On September 6th I received notification that the 40” TV I had ordered from Best Buy was delivered. I live in a high-rise apartment building in Irvine CA that has staff available to accept and sign for packages. Packages are never delivered directly to the units and they not delivered to random people in the lobby. Since I’ve lived in this building and have never had any issues with misplaced packages or stealing. When I never received notification from my apartment building that a package had been delivered, I knew something was odd.
On September 10th I spoke with the front desk to confirm if any packages were delivered and the staff member stated that no one working for the apartment had received a package for my name or my apartment number. The following day spoke with every single staff member in the office and all of them declared that there was ZERO package delivered and they have cameras. I then reached out to the leasing manager at the office and he also confirmed, no one in the building had signed for the package.
Initially I reached out to Best Buy to submit a claim. I was shoved from department to department and THEN after 45m the call was mysteriously disconnected. I reached out to Best Buy the following day AGAIN to notify them AGAIN and see if there was anything else that I needed to do. The customer service agent let me know “well sorry there’s nothing we can do. Have a nice day” Shocked I couldn’t believe that there would be ZERO resolution and it was only 1 week into this saga. I then call the store directly and if the agent said I would need to call customer service. I explained to them I tried that and no one can help me, therefore I would like to speak with management. According to the sales rep, management would not be able to help in this case as it was the fault of the shipper.
The following day I called the shipping company Shipt. After waiting 2 hours for someone to answer, the phone answered and hung up on me. 3 days later I tried again, waiting 2.17h for someone to answer. A gentleman answer and he informed me that there was never any order placed by Best Buy to the shipping number I was given by Best Buy. I thought possibly there was a mistake. After spending ANOTHER 2.5h on the phone with USPS, FedEx and UPS the conclusion was again there was no TV linked to the tracking number or my address. As everyday consisted of a 2-3h run around and I work full time I had to break up the calls.
A 3 days later I again called Best Buy customer service explaining to them the story AGAIN. The agent gave me AGAIN the same tracking number provided by them. I explained to her that after waiting for well over two hours to speak with a live person from Shipt, that this was in fact not a shipping number. The Best Buy agent suggested due to shipping delays from the pandemic and the holidays in the rise that it was probably running late. How? This was ordered for the same day delivery?! She had no answer for me, instead she transferred me to a different department…..needless to say again I was given the run around with no answer and was directed to try at a later time. The agent suggested 1-2 weeks and to continue checking my emails.
I waited 2 weeks as the Best Buy agent suggested to see if the TV would come due to possible back ordering and shipping delays…..no TV ever arrived.
At this point I am now month 2 into finding where my TV had disappeared to. I spoke with local law enforcement and the operator explained to me that I would need to seek resolution through Best Buy and the carrier and after that they could file a police report. Later that week I called Best Buy again, I explained to them I would need to have a clear cut answer from them or the shipper as to the missing TV. I explained to the agent, I had a clear cut answer from the shipper and I would be needed resolution from best buy. The agent took my phone number down and reassured me someone would be in contact with me in the next week to have a resolution. No one ever called me.
I waited 9 days before calling again. I called customer service. The agent reassured me that if I could get and email stating that the shipper never had an order that I would be reimbursed or the TV would be replaced. Fine…
I called Shipt again 3 days later on my day off knowing this would be a 4 hours fiasco, I was on hold for ONE HOUR AND FIVE MIN, a gentleman who answered was very patient and tried to find my order via, tracing number, address, phone number, item ordered and nothing. He escalated the problem to his supervisor who did all of the following as well. Nothing was found. I asked to have it escalated to his top manager and he did. At the end of this Three-hour phone call, there was never any item sent from Best Buy ever placed according to Shipt. They sent me an email stating the following above.
I then called Best Buy customer service again. This time I felt a little better knowing that I had the email/ paper trail that the Best Buy customer agent asked for.
The following week I called Best Buy, spoke with an agent. I AGAIN explained to her the ENTIRE story and all the shoving around everyone had been doing to me as well as hanging up on me. She seemed very understanding and said she would have to connect me to primary support. The agony of knowing I would be transferred AGAIN and have to explain this run around again gave me anxiety. She reassured me she would stay on the phone until someone answered and she had my phone number and in the case we were disconnected she would have someone contact me. Fine…
Primary support answered. I explained the lady everything from Day 1 again. I informed her I had the email from the carrier company Shipt and I could forward it to her or the claims department or wherever it needed to be sent to to resolve this issue. The agent told me there was NO NEED for that. Countless hours of waiting on the phone to get this golden email they asked for and no they didn’t need it?! She stated I had 2 choices… One To have the TV re sent, which obviously I was NOT going to take that chance and waste another 3 months of phone call changing OR option two Get a refund and she reassured me that within 15 business days this is 100% guaranteed to be refunded back to the original payment. I asked for option 2 as I have already bought another tv and no longer needed another. I even told her I reordered the same TV out of pocket from Best Buy so she could see that I was not lying and could check the order number. She agreed on the refund. I asked for a confirmation number and she told me she wouldn’t have one because they are generated in the email. At this point I was very skeptical and I stated to her WE ARE ON A RECORDED LINE YES? She said of course and for me not to worry that this wouldn’t be a problem. She was very kind and I wanted to place my trust in her that we had finally come to resolution.
This morning I received an email from Best Buy stating that my replacement/refund could not be fulfilled since the return was past the date. This was their email:
Hi Elizabeth,
Thank you for choosing Best Buy.
I understand you would like to have a refund for your lost delivered order. Please be informed that we can no longer process the refund since item is no longer within our Return and Exchange Promise.
At this time, we encourage you to work with local law enforcement regarding this matter.
Like I stated above the police report could not be made since it was $253.94 until the shipper and Best Buy came to the conclusion that there was no item delivered. I have the email form the shipper and now Best Buy refuses to hold to their words spoken to me due to me having weeks of a runaround made by them?
I’m shocked. I do not understand why Best Buy couldn’t initially make the missing package claim and save endless hours and time in my behalf. I have been purchasing electronics from Best Buy since 2001. I’ve never been treated so poorly before and still no resolution. What this seems like to me is Best Buy never did any research as to where my package ever went or if it was even ever sent out in the first place. How could a same day delivery go to array?
The most frustrating part about this whole run around is the shoving around and tossing the hot potato and when Best Buy asked for the confirmation email from the shipper and I got it, they told me that wasn’t needed?!
As a well-respected physician I was speaking with my colleagues at work and told them this saga. They were all shocked that even with the shipper clearly stating THERE WAS NEVER ANY PACKAGE FROM BEST BUY and the correspondence was sent via email, as asked by Best Buy, this was the result.
CalebH-BBY
