Here’s a weird situation from Orland Park, IL. Mike Quilty, who works for a subcontractor for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, went to Best Buy to purchase a refrigerator.
Best Buy’s loan application required his SSN, which he was not happy about providing because, you know, he works in “security” and likes things to be “secure.” Then, after deciding he did not want to purchase the appliance, Mr. Quilty took his loan application back. That’s when it got weird:
Quilty said he picked up his paperwork, which he had signed, and intended to go to the rear of the store and talk to the sales rep.
“But the clerk shouted that I can’t take the application,” Quilty said. “She said it belongs to the store.”
Best Buy’s spokesman said the clerk was following proper procedure.
Quilty said at this point he decided to leave the store – and take the loan application with him.
The clerk again insisted he leave the loan application behind.
Quilty ignored her and headed toward the door.
The clerk then shouted out to a security guard.
The security guard told Quilty to stop and return the loan application.
Quilty kept on walking out of the store and into the parking lot.
The security guard followed him.
“He never touched me or threatened me in any way,” Quilty said. “I will give him credit for that.”
Quilty tore up the loan application as he walked through the parking lot.
“As far as I was concerned, the application had my name on it, my signature and my Social Security number,” Quilty said. “I wasn’t going to leave it behind. I figured that young girl would just toss it in the garbage once I walked out of the store. I didn’t want anyone getting my personal information because I know just how much trouble that can cause.”
Quilty got in his car and drove off.
“But the security guard must have taken down my license plate number because when I got home, my wife tells me the police are waiting for me,” he said.
The police threatened Mr. Quilty with arrest if he didn’t turn over the paperwork, which Best Buy apparently needed in order to prove that Mr.Quilty had applied for the loan. In the end, the police accepted the torn up pieces of the application.
It’s just outrageous that a store could call the police and try to have me arrested because I walked out with my own loan application,” Quilty said.
The Best Buy spokesman said that in his six years on the job dealing with customer problems, he never had heard of a story like this one.
“The man should have just asked for the store manager and told him to shred the application as he stood there,” the spokesman said.
Would the store manager have shredded the application?
“I’m not sure what the procedure would have been,” the spokesman said.
What a weird story. Is taking your own loan application a crime? We’re not going to pretend to know the answer.
The man who knew too much [Daily Southtown]
(Photo:garavondik)
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not this this changes anything (or maybe it does)…
since when does BBY have loans? they have a credit card you can apply for.
and if someone already mentioned this, my bad.
This guy needs a tinfoil hat
Honestly, I would leave the paperwork after I took a pen and scratched out all of my information.
@goodguy812: You really think thinks like “Policies” will stop businesses from weaseling out for a quick buck?
@skrom: And the people who have had mail stolen from their mailboxes and used for identity theft don’t? It happens.
Pretty typical for Best Buy, isn’t it?
The whole thing sounds wrong at first glance but the loan papers he left the store with were on an APPROVED loan. All that info was already in the computer. He didn’t tell them he no longer wanted the loan, he just left with the signed documents. If I were Best Buy I would be wondering just what the scam was.
So why not go back to the counter and ask the clerk to call over the sales rep? It seems weird he’d just leave unless he felt like he’d been had over the details of the loan. I can’t find the other comment that said as much but I would have marked out my SSN. I’m surprised he still had the peices of the application to hand over to the police. I would have thought he’d destroyed them.
I get why they need to keep the paperwork, especially after he’d been approved, but they really need to explain this sort of thing when they hand people loan applications. Most people wouldn’t think that it’d be a big deal to leave with a partially filled out application.
Grab your pen and write VOID — CANCELED — VOID on the app. No harm done, no app processed. And no Barney at your door.
when I worked there (tech bench) we were told they can’t leave with the info filled out after deciding against the loan because we(best buy) would not get the credit for signing the people up for credit.
@goodguy812: You beat me to the punch, I was going to say that shouldn’t Best Buy be required to keep the original paperwork for auditing purposes?
I hate to defend Best Buy, myself, but I think they were in the right, the application was store property; and I think this says more about our Homeland Security department than BB’s poor customer service.
Similar thing happened to me when I lived in the UK.
I was in an ‘Orange’ cellphone store buying a new phone and contract. Just as I had signed the contract, the salesman told me that there was no 14 day cancellation period as it was super-special -promo-offer-deal that I was buying. I would not have signed had I been told that earlier, and told him there and then to cancel. “Nope, can’t do that” he said, “your details have been put into the system, a number has been assigned to you”, blah blah blah…
So I asked him to show me the exact small print where it said I had no right to cancel, and as he handed me back the contract, I tore off the bottom quarter of the page where my signature was, along with the duplicates underneath… and stuffed the lot into my mush!
The store manager had appeared by this time, so between chews I said to him “take me to court for breech-of-contract if you like, let’s see you show my signature on anything” and with that I walked away, hearing the muffled chuckles of a few witnesses.
Never heard anything from Orange after that.
When I fill out an application I always use my own pen. That way I can claim that while the application itself belongs to whoever, the ink on it and the information relayed by the ink belong to me.
