How best to handle this situation?

[dpjax]

I would assume an employee swapped the drive out. It was store shrink-wrapped but my friend noticed the static bag was previously opened when he got home.

He took it back but the manager wouldn't exchange or refund.

What options are there?

Chargeback on the CC?

Dispute with the Regional Manager?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[thinlizzie]

Wrong place for this. Probably brag and moan.

In any event, I think "your friend" may be screwed. This is why you always check for the factory tape seal over each end of the box...

 

[dpjax]

didnt see a 'brag and moan' forum...

 

[LightningStrikes]

Originally posted by: dpjax
didnt see a 'brag and moan' forum...

Yikes, with 198 posts you certainly didn't look very hard....

~~~~ Brag & Moan ~~~~

-LS

 

[Gilby]

Originally posted by: LightningStrikes

Originally posted by: dpjax
didnt see a 'brag and moan' forum...

Yikes, with 198 posts you certainly didn't look very hard....

~~~~ Brag & Moan ~~~~

-LS

Not really for Brag and Moan, as it's not merely something to complain about. Do a chargeback on the credit card first, report to appropriate government authorities second. Not selling you what you purchased is actually quite illegal.

 

[bentwookie]

www.bestbuysux.org

bb strikes again, a big middlefinger to their loyal customers

 

[AnyMal]

Do a chargeback. file a complaint with BBB.

 

[dabuddha]

Chargeback. fvck bestbuy

 

[robertsmith]

You should do several things:
1) See if you can talk to the regional manager. Tell him/her that what happened-the content was misrepresented on the package, and it could possibly be fraud committed by an employee. Stay calm. Also see if you can find someone in their national headquarters.
2) Contact your CC immediately. You should be covered. Take a digital picture of the content, so you can present evidence later more easily if necessary.
3) File a complaint with the BBB. Be specific as to what happened.
4) Contact your state attorney's office.

 

[Nick5324]

Originally posted by: bentwookie
www.bestbuysux.org

bb strikes again, a big middlefinger to their loyal customers

Yep, as if i needed another reason to avoid worstbuy at all costs..... I haven't bought anything there in two years. :beer:

OP, sorry to hear about your problems. When you say "it was store shrink wrapped", was this something that was noticed before opening it? Clearly they sold this drive as new, and if i noticed the shrink wrap was "different", I would have asked about it. ATer robersmith's advice is correct, but it's been my experience that BB managers are always "in a meeting" unless you get loud.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

I'll tell you this right now, BB won't do jack. You are going to need to get involved with the BBB and your CC company.

 

[jamesbond007]

Good grief...definitely chargeback as others have said and BBB if a manager cannot resolve the situation.

If he's ballsy enough, go in there with some friends and get real loud. Some others in another thread said not to leave unless escorted by police, but in my opinion, that's a bit extreme.

I'm tempted to make a lot of flyers that have the URL for bestbuysux.org on it and drop hundreds of them on the store lot during the after thanksgiving day sale or during some big release. Seriously, action needs to be taken by the BBB to get better managers into Best Buy stores.

Bump for resolution!

 

[msi1337]

I have seen them rewrap all sorts of stuff before!

when they get something in that looks new (and they dont always look very hard), they have authorization from their managers to just re-shrinkwrap it.

thats crazy... If I buy something new, I want it new!

especially if I am paying 3x as much for it at Best Buy

 

[carlwu]

Unfortunately, this stuff happens all the time at BB. People have bought expensive digicams only to find a used beater in there... Sad really. There are not too many things I would feel safe buying at BB nowadays.

 

[papaschtroumpf]

Go to BB and tell them you are planning on doing a CC chargeback, they may be willing to help since a chargeback cost them more money than a refund or exchange.
If they won't do it do a chargeback (I hope you did use a CC or you're screwed).
Don't bother with BBB, they're a scam.
If you really want to "stick it to them", write to your state consumer affairs (a dept of the State Attorney's office).

