A few days ago, I ordered a GE Profile Opal 2.0, which is a soft ice maker, and it certainly isn’t cheap.
Because of this, I ordered it “open box—excellent”.
When I unboxed it, it was absolutely destroyed.
The top plate was broken at the clips, exposing the wiring and electronic components.
The drawer was bent.
The sides were all scuffed.
The water reservoir was cracked down both sides, and on one of the cracks it was broken straight through.
“Excellent condition”.
I was told I could return it to the store but when I tried to call the store it routed me to someone who refused to let me confirm with the store that they would have an equal replacement, telling me I should “just bring it in”.
When I asked if they had a replacement she said she didn’t know, but again, refused to allow me to confirm before hauling a 50lb+ box out of my apartment down the stairs when I am physically disabled.
I spoke with a few people over chat. They said they’d have UPS pick it up and once the warehouse received it I’d get refunded, which was estimated to be about 8-10 days.
Once the refund processed, it would take another 5 days to reflect that on my account.
At which time I could purchase a different one, another 5 days or so. If there was one of the same cost.
I told them I was more than willing to work with them on the 8-10 days but if that is the case I requested immediate store credit.
I was told “maybe, I’ll put a note on your account.”
Then I spoke with another rep who tried to place an exchange for me, but then it wasn’t available upon attempting to place, and so that had to be canceled.
So, then they told me they could only request that once and since it had already been attempted, I was then told I no longer had that option.
I would have to send it back to the warehouse and wait. They’d send out a UPS Driver to pick it up directly, but again, same wait time. And they said I’d receive an email to confirm this and set up a suitable time... I didn’t receive that email EITHER.
I was then told again if they didn’t have an equal replacement for it, then I would have to repurchase for more than what I already paid and just eat the difference.
So an 18-21 day wait to have it shipped back, refunded, and replaced, and I’d have to pay EXTRA to have it replaced.
I’m struggling incredibly hard understanding why it’s acceptable to claim something is in excellent condition, send me a fully defective item, force me to wait up to three weeks to get the replacement back to me because Best Buy messed up.
The company misrepresented an item that was essentially destroyed and now I have to pay with time and then eat any extra costs to have it replaced.
I’m truly not understanding this.
Even reps told me this wasn’t my fault. I know it wasn’t. So why am I the one eating the time and the money for this unbelievable disaster of a mistake?
It’s not even the lack of “fairness here”, it’s the disregard for what went down and how I’m now paying for the company’s mistake.
I’m disabled, my options are already limited, and I ordered this almost solely because I’m frequently dealing with anemia, and I knew the cost would be worth it over the long term.
Instead, I’m left without and paying for BBs mistake.
If this is what I should anticipate upon ordering anything online, then it’ll certainly be my first and last mistake, and what an incredible mistake considering this was a $500 purchase.
