Best Buy has a 30-day return/exchange policy that includes the XBOX, but is that any reason to try to void someone’s warranty just to get them to go away? We think not. Reader Steve was waiting in line at Best Buy while another customer was trying to exchange his defective XBOX. Steve writes:
The clerk told the customer that Microsoft handles all warranties on the Xbox360 and that Microsoft would not allow BestBuy to exchange the device.
The customer asked again to exchange the product because he only had it for less than three months. The clerk asked the department manager over and he promptly removed the front bezel to view the anti-tamper sticker, and declared that they could do nothing for him because the Xbox360 anti-tamper sticker had been tampered with. The customer denied ever opening the case of his Xbox360.
I got quite interested and stepped to the side of the lady in front of me and looked at it from about 3 foot away (arms reach). The sticker was in place and had not been removed! The manager then picked at the sticker to my horror and I then quickly approached the counter and told customer, quite loudly, to not let the manager pick at the sticker.
Damn, Best Buy! If your store doesn’t handle XBOX returns after 30 days then just say that and stand your ground. Don’t tamper with a guy’s XBOX out of spite. Read the rest of Steve’s email inside.
Steve writes:
Dear Editors,
I was at the local Bestbuy here in Springfield, MO and was third in the line to exchange a product. I looked ahead and saw a gentleman with an Xbox360 with a faulty DVD drive trying to get an exchange. The clerk told the customer that Microsoft handles all warranties on the Xbox360 and that Microsoft would not allow BestBuy to exchange the device.
The customer asked again to exchange the product because he only had it for less than three months. The clerk asked the department manager over and he promptly removed the front bezel to view the anti-tamper sticker, and declared that they could do nothing for him because the Xbox360 anti-tamper sticker had been tampered with. The customer denied ever opening the case of his Xbox360.
I got quite interested and stepped to the side of the lady in front of me and looked at it from about 3 foot away (arms reach). The sticker was in place and had not been removed! The manager then picked at the sticker to my horror and I then quickly approached the counter and told customer, quite loudly, to not let the manager pick at the sticker.
I was prepared to throw a fit on the behalf of the timid customer right then and there and declare to all those that were around that the manager had voided the warranty himself, but the manager realized he was busted and quickly allowed the exchange.
Steve
That’s just mean. —MEGHANN MARCO
(Photo: mulad)
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Wait, Best Buy Replacement Plans Don’t Fix Or Replace Discontinued Gadgets?
I used to work at a Best Buy as a repair tech, and I worked the tech bench for 2 years. I was what Best Buy considered the first line of defense against returns. The way the Best Buy replacement plan works is different from the way the salesmen are taught to sell it. Is it a replacement plan? Yes, but only if the unit has been sent off for repair a total of three times prior. If and only if it has been sent off 3 times prior for repair and each time it was sent off, the determination was that the item broke down on its own, and not thru some fault of the owner, then and only then will a replacement be warrented. Also, here is another thing despicable about this plan. If your item needs to be replaced, it will be replaced with something close to the original specs as possible. In other words, if it is a computer, you will get a 2 year old or older replacement. Often times you get something that had lower specs because the managers will point out that the unit they are replacing is over x yrs old and that the replacement they will authorize is within the adjusted value of the unit it will replace.
In a sense you are paying that $60 dollars to hedge a bet that your unit will break down, requiring a repair at least 4 times within the coverage of the replacement plan. Also, the replacement plans are concurrent to the item’s manufacturer’s warrenty. Which means, as long as it is covered by it’s own warrenty, then all repairs are first covered by that warrenty until it runs out.
Most people are under the expectation that when they buy the replacement plan, then when their item breaks, then they get a replacement. Most people who buy these plans never read the pamphlets for themselves. Best Buy counts on this and make up to 80% profit for each plan they manage to sell.
Moral of the story, don’t buy these plans. They are NOT worth it at all.
I live in Springfield, MO and have had enough horrible dealings with the local Best Buy that I will not purchase anything from the company, anywhere, including their online store.
The final straw was when I called to inquire about a video card I was considering buying. The person who answered the phone transferred me to the computer department and I listened to the phone ringing (not on hold) for five minutes and hung up. I immediately called back and this time waited for over ten minutes before hanging up.
