Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[armyvet]

Just to let you know the same thing happend to my daughter on Sunday, Jan 25th at the Lees Summit Missouri store. Bases on the recommendations of the store staff she purchased what she thought was a new 46" Samsung LCD TV for $1,200. When she got the TV home and unpacked the box she saw it was a damaged, different model Samsung. In addition the  TV did not have a power cable, remote or operation manual. She called back to the store within a hour of making the purchase to identify the problem. Initiallly they agreed to make an exchange and she returned  the TV and its shipping box to the store the following day. She was informend at that time the model she had purchased was out of stock and one would have to be obtained from another store. The replacement TV was to be picked up the following day. On the day of the supposed delivery (Tuesday, Jan 27th) she received a call from the store manager who stated the store would not honor the return because the TV returned was not the one sold. She was further directed to pick up the TV and she still owed the $1,200. The manager's response to questions on his decision were that the TV box that my daughter left with had the original factory banding and since he had never seen or heard of a TV substitution it could not have happened. He further stated it appeared to be a problem with Samsung and to contact them. For the past two two weeks we have been trying to get this injustice correct. Of course Samaung says it is a problem with the store as they have never had an case of TV subsitution. We do not plan to give up. We have a large extend group of family and friend. We will be writing to the local papers, seeking what the local TV station can help us with, go to the better business bureau and if necessary boycott and pickett the store. We will not just roll over.  

[armyvet · Accepted solution]

Best Buy? Ha. On Sunday, January 25th, based on the recommendations of Lees Summit Missouri store personnel our daughter purchased a 46" Samsung LCD TV for $1,200.   When she got home and opened the shipping box the TV did not have a remote, operation manual or power coard. Using a power cord from another TV she could not get a picture. On closer observation of theTV she could see it was used. Within a hour of leaving the store she was calling to identify the problem (all calls related to this issue are on cell phone records). She was initially told that the TV would be replaced. The TV and shipping box were returned to the store on Monday the 26th. However store staff stated that they would have to get a TV from another store as they were currently out of stock. Expected delivery date Tuesday. the 27th. The TV and shipping box were left at the store and a receipt for the exchange was received. However, on Tuesday she was contacted by the store manager who stated he would not honor the exchange.His justification was that the TV returned was not the one that should be in the box and that it was damaged etc. He was implying that within the 60 minutes of buying a TV recommended by Best Buy staff and notifyiing the store of the problem my daughter had made a subsitute with a similar size damaged Samsung. The store manager further stated that the box taken from the store had the original factor banding (as survellance tapes showed) so if there was a problem it should be addressed with Samsung. My daughter was directed to pick up the TV she had returned and of course she still owed $1,200. Despite repeated attempts to correct this injustice she was forced to take the TV back. However, now the box that the TV had been shipped in was missing from the store. On contacting the store general manager his response to the situation was that he had never heard or seen a TV switch out and so therefore this could not have occurred. Contact with Samsung only got a referral back to Best Buy as they determined it was a store problem. Attempting to tack where the TV in the box had origninally been sold got nowhere as Samsung stated they do not track individual TVs unless they are repaired or registered. Without the original shipping box further attempts to determine what the serial number and other pertinent information on the TV that my daughter should have received was not available. It should be noted on the original purchase the shipping box was not scanned. The sale information was taken from the placard on the display model. It our family,s intent, we are all involved now, to continue to pursue this issue until a replacement TV is received.

It should also be noted that a gentlemen in New Jersey had a simiar problem in December of last year. Funny, it was aslo a Samsung TV.

Bryan

[Entropy]

It happens again...

At least you didn't get a pile of bricks.  There have been enough similar stories that when they honored an exchange for me, the first thing I did after them putting the TV in the back of my car was to do the following:

1)  Park

2)  Pull out my Leatherman

3)  Cut the tape on the box and inspect the contents

[unc803]

Although I do not think a tv was switched on purpose I do believe the store has made a mistake.  You may want to remind managers at the store that the samsung boxes can be opened without cutting the original manufactures tape.  They have tabs at the bottom of the box that you pull out and just pull the top portion of the box off.  There would be no way for anyone to know if the box was sealed or not by surveillance.  It is possible that a different TV was inside that box but most likely was done by accident.

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hi armyvet, 

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.

[gmb2428]

so what was the solution to this mess????

[John-BBY Community Connector]

Hello armyvet,

I was very disappointed to hear about your daughter’s experience at the Lees Summit store.  The purchase of a new TV should be an exciting event and not complicated by unforeseen circumstances such as you describe.
I’d like to work with you toward a resolution for this situation, so please watch for a private message from me.  To check your forum inbox, please sign in with your user name and password and click the envelope icon in the upper right.

Thank you for making us aware of the situation.  I look forward to working with you.

Sincerely,