Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[bmart12]

My story begins on 12/19, I visited my than favorite Best Buy to purchase a Christmas Gift for my husband.  I decided I was going to buy him a guitar as well as a Nintendo WII with the Guitar Hero World Tour.  Overall, I spent $1,600 total.  I have spent a lot of money with Best Buy in the last couple years and have recently become a Premier Reward Zone Member.

I got home wrapped up my presents and put them under the tree.  Christmas morning arrived and my husband opened the WII.  Come to find out, the Nintendo WII had been returned by someone else, the console was scratched up, the controller was dirty, the WII sports CD was missing and the console didn't even work.  Someone obviously returned the WII and put it back on the sales floor without checking it to see if it worked.

We returned the day after explaining our situation.  We spoke to the Manager on Duty.  He was apologetic and said that he would call us when they got some more Nintendo WII's in stock.  He asked what he could do, he gave us an extra controller (as if a $40 controller is going to make me feel better about his empty promises), but I didn't feel comfortable with him writing my name on a scratch piece of paper.  I had these questions in my head, what if that manager isn't in on that day, what if he looses the piece of paper etc.

I called the Best Buy Customer service hoping that maybe they could find one elsewhere in the country.  The lady got on the phone with that manager and came back to tell me that I have to take his word and there was nothing Best Buy could do about my problem and that I just need to wait until they call me.

So here I am a week later with no Nintendo WII and a bunch of lip service from Best Buy.  I called back today and spoke to the manager.  He proceeded to tell me that he has my name and number and that they were waiting for some to come in.  I asked him if he could write me a letter on Best Buy Letterhead assuring me that he would call me.  He told me no, that it wasn't customary for Best Buy to do this.  He also said that he needed to go as he had other customers to attend to.  His attitude toward me was horrible, all I am asking for is something in writing as I only have a certain amount of time before I can return it with my receipt.  I need some sort of reassurance that Best Buy is not going to forget about me and yet, they don't want to write a simple letter backing up their lip service.  I also don't know when or if I will even get a Nintendo WII.  Why can't I get something from Best Buy in writing?  Why did this manager have to be so rude to me, argue with me, treat me as if I was wasting his time?  Looks like this Premier Rewards customer will have to take my business elsewhere in the future.  If Best Buy wants to keep me as a customer they are going to have to do more than a lousy $40 controller to make me happy.

[collegekids]

Where is store 209? isnt that in colorado?  I would have exchaged the wii system out for a brand new one. I know the same thing happened to a customer of mine, in the wisconsin store that I work at, and I exchanged it out the same day. Dont understand why they wouldnt do the same. I do apoligize.

[justathought]

bmart12,

  While I sympathize with your story, part of the problem is that the Wii is still very much in demand and sell out as soon as they come in. What a bad situation! A 14-day return policy and you don't even have one to return, plus you lost 6 days between the time you bought it and Christmas. I think I would just return it and go to wiialerts.com. That way you won't get totally worked over.

  I was able to get a Wii last February by using the email alerts and I was fortunate enough to be on vacation that day so I could jump online immediately. You might want to leave your pc running, because you will miss out if you have to wait to boot up. I'm telling you, they will sell out in a matter of seconds. By the time you get the email, they will be gone.

Good luck!

[GeraldRose]

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bmart12 wrote:

My story begins on 12/19, I visited my than favorite Best Buy to purchase a Christmas Gift for my husband.  I decided I was going to buy him a guitar as well as a Nintendo WII with the Guitar Hero World Tour.  Overall, I spent $1,600 total.  I have spent a lot of money with Best Buy in the last couple years and have recently become a Premier Reward Zone Member.

I got home wrapped up my presents and put them under the tree.  Christmas morning arrived and my husband opened the WII.  Come to find out, the Nintendo WII had been returned by someone else, the console was scratched up, the controller was dirty, the WII sports CD was missing and the console didn't even work.  Someone obviously returned the WII and put it back on the sales floor without checking it to see if it worked.

We returned the day after explaining our situation.  We spoke to the Manager on Duty.  He was apologetic and said that he would call us when they got some more Nintendo WII's in stock.  He asked what he could do, he gave us an extra controller (as if a $40 controller is going to make me feel better about his empty promises), but I didn't feel comfortable with him writing my name on a scratch piece of paper.  I had these questions in my head, what if that manager isn't in on that day, what if he looses the piece of paper etc.

I called the Best Buy Customer service hoping that maybe they could find one elsewhere in the country.  The lady got on the phone with that manager and came back to tell me that I have to take his word and there was nothing Best Buy could do about my problem and that I just need to wait until they call me.

