mzupeman2

I try and be sympathetic when trying to deal with employees that are working a little job like this, since I do the same thing at a different store, but sometimes I too can become quite mad at the people behind the service desk...

My story starts when earlier today I tried to return my Band Of Brothers set (one of the discs was faulty). The rest of the discs were fine though, unfortunately they had none left. Their computer said they had 17 in the back room, yet after 20 minutes, told me they didn't have it. So they told me to go to the service desk and see if they can take my name down or something. So I tell them when another shipment comes in, i want to KEEP THE SET I HAVE, i only want to replace the disc that's defective. I have horrible luck with boxsets and KNOW that the other discs I have are fine. The girl behind the customer service desk says 'you cant do that, because thats a different item'. So after explaining it through thoroughly three times, I made her understand that Band Of Brothers isn't sold in a box set AND sold singularly. I told her, that I just want to replace the ONE DISC because i'm NOT giong to go through and watch almost 10 hours of BoB again, just to see if it works the whole way through. She says at THAT point , that they can't do that because of inventory reasons. Now, I work with Loss Prevention where I work and I can't figure out for the life of me WHY it would effect inventory? I mean...if i just traded in my WHOLE set from home, for the whole new set, that's two units (the one i purchased, and the replacement) that won't be going back out on the shelf for sale. If she was to take one disc out of the new set, and put it in my new set...i STILL come home with a full set, and one set has to be set aside and not get put back out on the shelf. Either way you put it, that's two units gone. DVD boxsets, blah. What a bother But that's fine because it enetertains me, the customer service desk girl can....well use your imagination.

Heat

Just take the new box set and mail it to me, I promise that I will watch all ten hours and will email you back telling you how it played.

Jackskeleton

Ah yes, because they don't do it your way, they can bite you.

Sounds simple. You should have kept your copy intill they gave you a new one, at which time they usually open it since you are returning a open item. Ask politely to exchange the last disc only simply because you already know the others work and really, you don't have to watch the other disc to make sure they work, but explain in a nice manner that you really feel safer with a set that you know what is wrong with it better then a set you are not sure what is up with.

You'll be back there next week for new releases. Just admit it.

calhoun07

Movin to store forum any minute now....

It wouldn't cause problems with inventory. The employee is obviously wrong, and should be in a beer commercial that ends with the tag line, "THICK HEADED??"

I had a similar experience at Boarders. I bought a DVD and it sounded like the disc was loose in there. Given my bad luck with discs like that being scratched up and unwatchable, I told her I wanted to open it up before I bought it to see if it was the disc loose. If it was, I wasn't going to buy it. "You can't do that," she said. "But I will buy it if it's fine, you will get your money." And we went about this for quite a while. She wanted me to pay for it, take it home first, then see if it was defective, and if it was, bring it back for a replacement. Trouble was this was their ONLY copy. I said that if it was defective and I brought it back later, wouldn't it be easier and faster to check it now and save us both a hassle later on? Of course, the logic escaped her little clerk brain, and I got frustrated as time went on.

So I started opening it up. She called the manager but before the manager came up I had the disc opened and saw that it was some stupid post card or insert of some sort making all that noise, and the disc was fine and unscratched. So I paid for it. Now, I ask you, how hard was that? And if it was defective, they could put it in their bad movie inventory or whatever.

I also have a part time job in retail and know that these things are not rocket science. I work part time in a video store and do stuff like this for customers frequently. I have no idea why some of these clerks are too stupid to follow logic.

TeeSeeJay

If you want to replace a single disc, take the issue up with the manufacturer, not the retailer. Best Buy is in the business of dealing with these sets as units, not as individual items.

If I bought a 2-disc set and found the 2nd disc didn't work, I wouldn't expect to exchange just the one disc. Same thing with larger sets.

Sorry, but I don't think Best Buy is wrong here.

GuessWho

agreed.

bunkaroo

And then the manufacturer tells you to return it to your point of purchase. And you're in the same boat again.

Just rent it from Netflix and swap it out! Netflix seems to be run or owned by Best Buy, so it's all even in the end!

Just kidding of course...

renaldow

How did I end up in the Store Forum?

purplechoe

You wouldn't happen to work at Best Buy, would you? Sounds like a typical BB employee to me.

Why exchanging just the one disc makes any difference? I'll bet you a $10 right now that you can't come up with any logical anwser. I double dare you!!!

Iron Chef

Best Buy pwns u!!!!11111!!1

GuessWho

It's an ITEM. It's not 7 discs, it's ONE ITEM.

You either exchange the ITEM or you don't.


If you bought a stereo and a knob fell off would you ask the store to take the knob off another and just put on yours cuz you "already know our other knobs work"?

No -- you'd return the item and get a new one.

TeeSeeJay

No, I don't work for Best Buy.

It makes a difference because the single disc does not exist as an "item" as far as best buy in concerned. You can't account for the exchange of a single disc within a multi-disc set.

Just do this:

Exchange the set in Best Buy's terms and take only the disc you want.

Jim

So if you bought a new car and one tire was defective you'd expect to return the entire car? Or would you just have the defective tire replaced?

In the case of the defective disc, it's both reasonable and feasible to just swap the discs and stick the set with the defective disc (and 5 discs that haven't been tested) in the returns. It shouldn't make one iota of difference to BB which of the box sets is returned to the manufacturer as defective.

