talespinner

A friend of mine in the Virginia Beach area tried to return something at Best Buy without a receipt and they said they no longer took returns w/o receipts.

I know before that they would only let you do it three times or so w/o a receipt and then cut you off, but my friend has never returned anything there before. He nicely informed them that he didn't know about the policy and they eventually let him do the return. He said they were very nice about the whole thing.

I know that KMart has recently instituted a no receipt/no return policy (because of Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, no doubt), but this is the first time I had heard about such a policy at Best Buy.

Anyone else run into this?

talespinner

POWERBOMB

As one of the most advid Best Buy shoppers here I can tell you that I have been told by numerous cashiers that no receipt returns are no longer allowed. Just to let you know this is also true for Target.

cubanx

I had no problem doing an exchange for a different product last week w/o a reciept.

Abob Teff

There is a difference between returns and exchanges. Which are we talking about exactly? A return is for cash (refund), and exchange is for product.

WarriorPrincess

I had a really bad experience at Best Buy today as a matter of fact. I too thought that an exchange with receipt or no receipt should be perfectly do-able. I've NEVER had a store not allow me to do that before. But when I went in with a dvd and a receipt that was older than 30 days they said no way no how. No exceptions. I spoke with the manager of the store, who was quite rude by the way (she had the attitude that screamed how DARE you try to exchange something more than 30 days old! ). No exchanges or returns without receipt - no flexibility whatsoever. I find this to be the most ridiculously rigid policy I've ever heard of, and will not step foot in a Best Buy again. Customer service goes a long way with me, and they have none at all. Most of the time I can get dvds cheaper elsewhere, but even if they were cheaper for me, I still wouldn't go back to that store after the way I was treated.

Needless to say I'm still quite angry at the way I was treated, and they've lost a customer for life.

(Oh, and in case it matters, I was trying to exchange a $15.00 dvd for a $20.00 dvd and pay the difference - so they would have made MORE money. And the dvd I was bringing back was one they didn't have in stock at the time, while getting one that they had a ton of, which seems to help their merchandise distribution. In this particular case I wasn't even trying to get my money back, though I feel that with a receipt and an unopened pristine product that should be done no questions asked.)

huzefa

Seriously people, their policy is written in large block letters just inside their doors. Try reading it sometime. And for those who try to exchange after 30 days, it specifically states NO REFUNDS AFTER 30 DAYS. If anything, you should have tried to do the exchange without a receipt. If that didn't work, try another store. Coconuts gladly takes back stuff without receipts. No need to get worked up over this, 'cuz you know next week BB is gonna have the lowest price on the new release, so you're just gonna go back there anyway.

WarriorPrincess

Like I said before - no matter what the stated store policy is, I've never had a problem getting at least an exchange from any other store I've ever gone to. Store policy is not gospel - it's only a basic guideline that a manager can override if need be in the hundreds of shops I've frequented in my life. Even stores like Ross and Marshalls will give store credit if you've got a receipt, no questions asked.

And also like I said before, I will NOT be going back for two reasons - the unreasonably rigid policy, and the extremely rude behavior of the manager.

As to exchanges without a receipt, of course I asked - they will not do it under any circumstances, so I was told by the manager.

Souljahh

I noticed this recently too. They do nothing without a receipt. No returns, exchanges, etc. It doesnt really make sense to me. Would they be losing money if they gave store credit without a receipt?

POWERBOMB

Well, yeah they could be. Even before the tradegy that was 9/11, many companies were "pinching pennies" to make profits. Aside from layoffs, a lot of these companies put or enforced stricter demands on their selling partners which inevitably led to what you are seeing or experiencing now.

Rmemeber, this isn't just Best Buy, but Target and Wal-mart (and I'm sure many others) are doing the same thing.

In terms of losing money, think of it this way: If Geoffrey Kleinman bought a dvd at Best Buy for $15.00, then did a no reciept return/exchange at Wal-Mart for $22.00, he would make a $7 profit while Wal-mart would count that as a loss. Now imagine a 100 people doing that every month at 12 months a year at every Wal-Mart location (2000+). Plus take into account the payroll of having employees process this return, take and stock it back onto the shelf with all the other returns. One dvd could honestly add up to 2 - 4 hours in just this simple transaction (and if you've ever worked in retail, you know what I mean!).

So it only makes sense to have these policies and enforce them.

uteotw

It does generally make sense to have policies and enforce them, BUT they're stupid if they're going to lose lots of business (from the individual and by word of mouth) by being overly rigid. I have, in the past, found Best Buy to be fairly reasonable, though maybe this has changed. For example, when I attempted to return an open box receiver because it was defective, when I told them I'd purchased my refrigerator, TV, VCR, DVD player, laser printer, speakers and countless CDs & DVDs from them, the manager not only instantly gave me credit but offered to let me exchange it EVENLY for a new, non-open box receiver of the same model. So, in general it does make sense to have clear policies and stick to them, but they need to be willing to vary them slightly from time to time (as an exception, not the rule). That's just good business.

chanster

Well PowerBomb, it depends on the situation of the inventory. Some stores return unsold inventory to the distributor, so they neccesarily wouldn't be taking a loss.

Besides that point, the simple truth is that nearly half of all store credit gift cards go unclaimed. That is why stores love to sell them to you. So when you get a gift card back for a return, it works out not so bad for a store.

We that frequent these sites probably have a much higher rate of redemption - probably close to 100% but we are the exception, not the norm.

POWERBOMB

chanster, I couldn't agree with you more about those of us that frequent these sites. But as for the part about the distributer, think about this. Best Buy and many other retailers re-sell a lot of high dollar items as "open item" or whatever becasue many of the vendors have such strict return policies. True, many retailers sell "open items" to try to get you to buy accessories and/or their service plans, but the majority is because the makers of these products would rather see the item sold rather than returned.

mekeez

From Merin in another thread (Best Buy - Worst Customer Care): www.bestbuysux.org

You will find the stories to be entirely familiar. I have always been aware of their return policies, but I have also been treated extremely rudely for asking questions. Their 800 number is fairly worthless. However, some people there have also treated me well. Just depends.

huzefa

BTW, this is one of the funniest sites I've read. Always good for a laugh.