Best Buy Enters Customer's Home Without Permission

Michelle says that she explicitly told Best Buy’s delivery guys that she was 8 minutes away and that they were not to enter her home (her teenage son was there alone) until she arrived. Guess what she saw when she pulled up?

We recently had an experience with Best Buy we won’t forget.

It started when we saw this great sale for a 60″ DLP for around $800. We decided to try it because they offered free delivery and 30 day money back guarantee. When we got it home we tried it out for a bit but found the colors to be a little drab compared to our Vizio and Samsung, so we contacted Best Buy who said they would call us within 24 hours to arrange for pickup.

A week later we still hadn’t heard anything, so we contacted them again and they finally set a date for the 28th. They said someone would give us a call to let us know what time.

On the 28th we woke up to find that Best Buy had called the previous night after 9pm!! They left a message stating they would be there between 12 and 2pm.

I had to be on a conference call so I had to leave, but I contacted the dispatch before I did and informed them that I work 10 minutes away and for them to call and I could meet them at my house. They agreed and I left for my call.

A short time later I received a call from my teenage son, who is a minor by the way, that Best Buy was at the door to pick up the TV. I instructed my son not to let them in the house but he said that they told him if he didn’t let them in they were going to leave without the TV. Their schedule was too full for them to wait the 8 minutes it would take me to get home.

I left work immediately and was on the phone with my son while they kept insisting he let them in, so I got them on the phone and advised them I would be home shortly and then let them in. They reluctantly agreed but when I rounded the corner to pull into my driveway, to my dismay there they were carrying out the TV from my home.

How is it even possible for them to enter a home when there is not an adult present? I attempted to contact dispatch, the store manager, everyone I could think of, but to no avail. They simply said sorry but there is nothing they can do about it! Consumerist, please help, there should be some action taken against the guys that came in the house, they should not be allowed to do that especially if you told them not to and they agreed.

What do you think–can she press charges for something like this?


Update: I appreciate the various opinions about whether this is an actionable offense, and what role her teenage son had in letting them in.

I don’t think it’s accurate or reasonable, however, to accuse the OP of not following the rules. Here’s why I’d rather not see people use this line of reasoning in the comments:

  • Best Buy didn’t call her until well after business hours the night before the scheduled pick-up;
  • Best Buy only gave her at most 15 hours advance warning about the appointment time, and less than that if you assume she missed the 9pm call and don’t count the overnight period;
  • She did her best to communicate the scheduling problems she had with the appointment time;
  • According to her, she made arrangements–which she says they agreed to–that they would call her before arriving so that she could be at the house waiting for them when they got there.

Ideally it would have been great if she could have stayed home all day on the 28th. We do not live in an ideal world where people can ignore their jobs.

So please go ahead and argue about whether the incident was offensive enough to warrant further action, but don’t accuse the OP of being responsible for this. Thanks.

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