Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[veryamused]

I buy lots of Blu-Ray movies each week. I'm also the type of shopper that watches for price drops, likes to get the best price possible, and saves every receipt in case I need to do a price match or do a return/rebuy to get the best price. In 2011 I had to give my license at the Best Buy service desk well into the double digits in order to do price matches, exchanges, pre-order cancellations, or outright returns. Overall I probably purchased and kept only 100 or so other items. In January 2012 I exchanged an unopened movie (when I got home I saw the cover was damaged under the manufacturers wrapping, so I wanted to get a copy that wasn't damaged). I received a 90 day return warning, and sadly decided to stop shopping at Best Buy until the warning expired -- why would I shop someplace where I can't make a return or exchange? Best Buy unfortunately missed out on my purchasing a washer, dryer, and new large screen TV in that time period. Since it has been over 100 days I decided to make a purchase in order to make a return and confirm my account was cleared of the warning -- not so surprisingly I received another return warning and will again be unable to make returns for the next 90 days. It appears once you are flagged for returns you may get re-flagged on your very next return or exchange or price match -- this allows for 1 return or exchange every 90 days, or 4 per year. I looked back at my Target, Wal-Mart, Barnes & Noble receipts and Amazon invoices since the beginning of the year and I have about 20 some returns, exchanges and price matches in just the last 5 months, and never once had to show my license. It still seems odd that Best Buy requires a drivers license considering you can't make a return or exchange without a valid receipt anyway. I guess Best Buy doesn't want my business but fortunately there are other competitors who do, and are happy to price match the Best Buy weekly ad should Best Buy have the best price. The 30 day window for returns or exchanges is also far less than the 90 days offered elsewhere. I always liked shopping at Best Buy, but to be honest, after over 100 days without it, I'm doing ok. Perhaps I am alone in my shopping habits but considering the economy, what consumer wouldn't want to get the best price? And why would any retailer want to drive away a customer that purchases and keeps a large volume of merchandise? In another 90 days I will try another purchase and return just to see if I can make the return without getting flagged yet again!

[veryamused]

When I typed all that out it had proper paragraph spacing, not sure where that went and can't see an option to edit my post...

[RealGeorgeW Valued Expert]

It happens on here once in a while, don't sweat it, walls of text are fun for climbing.

As for the TRE program, I honestly haven't seen a solid answer on how many are allowed before you're cut off.

To be honest, you are definitely an outlier when it comes to "that" many returns and price matches in a set period. I consider myself to be a somewhat casual BBY shopper, and I only have a handful of pricematches a year, and maybe one or two returns.

Last sentence : Why do that, knowing it might flag you again?

[veryamused]

I love to figure out how things work and experimenting! Being told no more returns just makes me want to buy and return things and figure the system out. The only items that were returned or exchanged were unopened movies, nothing that would have to be resold as an 'open box' item. I talked to a friend last night and he said he never bothers with price matching or refunds just to get a few dollars back, so I may indeed be in the minority and the system is flagging me the same as if I repeatedly purchased and returned countless TV's.

[RealGeorgeW Valued Expert]

I have a personal rule of not price matching unless it's more than about $5 as that's about how much a round trip costs me in gas lol.

[Ryan-BBY Senior Social Media Specialist]

Hello veryamused -

Melissa from our Social Media team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern. Thank you for your continued patience!

[Melissa-BBY Senior Social Media Specialist]

Hello veryamused,

Saving money in any way can be very important. From the way it looks, you’ve been very proactive in doing this by keeping a close eye on sales. I am sorry for any inconvenience that our return policy may have caused with your recent returns denials.

Last year, as an effort to keep our prices lower, we began tracking returns on an individual level by using a photo ID. The tracking of returns is being done by The Retail Equation (TRE), who securely stores data collected during the return for determination if a return can be allowed. The factors that are considered in this determination are the frequency of returns, return dollar amounts, if the return is within our policy and the purchase history. Unfortunately, as there are so many variables considered, there are no set guidelines we can provide as to how many returns are to be accepted.

When it is determined by TRE that a return will not be permissible, you should receive the warning in advance like you indicated with the specified timeframe. Once this timeframe is expired, you should once again be able to make a return, but as you have found, you may be warned again even after a single return.

I do appreciate you sharing your feedback on the returns tracking as well as the timeframes we provide for our returns. Our policies are reviewed occasionally to determine if changes may be made to improve them. Just recently, we did extend all categories of items to be returnable within 30 days instead of the previous 14 days that some categories had. I will ensure that your feedback is provided to our internal business teams for future consideration of our current policy.

Sincerely,

[Jimmienomam]

Sorry to hear about your experience. I realize that no system is perfect, but I hate seeing (assumingly) legit people like you get caught in the crosshairs of TRE.

There's bound to be collateral damage, but it still sucks hearing about it.


As to the TRE "equation", I have talked with 2 DMs and a couple of behind the scenes people. TRE and their BBY correspondents are keeping it all very tight lipped. Understandably so as if they gave exact numbers then it only makes abusers go a step before that limit. But opposite side is us normal consumers that could unknowingly go over the limit because of returning (any return even a gift from someone else goes against the photo ID that is given at time of return).

What was leaked down and everyone I talked to has said that PMs should NOT go against TRE guidelines. I can't 100% confirm it, but a lot of very knowledgable people all said the exact same thing