Best Buy Doesn't Seem To Understand This Rewards Program Thing
I noticed something interesting recently when signing up for a RewardZone account at Best Buy. Either it was a glitch or this is an ongoing issue, but I couldn't tie together my RewardZone number and my account to purchase things on the site.
The above error message showed. Had I spelled my street name wrong, or put in the wrong zip code? No, everything looked fine. I really wasn't in the mood to deal with a customer service line to get a few reward points, so I shrugged, reconsidered my purchase, and bought a similar item from another online merchant. Then I went about the rest of my day.
Almost four hours after I had registered for the RewardZone number, I received an e-mail confirming my account. I took my account number, went back to BestBuy.com, and sure enough the site accepted my RewardZone account and let me register.
Now, obviously this didn't affect my life very much, but Best Buy did lose a sale. I picked them because of price, in-store pickup, and they still had the camera I wanted in stock. If users of the site are encouraged to sign up for RewardZone during checkout, which they are, shouldn't they also be able to use their reward cards immediately?
If this happened when cashiers sign customers up for new cards, it would be unacceptable. Imagine walking up to the cash register to make a new purchase and signing up for a new card, only to hear the cashier say, "Oh, if you want points on this purchase, you'll have to wait four hours. Here, go wander around the mall until then." You'd probably wander into a competing store.
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Best buy is packed as some areas that all that there is.
@Anathema777: "Best Buy is crowded because in some locales, there are no other electronics store alternatives."
Probably in response to the first post.
You can always add the purchase to your account later. I never carry my card. There's a purchase number on each receipt that you can enter on the reward zone website.
@supercereal: Oh! I was misreading the "as". So I thought he was saying "Best Buy is as crowded as some areas are."
It's all clear now.
I do not see the issue.... When you go through the store checkout it offers to have you attach your rewards zone account. You can go join but I would expect that to take a few minutes. I agree process and add it later... I am 100% sure they are not loosing many sales as if you think about it you only earn 1 point per dollar to begin and need 250 points to get $5... Most people would not bother or would signup and add the sale later to their account.
@sharkzfanz: The issue is, many people will just go ahead with their purchase, either not knowing they can "add it later" or just plain forgetting about it. This can potentially add up to a lot of points people aren't getting (which Best Buy isn't then giving to people as $5 coupons, or points towards $5 coupons).
@Joeb5: Where are these magical Best Buys where NewEgg, Monoprice, Amazon and Crutchfield can't reach?
I actually had this happen to me once and the issue was that there was an old address in my saved Best Buy account that wasn't matching my Reward Zone account.
I had to call the customer service to update the account to get them both to jive. Then all was well with the parting of my money for a spiffy set of surround sound speakers and the influx of points into my Reward Zone account.
Man, I sure hope they post ANOTHER best buy store that we can all throw masturbatory slurs at! Haha, man it's fun here on the Hate-Bandwagon! Keep 'em coming, Consumerist!
I've had that same problem before with an existing reward zone membership and my bestbuy.com account.
The first time it happened I just reported a missing purchase through the reward zone website and they matched my order up and rewarded the points.
The second time it happened I tried doing the same thing and it gave me an invalid order message and wouldn't let me retry.
So wait the OP was lazy and didn't want to call a phone number, his RZ account didn't populate instantly across all BBY system and yet this is news? The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Best Buy lost me when I tried to make a $19.99 purchase with a $20 reward certificate.
It wouldn't accept my certificate. Even though with tax the sale would have been $21.+
I eneded up picking up a DVD for 7 bucks so that I could use the freebie.
After the transaction, they asked me to participate in a survey. Oh, that was fun.
3 days later, I saw that I had been refunded 2 whole cents because of my comments in the survey. Woo Hoo!!!!!
I was just recently in a best buy to check out the size of an all in one canon printer but before I went in I checked costco.com and found it $30 less. When I was in the best buy looking at that same printer another customer came up to me and said you can get that for $30 less on costco.com, I laughed.
Poor Best buy....
@settsu:
some people don't want to wait / shop on line and for big stuff shipping costs go up. also they don't fix pc's and some places they are the only place to get that or there may be small places but people don't know about them.
BB must be still trying to sort things out in transition.
I just got a phone message today saying that they don't feel like killing trees anymore, and that to make use of Rewards, you have to use their dedicated site...
