Best Buy Sells You A Game That Is Missing Its Manual, Won't Exchange It Because It's Missing Its Manual
Jenn's husband Dave bought a game on BestBuy.com then picked it up in store. By doing this he saved $10. Sadly for Dave and Jenn, the game was missing its manual and you need a code from the manual to play the game. Simple, enough, right? Just exchange the defective game for a new one at Best Buy.
Oh no. No, it will not be that simple. No, it will not.
In Jenn's story, Best Buy:
- Refuses to take Jenn's exchange because the product is defective, which is why she is returning it.
- Makes her call BestBuy.com over and over again, passing the phone between the store manager and the manager of BestBuy.com.
- Tells her to go home and print shipping labels, pack up the game and ship it to BestBuy in order to get her exchange. She refuses.
- Tells her she can get an exchange if she pays an extra $10 because that's the store price of the game.
- Randomly mails her a gift card for $0.40.
It's from Jenn's blog, but it's so ridiculous we've reposted the whole thing here for you to read. Enjoy.
Jenn writes:
Dave and I had been boycotting Best Buy. A couple of years ago I wanted to buy a laptop that they had advertised. We went to three Best Buys and none had it. The third one we went to said that the store about 20 minutes away had two. I called them on the way there and confirmed that, yes, they had two in stock. I asked if they could hold it for me. They said no, even though I was on my way there and now about 10 minutes away. We get there and they don't have any. I don't think they ever did. One of the employees made a comment about it being advertised but they never got a shipment. I don't think the two they supposedly had ever were really there. So we went to Comp USA, bought the same one, got the price matched, and never went to Best Buy again until recently.Dave got a gift card there for his birthday. He wanted a computer game and they just opened a brand new store near us. In the store the game was $20. On Bestbuy.com it was $10. He ordered it on bestbuy.com for $10 and did the in-store pickup so he got it later that day. He put it away for a couple of weeks but went to install it before we left for vacation.
Enter problem.
It's missing the manual that has the encryption key on it so he can't play the game. No problem, it's defective so we can exchange it for the exact same thing (only complete this time) according to Best Buy's return policy. The bestbuy.com return policy says you can return items bought through there back to the store.
Dave takes it back and they refuse to take it back because it's missing the manual. They tell him to call bestbuy.com. I have to go out anyway, so I take it back to the store. I go the back of the store, get a new game (same exact game, I just want an exchange, or even just the manual) and get in line. The woman at the counter, let's call her Best Buy employee #1 (BBE1), says they can't take back opened merchandise and I need to call bestbuy.com. I explain that it's defective since it's missing a piece and she says no.
I step aside and call bestbuy.com. After 10 minutes, mostly on hold, I'm told that if the store carries the item I'd like to exchange that they can in fact return it. I get back in line. I talk to BBE1 again, she calls her manager who says no. Her explanation is this: They have to send back all their returns to bestbuy.com and they can't send something back that is not complete. In order to send it back, they would have to take out the manual of the new game they gave me to put it with the old game so it would be complete when they send it back.
Let that sink in. So I can return it, but only if they give me one without a manual, which is WHY I'M RETURNING IT? Yes. And I need to call bestbuy.com.
I explain that I just DID call them and they said you can return it if they carry the same thing. Manager looks right at me and says, "Well we don't carry that."
Oh-ho-ho. "Well, Manager, I brought up the same game a few minutes ago to try to exchange it. There are at least four more on the shelf back there plus the one I brought up to the counter, so YOU DO."
Manager backpedals and says that they must have just stocked it then. She must have forgot that when Dave bought it, he ordered it online in the morning and picked it up IN STORE later that afternoon. So then she tells BBE1 to call bestbuy.com. She does and they tell her what they told me. They talk back and forth and then she says, "She wants to talk to you."
"Hello?"
"I understand they are giving you a difficult time exchanging the game."
"That would be an understatement."
"Do you have the shipping labels?"
"No."
"Well, what I can do is e-mail you a link, follow that and you can print out shipping labels, send the game back to us and we'll send you a new one."
"So you want me to go home, print something out, go to the post office, sent it back, wait, and then hopefully get a new one when I am RIGHT HERE in the store with the old game and they have new ones on the shelf? Besides, we didn't get it shipped to us in the first place, it was picked up IN STORE and now I can't take it back to the store?"