 

[zippin44]

I hate BB as much as the next guy, but you really should speak to the manager first, umm, I mean your friend should. But don't feel too bad. Someone recently bit into a detached finger floating around in a bowl of chili at Wendy's. In both cases, when you are bottom fishing, you're gonna turn up @rap!

 

[dealseaker]

I just bought a rewrapped "open box" hd from best buy, this is the exact reason I stood at the counter while paying for it and opened it, I told the casher I wanted her to watch me open it, and this is the exact reason why I did that, I have gotten the wrong stuff before and it stinks for a nice way to put it

 

[dartworth]

any info on the HD? Previous owner info maybe...

It's a long shot, but you never know...

 

[Lanyap]

You'll never know who really did the HD swap but I wouldn't try to pin it on an employee. If you go in and start accusing them of doing it on purpose it will just make it harder to deal with them. My guess is that someone bought it, put their old HD back in the box and returned it. Either BB shrink wrapped it and put it back on the shelf or the returner had it shrink wrapped somewhere.

This type of thing has happened at other stores like CC, Staples, etc.

 

[user1234]

Originally posted by: papaschtroumpf
Go to BB and tell them you are planning on doing a CC chargeback, they may be willing to help since a chargeback cost them more money than a refund or exchange.
If they won't do it do a chargeback (I hope you did use a CC or you're screwed).
Don't bother with BBB, they're a scam.
If you really want to "stick it to them", write to your state consumer affairs (a dept of the State Attorney's office).

why you say BBB is a scam ? aren't they trying to help consumers ? are you saying that they can't help at all ?

 

[Garlic]

I used to work for bestbuy and we shink wraped lots of opened up returns. I always checked to make sure the correct item was there.

One time we got an external harddrive return. It was all shrink wrapped as it was never opened. Anyway I was restocking it and it felt heavier than the other boxes. We opened it up and sure enough there was an old 10gb drive with a bunch C batteries inside....people on the outside buy, steal, shrink wrap and return...

I also have seen people come in with items claiming they were ripped off. Manager always exchanged them.....at least in the BB I worked at.

 

[jae]

same thing happened to me when i bought a TDK 32x CDRW drive @ best buy, it was really 24x in there. i took it back the next day and told them what happened, they just took it told me to get find another. the 32x was sold out so i just got the 40x that had just came up and paid $10 difference.

 

[DukeN]

Well I'd run some data recovery software on the drive, maybe you can pull up some files asto identify the individual using it.

Secondly, goto BB and get bloody loud during a busy day. If you end up leaving w/out any resolution, get their regional/district manager's contact information (I doubt the store will provide that to you so get it from their corporate office).

Get your chargeback and see if you can file a complaint with your state attorney and/or BBB.

 

[TipsyMcStagger]

Are you young looking? If you are you're probably screwed.

I got f'd like that before by BB as well. I bought a Radeon 8500 (back when it was decent!) and a Radeon 7000 was in the box. When i took it back, they accused me of swapping the cards and wouldn't take it back.

Finally, I got my 50 something year old parents to go to another store and return it claiming it didn't work. That worked out fine.

So if you're young, get somebody with a few grey hairs, and your chances will improve.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: thinlizzie
Wrong place for this. Probably brag and moan.

In any event, I think "your friend" may be screwed. This is why you always check for the factory tape seal over each end of the box...

Never leave a BestBuy store, without opening the shrink-wrap and examining the product. Period. Otherwise, shopping at BestBuy, even for "new"-in-box items, is like buying expensive grab-bags.

This has happened twice to my friend. Once he purchased an ATI video card, a R7500, new in an ATI retail-box. Take it home, open it up, and find out that it was previously used, and the factory warranty card is missing.

Second, he purchased a P4 mobo (one more additional reason not to purchase mobos at BestBuy). Turns out it had a problem, and according to Abit, that mobo was actually RMA'ed once before, and was an RMA return item, not new.

Hmm. Is it any wonder they are getting sued in multiple states by the AG?