dvdirv

I visited a Best Buy store and they refused to exchange my new factory-sealed DVD because the computer showed I had too many returns without a receipt.

I had a brand-new DVD complete with shrink-wrap and the BB price tag on it and decided I really didn't want to keep it, but instead wanted to exchange it for another item.

The Customer Service person asked me for my receipt (of course!) and I told her I couldn't find it, but she used my credit card to find the purchase in their computer. I guess she couldn't find it, but said OK we'll make the exchange.

When I returned shortly (and had to wait yet another 10 minutes) she asked me for my driver's license. After scanning it in, it showed I had too many returns, so they refused to return their own current merchandise.

I suppose I could have demanded to talk to a manager, but I was so upset at that time, I couldn't have explained my situation calmly. I do plan to write to corporate headquaters and make my complaint there, if nothing else than to have them see what we loyal customers have to put up with.

I buy DVDs from BB all the time & when I return an item I usually have a receipt.

What is most upsetting is that BB employees get so caught up with the minutae of their rules and regulations that they just don't see the big picture with all the purchases we customers have made over the years. To keep me happy, they could have explained the rationale for their policy and let me make the exchange.
The old adage that they may have won the battle, but lost the war applies.

In any event, I went to a competitor and said the item was a gift and they made the exchange without any hassle. Guess where I'll shop next time

heavywear

you are RED FLAGGED! was the DVD ever in a bathroom?

Kevin M. Dean

SWARM! SWARM!

bothanspy

[pesci]There's only two people in that blackbook and one of them is still Al capone.[/pesci]

SPY

mookiemeister

Let me ask this question... how come you have so many returned items showing up on their computer? What percentage of time do you buy stuff from Best Buy, then later return it? It seems a bit odd to buy stuff, then have it just sit around, then return it without opening it. Especially if you make a habit of doing it often, they might get suspicious. Remember that just because a DVD is still in shrink wrap, it doesn't mean it hasn't been opened yet. There are machines that can easily re-shrink wrap. They might think you buy DVDs, open to watch, then reshrink wrap for return/exchange.

I've purchased a new DVD still shrink wrapped from a very respectable online store. After opening the plastic wrap and the case, I noticed the disc is completely scratched up with finger print smudges all over the disc. Suffice to say that the disc won't even load on my DVD player and I had to return for another one. Stuff like this make me suspect that some people are opening DVDs to watch them, then re-shrink wrap them to return to store. I'm not saying that's what you did, but I think this is what the Best Buy people think, and that's why they didn't want to let you exchage for another title since you return so many times already.

calhoun07

Out of 700+ DVDs I have purchased, I only taken back 2 to Best Buy. I can't imagine why you would have to take so many back you get blocked from doing any further returns at their store. Oh, and both my returns were to exchange for the same title due to defects. I can make up my mind about what I want before I get it so I am not taking back DVDs sealed that I decide later I don't want.

Heat

Whenever I buy a DVD I always keep the DVD in the bag with the receipt until I decide to watch it, with the bag folded over, to ensure that nothing falls out. That way, if I decide to return it for whatever reason I always have the receipt.

You might want to start doing this.

dvdirv

As the one who started this thread, I don't think I've returned any more than 3 or 4 discs since the first of the year. None of them have ever been opened. I know there are slimeballs out there who would try to watch a movie and take them back with the shrink wrap re-fastened.

What really bugs me about Best Buy's (and other vendors) policy is they ASSUME you are guilty of opening a disc or perhaps even stealing. Their policy is focused on the guilty out there instead of us innocent customers who occasionally want to return a disc for a legitimate reason!

jarsim

I worked for Target, say 10 years ago, and a driver's license was required to return something without a receipt over a certain amount (I forget exactly how much now). Therefore they could keep track of those who were constantly returning items without receipts. In fact, over a certain amount (I think $100) and they would not give you cash, you would be sent a check in the mail.

There was a point, three or more or so, returns without a receipt and you were red flagged in the computer . . . i.e. no more returns accepted.

Having worked on the "other side" of customer service, yes, you do become extremely suspicious of those who are continuously returning things without receipts. You see so many liars and scam artists that you start to distrust everyone.

Back when Bread Makers were over $200, they were the #1 stolen item (they were not under lock and key and relatively small ergo easy to steal). Some would steal one walk through the checkout lanes unnoticed and go directly to the service desk to return it. I had one lady who returned a bread maker without a receipt. Even when suspicious there's nothing you can do, of course, without any proof. You go through the whole process, etc. , if she's not red flagged you have to give her the refund i.e. mail the check. Literally 10 minutes later she was in another co-workers line attempting to return another bread maker without a receipt. Needless to say, she ran without returning the thing when she realized I was on to her.

