BJacks

Doubly agreed. If Best Buy is returning the item, then they must swap the entire item, not just 1/6th of it. I honestly don't see the problem. If something is wrong with a product, most people WANT the store to exchange the entire thing. If one disc is damaged, you never know if something could be wrong with the others. Perhaps there's an audio drop that you thought was supposed to be there, but isn't. Who knows? In my opinion, this is making something of nothing.

Mopower

Exactly. They should have opened up a new set and just exhanged the defective disc. That way you have a whole set that works, and they have a whole set with one that doesn't. They just ship the set back to the manufacturer anyway. It doesn't make any difference. This way you are happy and come back. As much as BB wants your money they always go about begging for it in the wrong way.

BigPete

My vote goes to 1) you not explaining it to her quite right and 2) bringing it up at the wrong time. You have to remember, these customer reps deal with hundereds of people a day, all of whom have wild and crazy schemes to make things easier for themselves, so you cannot expect them to immediately be on the same page as you.

They have none in stock ... not a problem

You ask to be called when some are available ... again not a problem

Then you mention swapping. Easy, quick, just take the good disc and be gone. And soon you've got her envisioning you tearing open a new set, taking the disc, and walking ... forgoing the normal return paperwork and leaving them with one open set and no explanation on the books. What was a return for the manufacturer is now pure "shrink". Maybe that's why her inventory is no good ... because she thinks you want to "swap" not "exchange".

But more to the point, why discuss it with her anyway? Is her word gonna matter if a manager raises a stink on the return trip? Hardly. You never should have said a thing until both boxes were on the counter in front of you and you were signing your name to the return slip. When their ass is covered, it will seem a lot less like you're trying to pull a fast one when you drop the "swap" bomb.

Think about how many people walk in and say something along the lines of, "this vcr remote is dead ... can I just go grab another one?" Now can you blame her for doubting you?

MEJHarrison

I'm really not following your argument. What do you mean they're not in the business of opening items? What difference does it make if they open a new set and trade the faulty disc or give him the new set and he opens it at home. Either way they (Best Buy) are left with an open set containing a faulty disc that needs to be returned.

Rules? What rules? I'll admit ignorance on this one, but I find it hard to believe that there are specific rules for these types of situations. If there are rules about this (and I don't believe it), then this specific case is clearly not what the rule was designed for. His request is not in the least bit unreasonable.

They should ring it up as a faulty set or follow whatever process they normally would. Who give a rip which box it gets shipped back in or which set of discs are shipped with it. I just don't believe that they are setup to handle returning the original set but the process breaks down if they try to send back the new set with the bad disc swapped in. That doesn't even make sense.

If the new disc also doesn't work, then the problem lies elsewhere. But he won't know that until he gets the disc replaced.

Just this past summer I bought a toy for my five year old from Toys-R-Us. I spent an hour putting it together (it was a big toy) only to discover that it was missing a couple pieces when I was done. Since it was already put together for the most part, I wasn't about to take it apart or return the whole thing (again, it was a very big toy). I told them the story at Toys-R-Us and they opened a new one, gave me the missing pieces, I left and I would assume they sent the opened one back at that point. There were no 'rules' covering this nor did I have to deal with an employee who was fretting over the proper way to 'ring it up'. It was the reasonable thing to do. Had they not, I would have asked to speak to their superior and repeated until either I got satisfaction or they lost a customer.

This is just one example I can think of where I've had part of a product replaced instead of the entire thing. Sometimes that's appropiate and some times it isn't. In his case it's clearly appropiate.

I can't believe I got sucked into this debate.

Painkiller

I think Best Buy is absolutely right. There's customer service, then there's having unreasonable demands made on you. The BoB set is one item. If one disc is bad, the set is bad. Just buy another one, switch discs then return it.

JoeyOhhhh

Why didn't you just have her page a manager and ask him/her if you could swap the discs? I'm sure they would have given the OK for that.

lesterlong

Leave those retail employees alone. They've got enough hell to deal with all those Christmas shoppers, they don't need grief from one guy who doesn't want to watch his Band Of Brothers DVD again.

mordecai

I don't understand people saying that swapping discs can't be done because it's not the same thing? If he opens the other set and switches discs, the set they opened is defective and the one he has now works. How is that any different, to them, than giving his defective set (because of that one disc) and taking a new ('essentially' working) one? It's not, in any way.

GaryEA

If you go into most retail stores and ask them to open an item that was wrapped by the manufacturer, they'll say no. If they open stock that was sealed to begin with, it puts them in a risky position and creates an inventory problem because now the item can only be regarded as "defective" if the customer does not buy the entire item "as is".

This is why software has to be returned unopened for a full refund, and exchanges are for the same title only. The fact that he wanted to "swap" discs rather than simply take another copy was the problem.

They don't create return policies for no reason. A lot of them have to do with inventory control and the credit they receive when they write up and return the item to their distributor or vendor. His request didn't follow their policies. I'm sure if he said "I'd like a replacement for my defective copy" they would have exchanged the two in a matter of minutes. But he wanted to essentially, in BB's eyes, exchange parts and not the whole, and their return policies don't allow that.