Cartload

While it's true this isn't the store forum, your tale has reminded me exactly why I buy TV boxed sets from online retailers instead of B&M stores. That way, I get the replacement item, switch out the faulty disc (or discs), mail it back (usually for free), and then I'm done. Granted that you can save a lot of money sometimes by going with BB or CC, but I'd rather spend the extra cash instead of watching something not to enjoy it, but to make sure it isn't defective. As they say, time is money. I know some of you out there would rather save the cash, and that's fine. Of course, the best scenario is you buy the boxed set for cheap, and it's all good.

purplechoe

First you said that it's a manufacturers problem. Ummm, no. Best Buy has a 30 days exchange policy on defective items. After that you're on your own, unless they're nice enough sometimes to just exchange it even though it's past 30 days.

Second, you still haven't explained why they can't do it. I mean I guess it's the proper way to do it by the book. But what is the harm in just exchanging the one disc. Lets say that like the poster above said, one of the discs is defective from a box set like Band of B. Is opening one up and exchanging the one disc any different than exchanging the whole set? I mean the result is the same!!! You go home with your box set and Best Buy gets the defective copy to send back to manufacturer or whomever. I not arguing any more, take that for what it's worth. Common sense says - it's no big deal. At least the consumer would be happy.

CoolIce

I too had many problem with BB.
I just don't go there.

diacritic

Moving to BestBuy bashing forum. . .

bunkaroo

Best buy is going to have to send the whole set back to the manufacturer anyway, so why not just give the one disc? They already have to do the manufacturer return work-it wouldn't be any additional work.

They're just being difficult on purpose-they're trying to discourage returns which is just wrong.

tommy28

same here,mzupeman2 get out of my store

ts

Mr. Salty

I've done this without a problem at Best Buy. The time to bring up the issue is when the replacement sets come in and you're actually at the counter doing the exchange. Once the replacement has been opened, just say, "Hey, can I just switch out the defective disc since I already know the other five are fine?"

Presenting it the way you did probably made it seem like you wanted the girl to just order you one disc out of the set.

MEJHarrison

I never though such a simple complaint would bring such joy to the middle of my day. This reminds me of trying to reason with my son who is in kindergarten (I apologize in advance if anyone is offended by that comment).

Of course you should just swap the defective disc! Given the fact that you've already watched the other discs and can verify that they're working fine, it's the only logical solution. Swapping the entire set makes no sense. They need to ship back 'a' defective set and it makes no difference (to them) where the other five discs come from as long as they get sent along with the bad one.

When I did my short stint in retail (Circuit City), I actually went for the warehouse so I could avoid the stupid customers. That plan failed miserably, but that's a story for another day (picture someone trying to get their new 36" TV into a Miata and you can probably figure out the rest). But I guess stupidity isn't picky about which side of the counter it hangs out on.

Thanks for the laughs!

GaryEA

They're not in the business of opening items - they sell them. If an item if defective - whether it's one disc or all of them, you should get a new set. Why? They're sold as a package, under a single UPC. This, we all know.

The problem I see is this; Just because you've had problems with box sets before, you don't want to go by the the rules, and your worries aren't going to be reason enough to get retailers to break them. For whatever reason, you're going by the logic that if you keep your set and swap the lone fauly one, you're golden.

So how do they ring that up? As an exchange? Can't, because there wasn't an exchange of items (UPC codes), just parts (and the last I read, BB does not "fix" items with parts, they sell "items"). And what happens if your new, swapped disc is just as faulty? You think BB will do it again?

Get a new set, take a chance like the rest of us, and if that set has a defective disc, THEN you can use your argument with BB or even the manufacturer, which is probably your best route right now.

You may have to watch ten hours of BB again, but I don't see it as earth-shattering, or worthy of breaking the rules.

Best of luck.

-g

fiver

The whole issue shouldn't be about what Best Buy's official policies are...it's about Customer Service, something many retail employees don't know a thing about. I worked for 2 and a half years in retail from cashier to lead cashier and I must say that for the kind of scenario described here, I wouldn't hesitate a second to make the desired exchange because a happy employee is one that will return again and again. Anyone who rigidly sticks to the rules either a) won't have much of a career in retail or b) will have a lot of angry customers walk out on you and shop over at circuit city or mediaplay.

Michael

sherm42

I'm not quite sure that everyone here understands what is being talked about when they bring up items vs. individual discs. Either way the exchange is done, the store ends up with a complete set with the defective disc and the customer ends up with a complete set with a new exchanged disc. There is no worrying about how to ring something up, categorizing something a certain way, or problems when sending it back to the manufacturer.

I think some people here are thinking that the customer will walk away with two sets minus that one defective disc that the store keeps. Doesn't work that way.

Citizen

I got a inventory excuse as well when tring to price match my Evil Dead DVD to the price they had on their web site. Purchase it for about 24.00 and they had it online for 12 somthing. It doesnt make since to not price match a web site if they allow you to pick it up at the nearest store. I can easly fix this but this is a prime example of why I choose CC instead of BB. Service goes along way. After they price match my EP 2 for $10.00 while even knowing that Toys R US and Wal Mart were sold out. They became my 1st choice for DVD shopping.