People and their paranoia…
To see this clearly, let me explain this situation from a store employee’s point of view:
Store associates are often required to get credit applications as part of their jobs because the store will actually get money out of it. It is still very important to keep that piece of paper the customer sings because it is used as a record. Since most of the apps are currently done on the computer I don’t really believe that the app had the customer’s SSN because I’ve seen one of those… the info is stored on the COMPUTER.
Most important is the fact that if you are looking for credit, you will be required to give out your SSN to do a credit check. If you are not willing to give away that information, don’t apply for credit because there is no other way to get it.
The best buy employee was doing what he was required to do and the customer WAS WRONG.
Be aware that I don’t work for BB but I do work for another company… and I am sure the procedures are similar.
@ JORDANLUND
What good would that do? Are you going to ask for the ink back? That doesn’t hold any water.
Here’s the deal on this:
BestBuy was right and legal. The customer was wrong, and illegal.
The Application belongs to BB, he stole it, end of story. He even acknowdelged this by giving it to the police.
Yes you can fill out an application completely, even bring it to the store and not submit it, but once you submit the application it becomes store property.
Is someone with “top level clearance” doesn’t understand one of the main uses (whether righ ro wrong) reasons behind uses for said SSN’s I can’t imagine how he can protect our SSN’s from ‘terrorists’ –
Now did Best Buy start the loan process – that is start the process of entering the information… and THEN he took the application?
if so, then the store would need that paper as proof that they are not just doing random credit checks against someone – but has the signed application with approval to do the credit check.
Otherwise, I can get Best Buy to do a credit check – and then file a lawsuit saying they unlawfully did a credit check since they did not have my permission to do so.
I don’t see that whether Best Buy is required to keep the form (completed or not) is the issue. Rather, the issues seem to be (1) is the form Best Buy’s “property” and (2) is it a criminal offense for the applicant to take the form (completed or not).
I’ve seen nothing in TFA or these comments pointing to any law that the customer/applicant broke. There’s just been a lot of discussion about why Best Buy has an interest in keeping the application, which is not at all the same thing. Best Buy may be required to keep the application but the applicant may well not be required to hand it over.
Nor have I seen anything to indicate that if the customer/applicant did break a law, it was a criminal law.
Without the above, all I see is a bully-boy retailer and corrupt cops. Did I miss something? Does anyone know anything about the relevant laws that proves the contrary? There’s either a lot of missing information or something rotten in Orland Park.
GOODGUY812
Thanks for the insight, but drop the homophobic “that’s so gay” shit.
I’m going to make what I can only assume is a radical suggestion: stop fucking shopping at Beast Buy, Circuit Shitty, et. al. Just stop. There’s little or nothing you can get there that you can’t get at a _local_ shop who has to deal in the community (and will often match prices, as Queen City Appliance in Charlotte did on my HDTV), or at a reputable online dealer. People keeping bitching about how awful stores are, but continue to return there.
We Americans are so stupid sometimes. We’ll suck up all manner of foul treatment, cross-town drives in obscene traffic and vapid clerkery just so we can save $20 on a thousand-dollar purchase. Amazing.
@Darren666: If you don’t trust the employees not to commit identity fraud, don’t apply for a loan there.
@4ster: Say hi to Andrew for me.
Is there any doubt that this company’s management has no regard for the law?
Forget about charging way above what others charge for the same thing and ripping off consumers… it’s up to consumers to shop smart.
There are just way too many of these stories. I’m quite frankly sick of even reading them anymore.
Not quite. Still doesn’t prevent someone from abusing your SSN which is still on there. Besides… they might just call the cops and charge you with vandalizing BB property.
this is the missing piece of the story:
if Best Buy does not have evidence that they were authorized to pull the guy’s credit…
they’re liable for statutory damages for unauthorized access to the guy’s credit report.
Stevied, you’re not talking about L.A.W., you’re referring to C.Y.A. Please quote me an actual law that says what you’re saying (“the applicant shall be required to leave his papers”_, as opposed to a cover-your-tail store policy. There’s a difference, you know.
A similar thing happened to me at a GAP store in Philadelphia. I
insisted on taking the application, and they insisted that I didn’t.
It ended when I simply walked out with it, over their protests.
Not sure about this one or that “policy.”
I work for BBY and absolutely love it when people APPLYING FOR A LOAN object to giving us their SSN and income. Get out from under your rock, people!
I am a bit confused. The spokesman from BB said “The man should have just asked for the store manager and told him to shred the application as he stood there”, but in the next sentence he states that BB “needed the written application as proof he had applied for it.” So even the BB spokesman didn’t have a clue how to handle the situation. Clarify your position before you use the police.
Now, he may have been assured that the loan was voided in the computer, but leaving the completed and signed application and paperwork behind would have allowed someone to re-enter the information again and stick him with a loan.
The BB spokesman needs to buy a clue if he thinks that using the loan app for identity theft “could never happen” as it does all the time.