You know, I'll say it right here; It's lousy that he's in this position, and I'm sorry that he feels that he's stuck with a faulty BoB set, but my sympathy stops there. The fact is that he doesn't want to be bothered to take the risk of getting another bad disc or watch the series in its entirety to make sure the set is in working order.

CLARIFIED: Yes, it is one disc out of the set, but that is the risk we all take whether we order online or buy it in hand. Unfortunately, he got one bad disc, but that bad disc is not BB's responsibility. They didn't press it, or ship, yet you want BB to take the loss for it in a way they choose not to.

Again, it's not a normal situation. If he asked for a replacement set, there'd be no problem. In BB's eyes, he's tried to involve two sets and the opening of one by the strore itself, which they don't do as a policy. As for who gives a rip, apparently it's BB.

I'm happy TRU was able to resolve youre situation, but I'm surprised that they did it. I suppose it all boils down to how each store is run; one TRU is willing to return an incomplete item to their distributor for credit while another may tell you that you have to return everything with a receipt, and make sure you have your driver's liscence handy.

-g

mzupeman2

Well, lemme tell you about this now (what a horrible day). I had to go BACK to Best Buy again because I bought the Back To The Future trilogy and the damn first disc was out and all scratched. I had my receipt. I had all the original packaging and wrappers and EVERYTHING. I hand it all over, explain that the first disc was loose and scratched because of it. He opens it up (and becaues I placed it back in its place, and wasnt loose anymore) looked at it and told me this:
"This isnt loose, it looks fine to me."
So what do I do? I say:
"Look on the back, its scratched up, I simply put it back in its place."
Then he proceeds to take about 20-25 seconds to EXAMINE MY RECEIPT! WHY?! I can understand you need to check it but uh, that long? It's not like I bought it two months ago, the damn set just came out today. So, I dare somebody to tell me how im upset about THAT now

And for the person who told me to leave these 'poor clerks' alone because they are busy and whatnot and it's christmas time.... BITE ME! LOL. I am always kind and pleasant to these clerks as I work as one myself and deal with customer service issues all of the time (loss prevention). When they start talking about crap they are 100% wrong about, that gets me angry. If they don't know, they should call somebody who does instead of turning me away and saying 'we cant do that' when its obvious they can (Ive been with a friend when they have before) its nothing but a waste of my time to leave and come back again at a later time. I say only people with EXPERIENCE in the store should work at teh service desk, I see all these holiday shopper n00bs working behding the service desk and all the veterans on register or trying to sell a DVD player in electronics. GOD.

DarthMarklar

mzupeman2,

I remember you from other threads and you seem to be EASILY aggitated .

Now I'm not saying that you're wrong, I just think you need to understand that not everyone out there is a "trust-worthy" customer. I would assume that customers try and pull stunts all the time to try and get away with stuff and I don't blame the clerks for being cautious about returns. If the clerk takes 30 seconds to examine your receipt...Let him! If he doesn't allow you to return it, then you have a problem with the store, but until then, your anger (which is DEFINITELY apparent from your posts) will get you nowhere.

As far as the BoB return, I wouldn't get angry with a store clerk for not allowing you to exchange 1 disc from a box set. Agreed, there should be no reason why they can't do it, but if it's not something Best Buy clerks do all the time, they're gonna question your intensions (even if they are good). I'm sure you'd get a better response from the store manager if you explained the situation with him and allowed him to 'authorize' the swap. It's not like they wouldn't allow you to exchange the item.

Remember, the stores have their own policies and most clerks are gonna be Black & White with those policies because only their managers can authorise anything otherwise...if you don't like it, you don't have to shop there.

calhoun07,
As far as opening the DVD before you purchased it, I would think you do not own the item and you have no right to open it. I understand why you wanted to do it (and it makes logical sense), but you have to look at it from the stores point of view:

Once a DVD is opened, the store can no longer sell it. If you bought the movie first, then there'd be a record of the purchase and you can exchange it, but without some record of it being purchased, that must make it hard for the store to return the so-called 'defective' item back to the warehouse. I would assume?

Why not purchase the DVD, go outside, open it, if it's scratched, return it and exchange it? I know you said it was the only one, but you could always get your money back or store credit.

mzupeman2

Calhoun07, I agree with the above. There's no reason why you couldn't just open your dvd outside in the parking lot before going home, and then going back in to exchange it if it was defective or damaged.

purplechoe

I can't belive this is still up for discussion!!! If anyone still doesn't get what me and others are talking about... ah forget it!!

Gerry P.

I have exchanged single defective discs from multi-disc sets at Best Buy several times and never had a problem. Try being polite and patient next time and see if things turn out differently.

p.s. I hope the poster who is arguing paragraph after paragraph about rules, regulations and inventory problems never acquires a "customer service" job.

MEJHarrison

I'm also happy they resolved my situation. I guess where we differ is that I'm suprised more don't do this.