Frustrated, I drove to the store to see if the card was in stock and when I arrived in the computer department I noticed several employees, one young man discussing something personal with an attractive young woman, another two chatting with each other, and one more standing near the main aisle twirling a laniard as she watched people walk by. Meanwhile, the phone was ringing.
People aren’t like us.
That’s the bottom line here folks.
The average american buys electronics at best buy, and circuit city because they are in their neighborhood.
They like walking around the store, and will pay any amount just to have a new TV or Computer.
There are still a certain level of people who do not shop online, and do not know the deals to be had online.
They think that best buy is the only option, and they buy there.
Drive by a best buy. The parking lot is packed on a sunday.
I look at their sunday circular, and their deals aren’t anyting spectacular.
Even their black friday deals are kinda ho hum to me.
The only place I would buy electronics that is not on the internet would be Costco.
@r81984
I’d have to say you haven’t learned much from the Organizational Leadership and Supervision department at Purdue…
Regarding warranties. I was reading through one of the leaflets the other day, and as other’s have said, after BestBuy replaces your defective product under the Product Replacement Plan, they consider the warranty replacement contract “fulfilled.” When one of the CSR’s was talking up the plan, he failed to mention that point. I think the same goes for extended warranties, but I can’t find any of the fine print on the BestBuy site.
If a manager pulled that crap with me, I’d have written a complaint and cc’d it to the store manager, regional manager and corporate office. I would have also filed a complaint with the State AG’s office. I know retail can suck because you have to deal with some real dolts on a daily basis. However, that’s no excuse for this kind of behavior.
As someone who frequents Best Buy I would like to say that I have not ever had a problem with them. They have always been very friendly and knowledgeable. I highly doubt that this manager represents the company as a whole. If this was in fact a true story someone should have contacted a higher source of management and told them of this “situation.” This manager should be delt with I agree but, the company as a whole deserves a little credit. So I would love to read a story on here for once that has an outcome! There seem to be a lot of accusations and not a lot of progress here.
wow, all these horror stories are the exact opposite of mine!. I first bought my xbox 360 last year, just under a year or so of the 360 getting launched. I had heard about the hardware failures, and bought a 2 year replacement plan. My first box died less than 2 weeks after getting it, the dvd drive simply stopped reading discs, every one of my games wouldn’t read on my console, but read on my friend’s. Took it in, but forgot to bring my discs. they brought a copy of table tennis to test it, ran fine. So i had to go home, pick up my discs, and prove they weren’t the problem. The guys i worked with all had their own 360′s and knew the problems associated with them, so gave me a new one when i brought my games in, demonstrated it not reading them. Then, just over a month ago, the hdd died when i tried to download a halo 3 video. Got 3 red lights of death when trying to turn it on, or it would work for up to 2 minutes before freezing.Took it in there, brought my games and documentation (didn’t even need the games this time), and got a new 360 within 30 minutes of arriving, including waiting in line, and the time it took for my support guy to go find one of the new 360′s they’d just been shipped. So the Best buy in Olathe, Kansas has grreat people, sorry.
I never said the manager did nothing wrong. That manager is a terrible person. You can complain about that manager all you want, but this activity is BB company culture thats why it happens everywhere and not just this store. Unless the whole company’s culture changes you can keep going after store managers, but there will always be someone else to take their place and continue unethical behavior under the direction of the BB upper management.
