Screaming Penguin

I Believe that this guy was genuinely dissapointed and lied to. At the same time I can't fathom a warranty that allowed the purchaser to upgrade just because there was a newer model. That would not be purchase but rental. Confronted with a claim like that I would definately want it in writing.

Sorry, but if this guy really thought that he could just bring back a camera for a newer model whenever he felt like it, he's nuts. Word of advice: NEVER buy Best Buys extended warranty crap. They have been covered by Clark Howard, 'undercover' news specials, Consumer Reports and every other consumer news source as being bad, bad, bad. Hard for me to feel sympathy - he had every opportunity to read the warranty information before purchase. Caveat emptor.

No retailer should allow a complaint to go this far without resolving the issue to some mutual satisfaction of both the customer and the company. My experience at Best Buy is as follows: Purchase 4 CD's for wife's B-Day. She decides she doesn't want 3 of them. Thirty-eight days later I want to return them in their still unopened packages and give her the cash to get what she wants. I am told by the reurn cashier that I am eight days past the cash back date. I speak to the "Lead" who tells me the same and again by the Ops Mgr. To think that a business would intentionally create ill will towards with its customers so that "policy" is followed baffles me. I am a Store Manager with Bed, Bath , and Beyond and believe me; our DM's speak to customers. It is my "policy" to not spend my money at a retailer who would rather enforce "policy" than make a customer happy that the rules were bent on a whopping $45.00 sale. A happy customer tells a few people about the service they received. An angry customer tells EVERYBODY.

I will never ever buy from Best Buy again. Had a terrible experience purchasing a 50" Plasma TV. The people there have no idea what they're doing, using bait and switch techniques, and outright lying to customers to make the sale. My husband and I went to Best Buy twice, spent over three hours and walked out with nothing because of their incompetence. We then went to J and R, spent all of 10 minutes, and walked out with what we wanted. I called corporate headquarters to complain. They apologized and said they would look into this further.

Assuming the truth of the story thats been told, a sales person who lies to make a sale is still a representative of the company he/she lies for. It is imperative that the company make every effort to satisfy the customer. As was said, an angry customer tells everybody as this customer just did.

First: Get the District Manager at the Main office...sit outside if you have to then go for the Regional Manager!! Second.. get the name of the individual(s) that spoke to you in the way they did... Third... Call the Local TV stations re: customer complaints....and get the TV cameras at their front door... Fourth...File a complaint with the Better Business Bureau and last .. File a Fraud Complaint with the District Attorneys office...they HAVE to reply in a formal court hearing Don't sit on this....Their in business to make customers happy NOT take the money and Run... Finally....shop at Wal-Mart...I wlll not get any richer...but you the customer will be happier..we take back nearly everything..if thats what it takes

I wanted to return a defective item (a $300 MP3 player and was told I had two options 1. Exchange it for the same type of item and they would keep the box from the new product and anything I didn't bring in with me (I forgot the CD at home) or 2. Pay a restocking fee of 15%. I'm sorry, but if you have a defective item, they shouldn't charge a restocking fee and they shouldn't demand that you open your new item in their store and let them keep the box so they can use that box to return the defective item to the company who made it. No more Best buy for me.

What an idiot. This guy must of been 2 years old to actually believe he could just trade in his camera. That is the most idiotic thing I have ever heard. Is this a retard or what? How do you expect a company like Best Buy to stay in buisness if they are letting customers trade in old products. This guy makes me sick!!! Everybody knows that you cant trade in your old product for new product.

Bottom line, dont shop there, vote with your dollars. And the line about Wal-Mart above is correct, they may have lots of other issues (benefits for workers, where they purchase products, etc) but they do handle customers and returns FAR BETTER than Best Buy.

They probably said if the item is under warranty and it can\'t be fixed it will be replaced with a new item.

Sounds to me like the guy is a drama queen.

You people amaze me. You think that they should return everything no matter how long you have had it, whether you have all the parts or not, or just because you didn\'t bother to double check what you were told by reading the warranty. Let me give you a little tip, first of all if they don\'t return a product with all the parts, they lose money, they are in the business to make money. Also, I would like to point out to customers that while you may hate the people at customer service, please remember that they don’t make the policies, they are made to enforce them. They don’t do it to be mean. Managers walk around with their own copy of the return policy in their heads, that they can change at whim. Telling everyone how many thousands of dollars you spend in the store doesn’t change their minds because they hear it several times a day. I know that as a customer it is different than if you know the inner workings of a store, but let me also point out that while I am no fan of Best Buy….read you return policy, be aware before you open it or use it or decide you don’t want it. I know that it is a hassle but Best Buy employees rightly assume that if you can make it to the store to buy something then you can read your return policy. My advice to anyone who must shop at Best Buy: open it (if it doesn’t have a 15% restocking fee), plug it in, make sure it works, has all it’s parts, and is not damaged. I know that everyone is busy but you WILL get screwed out of your money if you don’t. Stop being unreasonable and expecting them to bend over backwards just because they are a retail store. And to the guy at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, are you saying that there should be no return policy or that they should just pick and choose who to bend it for? If it is the second one, that is what they do.

I purchased an ipod warranty under these conditions. This man is NOT an idiot. I can recall the exact conversation, and was explicitly told that if at any time a new model came out within the warranty\'s coverage time, I could upgrade to the newer model and only have to pay the price difference. This was the only selling point for me seeing as Apple\'s ipods already come with a 1 year warranty, so 50 bucks for an extra year is pointless. I am going to call the Best Buy local manager right now to ask him about this. I know plenty of people who purchased warranties under the premise that Best Buy provides an upgrade path. Either this plan was revoked without informing the consumer, or there is a tactic going on to trick consumers. similar to how BB was FORCING customers to purchase accessories and games when the xbox 360 launched(they were sued for this and had to rectify the entire situation).

Thank you! I just went to Best Buy to upgrade as well--I bought a video iPod back in May after having a lengthy conversation with an employee. I told him I was only shopping around, looking for an inexpensive mp3 player (around $50) until the new iPod came out--I'd heard Apple was working on a new version (which I'd read on Endgadget or something) and I wanted to wait a few months before getting something more expensive. He explained the great deal with the Extended Service Plan and how you pay $49.99 for this plan--if a new version comes out within 12 months of purchase, you can bring in the old one and exchange it for the new one, only paying the difference in purchase price. I thought that was a great deal, so I paid $399 for the iPod and $49.99 for the Service Plan, walking away happy. Well, Apple just released the 80GB video iPod with a brighter screen. It's only $349. So I took my iPod, with all of the paper, box, etc to Best Buy to exchange it. The customer service people told me "no, that's not how the plan works". I spoke with a manager that told me she couldn't do anything about it unless I told her the name of the employee that gave me misinformation. I said it was the person who checked me out, couldn't she just use my receipt to determine the employee? After all, every retail store gives its employees sales login numbers. She suddenly stammered that she wouldn't be able to do that. No. I would need to provide a name. I went back and forth with her for a while and resigned myself that maybe I was totally wrong. Maybe I made this up somehow. So I came home and got online. NO! I *knew* that was what they told me initially! So now maybe my iPod has developed a charging problem too.