"Um, can I talk to a manager there?"Manager gets back on the phone and tells that woman the same story about having to take a manual out of the new one in order to send it back. Then she hands me back the phone and says, "She wants you to talk to one of their managers there, not me."
I get back on the phone and one of the bestbuy.com managers comes on and immediately asks for the store manager (he did not ask to talk to me). BBE1 goes to find store manager. He comes over and she explains the situation. He looks at her and says, now get this, "Why don't we just exchange the one missing the manual for a new one?"
I think my head exploded at that point. I jumped up, "Yes! That is what I want!"
BBE1 gets on the phone and tells the manager from bestbuy.com that the store manager will let them exchange it. Problem solved, right?
Ha.
BBE1 says she'll return it and I can go buy a new one. I explain, again, that it was $20 in the store but $10 on bestbuy.com and I'm not paying $10 more for the same game because it was defective. Manager comes back over and says to go get the game (apparently the one I brought back up to exchange in the first place had disappeared) and they'll fix it so it's $10. So I go get it and BBE1 does the return. Then she rings up the new game and tells me "That will be $10.49." I just stare at her. She stares back.
"But I just returned one game. It's an exchange, why am I being charged another $10?"
"They credit your account for the old one."
"So they credit it and I have to buy a new one?"
"Yes."
sigh.
"What account?"
"How did you pay for it?"
"Gift card."
"Then they'll credit the gift card."
"I don't think we still have the gift card. He spent it."So I call Dave to see if he still has the gift card. No, he tells me, but they just sent him an e-mail saying they are crediting him $0.40. Yes. Forty cents.
I explain this to BBE1. She calls over Manager. BBE1 calls bestbuy.com (for the third time) and asks about this. They say they will fix it and mail out a new gift card in 7-10 business days.
I tell BBE1 to cancel the purchase for the new game. We'll wait till that gift card shows up and use that because the boycott is back on and I'm not spending another DIME in that store. All told, I was in there for two hours. I don't think it was an unreasonable request and it was all perfectly in line with their posted return policy. It didn't have to be that complicated. It's still a pain in the butt to have to have the new gift card issued and wait then go buy a new one, but at least that's in the policy. It does clearly state that damaged, defective, or incorrect items can be returned to the store. I wonder what their problem was.
I wrote them through the "Contact us" on the website and this is the response I got:
Jennifer,
I am Mich with Best Buy Customer Care.
At Best Buy, we understand the importance of good service, as well as
how frustrating poor service can be. I apologize that your experience
with one of our stores has been unpleasant.We appreciate all comments from our customers because it helps us find
areas for improvement. When a customer gives us feedback of any kind, we
enter it into a database with other customer comments. We then look for
trends to help us identify areas for improvement. I will properly
process your email for documentation and be assured that your comments
have not been taken lightly.Thank you for sharing your comments with Best Buy. We look forward to
your next visit to one of our stores or to www.BestBuy.comSincerely,
Mich
Best Buy Customer Care TeamI wonder if he could properly process my request for those two hours of my life back.
UPDATE:
We get back from vacation and expected to have the gift card with the $10 on it in the stack of mail that accumulated while we were gone. Oh there was a gift card alright. For $0.40. Dave called bestbuy.com and had them check into it. They credited the $10 back on the gift card he had already used. We had told them that and that's why they were supposed to be sending back out a new gift card. So now they are sending out ANOTHER gift card with the refund on it and we should have that in ANOTHER 7-10 business days.
Customer...what? [Jenn's Journal]
(Photo:pansonaut)
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Comments:
@Gatopeligroso: I do this all the time with games, CDs, DVDs. I get them when the price is right, and then use them when I have the time.
Reading stories like this induces headaches in me, yet I keep doing it.
I think my head is going to explode after reading that!
Isn't their return policy on software 14 days? A "couple of weeks" isn't entirely specific. If it's beyond the 14 days I would think it easier to contact the publisher and deal with them.
@gatopeligroso: I bought my kitchen set only to install it about a month later when I had everything in place. /shrug
Stories like this are why I never buy anything of high cost or of a dubious nature (like a game without a manual) from Best Buy.
