Frank says he wasn’t allowed to complete his purchase at a Best Buy in Des Moines, Iowa unless he signed up for their Rewards card: “He called over his supervisor. In a rather harsh manner, she told him that everyone purchasing items is now required to sign up for a rewards card.” Sounds like somebody had a quota to meet!
You may have heard about this already, but I thought it was rather odd.
I was at Best Buy the other day here in West Des Moines, Iowa. It was the store at the Jordan Creek mall. I went to purchase my items and the young kid working at the register asked to see my rewards card. I told him that I don’t have one. I avoid that card because I don’t like the junk mail coming into my mailbox. I prefer to purchase my items and leave.
Well, he looked confused and called over his supervisor. In a rather harsh manner, she told him that everyone purchasing items is now required to sign up for a rewards card. She said that they cannot let buy things without having one of those cards. I was rather anxious to get back and finish homework for my college courses, so I got the rewards card and left.
Maybe this is normal, but I wasn’t very happy about it. Granted they’ll send me coupons, but I know it’s going to benefit them more than it will me – otherwise they wouldn’t do it.
(Photo: qnr)
I think the manager was asleep during her training. My guess is that BB requires the cashier to ask, but the customer is not required to have/use one.
@Diet-Orange-Soda: I think if you set up an online account with them you can ‘bank’ your rewards certificates so that they don’t expire. This feature also has an expiration, but I think it doubles the time they’re good for.
But I could be wrong. I just remember one of their cronies telling me that while purchasing an LCD.
im going to go over there at lunch at see if they make me sign up, theres a new album out I want to pick up anyway
signing up for a rewards card while making a purchase is hardly rewarding in of itself! i would have asked them to sweeten the deal, maybe with a discount or a giftcard, then fill out the card with bad information and been on my way. if not, then i wouldn’t buy anything and leave.
@Machete_Bear: I bet you they weren’t doing well on their rewards card signup metric and the manager instituted the policy.
Dumb policy but when people are desparate…
I hate to stand by Best Buy, but…
This Best Buy is about 5 miles from me. I don’t shop at Best Buy often, but on the few occasions I do, it’s at this store. I’ve never, ever had a problem. I also work at a software company and know a great many people who shop at this store. I’ve never heard of this ever happening.
I bet this is a rogue manager/cashier situation.
@opal:
Do it right, and you have witnesses.
Okay, maybe it was a boneheaded idea, but I mean really, WTF?!?
A curious aside…
I actually signed up for the Rewards program because I found a Wii at the other Best Buy in West Des Moines (University Ave). I had to fill out a form. It must have never gotten sent to corporate because I never heard about it again and didn’t get anything in the mail.
should have said “sure, i’ll sign up, and you’ll give me a 50% discount.”
Datamining at it’s finest. I used to work in the IT department at a regional retailer. We could track basically any purchase through the “rewards card”. And since the retailer also had a name attached to the account number, we could tell that Customer X sure liked to buy product X from us.
Scan it with any plastic information, and we could tell what the customer bought without using their rewards card (with the debit or credit card), and could attach those purchases to that account. Only took one time.
Not exactly sure what happened to that data, but I helped build the queries to do this stuff. I wouldn’t put it past this retailer to sell it.
If you’re a BB rewards customer, don’t be surprised if you start getting Dell catalogs or something because you bought some computer games.
Guys, guys guys, your best answer for these information requests is just say “sorry, I live in Canada”. They’ll mention that they have a friend or cousin who married someone who’s from Canada and they’ll stop pestering you.
@darkrose: That’s exactly what it’s for. We have an enormous database of all customer’s purchases. If you’ve used a credit card with Best Buy, we have your information. We have your name, address, phone number and purchase history, even if you haven’t used a RZ, but that helps in the case that you move.
If we have your email address, we’ll send to targeted junk mail. Just bought an HDTV from us? Expect to get emails from BBY asking you to purchase a Blu-Ray player or HDMI cables.
