Best Buy Store Purchase

[Reed302003]

I have been a customer at Best Buy for at least 7 years and have never had an experience like I had today. We drove 45 mins to buy a new 1500.00 Sony tv from your store in Albany ny because they said they had 4 in stock. When we arrived talked to the gentleman and decided on what tv we wanted he then told us that if HE felt that it wouldn’t fit in my jeep that we couldn’t return it and there is no warranty..we then measured the box and we then measured the inside of our 4 door jeep and it appeared to fit..he although never came out to even measure and when we went back in he was not there he was getting the tv front the back..so one of the other people was there and we told him what was going on and he said YUP it won’t fit also without even checking or measuring anything and they also said they would not help us load it if they didn’t feel it would fit so then told him maybe I need to go buy one someplace else and then said ok go ahead..I am a business owner and first of all I would never treat a customer like that and I definitely wouldn’t let a sale of that large walk out the door because I was to lazy to do my job..I now am not sure what I want to do..I wanted this tv for the weekend and I understand I can have it shipped to my house but who is to say the carrier won’t take care of it properly when shipping and I have ordered stuff from you before and had to reorder because it got shipped to the wrong address. I am so frustrated at this point with your staff I am not sure where I am going to buy my new tv. It doesn’t say anything about bring a large vehicle or van with me to pick up a tv. I have a full size truck but I didn’t bring it mostly because it’s winter time and wet outside and your employee said we couldn’t lay it flat either to transport it so it either put it inside the jeep or let it ride in the back of the truck stood up so it can get all wet on my 45 min trip so you tell me how I am supposed to buy it from best buy

[hockeycanuckjc Community Veteran]

While customers are free to transport large items with the right vehicle there comes risks. Improper handling can damage a television midway home. Potholes in the road can certainly cause trauma to a large television. If you transported the TV home yourself, and it was damaged it may not be eligible for return and can be considered customer damaged.

Special delivery services have you covered in a way and to have professional setup done, it prevents these issues from happening as they are trained to setup your new TV carefully. 

All televisions sold new and open box come with some kind of warranty. However these warranties do not cover customer damaged items, you would need to purchase a warranty from Best Buy that has accidental damage handling if you indeed brought it home yourself and it was cracked.

Of course when it comes to employees helping you load to your car, their safety comes first and if inclement conditions outside prevent them from doing so they cannot do it. Slip and fall issues. 

[Reed302003]

While I understand that I didn’t want to pay the extra 250 dollars to have some do what I can do..sales person said there would be no warranty..also how can they say it won’t fit if they didn’t even measure to see if it would fit. When I measured it seemed it would fit just fine they just didn’t want to do it..if I wanted to order it online then I would have ordered it instead of driving 45 mins to waste gas and my time..maybe they should put a disclaimer on your website that says you can pick up in less than an hour but you better bring a uhaul truck or we can’t help you and there will be no warranty smh

[jdogg836]

Laying down flat panel tvs is a big risk, if you've ever seen a window or mirror delivery truck they are specifically configured to keep those items standing straight up.  As TVs became thinner, there is a big concern that the panel can crack under it's own weight if transported laying flat. 

The employees approach might have been a little stronger than I'm used to seeing in stores, and since they are not the manufacturer they cannot void a warranty, but the gist of what they were saying is true.  *IF* the television is cracked due to improper transportation, i.e. laying flat, the manufacturer will not cover it.  It's not that the warranty is void, it's that the manufacturer doesn't cover damage in the first place.  The manufacturer's warranty specifically covers defects in worksmanship or defective parts, with physical damage being outside of that.  Best Buy's return/exchange policy does not allow damaged items to be returned, even within the manufacturer's warranty.  Based on what I read here, I believe the employee was trying to express that if the tv was damaged neither Best Buy nor the manufacturer would be able to assist, leaving you with a broken tv.  Most stores that I have seen will not assist with improperly loading merchandise due to liability aspects.  

Bringing a right-size vehicle should not need to be said, picking up a refrigerator in a Honda Civic is just not going to work.  If you've opted to come pick up and item, you have to make sure you have room. That's why we offer free local delivery on every tv purchase, we know most people don't have a vehicle large enough for anything over a 40" tv.  You mentioned 45 minutes away, if you fall outside of the 25 mile local area the free delivery *Might* incur a small trip charge but all of that is based on zipcodes.  You'd be surprised and how far the free delivery range runs based on the size of your zipcode.

$250 would be a delivery, on-wall tv mounting, and connect (i.e. hooking up your other devices).  Anything that falls under "professional services" is going to be a Geek Squad team bringing it in and setting it up with everything.  If you just add the tv to your cart, you will see options for store pickup or delivery.  

[Riley-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Hello, Reed302003.

Thank you for reaching out to us and welcome to our Forum Support Page!

Here we can provide assistance and insight into any questions or situation you may have. Making sure you have a great time while shopping for the next TV is very important and I do understand your frustration with your situation. I would refer to what hockeycanuckjc and jdogg836 said above. If the TV is damaged while in transport of a clients vehicle, a return or a refund is not guaranteed. While we do have a charge that does cost $250 dollars, this is referring to our delivery and installation of large scale televisions. If you are looking into just having the TV delivered, we do offer free delivery as long as your within the local stores area. If you like to learn more about our TV delivery service, please check out the link here to learn more.

I would like to reach out to you and take a look into your situation and see what happened during your visit as well. When you can please reach out to me via private message with your full name, telephone number and email. Once I have your information, I can take a deeper dive into your situation and see what happened. In addition please do note that I do leave the office at 7:00p.m.EST for the weekend, but I will be back on Tuesday to provide further support if you reach out. Please let me know soon.

Thank you,