You cant base an opinion of a retail giant with almost 900 stores across the world on a couple stories a month on the consumerist. Nobody and I mean nobody running a company with a half million employees can insure that none of them will be bad employees. It happens. Every company has bad employees. In this case something happened that shouldnt have if the original poster is correct in his story. Everyone knows you cant base an opinion without hearing both sides of the story. Like someone above said perhaps the sticker looked like it was removed and the manager was making sure it was in fact sealed by the factory. I too work in a retail store, one that specializes in higher end stuff than Best Buy does and you would be surprised at the crap people try to pull with returns. The most common being sticker tampering and returning their old broken item that they replaced with their new purchase. Often times not even the same item. Also people often try to return stuff that6 they broke. Screens are a big one. They try to use an a temperature difference excuse which if you work on LCDs you know they dont crack going from cold to hot. Retail stores are in business to sell you stuff, not to support it for 5 years after you buy it. If it breaks 6 months after you buy it why should the place you bought it from be responsible. They didnt make it, they only sold it to you. Call the manufacturer and deal with it through them. It is NOT the retailers responsibility to support your product, it is the manufacturer’s responsibility. Restocking fees are also a necessity. Retailers dont rent stuff to you, you buy it , keep it unless defective. The profit margin on electronics is so slim that restocking fees are necessary because a returned item needs to be marked down 10% to be resold. If tehy only made $60.00 on it and have to mark it down $75.00 to resell it how are they supposed to make money. So yes the retailer has to take responsibilty sometimes but so do YOU the consumer.
Same thing happend to me in Houston, TX. Only it was a “Counter-strike” CD I had never used. The manager tore open the tamper seal before my eyes and walked me to the door.
Never trusted BB again.
@Fetus_God_of_Love
While Best Buy doesn’t have to exchange anything after 30 days suggesting BB’s replacement tells me you are probably a shill for the company.
The BB plan is worthless, especially on a high failure rate item like an XBox 360. It can only be used only. You are better off going with Microsoft’s extended warranty which is cheaper (1 year 30 bucks, you have to call them and ask for it) and doesn’t expire after one use.
Not to mention the folks that service their replacement plan seem to try to do everything possible not to pay out, at least thats been my experience.
Bottom Line: Maybe the customer was out of the 30 day period but trying to void his warranty (which is now 1 year from MS) is criminal.
why, oh why does anyone shop with these morons?
I work at a Best Buy, so I know that automatically makes me a sub-human to most people out there.
Just to set some facts straight that I’ve seen misrepresented here I would like to say a few things.
Best Buy sells two different plans. There is the product replacement plan which when the item breaks it is replaced and that fulfills BBY’s obligation. You need to buy a new plan if you want the replacement covered. This is what you would buy for consoles, controllers and things like that.
Then there is the performance service plan. That is what most people refer to as the extended warranty and what the tech above was talking about when he said you have to have the item sent out for 3 qualified repairs and on the fourth the item would get replaced. You would buy this plan for items like computers, TV’s and that sort of thing.
The person involved in this tale was not likely a manager but a supervisor. Manager’s are salaried, supervisors are still paid hourly. Not much of a difference but still. In any of the stores I’m aware of there is no Media (or game section) manager, just a supervisor.
I find it hard to believe that the person in question was actually going to remove the tamper sticker as he would really have no reason to. I’m not saying it’s impossible, just highly unlikely. If the customer didn’t have a replacement plan the store was under no obligation to accept the return. If it was covered by a replacement plan I can maybe see someone trying to find a reason not to accept a return because returns are tracked but most people have no issue with accepting the return because it’s going to be covered by the plan and not hit the bottom line. On top of that there’s a high chance the customer would have purchased another replacement plan which also looks good on the numbers.
For those of you that hate Best Buy so much but feel obligated to shop there when you receive a gift card there’s no need to actually purchase anything. Gift Cards at Best Buy can be exchanged for cash. Just make sure it’s a gift card and not store credit.
To those of you that like to look down on the employees that work at your local BBY I’d like to tell you we appreciate you as much as you appreciate us. We always love dealing with people who think they’re better than us just because we work there. The people who like to say we should not work there and should find another job I would like to just ask if you would like to hire us all? Really, most of the people at those stores are there to earn a living just like most of you and do not have many other choices. Good jobs are not falling out of trees these days and it seems suprisingly hard to remove really poor performers out of the good jobs that exist.
It is beyond me to understand why anyone, especially readers of consumerist, would ever shop at best buy?
Their prices are not the lowest and their return policy is draconian
In answer to TWITCH….
The morons that shop at Best Buy are the same ones that try to return a broken item after 3 months of use……not having gotten an extended warranty….and argue about it and demand satisfaction.
Especially when the BEST BUY return policy states 30 days on those HUGE Signs all over the store….
