I'm Speechless . . damaging someone elses property while in a (relative, it is best buy after all)position of trust?!?!

Holy Gross Misconduct Batman.

The mind boggles at why/how someone like that is a manager.

Yeah, incredibly mean-spirited.

I can believe it, though. Best Buy's retail culture is shockingly bankrupt of the sorts of values that place customers first. Leaders spend so much time living under the thumb of aggressive sales goals they can't control that I'm not at all surprised they would lash out and screw with some innocent customer.

Humans who are habitually not in control of their situations will grasp at any straw that throws them in a driver's seat -- even if only for a precious few minutes.

Yet another post that helps ensure that I'll never shop at Best Buy.

Bwahahahahah! Best Buy and all the rest can suckit. This is a very typical tactic and I have seen this before.

I would have been sightly skeptical if the story came from the returning customer, but I'm shocked it came from a disinterested fellow customer. A manager picking off the void sticker... that's really hardcore.

But when alls said and done, why did this guy even think that Best Buy would take the thing back? Three months is longer than 30 days. This reminds me of a guy I saw in a closing CompUsa yesterday who was trying to return a Mac keyboard even though they stamp receipts with NO RETURNS, NO EXCHANGES.

My applause to Steve! He's a modern day hero; swooping in to fight the evils of department managers everywhere. Here's to his continued fight for customer rights everywhere.

I won't even get *into* my Best Buy horror story of what happened when I tried to return a two-day-old defective digital camera. Best Buy "won" the argument...they kept the restocking fee...and I left the store because my wife was dragging me out before the manager was going to call the cops on me...but I will never...never ever...buy anything from them again. I would guess they lost at least $1,000 worth of business from me in the last four years.

Someone on the editorial team should forward this to BB corporate. i hate that place with a passion.

I'm sure the guy was able to become a manager because he's one of the few people they interviewed who would have the stones to tear the tamper sticker off of someone's product so not only did best buy not have to take the return but also ensure that Microsoft would not warranty the product because some poor soul had the audacity to shell out 400 dollars and expect their purchase to actually function as intended.

You cannot blame the manager for this.
His job or even his bonus relies on statistics that have no reflection or connection to the actual work he performs. He could be the best manager in the world, but if he allowed that return he could have lost his bonus or his job.

This is Best Buys fault for having a poor system. That manager has no control over the sales in his store. He has no control over the amount of returns at his store.

When employers base an employees career on metrics that the employee has no control over, no matter how good of a job they do, then employees have to lie and cheat to gain control of the metrics that control their job.

Best Buy needs to hire some real leaders and HR specialists if they ever want to prevent crap like this from happening.

If anyone from Best Buy is reading go to here to find out where to hire real Leaders: http://www.tech.purdue.edu/ols/aboutus/

"The mind boggles at why/how someone like that is a manager."

No it doesn't, it's a BestBuy. They're one of the best examples of a big box store where nobody really knows what's going on.

Okay, I just have to share the last, but absolute best Best Buy return experience.

I purchased a Sony NTSC television from BB. It was a good deal, and I wasn't ready to leap to HD (this was three years ago). I get the thing home and the box clearly states that I *must* cut the box along the bottom to remove the set. There is no way I'm lifting this thing out.

So I follow the instructions and it's DOA. Won't power up at all and shows no signs of life. So I pack the whole thing back into the car and take it back. I stand in the returns line and they tell me that I can't return it without the packaging. I tell them that it's out in my car, and when we retrieve it, they tell me they can't accept it because it's damaged. I point out the instructions on getting the TV out of the box and finally ask for the manager.

I explain the situation to the manager and tell him that the television is a rare Sony TV that's dead on arrival. The high voltage power supply is dead; I should know, I fixed commercial video monitors for years. The manager, sarcastically says "well, how do you *know* that's what the problem is?". I ask him to come to the display model sitting on a metal shelf not thirty feet from the return desk.

I say to him "stand in front of the TV". He does. Then I say "turn the TV off". He does. Then I tell him "rub your hand over the front of the picture tube." He does, and after about five seconds, just as he was beginning to ask me what doing this has to do with my broken television, the collapsing field on the screen generated enough static electricity to give him the jolt of a lifetime.

I then tell him "mine doesn't do that".

The manager took the flat bed containing my dead TV and moments later wheeled it away, came back, picked one off the shelf and pulled it out to my car. He silent the entire time.