And I have even worse stories, but the moral of the story is . . . keep your damn receipts! Is it really that hard? Honest people will keep their receipts, not to say you aren't but 90% of people in this situation are trying to pull some sort of scam . . .

Enough said.

rich-y

I recently made a return to Target, and much like Circuit City, they can now look up your transactions based on the credit card you used.

When I handed them the item I was returning without a receipt they asked if I could remember which credit card I used. I handed the card to them and they were able to trace the sale to the card with no problem.

Perhaps Best Buy can do the same thing?

As a side note: Did you see the film of the woman in Indiana beating her kid in the parking lot of a Kohl's Department Store? Well, it turns out she was the member of a gypsy clan that specializes in stealing items and then returning them to the stores for refunds. In addition to charges of beating her child, she and her sister have also been charged with stealing and returning.

I can't say that I blame the stores for their increasingly stringent return policies. If I owned a store I would not accept ANY returns without some proof of payment (unless I had a way to look up credit card transactions)!

calhoun07

Best Buy can do the same thing with credit cards. When I was out of town on vacation, I returned something I bought at one Best Buy in one city to a completely different one at another city and they actually didn't even need my card, just my receipt (yes, I saved it!) and assured me I would get credit on my card, tho I didn't have to sign anything or actually saw them like scan it or the conventional things I associate with returning an item, but sure enough, I got my credit two days later on my card!

I work full time at a bank and saw an alert put out about that woman you mentioned, and I thought that was pretty interesting. She sure sounds like a real loser to me. Did they take her kid away after all then?

And what is the big deal about saving a receipt? I bought Star Trek 3 today, and much to my dismay I opened it up and disc one was disloged. It wasn't scuffed to bad, but I tucked the receipt under the insert, just in case. DVD inserts make handy places to store your receipt in case you need it later.

Face/Off

The Best Buy near me told me there was a cap of exchanging three brand new, still sealed items without a receipt.

eau

3x cap per year, or per lifetime?

Face/Off

I don't know. I've only exchanged one thing there before. But they did take down my driver's licence. I thought the clerk meant lifetime when he said it.

If you know what ShopKo is, they have a return policy that states they will gladly exchange brand new unopened items for equal value. However, one time I went to a ShopKo where the return clerk looked up when the item was last bought there and for how much, and would only give me that much in credit.

Some stores that accept receipt-less exchanges usually offer the last sale price of the item.

Groucho

Yeah, I got bit by this same policy change myself. Oh well, I got in enough exchanges to more than pay for my shrink-wrapper investment.

Eplicon

While I don't make exchanges all that often, I've noticed as of late that stores like Target and Suncoast are now particularly nitpicky about exchanges, even when the DVD is sealed.

I went to exchange a DVD I already had at Suncoast, but the clerk refused to take it, insisting it had been opened and resealed. He based his judgment solely on the fact that the security sticker looked like it had been opened and put back on. He did say I could only exchange it for the same exact item, but that he would have to open that package to ensure the correct disc was inside. (I hate stores that have the policy of opening up exchanged items, as they do not handle the item the same I would.)

I also didn't care for the attitude of the Suncoast employee. He seemed to act like he owned the place, being the only one on duty.

movielib

Groucho, you are indeed Groucho.

DVDBoy2000

Dvdirv:

How many titles have you bought at Best Buy in the past year though? If you've bought a dozen or less and returned three or four...this seems a little high. If you've bought 50 or more, 3 or 4 doesn't seem so high.

Maybe Best Buy is looking at the percentage of returns. I buy probably about 50 movies per year from them, and in the past few years, I think I've only had to return two or three...almost always because the disc was defective.

Like previous posters have said...I don't know why you wouldn't keep a receipt until you've watched the DVD...this is common sense. Best Buy is one of the few stores that makes a point of handing you the receipt instead of throwing it in the bag, so it's really your own fault...not Best Buys...for not taking it back.

As many problems as this company seems to have with customers, I feel the fault is on the consumer this time around.

dvdirv

I have purchased well over 50 titles from Best Buy this past year, so I was miffed as to why they couldn't see the whole picture.

Yes indeed, I didn't have my receipt, but considering how much business I have conducted with them (a $600 digital camera just 10 days prior) I didn't think it made all that much difference if I wanted to return a $20 factory-sealed DVD without a receipt.

If I were a vendor and had a customer who spent a lot of money in my store, I would overlook standard return policies to exchange an item, especially if it were still factory-sealed and re-sellable.

cdollaz

I disagree. All customers, no matter how big or small, should be held to the same policies.