They may have their rules and policies. You seem to know much more about this than I. But when it's all said and done, they still have a product that needs returned. The only question is are they willing to go through a little extra hassle to make a customer happy (I'm still not clear what extra hassle exists, nor do I care at this point). I'll take my business to a store that is willing to provide good customer service any day of the week over one that would give me a hassle over something so basic. Fortunately in 34 years, I've never run into a manager that anal about policies.

DarthMarklar

But you can't blame a store for not wanting to open an item that has multiple discs. Since the store considers the item 1 item, who's to say that a store clerk isn't co-hoots with the returner?

i.e. I bring in a 5 disc DVD set in, the clerk opens a NEW boxed set, swaps the 'faulty' disc, then throws in a few of the discs into my set so that I now have the 5 discs plus a few duplicates. The store returns the boxed set (that only contains 3 discs instead of 5) but since it's considered 1 item, no suspision is raised because 1 item is being returned. Granted, I'm not calling anyone here a thief, but if I was a store manager, I wouldn't allow my clerks to do such a swap...you just never know what's going on.

Store managers should be more reasonable (if you're reasonable with them) over clerks who aren't really allowed to make decisions that are slightly different than what they're used to.

dvd2001

OK, I can't help but chime in on this one.

My mother gave me the Civil War 5-dvd set for Christmas, ordered from Barnes & Noble website, during the 40% off sale.

I picked it up last Saturday, and decided to open it just to check and see if all the discs were fine. It turns out that disc 1 had a broken hub and the disc was badly scratched.

On the packing slip, it said that you could deal with problems at a
B&N retail store. There's one close to home, so that was easy.

I talked to the clerk at the movie/music desk, and asked her to exchange the set, but to inspect the new one first. This made perfect sense to her, but since she was new and not totally familiar with the exchange process, she called a manager over.

When the manager came, I explained to her that I wanted a simple exchange, but wanted to open the new one first to make sure that it was all OK. I said that I didn't want to have to hassle with this again, in case there was another problem, and the packaging was prone to problems. And you know what, this made perfect sense to her, and she said that was what she would suggest doing.

So, we opened the new set, found that one of those discs was also messed up, but fortunately not the same disc. We put a good set together for me, and they had a set with 2 defective discs to return to the manufacturer.

This seemed perfectly logical to me, and thank goodness the manager was possessed of both common sense, a caring attitude toward the customer, and an I.Q. well over the speed limit.

BenCJedi

I guess I wouldn't be up the creek without a paddle if I watched every DVD I have purchased within 30 days of purchase. I often buy my DVDs when I can get them cheapest through deals and whatnot (see my DVD collection list in my sig). Out of 200+, I'm lucky if I opened a third of them. That DVD I bought 3 years ago, still in shrink wrap may be defective.. I dunno. If one should ever turn up defective, I see a couple options to deal with it since the store/etailer I bought it from won't take it back:

1) Write the manufacturer.. maybe they can replace it like the Jurassic Park DTS disc I had to mail back to Universal.
2) Return it somewhere after Christmas and claim it was a gift.. you'll either get to exchange it or receive store credit to buy a good copy.

Though option 2 seems to be harder and harder with more and more stores requiring receipts for exchange/refund.

Troy Stiffler

You should have gotten the Extended Warranty!

mzupeman2

This may be my opinion, but reading this thread over has made me think of one thing. You have two types of people, the logical people, and (not illogical) the business people. The business people stict strictly by the books 100% and say 'they shouldnt do it, its against policy' (even though its not), and the logical people who understand that theres no harm done in any of this.
The business people, are the people who I can't stand when they are just running cashier or as a clerk. They are making part time money on minimum wage, and they enforce policies they aren't even sure about. They act as if they are above you, just because they work there and you don't. I went back to Best Buy today and spoke with the manager and got my one disc returned (worx perfectly). he said that i was right, there was no difference, and the girl shouldn't have given me that answer to begin with, let alone her attitude. And for those of you who mentioned a few times 'just be more polite next time', my main post seemed harsh cuz i wrote it right after it happend. I was polite to the girl Until she started giving me attitude that is...

DarthMarklar

Right and wrong.
-Right, They make minimum wage and probably just do their job without any compassion to the customers.
-Wrong, They don't act above the customers, they just don't care. I would tend to think that the ones that make a lot of money would be the ones with the 'Holier-than-thou' attitude because they feel like they are so-called "experts".

As annoying as it may be, I don't see the point in getting frustrated over someone who makes minimum wage at a part-time job. Your subject of the thread "Best Buy can bite me" probably would have been better argued by the fact that these companies hire part-time/minimum wage clerks. Maybe if these places paid more money, these clerks would be more excited about their jobs and more helpful (when a customer has a problem) in trying to fix the situation.

I was at CompUSA and I tried to buy something with my boses 'Company Card', the cashier wouldn't let me because it wasn't mine. My friend started getting all pissed off and yelling stuff like "Dumb-Arse Mr. $4.59/hour!!!!" which was kinda funny, but I didn't let it bother me that much because I was more upset with myself for trying to do something 'out of the ordinary' at a retail store. Shame on me!

p.s. Glad to see the manager did the exchange for you. That's what they're there for.