@Jim: On the other hand, you presumably didn’t pay for the card in the first place. The only time it’s not worth it is if you feel obligated to shop at best buy because of the card.
I should have figured there were more people from Iowa reading Consumerist.. Yay!
Ive only been to the SE 14th Best Buy, and had no hassle there.. I would repeatedly refuse to sign up though.. Its not a membership store, sheesh..
I’m from the Des Moines Area, and a member of the reward zone program, and this particular Best Buy had a “Reward Zone only” night the other day, as a “reward” for it’s loyal customers or something. It is possible that you came in during that event.
I know hating on Best Buy is a favored pastime here (and with good reason), but anyone who thinks this is a company policy or anything other than a manager freaking out over low Rewards Card signups for the week/month/quarter/year and overreacting with a terrible plan to
“correct” the numbers is delusional.
This is ludicrous. The card IS free, but it has never been and should never be a requirement for purchasing items from the store.
Of course BB would love for 100% of their customers to be RewardZone members, it would make life much easier for their marketing department.
Clearly the poor sap who’s the manager of this store was up against some pressure from higher-ups to get more cards.
Hopefully the OP contacts someone at BB who can explain how such a thing occurred.
@Okaasan: Allrightythen! I went over to the Jordan Creek BB and spoke with Tony, the manager. I took a copy of the story from the Consumerist site to show to him. I, then, asked him if it was true. Tony said they had a “Members only” sale and in order to get discounts for that sale you needed to be a member. The sale was to be by invite only, but they did not turn away other customers during that sale. Could be the clerk was trying to give the OP all the discounts he could and that required that he be a member. Tony assured me that my daughter, who was with me at the time, would not be required to be a Rewards Member to shop (and purchase) in their store.
@DePaulBlueDemon: Unfortunately, we have no Circuit City’s here in the Des Moines area. And our CompUSA went out with the garbage a few months ago.
People are STILL SHOPPING AT BEST BUY????? Oh well. Let ‘em get screwed. Now this is where you blame the victim.
I just went over there during lunch to check it out, and I can assure you I didn’t have to sign up for a rewards zone card to check out.
@catdogpigduck: They never ask me that – cuz I’m a girl! Discrimintion!! I should be offered mags I don’t want too!
Re the OP, I would’ve shouted to all the people in line “This lady says we all have to buy rewards cards or we can’t buy anything else!!” Yah, it’s a free program, but it’d be nice to use mob mentality to my advantage for once.
Well, there’s your problem, Frank.
@dantsea: You know, this joke begins to lose it’s luster the 739,432nd time.
@nardo218: Yes, causing mob scenes due to your own ignorance (not that they should be pushing them on anyone, but Rewards Cards are apparently free now) is a great way to go about handling situations.
I would have called their bluff. I doubt they would have let you leave without purchasing the item.
@valarmorghulis: Have a tissue.
@FreeMarketGravy:
She stated that she knows the program is free. She was simply stating that if she yelled out that buying (even though it’s free) Rewards cards was required to make a purchase, the mob mentality would have caused people to leave without purchasing anything, leading to lots more than 1 lost customer.
@EyeHeartPie: In what world is causing a scene the mature and proper way of dealing with a problem?
best buy sucketh
For those cautious of the RewardZone program, I’ve been a member of the free version for about 2 years now, and the only mail, junk or otherwise I’ve gotten from them as a result is some 10%/12% off coupons once a month. I can verify this because I don’t really get any other mail.
So lonely…
reminds me of the time I was signed up for an aol account against my knowledge when I bought a laptop there years ago (I got a great deal & took my time paying it off interest free …even though I could have payed for it outright, but I’d rather have the money in savings earning interest). I got a bill in the mail months later from aol saying I owed them money.
Called aol & said that I never signed up for it & that I specifically declined it when I bought my laptop…. they cancelled their bill.