Ok, let's do the math. BB Store manager makes what, 65K at least? Let's say BB.com manager makes the same. 65k / 2080 hours = 31.25 per hour.
If this issue costs EITHER manager 10 minutes of their time, it's more cost effective to just give her the game and end the drama.
Sounds like both managers spent at least a half hour dealing with this, so they fought a $10 (retail, not cost) return for $31 worth of their time.
Add in the cost of the other employee's time, the bad press they are getting here, the bad vibe the others in line would have experienced, the cost of postage for the 2 gift cards, etc. A smart manager would have done the exchange and wrote it off as a loss if nothing else.
For $10, the manager could have said, "Hmm. I'm not supposed to do this since it doesn't have the manual, because I am supposed to send full products back to BB.com. But that doesn't really make much sense in this case, does it? Here's your replacement. Thanks for shopping Best Buy."
And that may have ended Jenn's boycott, and this article would have been much different.
For $10...insane.
And for those of you who would rip Jenn for spending 2 hours of her life for $10...it's not just $10 she was fighting for. She's fighting for all of us, and all of us should be doing the same thing.
I feel like i just came out of the washing machine...
Way to go best buy, keep reminding us of why you suck so bad. This has got to be one of the stupidest things I've read recently.
There is a lot of ambigiuity in Jenn's email to Consumist.com.
1. What was the game?
2. Why was the game not opened right away after purchase?
3. Instead of the long rambling play-by-play, why didn't her husband, Dave, write to Consumerist.com?
@soldierblue: Software is only returnable if unopened because 1: That's the only way BBY can get the money back for it or resell it. 2: Piracy issues... but honestly its pretty much just issue #1.
If Jenn had provided the publisher with proof of purchase I'm fairly certain the publisher could have emailed her a cd-key or a free copy of the game, especially if its only 10 bucks.
BBY is horribly integrated to BBY.com. To this day I think its one of the worst website storefronts I've ever seen.
At one point there were two BBY.com websites! One for the web with lower prices than the instore site so customers would end up paying more for the products they saw cheaper at home.
@Murph1908: When I worked at a BBY the store manager was lucky to be in the 40k range, but they had sales goal bonueses, especially for PSP and PRP that could easily double their salaries for a quarter... I don't think its changed much since then.
I bought Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii for super cheap from Walmart, since it was such a low price. I left it sealed for about a month before I actually got a Wii. At worst, I figured, if I didn't get a Wii, I could resell the game completely brand new and sealed. That's why I left it. Easy.
I think the first couple of posters that said it was the customer's fault should each send $10 to Best Buy.
I bought the Goonies on DVD months ago. I opened it last week. There was no DVD in the packaging. That sucked! Target was no help...
@gatopeligroso: I do that. Thank you for insulting everyone who doesn't install every app they buy the moment they get home. I have quite the pile of $20 games that once cost $50 that I picked up when they got to a decent price, and will play when I get tired of hat I'm playing now.
Didn't someone recently win a small claims court case against a big airline? Can you do that with all companies? I think this sounds like a good case if you wanted to pursue it. Of course it means you'll have to spend more time and energy.
The reason I quit shopping at Best Buy whenever alternatives exist was a story almost exactly like this --
I buy a game, it doesn't work. I find out through research that it's a bug in the game that means it won't work on my hardware. Best Buy refuses to take it back despite their defective-item policy.
If I knew then what I knew now (I'm sure that's from some song) I would have filed a chargeback and been done with it, but that was then, and I had used either a debit card or cash.
Is it embarrassing that I know exactly which game was purchased, despite none mentioned? I'll give you my codes, it'll save you the effort.
Staples and Office Depot will give you the online price in the store. Just let 'em know at the register, and voila! Don't think they stock many games, but I'm just saying there's precedent.
Same thing happened to me with X-Files Season 2 that I got online super cheaper than in-store. There were two disk 2's and the set was missing disk 3.
I went a few rounds with bestbuy.com and the cashiers and managers in-store on an exchange before just throwing my hands up in dismay.
Total waste of time. I just returned everything in-store and went online to deepdiscount.
BestBuy.com and Best Buy B&M just don't go together like O-R-E-Os. I refuse to shop those stooges.
