On 11/10/09, at approximately 5:40pm, I sent the following message to Best Buy Customer Care through the e-mail form on BestBuy.com (I have yet to receive a response from a representative as of this writing):
I need to submit a complaint about my horrible customer experience concerning my order with your web site.
I placed a pre-order on BestBuy.com on 10/29/09 for Watchmen (4 Disc) - Widescreen Special - Blu-ray Disc (SKU: 9588868) for store pickup at Nashville West TN (Store 1130). At that time, the item was scheduled to be released on 11/03/09. However, I noticed later on Warner Brothers' web site that they had pushed the street date back to 11/10/09. I then e-mailed Best Buy Customer Care (Case {removed per forum guidelines} to ask whether I would still be able to pick up the pre-ordered item on the originally stated date of 11/03/09, or if I would indeed have to wait until a week later. The person who replied on 10/31/09 stated in their e-mail that I should still be able to pick it up on 11/03/09. Then, on 11/02/09, I received an e-mail saying that my order would be ready for store pickup on 11/03/09. I drove to the store on the morning of 11/03/09, but I was told that the item had not arrived, and that I should check back later in the day. I called the store three hours after I left, and it still wasn't there. Then I called the store four hours after the first phone call, and not only had the item not shown up in the store, but the sales associate said that she looked it up and found that the release date had been pushed back to 11/10/09. Even though the sales associate had found this information, BestBuy.com still advertised a release date of 11/03/09. The following morning, 11/04/09, I received an e-mail that said my order would be canceled if I didn't pick up the item in store within six days. So I called Best Buy Customer Care at 1-888-BEST-BUY, and I explained the release date debacle with an online representative. I asked if my order really would be canceled, or if I could just arrive at the store on 11/10/09 to pick up my item. I was told that it would NOT be canceled, and that my item should be there waiting for me on 11/10/09, and that I could disregard that e-mail. Then, on 11/07/09, I received another e-mail warning me of cancellation of my order if I didn't pick up my item in store within three days. Because of my previous conversation with the online representative, and because the item would not be available until 11/10/09, I disregarded that e-mail as well. But this morning, 11/10/09, I received one more e-mail telling me that my order had indeed been canceled, and that my method of payment had been credited. However, at approximately 10:40am, I called the store where I was to pick up the item, and the sales associate said it had yet to arrive, and that their drop shipments didn't usually get there until 11:00am or 11:30am. So I called the store back at approximately 1:10pm, and the sales associate said that the item was still not there, but that she had checked the shelf to see if any were on the store floor. She did find one, and she pulled it for me, and said that I could go to the store and she would figure everything out. So I drove back to the store following this conversation. The sales associate went to the back to retrieve the item, and then I showed her the e-mail that said the order had been canceled. She talked to someone about the situation over the phone, and she also called a manager over to discuss it with me. The manager told me that because the order had been canceled, that my card had been credited, and they couldn't give me the item without re-selling it to me. Because I didn't have enough money at the time to re-purchase the item, I had to leave the store without the item. When I got back to my car, still in the store's parking lot, I immediately called Customer Care once more (Case {removed per forum guidelines) at 1-888-BEST-BUY. The online representative told me the order could not be uncanceled, and that the funds I used to pre-order the item had been released back to my card. He said that he would ensure that I would be able to re-purchase the item at the original price I paid at pre-order, but, of course, I was unable to re-purchase it because those funds have yet to post at my bank.
But I feel that all of this doesn't appropriately address the considerable inconvenience I have experienced throughout all of this. While I understand that the release date issue was not the fault of your company, where I do find Best Buy at fault is the confusion bestowed upon me through my communications with the company which led me to believe that I would be able to receive my pre-ordered item on 11/03/09; but when that failed, that I would at least be able to receive it on 11/10/09. At 5:40pm on 11/10/09, however, I am sitting in my home, still without the item. I have wasted fuel driving to the store twice and wasted cell phone minutes conversing with Customer Care only to end up empty-handed.
I feel that this egregious situation can be rectified if I were to receive the item with at least 50% or more off the original price I paid at pre-order (the original price was $34.99). If this request cannot be met, I will be compelled to withdraw all future business from the Best Buy company. This is not something I want to do, but I cannot just sit idly by and let this happen without presenting my case.
Thank you for your time.
On 11/13/09, at approximately 11:30pm, I also sent the following message to Best Buy Customer Care through the e-mail form on BestBuy.com (I have yet to receive a response from a representative as of this writing):
I submitted a complaint through this system at approximately 5:40pm on 11/10/09, and I have yet to receive a reply from a representative of your company regarding this matter. It has now exceeded 72 hours since that time. Could someone please provide some information as to the status of my issue?
I wanted to mirror these messages on this forum to see if this could possibly garner a quicker response and to let others know of the disaster this has been thus far. The item in question is a limited edition, and I just checked BestBuy.com to see if my local store even has any copies left, but, of course, they are now completely out of stock. This was also my first time to ever pre-order something from Best Buy, and it has so far been a disappointment. I simply wished to exchange money that I had for an available product, but it hasn't happened yet. Someone please help.
Dorothy-BBY
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