Best Buy Beware...
May 6, 2011 22:11:26 GMT
Post by CharlieChomper on May 6, 2011 22:11:26 GMT
This article was one I originally came across about a week ago, but haven't had much of a chance to post until now.
To summarize it, a customer had gone into a Best Buy (an electronics and media shop chain that mostly operates in North America, but apparently has branched out onto other continents as well) to have their Geek Squad service have a look at a receiver for a home theatre) to see if it could be repaired.
They took it along with a monetary deposit he had to pay. He was told someone with the Geek Squad would supposedly call him back with an estimate on how much it would cost to have it fixed. No one called him and when he contacted them about the matter, he was told they didn't have it--they had sent it off to Sony for repairs, without asking him first. They also demanded he pay them about $115US (about 81 Euros)--in addition to their having kept his $35US (25 Euros) deposit.
After arguing with them and pointing out that he never agreed for it to be sent in for repairs nor did the chain ask him, the shop offered to drop the price down to about $95US (about 66 Euros) that he would need to pay. He pointed out to them that because no one had bothered to let him know and just with the way in which things had been handled, they offered to waive their fee.
He took them to small claims court and won.
When Best Buy mailed him his check, there was also a notice included informing him that he was banned for life from all Best Buy shops (and presumably doing business with their online presence), nor was permitted to so much as set foot into one.
This is not the first time I've heard of a bad customer situation of this magnitude involving Best Buy. Several years ago, there was considerable press in mostly the techie/tech sector about a guy who went into one of their shops with his laptop (which wasn't at issue) and created a spreadsheet to do price comparisons for a purchase he planned to make to see where he could obtain the best deal. Just by creating that spreadsheet and typing in their price, the shop reacted by attempting to confiscate his laptop and asking him to leave, citing the fact that they didn't want to risk their competition knowing how much their prices were (or accusing him of working for a competitor). He was not allowed to return back to the shop. Some people had joked at the time about wondering if he'd just had a pencil/pen and paper instead.
Out of mostly principle, he sued the chain and it went into a settlement.
I remember at the time that it led to considerable animosity and vows of boycotting the chain mostly out of principle within the tech/techie communities and the chain's management having to deal with egg upon their face over it--this also happened long before even the existence of their Geek Squad service.
To summarize it, a customer had gone into a Best Buy (an electronics and media shop chain that mostly operates in North America, but apparently has branched out onto other continents as well) to have their Geek Squad service have a look at a receiver for a home theatre) to see if it could be repaired.
They took it along with a monetary deposit he had to pay. He was told someone with the Geek Squad would supposedly call him back with an estimate on how much it would cost to have it fixed. No one called him and when he contacted them about the matter, he was told they didn't have it--they had sent it off to Sony for repairs, without asking him first. They also demanded he pay them about $115US (about 81 Euros)--in addition to their having kept his $35US (25 Euros) deposit.
After arguing with them and pointing out that he never agreed for it to be sent in for repairs nor did the chain ask him, the shop offered to drop the price down to about $95US (about 66 Euros) that he would need to pay. He pointed out to them that because no one had bothered to let him know and just with the way in which things had been handled, they offered to waive their fee.
He took them to small claims court and won.
When Best Buy mailed him his check, there was also a notice included informing him that he was banned for life from all Best Buy shops (and presumably doing business with their online presence), nor was permitted to so much as set foot into one.
This is not the first time I've heard of a bad customer situation of this magnitude involving Best Buy. Several years ago, there was considerable press in mostly the techie/tech sector about a guy who went into one of their shops with his laptop (which wasn't at issue) and created a spreadsheet to do price comparisons for a purchase he planned to make to see where he could obtain the best deal. Just by creating that spreadsheet and typing in their price, the shop reacted by attempting to confiscate his laptop and asking him to leave, citing the fact that they didn't want to risk their competition knowing how much their prices were (or accusing him of working for a competitor). He was not allowed to return back to the shop. Some people had joked at the time about wondering if he'd just had a pencil/pen and paper instead.
Out of mostly principle, he sued the chain and it went into a settlement.
I remember at the time that it led to considerable animosity and vows of boycotting the chain mostly out of principle within the tech/techie communities and the chain's management having to deal with egg upon their face over it--this also happened long before even the existence of their Geek Squad service.