So here I am a week later with no Nintendo WII and a bunch of lip service from Best Buy.  I called back today and spoke to the manager.  He proceeded to tell me that he has my name and number and that they were waiting for some to come in.  I asked him if he could write me a letter on Best Buy Letterhead assuring me that he would call me.  He told me no, that it wasn't customary for Best Buy to do this.  He also said that he needed to go as he had other customers to attend to.  His attitude toward me was horrible, all I am asking for is something in writing as I only have a certain amount of time before I can return it with my receipt.  I need some sort of reassurance that Best Buy is not going to forget about me and yet, they don't want to write a simple letter backing up their lip service.  I also don't know when or if I will even get a Nintendo WII.  Why can't I get something from Best Buy in writing?  Why did this manager have to be so rude to me, argue with me, treat me as if I was wasting his time?  Looks like this Premier Rewards customer will have to take my business elsewhere in the future.  If Best Buy wants to keep me as a customer they are going to have to do more than a lousy $40 controller to make me happy.

---

While it is unfortunate that the Wii you bought seemingly was a returned defective unit, based on what you said I am a little confused.

The manager offered you a FREE controller? That seems very reasonable, and although they didn't have a Wii that day to replace it with, did the store refuse to accept your return until another came in stock? Could you have accepted the free controller, got a refund on the item and attempted to buy it somewhere else, in case Best Buy didn't have it in a timely manner?

As far as he not wanting to write something down on paper, that seems like a simple fix, take his name down, it doubt very much if you come back in that he is going to outright deny ever speaking to you about this issue.

i would have jumped on that free controller when you could have.

[justathought]

   I like this post better, Gerald. I would have accepted the controller, too, but I would return the unit on the last day if they were unable to get a new one.

  Really, though,  I don't think that Best Buy has any control over when they get their shipments from Nintendo, or at least individual managers probably don't.

[rutgers456]

hi

sorry about your situation. I am an employee and i can say first hand we have no idea when the wii will come in. We get store stock shipments twice a week but the wii does not come in on thoese shipments. The wii comes from ups and the problem with ups is we do not know when they will come in. We will only know the day before. Also in my store usally we have an abudance of wiis but now that the holidays are over we are most likely not going to get them in till 2 or 3 weeks. The manager was very helpful in my opinion by offering a wii controller. Idk about the letter head situation but like i said earlier the manager only knows the day before if we are getting them in. 

I had a similar situation when a wii was brought in that did not power. We were currently sold out. What we had to do was take their name and information down. I told me general manager who then emailed all the managers and supervisors and specifically said not to sell any wii until one unit was saved for my customer. It took about 2 weeks. 

sorry for in incovience. Also this is from my personal experience working there. I am NOT taking a side

[collegekids]

i am not choosing a side at all.... with that being said the wii comes in, after the initial purchase you have 30 days to return... not 14... (always look at the bcak of your reciept or online for questions) but when it came to the wii i had the same thing happen to a customer who spent way more money also... i apoligize, there is no excuse... but they should put your name on a list and exchange it out as soon as we get them in.. these dont come on our normal trucks... they come directly from ups... which comes from nintendo.. so we never know when they come in.. which sucks.. but now with the holidays.. we are getting brand new ones returned... in that case make sure they test it.. and you can even have them test it and open it in the store.... what ever the customer wants me to do i usually comprimise and help them out.. we usually know a little bit though when they come in, and we can send from other stores to get you one.. there is always a solution to take care of the customer...

Message Edited by collegekids on 01-02-2009 06:29 PM

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Dear bmart12,

Thanks for posting your concern on our Best Buy® Forum.  Your issue has been assigned to one of our Community Connectors for further review and response, and you should be hearing something within a maximum of 3-5 business days.  Please note that it may be sooner depending on the complexity of your issue and the current volume of posts.  Thanks for your continued patience as we work to assist all of the customers who have reached out to us on this forum.

~Elizabeth

Community Supervisor

Best Buy® Corporate

[Aaron-GS Community Connector]

Hey bmart12,

I’m sorry to hear about your recent Wii troubles! I can imagine your husband’s disappointment at discovering the console didn’t work, especially if there were any missing parts. Our stores are supposed to mark open-box (and defective) products with stickers identifying them as such, and I certainly do apologize if you found this not to be the case with your purchase.

There are a few things, however, that you’ll want to keep in mind. First of all, please remember that Best Buy® only receives a limited number of Wii’s and typically cannot hold products for customers. Although a store manager may have offered to contact you once additional units have been received, this was offered as a one-time exception to our standard policies.

Now, while our stores may be able to tell you how many are currently in transit, we have no way to provide you any kind of specific shipping date(s). Shipments are always subject to the same kinds of delays you might see with standard mail deliveries, so there’s no guarantee that any date we could provide customers would be accurate.

Video game consoles purchased between November 1st and December 24th, 2008 can only be returned for a full refund up until January 24th, 2009 (February 8th, 2009 for Reward Zone® Premier Silver members). Without a way of knowing when additional consoles will be available, the only recommendation that I can make is to return the defective unit soon as possible.

Agent Aaron
Geek Squad® Community Connector
Go Ahead. Use us.