Next time you have a problem like this, just ask for Major Major Major. Unfortunately, he won't be in, even if he is.
Wow! What I would have done is, while talking to the manager, open the new one to "check if it has a manual", put the manual in my box, hand him back the new box, turn around, and walk out of the store.
tl;dr don't shop at best buy.
I feel dirty. Everyone just needs to learn the word "chargeback". V/MC and AMEX charge the merchant $25 for every chargeback. Regardless of whether the dispute is resolved in favor of the merchant or the cardholder, the merchant is out $25.
And after a prescribed number of chargebacks, the discount rates are supposed to go up but I bet BB gets that removed from their merchant agreement. You only have to give the merchant the opportunity to satisfy you and then the CC people will gladly do the chargeback. And why not, it easy money for them.
Remind me to read that whole posting again, right before I'm about to pick a fight with someone.
I'm curious what game it was. It was described as a game you needed to have the manual for to put in a code... um I'm not aware of any game doing that for years now.
I shop at Best Buy pretty regularly in SF and Daly City, CA since they pretty much closed down all the smaller electronics stores. I've had a slew of bad experiences with the chain ranging from being given gift cards with a ZERO balance (and believing the cashier to have pocketed the card with a balance - twice) to finding employees with a "secret stash" of limited stock items in the back room that they are willing to part with at a price.
how incredibly irritating. After thirty minutes of arguing with those idiots I would probably have
1) pulled the CD-ROM out of the box
2) called over the manager
3) snapped the CD-ROM into a million little pieces in front of her
4) told her calmly that she is a waste of perfectly good carbon
My time is far more valuable than a $10 game. I would have gone online and found it somewhere else after that.
@gatopeligroso: I do. I still have copies of Pokemon: Leaf Green and Sonic: Mega Collection sealed up for a day I get really bored.
@ReccaSquirrel: I'll bet it was Battlefield 2 or BF 2142. EA has recently been printing the CD Keys on the back of the manuals and I believe some copies of 2142 were reported to be missing manuals.
Most other companies just put a sticker with the CD Key on the inside of the case these days. I guess paying employees to put in a manual and CD Key sticker costs EA too much. >_>
@Murph1908: $65,000, seriously? Do you know this or did you just pull a number out of the air? That sounds like an awful lot of money for a store manager.
It's not unheard of for a game publisher's boxing company (they contract out with DVD pressers) to screw up. If I remember Correctly I think Unreal Tournament 2003 had lots of problems with missing CD Keys. Jenn or Dave should have just called the game's publisher and explained the situation and they would have probably taken steps to correct the issue. Still, the guys at Best Buy kinda were asshats about the whole thing. Why Best Buy still insists that Bestbuy.com and Best Buy are two seperate entities is beyond me.
Best Buy is the Devil. This is just another reason why we refuse to shop there, and why we tell everyone we know not to shop there. When a few have gone back after being warned they have problems like those already mentioned and get "I told you so".
It shouldn't have mattered if everything she did was in line with their return policy. Cynicism at its finest.
I hate Best Buy SO much. I wrote them recently about a really crappy experience. Problem is they don't care. At all.
This new story makes me want to just screw with them every time I walk near a store. In fact, I think I will.
i used to work for (undisclosed electronics retailer) & they had a $50 in-store manager leeway policy for this very reason. anything under $50, should a situation like this arise, would be "taken care of" (meaning scrap & replace).
the very idea of the policy is that it's less expensive to eat $50 once in a blue moon than it is to lose a customer for life over a few bucks.
Since I have no
Since I have no idea what game this was, I don't know if this would work, but duh:
Why not simply buy the game again for $20, take out the manual and copy the codes down, and then return the brand new game on the spot. you have the codes and your refund. Am I missing something?
@Treved: Exactly what I would have done. I have learned that buying another copy/product and then returning the old one as defective is the easiest situation 90% of the time. Usually they ask if you want an exchange, just say no, you picked the game up elsewhere. I usually abuse Best Buy in these situations.
If life were Star Trek, BBY would be Ferrengi. It's all about profit.
"Friends don't let friends buy at Best Buy."
@Treved: You cant return an open game for a refund, only for and exchange for the exact same product.
