On Friday April 13, 2012, I placed an online order for a 51” Samsung 3D Smart TV. It was on sale for $999.99. It was supposed to be a birthday present for my son. About 45 minutes after placing my order, I received an email from bestbuy.com stating there was a problem with my billing. Concerned I checked my bank account. I had used my check card to make the purchase. I found that I had been charged 3 times for the order, over 3K including the sales tax. I immediately contact best buy.com and was told that my order was not processed because of the billing. I advised the rep that my card was charged 3 times and of course it would not allow another charge. She stated there was nothing she could do. I spoke with the manager and he stated that there was a known glitch with processing some orders that day and I had to wait until the charges dropped off my card in 7-10 days. I was truly upset because this was a birthday gift for my son whose birthday was the 17th. The manger stated when I called back to refer to the ticket number and he could take $100 off the price when I repurchased the TV. So I waited and on Sunday the 15th, I received an email stating my order was being processed and wait for a follow up email to alert me when my order was ready for pick up at the store. I called Bestbuy.com and was told that my order was in process and I would receive another email. I never replaced the original order in which I was sent an email stating there was a billing problem and my order could not be processed. Tuesday morning I received an email that my order was ready to pick up at store # 1108. I go to pick up the TV. My son lives 5 minutes from the store. We get the TV to his home and the screen is cracked. Back to the store it goes. The TV is returned and a replacement is scheduled to be delivered. Unknown to me at the time, the TV is refunded to a gift card and the gift card is then used to repurchase the TV. I was unaware because once again, BB is having a system problem and the new TV could not be scheduled for delivery. The store does provide free delivery because that was the current promotion for any purchase made online.
The delivery is scheduled for the following week. I received no call the night before the scheduled delivery date even though I was told I would be called by 8pm the date before with a delivery window. I call bestbuy.com at 8:30pm for a delivery update and I am advised that the deliver is for 8am-10am the next morning, Thursday April 24. I take the morning off from work to be at my son’s home for the delivery. At 9:40, the delivery guy arrives. The TV is bought in the home. I check the TV before the delivery personnel leave and it too is cracked. This is the 2nd cracked TV. I refuse the delivery and the driver tells me to call the store to let them know the TV was cracked. I am livid but the store is not open yet, so off to work I go. Later that afternoon I call store 1108 and I am advised that they don’t handle the deliveries from their store. I am advised to call the delivering store. I call the Matthews NC store and the phones just rings then I hold for 20 minutes. I call back to 1108 and explain the problem. The managers are in a meeting and the rep doesn’t know what to do so she says she will call be back. She does call back in approximately 1 hour. The drivers haven’t returned the TV yet so they cannot reorder the TV or issue a refund. While on the phone I check the store and they now have one in stock. I tell the rep that I will be in to pick up a new TV in approximately 30 minutes and she can contact delivery personnel to verify that they have the TV and it had a cracked screen. I get the new TV and all is well in world.
Fast forward to today, May 5, 2012. The TV is now $50 cheaper. Today is the last day of the sale so I go to the Best Buy in Pineville NC and request a refund based on the price match guarantee. The Operational Manager Angie {removed per forum guidelines} was extremely helpful, but she states she can only issue a refund on a gift card because the TV was purchased on a gift card….. No it was not, she shows me the order on the register and sure enough the order was placed with a gift card by #1108 unbeknownst to me.
I do not want a BB gift card. I am fed up with BB and I plan to make no more purchases at BB online or in the store. I let the manager know and she states she cannot change the refund type. So she calls #1108 and the Assistant Manager Stephanie tells me the same thing. First she stated she was the manager. When I asked for the District Manager’s name and contact information she then states she is an Assistant Manager and the manager is not at work. She refuses to provide the DM’s contact info stating no one at the store has the DM’s information and I need to call the corporate office to see if they can send me a check. Wow, I am appalled. When asked why I was not told that the refund was processed as a gift card, she stated that it was not the policy and she would bring up the issue at a staff meeting. That does not help my situation. I don’t want a gift card. I did not use a gift card. I used a check card. I just wanted a refund to my check card not even cash. She offered to give me $50 off another purchase in addition to my $50 gift card, so I asked you are going to issue me a $100 gift card? She stated no, I would just have to see her when I came in to make a purchase and she would give me the additional $50 off. I declined. I do not plan to make any additional purchases at Best Buy. I will no longer be a BB customer. It is sad. I used to be a seasonal employee for BB. I loved BB. But this is the 2nd bad experience I have encountered in the past 6 months and both were significant purchases.
During December 2011, I purchased a Sony all in one computer, an Ipad and 2 printers. The items were being shipped to my fiancée’s home in VA for the Holidays. Needless to say the credit card was charged for the entire order each time a component was shipped. The credit card had over $6000 in extra charges because of the billing problem. A credit card had been used for these purchases and the excess charges were on hold with the credit card company for over 8 weeks. When I called BB.com to rectify the issue, the rep had to call the credit card company to have the charges removed. The billing error caused a financial strain. Never once did BB.com offer to make any type of compensation/credit/discount for the inconvenience and financial strain.
This is 2 negative experiences after years of BB purchases both online and in the store. I unfortunately have to draw the line here.
Best Buy failed to honor its own guidelines for returns. The policy clearly states that returns returned in the same form of payment which was used to make the purchase. I used a check card for the TV purchase but BB was only willing to refund the price match amount in a gift card. Besides the fact that I refuse to make any more BB purchases, gift cards are not valid during any bankruptcy and/or chain closing events and I think that is where BB is headed -unfortunately.
At this point, I am willing to accept a gift card for $300 dollars for my troubles and inconvenience. That amount is about equal to 20% of the money I have spent at BB since December 2011. I believe that is more than fair for the treatment I have been subjected to while spending money at Best Buy. My son would like a Samsung WiFi 3D Blu Ray player so I guess he could use the $300 gift card to make that purchase with a couple of 3D movies.
An unhappy former customer
Ryan-BBY
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