Beware of Best Buy
 

I just had a horrid experience with BestBuy.com. I received a gift from BestBuy.com that I wanted to return/exchange. I called and they suggested that I come into the store. After receiving incorrect directions from one of the people at the store, I finally arrived to return my gift. There were 15 people ahead of me, and four clerks, and it took me over an hour to speak with a clerk. I handed the clerk the receipt, the gift, and my credit card. Without saying 2 words to me, he did something and handed me a new receipt. I asked him why he hadn't even looked at my credit card. What he did was credit the card of the person who bought me the gift which causes two problems: 1) the person now knows I returned his gift and 2) I have no gift. The store would not give me a store credit nor let me exchange the item. So, basically I had to keep the item, or get nothing, but the clerk did not even explain that so I could choose to keep the item. I spoke to a store supervisor and a supervisor on the 888 number. They were rude and unhelpful, and basically told me not to bother them. Thus, if you plan on getting anyone a gift DO NOT USE BESTBUY.COM. I will never use them again and you should all do so at your own peril.

I think this should be in the store forum

I don't think that it is normal policy to do it this way is it? When I've exchanged gifts I get store credit, sometimes cash (depending on the store).

Also, never ever try to return something this close to Black Friday if you don't want to wait in a huge line.

I've never heard of them not giving store credit for a returned item, so I'm not quite sure what went on. For money back, however, it would have to go on the original credit card.

If you had the receipt, then I think this is done to protect people from getting deliveries at the wrong address and then return them for credit or other merchandise. I believe you have a legitimate gripe about the lack of an explanation, but I can understand if that is their policy.

I think the twist here is that the item was purchased at BestBuy.COM. I haven't experienced it but I've certainly read/heard of several horror stories of trying to return/exchange anything bought from bestbuy.com at their B&M.

its scary how many people have had problems with bestbuy.com. and its usually simple things like this that they mess up on.

Sorry, but thats BS. There is no reason for them to have that policy. The item is new in the box AND you have the receipt, they should at least give a store credit. They do not lose anything that way. I used to love Best Buy but this Holiday season they are quickly losing my faith.

yeah this thread belongs in the store forum...

the thing is with Best Buy is that bestbuy.com and the actual best buy brick and mortar store are 2 separate companies or something. so they wont do exchanges. kinda stupid if you ask me. i preorderd BoB and i didnt get it til after that week when it came out. when i got it it was dinged up so of course i want to exchange it. went to the b&m with my packing slip and receipt printed from the email, grabbed another BoB and said hey i want to exchange this and they were No can do, bestbuy.com does their own thing is what the clerk said. of course by now the price went up 10 bucks, so i was like alright just return it. i later went to cc and they still had it at 79.99. if i was thinking wisely i should of just bought it at Frys when it came out for 69.99. would of still gotten the $25 gc. eh...........

not my experience ... I returned a bestbuy.com order to the store and had absolutely no problem. I had the enclosed invoice and they credited the card with no issue and by the time I got home the order was updated with a status of returned and I still got my digital coupon for ordering. :D

Recently, I got Made for $7.99 from bestbuy.com and when it arrived, I could tell the disc was loose inside the case. I took it to the B&M store w/ my receipt, and had it exchanged.

The clerk messed around with the computer for a couple of minutes and mentioned something about it being a complicated process. In the end, he let me grab a new one off of the shelf. By the way, the in-store price was $9.99, but I didn't have to pay any extra to make the exchange (not that I would've let them get away with that if they tried).

wow sucks to be you b/c I got an exchange :D Pre-ordered BoB from bestbuy.com but the set had some glitches so I went to a B&M store for an exchange. Granted I had to 'return' my set to bestbuy.com (the store took it) and rebuy the set from the B&M store (which they adjusted the $10 difference) but really its still just an exchange.

I guess it really just depends on which store you go to or what kind of employees you end up dealing with.

Looks like their policy is along the same lines as what you experienced, returns only.
I agree that a store credit would make sense (and would be beneficial for Best Buy since some credits would be lost, thus never redeemed), but their policy does discourage returns, which I suppose is their goal. But they didn't single you out for harsh treatment, they do this to everybody (bestbuy.com returns to b&m stores).

I have never had one bad experience with Best Buy, as a matter of fact they always bend over backwards for me. I have returned so many movies there and some without reciepts. Never once have they denied me. I think its how you come off that decides what kind of experience you will have. It's just my opinion, but I can speak first hand that if someone comes off bad (which I'm not saying you did or didn't) they'll get crappy service and I would never bend over backwards for them. Anyway, it's just my two cents.

kind of offtopic but these days alot of places don't require a receipt anymore, im thinking if you use your credit card, they'll have a record of it. since i buy most of my stuff on credit card i usually never have to worry about receipts. i don't have a major deal with best buy the store itself, it's just bestbuy.com's policy with exchanges at b&m bestbuys.

I'm guessing the clerk i had was a seasonal worker she wasn't too bright, i didnt really care, if i did i would of probably ask to speak to a manager. no loss for me, best buy lost out 70 or so bucks. i usually dont preorder cause it takes too long but in the case of Bob 25 bucks was an offer i couldnt refuse..

Here's what you do!
Take it to Wal-Mart and they'll give you a gift card for the vaule of the merchendise. And spread the word BestBuy sucks, shop at Circuitt city or Wal-Mart.

Best Buy can only return the .com orders to the credit card it was purchased with.

Best Buy can only return .com orders to the credit card that it was purchased with