BestBuy.Com

[ScttChvz]

In December I ordered Duke Nukem Forever for the Xbox 360.  It was on sale for $5, a price I was willing to pay for this considering how bad the reviews are on it.  I had the option to pick it up at the store but didn't want to.  A week later I got an email saying that the item was still back ordered and could try to find it in the store if I wanted.  I figured I'd be patient and wait.  While I was waiting I went to a Best Buy and browsed around.  I happened to see Duke Nukem Forever for the Xbox 360 on the shelf for the sale price of $14.99.  I was happy that I was able to get it for $5 but was starting to wonder if I should just opt to pick it up from the store.   Then a couple days before Christmas, I got two emails informing me that my order had been cancelled.  The reason being that there was no stock of the item and they didn't expect to get anymore in.  I was amazed, thinking that all the copies I saw at the store had sold.  I tried to call to see if I could still pick it up at the store but hung up after being on hold for 15 minutes.  A day later I got an email with an apology for the cancellation and a gift certificate for $5 because that was the price of the game.  While I appreciate the offer, it makes no sense to me why you would send me a gift certificate for $5 when the discount was $25 since the game is now on the shelf for $30.  Another thing I don't understand is how can there be no stock of this item when every time I walk into my local Best Buy I see this:

Two facings of the product I was told is not in stock and never will be.  I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the third facing that was in a display with TV's and other cables.

Currently I'm a premier silver member, but I don't see that membership renewing, especially when I try to buy something from Best Buy and told that it's no longer in stock when there's plenty of it sitting on the shelf.

[CrystalWoW Valued Expert]

Since you didn't opt to switch it to store pickup, the store stock doesn't apply to your order. Best Buy.com doesn't remove product from a store to ship it to you unless you pick store pick up. Best Buy.com didn't have any of your product so they cancelled it. If you would have switched it you could have picked up your item in store out of that stock.

[ScttChvz]

While I appreciate your answer, you've offered absolutely no insight into the situation.  You've pretty much repeated what one of the emails said, and then told me what I should have done.  Trust me, had I known the outcome of waiting, I would have switched to in store pickup.  I tried to switch to in store pickup but was unable to reach anyone on the phone.  Instead of just canceling the order, why wasn't an offer made to find the item in store?

[CrystalWoW Valued Expert]

It was. As you said, you got an email saying it was backordered and offered to help you locate one in a local store. You didn't do so. That is why it was cancelled. Eventually when backorders expire and you haven't expressed interest in picking it up in store, it just cancels.

[ScttChvz]

I showed no interest because I was content with waiting.  If I had known that there was no stock and none incoming I would have done an in-store pick up.  The proper thing to do would have been to let me know they don't expect to get any in and then let me do store pick up.  I see you used to work at a Best Buy, and it shows through you answers.  Instead of admitting there was an error with the way the situation was handled, you deflect blame to the customer.  This is pretty much the same attitude when I go to the store.  I'm sure the company appreciates you sticking up for them, but I would like to hear from someone affiliated with the actual organization.

[CrystalWoW Valued Expert]

Someone will be in touch, normally in 3-5 business days.

[Ryan-BBY Community Connector]

Hello ScttChvz -

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

[ScttChvz]

I'm starting to worry that soon I'm going to get an email that you've run out of Brendan and that my response from him has been cancelled.

[Brendan-BBY Community Connector · Accepted solution]

Hello ScttChvz,

Thank you for joining the forum.

I apologize about the long delay with our response. This has been a pretty busy holiday season and we have been pretty backed up with customer inquiries.

I'm sorry about all the confusion with your order. We had an enormous amount of orders this holiday season and it caused a lot of back-orders/cancellations- not at all the desired effect of our process. As CrystalWoW pointed out, we have ways of trying to help with orders that run into snags but it could be made easier.

I want to see if there is any way I can resolve this. I am sending you a private message to assist you further with this. To check your private messages, make sure you are logged into the forum and click the grey envelope in the top right of the screen.

Regards,