-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
No wonder Best Buy is going under
- Thread starter Square Triangle
- Start date
Boaty McBoatface
Member
You wouldn't have been allowed to return the thing in the first place, if it was open.
Square Triangle
Member
that is not the point I was trying to make
Alligatorjandro
Banned
What if you dont like it or need to get your money back?
Aggrotek
Member
I'm saying people buy the game both places knowing full well they can just return the copy to BB once the online copy is shipped.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Guys, you're perfectly allowed to return things even if you just have buyer's remorse. Even if its been opened and used.
The OP was flagged as being a frequent returner. Either it's for a legitimate reason, or there was a mistake.
The OP was flagged as being a frequent returner. Either it's for a legitimate reason, or there was a mistake.
what if the laptop sucked
Alcibiades
Member
Same reason no one considers gutted Gamestop games new. The act of opening the package damages the value of the product.
I'm not being a corporate apologist, but I have worked for years in retail customer service. If you buy something that you a mistake with, open it (which it sounds like the OP did), then decide its not for you and try to return it, you have no 'right' to do so. Why should the store deal with your shit because you can't research a purchase first (and seriously, who doesn't with something as expensive as a laptop)? Many companies simply cannot resell returned items for a number of reasons, they're unlikely to do a return and be happy about it if they're gonna lose money.
Wouldn't a better policy be, "ok, an honest mistake was made (by one or more of the parties) and you can return this no questions asked. However, any return within 90 days will come with a restocking fee." ??
edit: Actually, now I am worried. I just bought a new pair of headphones and got the 2 year coverage...they better not go under w/in 2 years!
edit: Actually, now I am worried. I just bought a new pair of headphones and got the 2 year coverage...they better not go under w/in 2 years!
OP didn't make the return policy. He was within his legal right to return it for whatever dumb reason within the return period. I've returned a 2k camera at Costco after 2 months because I didn't really need it, I paid for the membership partly because of the better return policy. It's not like companies don't account for this.
BocoDragon
or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
They re-sell them as open boxes. You are allowed to open and return. Only software is an exception (because you could copy it).
Poor customer service is what a customer would think about first. It's bias.
Bestbuy is going under because of poor financial management due to high operating cost of running more stores than they should have.
Because disc are still a viable format to him?
HomerSimpson-Man
Member
Its important to note that the registers auto generates that if you have a history of frequent returns.
You need an id to return things.
You need an id to return things.
Aggrotek
Member
People do this shit all the time at my grocery store. Especially with meats. And we can't restock it when it leaves the store so we have to throw it away. It's not a right to return, once you purchase it, it becomes YOUR property. It's purely a method of satisfying the customer. If this gets abused, the company has every right to revoke the privilege.
Chie Satonaka
Member
Exactly this. If he's within the paramaters of the return policy, this shouldn't be an issue.
Maybe a sales person should have told Square_Triangle what the laptop had? A laptop is not a common everyday purchase. When I did retail, all laptop and computer purchases had to go through a salesperson first. Maybe Best Buy should take part of the blame too. Also, that's bad business to assume a customer is automatically bad just from a return like this. If there's a pattern to it, then yeah blocking is probably a legit option. But Square won't be doing any business at Best Buy for a while, if ever
Stuggernaut
Grandma's Chippy
Interesting...I have returned 2-3 things over the course of a few weeks and did not get this. In fact I bought and returned 3 different media streamers ine one weekend once (ATV, Roku, and the other popular one...forget the name).
Dependent on where you live maybe?
This is the complete opposite of my companies return policy. We take anything back, always, no questions asked as long as we sold it to you. It's crazy sometimes.
we had a customer last week return a set of power tools that he bought in 2010, and had obviously used extensively as the tools were just abused looking, the case was faded from sun/weather, etc. He said the drive seized up. We took it back, gave him brand new product.
He (obviously) was a happy customer...heh.
Dependent on where you live maybe?
This is the complete opposite of my companies return policy. We take anything back, always, no questions asked as long as we sold it to you. It's crazy sometimes.
we had a customer last week return a set of power tools that he bought in 2010, and had obviously used extensively as the tools were just abused looking, the case was faded from sun/weather, etc. He said the drive seized up. We took it back, gave him brand new product.
He (obviously) was a happy customer...heh.
I cannot believe the people supporting this shitty tactic. They have a return policy, you have a right to return. Customers have always had the right to return. If it costs money a retailer doesn't want to deal with, they charge a restocking fee. But this flagging for 90 days thing is stupid and has the worst sort of vibe in customer relations.
I'll be twice as wary about buying something at Best Buy now. Even though Amazon charges me tax, their customer service is so stellar that I buy things from them anyway.
Yes you do, at least for certain items, and I think laptops fall in that category. I'm not sure where you think you have the 'right' to rewrite return policy.
I'll be twice as wary about buying something at Best Buy now. Even though Amazon charges me tax, their customer service is so stellar that I buy things from them anyway.