I do not think stores should EVER take anything back without a receipts. There is no excuse for losing one, since every purchase, even for a candy bar, comes with a receipt. You can now get gift receipts for all gifts as well, so that is not an excuse for not having one either anymore.

As a consumer, I want prices as low as possible and therefore want theft kept to a minimum. If it means that people who can't keep up with receipts do not get refunds, then so be it. It's really not hard to keep a receipt and those who can't should get screwed.

BTW, why did you buy it if you weren't going to even open it up?

davejt1

My God! I thought I was the only one with the problem of employees handling discs!

I typically open the disc myself right infront of the employee because of an incident that happened to me about a year ago...

When exchanging a DVD, I made the mistake of fishing through my wallet for the receipt. Unfortunately, the employee grabbed the disc to open it before I had a chance to do it myself. This was somewhat problematic as evidenced in the following comedy of errors that took place over the span of about 5 minutes:

1. She first cut the plastic open along the spine with her pen (nice little blue pen mark across the movie title now).

2. She took the disc out of the spindle by placing her fingers underneath the disc to yank it out (a couple of perfectly placed fingerprints on the disc's surface - the FBI would have no problem liking her to this disc now as a result of thiese beauties).

3. She then wrote up the reason for the exchange by placing the paperwork on top of the disc (naturally, one of those crappy snappers). Her remarks are now forever carved into the front of the DVD case.

4. To top it off, in grabbing the case to scan the UPC code, she accidentally dropped it on the floor (luckily, nothing was damaged).

Apparently I was getting some sort of weird, ominous sign/warning that I was not meant to own this movie (it was "Heat," BTW, in case anyone wonders).

WOW! I still remember laughing nervously over this as it happened. Needless to say, I brought the disc back again the following day, explained it to another employee, and they were more than happy to get me a new one. Looking back on it now, I was probably wrong for not saying something to the first employee that ravaged the disc right in front of me. I think I was more or less in a state of shock than anything else - I probably stood there with my mouth wide open and a look of utter confusion on my face!

Anyway, whenever I have to exchange a disc, I now make a "pre-emptive strike" by opening it up right in front of the employee. I buy so many DVDs that most of the employees at my "regular" group of stores (2 BB's and 2 Borders stores), whenever they're working at the customer service desk, know me enough to pretty much expect it from me now.

Besides, that way, I don't look like I'm trying to pull a fast one on them and they don't have to go into that dreadful "I have to open this for copyright reasons" speech.

To be honest, I have no problem with the policy of requiring that the new disc be opened, seeing that it would deter returning "used" DVDs.

99% of the people on this forum probably know why this policy exists, but in case someone doesn't:

1. Customer buys DVD and watches it. Movie sucks and/or it rocks and he/she copies it.

2. Customer returns it to store claiming it's defective.

3. Store won't issue store credit, but will exchange it for a SEALED copy of the same movie.

4. Customer later returns to store with sealed DVD claiming it was a gift. It even has the store's price sticker on it! Store gives money back.

Because of problems like this, stores have really tightened their policies on issuing store credit vs. refunds, opening discs, etc. It's unfortunate, but understandable.

I still have some problems with policies regarding the returning/exchanging of sealed DVDs, though. For the most part, I think it's pretty easy to tell when a disc has been opened and re-sealed (check the folds along the top, bottom, and back seals, wear along corners of top security stickers, etc.). Some movie studios even use their own special plastic wrap with the movie logo or something similar on it, thereby further deterring this problem. I don't know, I guess the policy on sealed DVDs is probably for the best.

cdollaz

Originally posted by Eplicon
I hate stores that have the policy of opening up exchanged items, as they do not handle the item the same I would.


Once at Best Buy, I returned an open disk and when I brought the new one I was going to exchange it for to the CS desk, he opened it up in front of me. I do not have a problem with this policy at all, except he gouged into the cover when he opened the new one. Solution: I made him do another exchange for another new one and he was a little more careful when he opened the second one.

So, if a BB employee hacks up your case when opening it, just make him do it until he gets it right. I guarantee that it will not take more than the second time for that to happen.

Gizmo

I am almost positive a store like Best Buy could careless if you spent $600 on a camera, when there are customers who spend that much every week. Just because you spent $600 10 days prior does not mean they have to let you return things without a recipt.

If you don't like that, goto Circuit City. They keep all recipts in the computer. So you don't need to worry about them asking you for a recipt.

Seeker

Keep your receipts. That's what I do.

Makes things much easier.

eau

Yeah, keep your receipts. You can return or exchange all you want when you have a receipt. In fact, they can't say no to you for a return or exchange within 30 days when you have a receipt. At most, you will only get a suspicious look on you if they think you're returning too often, but they can't decline.