I found out later that this was common practice with best buy employees (signing customers up for aol against their knowledge)…. the miserable pricks!
if you were in a store that was having an after hours event (which anyone that HAS a reward zone can purchase at) it will be required to make that purchase. however, there are no quotas for the card, there is no junk mail attached to it, it is simply 2 things. 1) a card to reward you for purchases and 2) a way we can track purchases. If you pay cash, and try to return something w/o a receipt, you can’t get far. If you have the rewards card, we can look up your transaction and re-print your receipt, allowing your return. Also, as we track information, the more you spend, the more coupons you get to come back in for more.
it is completely bogus for them to force you into the card, i agree with someone above about the “whats the quickest way to contact corporate” because that would shut most of those kids up.
@Pro-Pain:
@dantsea:
And I couldn’t agree more! WHY, OH WHY are people still shopping there, then writing in to complain about how they were treated/screwed/abused by Best Buy … when their abuses/treatment/screwing of customers is sooooooooooooooooo well documented in story after story after story here on Consumerist? If you are a Consumerist reader and STILL shop there, you deserve what you get.
The reward zone card is to earn money back on purchases and to receive coupons.
@sburnap42:
I assume you’re implying that they do that to send junkmail. Well if that’s true they seem to be going to a lot of trouble to collect information they don’t use. I have never received targeted junk mail from BB or any other retailer.
Eh, I’ve walked out of BestBuy on many occasions for lesser irritations. Contrary to what they believe they are not the only major electronics retailer. And yes, the other guys may cost more but I can justify the increase by not supporting someone that irritates me.
Well, I’m glad that the readers here still over-react to insignificant stories about BB.
To all the people who always post “WHI DU PPL STILL SHOP THER!?1 one one!”, just because we see one sided complaints about the company here frequently doesn’t mean that issues are common, or even kinda frequent. BB is a massive company, there is bound to be issues that come up from them. The readers here over-react to every story posted about Best Buy, and this is just one more example to support this.
The reported situation is kinda buggered up, the only thing that I can think of is that the store was trying something new to boost numbers, then again, as far as I know we aren’t tracked on signing people up for Reward Zone, unless if it was set up as a store competition.
I work part time at Best Buy for extra income, and have done so for a few years. I am amazed at what I read about going on at other stores, these things have never gone on at mine to the best of my knowledge. We never push reward zone on anyone, we will ask if you want it, if you don’t, fine no problem
This is crap. Let me tell you the deal as I am an employee of this store.
On Sunday we had a rewardzone members ONLY event after hours from 730-10 on Sunday night. We closed the store at normal hours (7pm), and set up some customer appreciation stuff before we reopened at 730. This was a by invitation only event, however our management staff decided they would let any customer with a reward zone membership in, and if they didn’t, they would be required to get one.
That’s what happened. We just decided to be more customer friendly by allowing more people to take advanatge of great offers, but it was by our rules. Why would we let someone who wasnt a rewardzone member take advantage of the special offers, or the free drawing for $50 best Buy gift cards without being enrolled in this program? We didnt have to let you in without being a member, we were working with you.
oh and by the way Circuit City doesnt have the balls to move into a market with 4 stores within a 60 mile radius…
I’m a line-level BBY employee and have been for 3 years (about to graduate college and move on to a real job), and the rewards program is free and certainly NOT required in order to purchase. We’re required to offer, and some managers will want you to try and persuade, but we’re certainly not allowed to require it for purchase. If that happens to anyone else here, get the manager’s name and call corporate. The manager will definitely get a stern talking-to from district staff (I’ve personally seen this, and more, happen) and you might get a gift card. Definitely not a company policy, it was a rogue manager trying to up the store’s RZ percentage.
The BestBuy in Roseville (MN) is terrible. Strangely enough, the Circuit City there is terribly nice.
We don’t require it, but we ask everyone, and definatly we get a TON of return business when people come back with their $5 coupons. Buying a ton of crap they do NOT need. People how many 42″+ HDtvs do you NEED in your 1 bd. apt?
Drew29, luckily we have the internet or I’d be forced to pay for overpriced equipment at Best Buy all the time. Oh Best Buy what would I do without your superior monster cables and $50 hdmi cables?