigs wallets.

My advice is to pay cash for everything.  Most CC companies don't offer the warranties that would extend manufacturer warrantees like they used to-  so if I'd have used a CC to buy my new Dell Studio 14z laptop from Best Buy that stopped working after 16 days, the CC company wouldn't cover it- and I certainly wouldn't be paying 0% no matter what the salespeople say.

[Starflyer59]

Did Best Buy benefit by promoting a shifty CC to you?  Yes.  They not only get instant credit for the product so they can give it to you, but they get perks from the CC company for referring you.

HI glorybug

Would you provide some information about what "perks" BB is getting and maybe some proof to back up your statement?

[steelersrule]

I have had a BB credit card for some time now, and never had any problems.  I always know going in what my minimum payment is going to be if i choose the interest free financing.  Really simple math for anyone to do.

Here is an example:

Best Buy is currently running a promotion for deffered interest until Sept. 2011 for all purchases $799+.  So let's say you you bought a tv for $799.99+tax(we will say 6% sales tax here).  So $799.99 X 1.06(6%sales tax)= $847.99

Divide that $847.99 by 23(I ALWAYS take away a month, just too make sure I get the full balance paid off on time).  Your MINIMUM payment each month would have to be AT LEAST $37($36.87 to be exact) in order to be free and clear BEFORE the promotional period ends.  I don't understand why people find that so hard to figure out.

But I do have some questions about the interest free financing promotion, and making payments I can find answers too here:

1.  Can a person bring their credit card bill from Best Buy into any of Best Buy's retail stores and make a payment?  Meaning, using the example from above, let's say I get my bill, and it is due 9/28/09(just as an example), and I need to make a payment of $37, at least.  Can I bring my bill into a best buy, have them scan the barcode on it, and make a CASH payment of say $100, and then get the receipt, attach it too my bill(for confirmation/proof that a payment was made to the account before the due date in case of problems), and then just wait for next bill to arrive, and do the same thing? 

Even though I have a checking account, and have yet to date, not expereinced any problems with sending Best Buy a check in the mail, this is a nice, convenient(at least for me.  BB's are all over where I live/work) way TO MAKE SURE that payment has been made.  OTHER COMPANIES/RETAILERS do this, and I have got to tell you, it is nice because than you have 100% proof that a payment was made to your account for the minimum amount on a free interest offer, and it is posted to your account within 24 hours.  If BB does not do this, GET ON THE BALL!!!

2.  When using an interest free promotion(again we will use the 24 month one above), do you get hit with finance charges(usually no more than $2) every month until the bill is paid off?  Meaning, is $2 of finance charges ADDED to my bill every month during the promotion until it is completely paid off?

Thanks in advance for the answers.

[Adamtech Emerging Expert]

I have made several purchases under a no interest promotion. I figure out how much I need to pay each month to pay the purchase off, I add a little extra just to be safe and I have never had any penalty. I pay the promotional purchase off in the time frame specified and its done with.

[JustusRyan]

Haha, call you local news! Maybe its just me, but I have never once seen any local news team covering someone complaining about a big box retailer. They usually do the mom-and-pop scam businesses. Unless your local "action" news team has nothing else better to do with their time. I always see this suggested, but never any action on the local news part. Maybe because they don't care?