here's my beef with Best Buy
as a former employee of CC I know that the store managers had policies with irate customers that if pushed they would eat some of the cost and either meet them half way and take a reasonable amount off an item - such as $100 for a laptop. I know because I had to take a customer to the store manager and this is what they did.
As a full time sales clerk we hated when they did this and were equally upset when explained to us in training that the company was willing to the entire item back if it came down to it and why. This happened to me more than once and hurt when the commission I lost was $50.
Cut to BB when I bought a laptop from them and found it dented two days later. I took it to customer service and the kids there agreed to swap it out with their other one but it turned out the computer's stock was wrong and said to come back Thursday. I tried to leave the computer with them but they didn't want me doing that. Big mistake.
That Sunday, a different manager intervened, the manager that approved it originally lied to my face, the kids who helped me before scrambled to not be seen (hilariously accidentally admitting it was already agreed to when fetched for something else), then eventually I got the store manager. He tells me it doesn't matter what was agreed to before because I was dealing with him now and they try to hand me a warranty card with customer services phone number on it (meanwhile they've already called security).
Yes, I made a big issue in the store about it and made a scene. Why, so I could at least get some concession. But after all that, nothing.
Short of a lawsuit or picketing the store nothing was going to happen.
Was I in the right? The laptop was damaged yes, but they already agreed to swap it out and they lied to my face. So a little from column A and a little from column B. I would have settled for at least something.
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Long story short this tells me that the corporate policy is to dig their heels in on large ticket items that could cost them. They would rather lose a customer than make any sort of concession like that.
This was definitely not the policy of Circuit City.
I believe this comes from the fact that, like Walmart, they are the biggest thing in town and have managed to run the competition out of business. And with CC they've run their biggest competitor out.
Ironically, Walmart, Target, and especially Costco all have incredible return policies. With the former two, it may only be because they don't know what they are dealing with.