JoshHood said:
Yes you do, at least for certain items, and I think laptops fall in that category. I'm not sure where you think you have the 'right' to rewrite return policy.
Seeing that the item you bought was not defective and the reason you are returning it was your own fault, I wouldn't say the return was legitimate... You are lucky they didn't charge you a restocking fee.
Opened laptops get marked down, and there's very little margin on them to begin with.
Depending on the prices, I believe anything short of an ultrabook is actually sold at a loss or no-profit.
Alcibiades
Member
People buy stuff thay sucks every day that doesn't entitle them to a return if the return policy says the product has to be factory sealed. I can only imagine the abuse - every kid and their mother would be in the return lines with opened videogames 29 days after purchase claiming yhey want a refund because the game sucked. Thats not the way things work.
I bought an open box AV receiver from Best Buy. Got home and some ass bought an AV, unpacked it, put his old AV (two year old similar model) in the box and returned it. I had no problems returning it, got a brand new replacement for even cheaper than the open box for my trouble. Return fraud is definitely an issue.
Has the OP ever answered about his return history, or what they said when he went to the site or called the number?
When you return an opened product, depending on what it is, theres a drop down menu for us to select why you didn't want the product. That in conjunction with any previous returns and "their reasons" for return would cause that to automatically happen. Also varies based if the product can't be sold as an open item and has to be sent back because of seller guidelines.
We should talk about that.
Maybe he thinks they are.
My lady friend had to have a laptop with a disc drive. We eventually got a MBP and now she complains about the weight and regrets insisting on the drive instead of the Air because she's only used it 3 times.
And personally have a usb disc drive for those rare occasions.
Portugeezer
Gold Member
pretty much
Most retailers will take it back though, except stuff like software, because of the changes to Distance Selling Regulations.
So my understanding is, even if you open it, test it, decide it's not suitable, you can return it and it doesn't matter if the retailer can't sell it again etc.
I hate when sales people try and tell me what a product features. I do my research before going to the store. Now if the OP had asked to be informed on the laptop specs than that is a valid issue.
Hell when I went into Best Buy to buy my laptop, the sales guy in front of me was selling all that protection/virus/geek squad crap that they almost always push. When I stepped forward I said this was it and they let me be, it was nice.
Lots of people have asked this but when he posted again he didn't answer it.
I'm guessing yes.
Though he'll probably say 'no', now.
A sales person is suppose to assist though. If Best Buy was staffed and Square_triangle told them he needed a gaming laptop with a disc drive, a sales person should be able to give him options on which laptop to get.
Square Triangle
Member
Again..don't offer an open policy then.
Sorry, driving atm. My only history is price matching with them. Not returning, just price adjusting. Which is another policy they offer
Exactly. Get a cheap usb drive for the rare occurances you want to play 7th Guest or Phantasmagoria.
LiveFromKyoto
Member
How are you guys blaming the OP? "You cost them money should have done more research blah blah." No, they have a stated return policy at the time of purchase and now they're inventing a punishment when he uses the agreed upon policy. Whether it costs them money is irrelevant.
EXCEPT that they resell them as Open Box at a lower cost, which is why they charge a restocking fee to the returner because they can't sell them as new to a new customer.
If this laptop was opened and then returned and you are saying that the OP should be able to return it with no consequence then that means you are also okay with:
1)Best Buy eating the 15% (or whatever) stocking fee due to no fault of their own by having to resell it as open box, OR
2)Best Buy resells it as new, and another customer gets a "used" product as new which 99% of GAF screams bloody murder at Gamestop about.
The only other thing I could see here is if the OP was deliberately or unintentionally misled by a Best Buy employee about what the product was, but other than that I don't see how the OP not knowing that it didn't have a disc drive is either Best Buy's fault or the next consumer's fault.
Also I used to be in retail and am familiar with that report; there is no way you get on that listing from one return. If you legitimately aren't returning a bunch of other stuff you need to request a copy of that report ASAP because something is going on there.
Bolded for people missing the point: The return was flagged by TRE; Best Buy is responding to their report, this isn't a made up thing Best Buy does to be a dick. A 3rd party is telling them something is potentially fishy with the customer and their return history across retailers.
Maximus.
Member
Yea I realized haha. People return things all the time so clearly he's done something fishy, unless the system just messed up accidentally. I figured they kept track of purchases, but I have never seen a warning like this.
Edit: also people shouldn't say companies shouldn't allow returns for no reason. Sometimes people regret purchases or make mistakes and shouldn't be punished, unless they keep making that mistake or abuse the system obviously.
walking fiend
Member
yeah, at the bottom of their receipts says return when you want, 'for whatever' reason; of course as long as the product is not damaged.
---
unless we aren't having all the story here.
Joe Shlabotnik
Banned
It's not the consensus in America either, I don't know what the fuck is up with some of the posts in this thread.