Best Buy offers a replacement plan. It would've cost him $59.99 for a two year plan on his XBOX 360. It covers hard drive failure, wear and tear, power surges and practically everything else except for doing physical damage to the unit. I bet the customer didn't care to get it with his 360 purchase or he couldn't afford it. 30 days is plenty, especially when he can flat out return it for his full money back. GameStop/EB Games don't do returns on brand new systems. The Best Buy manager shouldn't have tampered with the sticker though.

Well, i have to say ive had worse luck at circuit city, where the employees and managers cant seem to be able to read their own circular ads. ive had some nasty business trying to get some of their sale prices and deals. Best buy in my area seems to be pretty legit in their business practice around me though.

@r81984:

While you may not be able to blame the manager for not wanting to exchange the product because of the 30 day period but you most certainly can put the manager at fault for using the anti-tamper sticker as an excuse and more so for picking at the sticker. Any manager for an electronics store should know why you don't mess with that sticker.

If the real reason was the 30 policy then he should have stood his ground on that principle instead of examining the xbox and picking at it. He would have garnered my respect for having principles.

@r81984:

"You cannot blame the manager for this."

Yes, you absolutely CAN blame the manager for this. If what you say is true, he is simply passing on his own misfortune of having that particular job to an innocent stranger. If Best Buy forces this type of behaviour you still have a choice between screwing customers or not working at Best Buy. That may be a tough choice for some but the ethics of the situation are crystal clear.

Best Buy Manglement does not hire decision-making employees (18-25 yrs old only). Best Buy Corporate does not hire decision-making management (19-26 yrs old). Best Buy Executives (40+ yrs old) get paid (handsomly, bonuses, severance agreements, stock...) for taking money from the consumer, pressuring vendors for deals that are almost rape, harassing and descriminating against age, discouraging refunds/returns and encouraging rebates.

Best Buy is your Worst Deal.

@Mike from Boston:

Most people work for their benefit not someone elses, especially if they work as a store manager at Best Buy. If that is the best job he can get, then I don't blame him for trying to keep his job the only way he possible can. I'm sure that guy would work somewhere where he does not have to lie and cheat if he could make as much money.

Best Buy's upper management, HR, and CEO are the only ones that can be blamed for this because they created this unethical enviroment. Only the upper management can change the enviroment.

The only behavior that Best Buy forced is for the manager to not accept a return after 30 days. While it's a bit of jerky move, considering the XBox was defective, the policy was stated clearly and the manager had the right to stand his ground. For him to go above and beyond by actively preventing the customer from taking his defective but still under warranty merchandise back to Microsoft is a whole new level of douchebaggery. Best Buy may cultivate that kind of behavior from its employees, but last I checked human beings still had free will to not be complete asshats to other people.

As this report is from an observer, maybe the facts aren't 100%. Perhaps this return was, in fact, within 30 days. Otherwise, why would all ths have happened? The manager could have just said "Sorry, you have to go through Microsoft. Bye!"

@zentec: HAH! That's great. Electricity FTW!

I work for Best Buy and everytime I see an article like this it makes me cringe. No wonder many people dislike our corporation. I do hope that the writer of this article has filed a formal complaint with our corporation.

r81984

I some how doubt that that manager would have had any knocks on his record if he insisted that any warranty work take place on micrsofts end.

He actually did more to endanger his job by being an ass. If that kind didn't get a brand new xbox I'm sure there would be a flurry of corporate complaints. IF MS examines the console and determines that BB took back a tampered console the store will be out its $$ also. Stupid stupid stupid.

On high faiure products stores like BB need to act like proxy repair centers. Set up a deal with MS so the defective xboxen can be sent back without BB having to hand off a new unit , right in the store.

OMG, what a piece of shit. kudos to the guy for stepping up (literally & figuratively)

Best buy sucks! I only shop there if I have a gift card. Once I bought Earthbound for SNES there and on the way out a security guard asked to see my bag. I flat out refused and he flashed a "badge" and said he would have me arrested. I finally relented but it left a sour taste in my mouth. But eventually I went back and bought a keyboard and mouse there. I used a debit card and the cashier asked to see my license. I showed it to her and she broke off a corner of it! I complained and she said, "you don't have to be a bitch about it." Last straw! I have gotten a couple of gift cards I have used there but they will never see a dime of my money, ever again.

god job steve! can we please have a followup to this story with the managers picture and store information please :)

@r81984:

There's an expression for what you're talking about, it's called the "Nuremburg Defense".

Actually, it's worse than that, because I'm sure BB corporate did not "order" the manager to tamper with the sticker. Funny, I didn't read about a gun being held to his head.