It is also funny to read the police officer’s reasoning:
“He said the officer and his wife explained the store probably needed the application to prove that someone had applied for the loan. Without the paperwork, a person working a scam could claim he never applied for the loan and therefore didn’t have to repay it.”
but this guy didn’t have the refrigerator so there was nothing to pay back.
So for those “defending” BB, how does one assure that the application is not used after leaving a store? What are the safeguards to prevent identity theft and/or re-submitting the application? I have trusted places before, but these days, I trust very few stores to cancel things in computers.
What a suprise. A customer goes into the store and decides once again that they create the rules and regulations. Then the delightful members of the consumerist without hesitation fully agree with him and blame big business.
I don’t need to explain why the customer was in the wrong because some people in here actually do have some common sense and have already cleared this up.
And technically the application is not property of Best Buy. It is property of HSBC who backs the card.
Woo Hoo. I have a best buy application. I was going to get an account but my wife, who’s pregnant, was feeling sick so I couldn’t finish the application. I took it with me. They didn’t seem happy but the guy didn’t have the backbone to stop me…
Perhaps I should scan it and post it here…so everyone could see this mysterious and highly coveted document… Maybe I should just go corporate mindset and sell it on e-bay? Offers?
If he did get approved then the store needs proof that he actually applied and signed for verification reasons. Why does no one understand these things.
Why am I not surprised that a Homeland Security contractor doesn’t understand the concept of data retention?
I may be comparing apples and oranges here. I used to work in a mom and pop computer store about ten years ago and we did third party financing with one of the big national finance companies. Most of Best Buy’s side of the story rings true, as far as keeping the documentation. Except, as I recall: In many (most if not all?) states in the US, you may cancel a contract, no matter what the terms contained in the contract, as you can not sign away on this right even if you want to, within a 24 to 48 hour period. I am not a lawyer and I forget the details, but I am sure about that. I know we had to keep the originals once the application was processed, unprocessed we could return it to the customer or shred it in front of them, their choice. However, they told us the customer did have a right to cancel the contract within, I want to say 48 hours, but it might be 24. This was in PA in the early 90′s. In addition, I recall the finance company cited the relevant law in the fine print. And, we had to keep the originals for our records no matter what the outcome, they were welcome to copies of anything they wanted but could not have the originals as the finance company needed them; approved, rejected, or cancelled.
It’s 5 a.m. and I read this string quickly, but I still do not understand what possible justification the police could have for getting into the middle of this dispute. The form is BB’s “property”? Please, that’s BS. The form itself has no intrinsic value to BB irrespective of whatever legal obligations BB has to retain abandonned applications. The cops should have told BB to contact its own legal department. Had the PD showed even a shred of common sense about this we wouldn’t be having this conversation … oh, and did I mention that it’s 5 a.m.?
Just write two thick black lines through your signature and write the word VOID next to it.
My question is-why the hell did he even walk into a Best Buy? After everything that has been written about them on this site I avoid them.
GoodGuy,
The difference here is that this guy didn’t actually complete the loan process. He was not handing them this application and never did. He should have been able to walk out with it.
Good Guy, this guy did not turn in a loan application. He did not intend to. He did not want the store to have his personal information. There was no reason for the store to have the application. He wasn’t handing in an application to them. If he had turned it into them when he no longer wished to apply for a loan, they could have put the application through. He had every right to walk out with that piece of paper. That piece of paper was not involved in any transaction and he wished to keep it that way.
HAHA, thanks for pointing that out DANTC.
This guy works for HOMELAND SECURITY and doesn’t know about this.
@Darren666:
I think the point was that you can’t shred it or dispose of it. If it were a partially completed application, then BB needs to retain it to show that you didn’t complete the form previously and that you weren’t denied or approved for anything. Also a lot of places only allow you to file for credit every few months. So they need that document to prove that he either did or did not apply for credit in the last several months.
Or the application was complete and had already been run. They were waiting on approval or denial when the customer changed his mind. Too late, because they need that document to prove that this customer actually applied for credit and was either denied or approved. So either way you go, BB needs that form. It is the only evidence they have of what actually transpired between you and them when you attempted to get credit.
Solution—–Stay out of Best Buy.
@dandd: I want to boost dandd’s comment: what if the fellow had blacked out his social security number? Would he have been charged with vandalism?
He should have just showed his receipt at the door.
The application though odd as it may seem, is legally Best Buy’s property. But, if this guy used his own pen, that means the ink on the application was his property.
In this case, they would have to remove the ink from the application for him to have his property and Best Buy to have theirs. This could be done with any means which would be necessary.
The lesson here? Always be sure to carry your own pen.
@Bloodrose: Then how did he get approved for the loan?
My question is this:
When did Best Buy start handing out loans?
I know they do credit cards, but I was unaware that they were also a bank.
This is just another reason for me to stay away from Best Buy. In all honesty they should be Worst Buy because their prices suck and are only decent if/when you have some sort of coupon or something.
I often wonder just how insane company employees can get. I’ve seen so much garbage and absurd opinions by business employees that I want to scream. Many are like Larry, Moe and Curly that have gotten into a batch of really bad legal opinions.