Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[Yukie]

I'm a former employee of Best Buy and I thought I was familiar with the credit card policy until today.

My mother went to her local Best Buy to buy a Apple desktop about 3 months ago.  They didn't have the one she wanted in stock, so they offered to order her one.  I had bought a laptop the month before using the Best Buy credit card and got the whole 18 months interest free thing.  Well, she wanted to do the same so she went to get apply for the card and then she and a sales associate got on one of the computers to order her computer online. SEVERAL times she asked the associate if she was going to get 18-24 months interest free, and he repeatedly assured her that she will.  Another associate talked to her about the insurance for the computer and my mom asked him if her purchase will be interest free for 18-24 months, and he told her it will.  My mother walked out of the store believing that she wouldn't be charge interest for a while.  To her shock, she received her credit card statement today with a high interest fee tacked on to her regular monthly payment.  Of course she was furious and drove down to the local Best Buy to complain.  Surprisingly, everyone was under the impression that she wasn't supposed to pay interest until 24 months after the purchase date. Finally, one of the managers was able to explain to her that since the purchase was made online, that she only had 90 days interest free.  Even the sales associates in the computer department that she talked to today had no idea of this policy.

I'm not blaming the sales associates for not knowing about this, since I was once in their place for nearly a year and I had no idea about this either.  I would like to know if there is anything my mother can do since EVERYONE she asked on the day of the purchase told her that it was 24 months interest free.  Had she known the truth, she would not have bought the computer in the first place.  She feels very cheated and of course is furious.  Is there anyone that we can call about this?  I just don't see why she should pay the interest when she was not informed about the 90 day interest and she was highly misinformed by the sales associates.

[Sarah-BBY Retired: Community Connector]

Hi Yukie!

I’m really sorry for any misunderstanding with your Mom’s financing plan.   It is accurate that the promotions we offer in our store can differ from the promotions we have available on our website.  However, the terms of the financing plan pertaining to your Mom’s order would have been clearly stated on both her order invoice as well as her monthly statements from HSBC (the third party bank who administers our credit cards) for her convenience.  Still, I can certainly understand overlooking such a thing if accidently advised otherwise, and as this is not indicative of the type of shopping experience we aim to provide to our customers, I would enjoy the opportunity to try and help and have sent you a private message with more details.

Thank you,

Sarah

Community Connector

Best Buy® Corporate