Also if the game checks with the servers to see if the registration code has been used, then it could cause problems in the future because too many people have used the same code and it can be banned from the system
Maybe you should start a scene at the store and let every customer know that you were getting screwed over, then wait for the Police to show-up. Best Buy should have just replaced the game with a new one.
@ RECCASQUIRREL
All PC games require codes to play, most are on the back on manuals.
For those of you who think it wasn't worth her time: when did we all become so spineless? It's not about the money in a lot of these cases; it's simply a matter of principle!
This is Jenn. Few comments:
@gatopeligroso- We have one year old twins. That's pretty much why the game didn't get played immediately.
@soldierblue-The return policy is 30 days which we were under, however we were leaving for vacation and weren't going to be back until after the 30 days had expired so I needed to take of it that day. Also my husband did contact the publisher (that was actually the first thing he did). They wanted him to photograph the key and then they would send us a new manual which made zero sense.
@tian-The came was Halflife 2 Episode One. Again, one year old twins, not a lot of spare time to play games. I blogged about it, but my husband is actually the one that sent the link to the consumerist.
@Buran: yes that is from a song and i believe it goes "i wish that i knew what i know now when i was younger" though fr the life of me cannot remember the name of the song.@ReccaSquirrel:and to your post when you said no games require a code:world of warcraft,fable the lost chapters,quake 4,guild wars,etc.....
Few months ago I bought a blu-ray disc of pirates of the caribean 2 . These dvds had slipcovers over it. When I got home ready to watch it, I opened it up and there was a recepit that said ( in-store use) and it was missing the disc. I took it back to the store to try to exchange it, but they wouldn't let me.
Unlike some people, we don't save up our "allowance" to purchase things in earnest to play them. Sometimes there is a good deal and we don't have the time to sit down and play something.
The issue of going to the publisher some cases is since this is such a cheap game, it is likely old and it has already been discontinued. But from her reply here, it seems they did try and were met with the same level of stupidity. They want you to take a picture of something you don't have because you never had it and that is the whole reason you contacted them... You should contact them by phone if at all possible, there is a higher chance you will get someone more intelligent.
As mentioned, it would have been easier for Best Buy to not hassle you on something so cheap.
I agree that Best Buy handled this in the worst way possible but you guys should understand why some companies are jerks about media returns, or returns in general for that matter. I've worked in retail and it's really disgusting how ppl buy, use, than return. Fraudulent returns are a huge concern for big retailers. While it's not often reflected at the store level, customer service is a big issue in HQ and no company would risk alienating their customers unless they felt it was necessary to protect their assets. I imagine a company like Best Buy is a magnet for shady returns. It's a shame that honest customers has to face the consequences of a few bad ones. The next time you decide to screw a retailer over, just remember you're making it worse, you're not teaching them anything.
@ Not_Seth_Brundle... The Washington Post did an article on retail workers once, Dept. Supervisors (the lowest of all managers) at DC area Best Buy earned $17 an hour (over $35K if full time) If their supervisors are making that much, the dept. managers probably makes anywhere from $45-60K a year and Store Managers probably earn in the six figures.
@D-Bo: Well there's the problem. It wasn't within the return period. She was going back to the store after "weeks". Come on, IT IS TEN DOLLARS!
@Shadowfalls: I actually don't play games, and there is a good possibility that I can buy a 10 dollar game without having to save up. The point is, she is returning back to the store and carrying herself as if she was just in a few hours ago. Put yourself in their (BB) shoes. What would be your first thought?
He waited to long. One time I bought a psp game and the UMD(psp disc thingie that you stick into the psp to play the game) was missing, mind you that the UMD is practically what I was buying, I went back the same day in like 2 hours after I left. The clerk exchanged it pronto, she asked what's wrong and told me to get the exact same title, rung me up for an exchange, I didn't even need to give any personal info. remember, when doing anything, go for that young person who looks like they doesn't really care. They tend to use coupons in your favor when they're not suppose to, they also tend to be the fastest customer service, and make checkouts as painless as possible
Sounds a bit fishy. Who buys a game and then puts it away for a "couple of weeks"? Had they found out that the manual was missing that same day, chances are they might have had a better experience.