I've had two Reward Zone cards with them over a year, (one tied to the credit card), and I encountered that error too the last time I tried to order something online for in store pickup. Both cards wouldn't work. The interesting part is when I went to pick up the item they charged me at that time, but conveniently I was told I can't use the reward zone card after it's been preorderd online. Seems intentional to me.
This happened to me ages ago, quick call to customer support fixed it.
On a related note, Best Buy called me earlier today to give me tickets to see "The Fray" on Saturday, for no reason at all. I was rather confused at first but it seems like they're starting random rewards for Reward Zone members.
I had something really really weird happen with me. My mother has one a RZ card, but I wanted to get my own.
I then got one while I was in BBY the other day and provided them with my cell phone number, etc. They confirm it on the credit card POS and I okay it (with my cell phone number)
I get home to try to activate it and it didn't work. I tried entering the RZ card number numerous times and tried different zip codes and it didn't work. I call their hotline to try to activate it and found out that somehow they got my home phone number in the system.
JUST STOP PURCHASING THERE - COME ON THEIR OVER PRICED YOU ALL KNOW BETTER>
This has been going on since before Christmas 08. I found out then that you cannot order from Best Buy online and get your Reward Zone points unless you call customer service when you are making the transaction. Customer Service will then fill in the order for you and credit the points to your account. I have ordered two things from Best Buy, once at Christmas and another back in March, and both times I was told that they were aware of the "glitch" in the ordering system. No mention on if they ever planned to fix it though.
@torgonius: From [myrewardzone.bestbuy.com] :
Reward Certificates are coupons for discounts off future purchases at participating Best Buy retail store locations or at BestBuy.com, and may only be redeemed for a discount off purchase amounts equal to or greater than the amount of the sum of the Reward Certificate(s) presented for redemption, excluding sales tax.
A $20 certificate is basically just a coupon for $20 off a purchase of $20 or more. It's possible this wasn't the case when you tried to make your purchase, but I doubt it.
@arukian - Yeah, this has been going on for a VERY long time. I'm a Silver Rewards Zone member, so I get free shipping. But I get that link error as well, and the only way to fix it is to call and placed the order. I usually only use the website to schedule on line pickup, but everyone and a while they'll have an online deal that is out of stock at my local store, so it means calling BB.
As a former employee, I've had my issues with BB post-quitting, one of which is documented on this site.
The other is that I bought a Sony XBR2 30" HDTV LCD from the store I used to work at. Total purchase was right around 2 grand. I didn't really care that a few months previous I could have gotten it for cheaper on the employee discount, I was making way more money now.
But I signed up for RZ with the purchase. Never got the gift certificates. That pissed me off mightily.
And I'm sure you didn't call and didn't check the web site to figure out what happened. Instead you post on an internet site and think they will magically get to you then? Just curious. Verily.
I had that exact same error and since I was using RZ certificates to make the purchase, I decided to continue and take up the issue after completing the sale.
However, when I went to add the transaction, it said the purchase was already registered. I waited a day and the points showed up without an issue.
It appears this is an incorrect error message.
I have that exact same problem. Calling them up doesn't help at all, either. Then again, with the recent changes they made to the program, it's not really worth the effort anymore.
@arukian: Nope they are aware but its one those things put on the list to fix someday. They have no interest in making it a priority. This way they minimize the amount of reward points given from online purchases.
That said there is an easier way to do get your points.
After you order you can sign into your BB reward zone account. Then there is an option to add a purchase. You can then just add the order number and your reward zone account will be credited in a few days.
@arukian: I've ordered multiple times from bestbuy.com using my reward zone card. Just log into the reward zone website first and then surf out to bestbuy.com from there.
i had one of those cards... it seems they canceled it randomly.. whatever, eyf it
@ZeGoggles: If it's an actual Best Buy gift card, they won't care who you are when you use it. It swipes just like cash. As long as they have no personal info attached to you (cash is a good way to ensure this) they can't sign you up for anything.
To me, this looks like $5 off The Office Season 2.
@settsu: Canada. At least, that's true for all except Amazon - which has a different product selection up here, never including the things you actually want to buy at a price comparable to a Canadian store.
Best Buy strikes again. It's almost too easy now to make fun of them. Yet, their stores remain packed. It was even more disappointing to see a long enough line for their computer repair service. Sad world.:(
However, I did buy "The Office Season 1" on DVD at Best Buy this weekend (only because no other store had it) and was absolutely SHOCKED when the cashier told me "You get a free five dollar gift card." I'm a little afraid to go back into the store and use it. If I use it I could be subject to being signed up for magazine subscriptions or something.