Do you have a problem holding people responsible for immoral or unethical behavior? Is everything society's/corporate's/THE MAN'S fault?

Your arguments are so weak I don't even know where to begin. I think you must be spending too much time with moral relativists and victim-mentality sociologists.

Some people do bad things. And it's their fault for doing them.

I have had so many issues with best buy customer service this incident does not surprise me. Bah best buy is awful!

Maybe its because best buy is tired to refund a broken 360 every 30 minutes. ^^

thats like a gamer's worst nightmare, from Best Buy too! I am very interested to interview you and the costumer who was about to get the Chuck Norris round house kick for out website at MyArcadePlanet.com

please feel free to contact me on AIM at TehAzianDude

I used to work at Best Buy. This kind of crap is exactly what made me quit.

I suggest going back to that Best Buy and ask an employee for the phone number of the regional manager. Make sure you get the name of the underhanded jerk that did this. Call the regional manager and report what happened.

the bastard!

Last week, I used the headset that came with my 360 for the first time, and the cable was damaged, the mic didn't work. I took it in to best buy (since i bought the extended warranty) and the first rep I spoke to told me that i'd have to bring in the whole system, and have the ENTIRE thing replaced! The next day i brought in the whole thing, original box and all. The first person I spoke to told me that I could just get a new ehadset if I wanted. I was like no, give me a brand new system.

And they did.

@Warren DeMontague:

You have the weak argument, mine is rock solid.

They do not have to order the guy to take actions like this, all they have to do is tell him if you want to keep your job you have to keep returns low and sales high any way you can, both of which are out of the guys control. They know the only way the manager can accomplish this task is to be unethical, but the upper management still use those metrics.

The corporate culture will not be changed by holding this manager accountable for doing the only thing he can do to keep his job.

The upper management needs to be held accountable, its their fault for forcing someone to either to act this way or lose their job. This is not an isolated incident, this crap happens at BB all the time. Going after this guy does nothing but force the upper managers to fire him and hire a new pawn they can force and scare into doing more unethical actions just like this.

This guy would not have refused the return or attempted to peel the sticker off to trick the customer if he was not pressured into lowering the # of returns by the upper management.

If the xbox was outside of the 30 day return policy and the customer didn't have the replacement plan, then the manager should have explained that to the customer. Tampering with that sticker was a HUGE mistake and the manager should have been called on it.

I work for BB and had I seen a manager pull that crap, I would have been the first to report it to the ethics line. If I lose my job, so be it. My store has fairly high standards, and I've seen stores that don't. Its painful to hear these stories, but if it improves the company, then by all means, get the word out!

Can you blame them? It is xbox 360 we are talking about... But yeah it aint good buisness, good buisness would be to remove the 30 return policy on only the 360 lol!

I don't buy it. Seems like a good story of course, but most customer service managers work their way up from a cashier position, which they were put at because they did not have much of a background in any of the store other departments (PCs, home theater, etc). If anything, the manager probably was compulsive and found the need to pry up the pretty metallic sticker.

@r81984

If he had just told him it was outside the 30 days, the customer could have sent it away to MS through the warranty. Tampering with the sticker would have done nothing to lower the number of returns to Best Buy, only screwed over a customer who paid for Microsofts warranty when he bought the Xbox.

Thats my town! I'd like to know which manager it was, because our Best Buy has some seriously shady characters in it.

My step-sons math tutor is some kind of mid-level manager at the local BB. My older step-son was having some problems with his 360. He had bought it less than a year ago and purchased the one year extended warranty. Six months in he get the "Red Ring of Death" or whatever the hell it is. Takes it back to his local BB. They exchange it under the one year warranty. But that's it. They tell him he's had his one exchange and his warranty is no longer valid. But thats a whole other discussion.

Anyway, after 32 days on his new unit he starts having trouble with it. Tells me it's doing the same thing his old unit did before it died. I ask the tutor about it being past the 30 day exchange. She tells me not to worry about it and to tell him to take it back to his local BB (this was not the store she works at BTW). She goes on to tell me that since Microsoft has been having so much trouble with these things that they are taking just about anything back. He went in and with a little persuasion was able to get them to exchange it.

Don't know if it was a fluke, based on comments on this and other blogs about this machine, or what. We are not looking a gift horse in the mouth.

They should sue or something... Gte M$ involved...

BB used to be so much better....it must be the death-knell of the whole brick and mortar thing that's making them desperate (lets charge 200 bucks for a anti-virus install!). I had to return a monitor a few weeks ago (the day after I bought it) and had to go through 2 'geek squad' morons who tried to convince me that the crappy display quality was 'normal'. When I started referring to its horrible gradient performance and backlight issues they finally backed off, but what happened to being able to return something 'no questions asked'?