Not to mention the 360 warranty in the box states to contact Microsoft for repair.
Personally….I don’t blame the manager……I blame the failure of Darwinism due to modern technology in that IDIOTS are breeding in vast #s instead of dying off.
@bloodr
I, too, would push the BB replacement plan. I do not work for Best Buy, but in my experience, it has been well worth it. Over the course of about 4-5 years, I received “upgrades” when my laptop broke, twice. Each time it broke to the point of no return, they told me that they had no more of the same model and told me to pick out a new one that costs the same or below the old one (or above and pay the difference). It was fantastic.
On the other hand, there’s no point in buying a replacement plan for something like a game or basic headphones. On a laptop, though, I think it’s well worth it.
I’ve never really had any serious problems with Best Buy like the ones other people report having.
I work for Best Buy and regardless of the “sticker”, after 30 days it becomes the consumer’s responsibility to contact Microsoft to make good on their warranty. That’s why it’s a manufacturer’s warranty. Had the customer purchased the Product Replacement Plan that was offered to him at the point of sale he would have been able to exchange his 360 without incident. It always amazes me how many customers turn down the PRP when I offer it and when their system malfunctions they think it’s Best Buy’s responsibilty. Protect your investments people. It’s not a scam, these things really do crash. If you get in a car accident and don’t have insurance it’s not the responsibilty of the car manufacturer to replace your car. Peopl are idiots.
Best Buy is not consumer friendly! Having purchased an expensive television from them, on day 31 the TV died – obviously a defective set – and Best Buy refused to exchange the TV. I had my receipts and everything! It was one day past their warranty, they told me I should have purchased an extended warranty! When I stood outside the store to warn potential customers of their shoddy practices, they called the police. Massachusetts does not have a time limit on returning defective products, maybe I should have called the better business!
Also, interesting to note there is a person in my area driving around with a large sign on his car that states, “BEST BUY IS NOT CONSUMER FRIENDLY.” Everytime I see him I wave and agree.
Here is my Worst Buy story:
Was looking for a laptop, saw a good deal (2 year no interest). Purchased it along with the warranty. Laptop ran fine for about 8 months, then the power connector broke. Concensus via research is that the “official” replacement answer is a new motherboard; ie, new laptop.
Took it in for service. Problem was “fixed”. About a month later began to have issues. After much time and research I determined that the issue was with the “new” motherboard; the RAM was bad.
Then proceeded to fight the Idiot Squad on it. Agreement was reached that there was an issue but they were unwilling/unable to fix it. Claimed that it was their “3rd party repair center”, etc. After bringing it back about 8 times it finally degraded into a shouting match where I was told I am an idiot (hey, I work in IT designing/building the things; you work at Best Buy, whose the idiot?)
This all ended when I wrote up the story and submitted to both the Better Business Bureau and the Washington State Attorney General. Within 2 weeks I had a gift card for the full amount. Interesting that the Attorney General admitted that they have LOTS of problems with Best Buy.
Now I have a MacBook which I am VERY happy with (not from them) and I refuse to patronize the Tacoma, Washington store or the chain in general. Sad to hear they picked up Magnolia High Fi; I used to really like them.
I guess it’s called WWW research + Credit Card + UPS = end of problem.
Ben
@r81984: So it’s OK for people to cheat others just because of some faceless suit? Um, no. Never OK.
@r81984:
You have the weak argument; it is soft like a moral relativists ass.
Sorry I had to.
Anyways, while you did not explicitly state that the “manager did nothing wrong”, you clearly said, “You cannot blame the manager for this.”
I think you are retracting.
Besides, it seems that people are trying to argue that this manager can be blamed for going way above and beyond the deceit even necessary to fulfill his duties as a Best Buy manager–despite what the culture may foster.
This video pretty much sums up Best Buy. Anytime someone talks about Best Buy, I always post this Video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pFrnkRk28Y&mode=related&se…
The law in the UK gives much more protection to the customer: buying something is viewed as a contract, and if the product does not perform as advertised or as intended (including lasting a reasonable amount of time), the retailer has broken that contract. It’s then up to them to go back to their supplier.