@r81984

You are either a troll or a very foolish person. I have worked in environments before with individuals with that mindset who think the only way to meet unrealistic goals is to cheat or bend the rules. And they for a time did very well for their unscrupulous actions.

But then it all crashes down on them one by one as complaints come in and they get caught in the act. Do you think when this manager gets caught doing this the CEO's of the company are going to say good job soldier for all your valient efforts. No they are going to act outraged and take no blame and let them take the fall to preserve the companies image.

Policy is law at a job, this manager could have stuck with policy said sorry I can't help you this is outside our hands. What the manager did could be counted as vandalism which is not just a moral issue but a legal one, so are you saying its ok to break the law to keep your job even though your employer didn't tell you to but using personal judgement( or the lack there of) decided this is a easy way to cheat the system.

Most stores have a store policy with managers having the right to over ride them and approve returns outside of the norm. And it is in their best interest not to use this power too much but is given to protect the image of the store in special cases. I will never fault a manager for being a bit stict on the policy or not bending as I understand they represent the company and will address any issues I have with the company.

It doesnt matter how much of a shining star you are in any job you do as there will be complaints on you. And the only way to protect yourself from such things is with a solid work ethic to back you up. Praises take a lot more work to get but those managers that can achieve this make people come back for more and I assure you more buisness for the store = more money for the manager.

"Why did you pull me over, officer?"

You had a busted tail light.

"What do you mean I have a busted tail light? It is just fine. I saw it before I got in the car."

[officer goes to back of car, hit tail light with billy club] As I said. Busted tail light. Your vehicle registration and ID, please.

Steve you are my hero. Way to stick up for the quiet custy.

Best Buy, I... wow... I shouldn't write those things here.

I work at Circuit City and know that our corporate policies are extremely similar to that of Best Buy, as far as returns, exchanges, and warranties are concerned. This item was grossly out of the return period and the customer had reached a point wherein the company (Best Buy) could not assist them any further in the matter. They were directed to the proper venue for product support (microsoft).

If you're 5-10 days out of a return period most retail stores will give you the benefit of the doubt and take your return/exchange...but 3 months is just unrealistic. I don't know if it's just me, but this whole scenerio just seems suspicious. If someone is trying to return a console to a store 2 months out of the return period, their intentions are not honest ones. It is extremely easy to tamper with, and bypass the anti-tamper stickers on console systems. Perhaps the manager saw something wrong with the sticker that you could not see from your vantage point.

Bah. I have no 'sympathy' for these managers at all. And buying the warranty won't help either. I purchased a camcorder recently and discovered that it was making alot of noise while recording. I looked it up and found that some of these units have that issue. In most cases, people just took them back and the replacement unit was ok. Three days after buying it, I had the receipt and figured it was just a simple exchange. That simple exchange turned into 30 minutes of various employees and managers "listening" to the camera trying to discover the noise I was talking about - all amongst the car stereos blasting in the department one aisle over and all the other noise coming from various employees in the repair center. Not only that, but they wanted to charge me a restocking fee for the exchange. I finally beat them down enough for them to waive the fee only to discover they didn't have any non-floor models in stock at any location near me. Needless to say, my family knows better now than to give me best buy gift cards (the only reason I shopped there for the camcorder was to use them up! :) )

I've long since stopped shopping at Best Buy. Honestly, I don't know this place is in business. From the fake internal website to bait and switch customers to the myriad of horror stories revolving around this place, I wonder why no government agency or consumer rights group hasn't stepped in. This story doesn't surprise me at all. Not after I read the stories on this site: http://bestbuysux.org/ that is.

P.s. I'm not affiliated with that site. I just hate Best Buy.

Everybody is quick to assume that the manager's intentions were nefarious.

I used to work in customer service (at Circuit City) and we would have customers that would very carefully reattach stickers in an attempt to make the product look like it was never opened (especially on products that had restocking fees).

I know I've broken the seal on several cameras that were never actually opened, but looked suspicious. It's much easier to eat the 10% markdown that comes with making the product an open box than to eat the entire cost of the unit if it is actually a brick in the box.

It's possible that the manager was not actually trying to remove the label, but checking to see if it had in fact been tampered with.

Having said that, there was really no reason that he should have concerned himself with the matter at all, he should have simply sent the customer on his way. There's no reason to make up an excuse to not take a return or exchange when it is outside of the stated return policy.