I’m not sure if anyone cares about an update, but I wanna just vent a bit.
I got the email (as shown in the screenshot) on June 25 very late at night.
Welp, I filed a Chargeback immedialy upon reading that. Guess that’s one store I can’t go to anymore… 🤷♂️
Still have yet to hear back from the bank on their process, but they say they’ll “temporarily credit the balance” while they “investigate”.
If my Bank decides to screw with me, the next update is probably gonna be in “c/ActuallyInfuriating” (I hope everything goes through fine, fingers crossed)
I did some online searching, and found like a few different posts from Reddit with others saying they got the same “completed investigation… unable to provide refund or replacement” bullshit.
They didn’t even give me a chance to send the video evidence. The rep on the phone said they would “contact me there are any updates or request further information”, but didn’t tell me where to send the video to. Nor did anyone contacted me to request it.
What I think happened with the so-called “investigation” is that, BestBuy just deferred it to Doordash, and they must’ve looked at the picture taken by the driver and just sided with their driver to protect their bottom line, and BestBuy just accepted that as an explanation.
Pictures are stationary lmfao. That proves nothing. Only that the package was at the door (which was actually a neighbor’s door btw), not that the driver didn’t just snatched it immediately after.
Tbh, I doubt things would change much even if they got the video, they don’t take this seriously at all. They would’ve just said the video was blurry and deny refund.
Btw: I ended up ordering a different laptop from Amazon and they shipped with UPS and it arrived safely, with all security seals intact. I don’t like how Amazon is taking over everything and have become monopolistic, but at least their stuff actually arrives…
For every person like you that won’t take the shit, there are many more that will just give up. Just like unemployment and insurance claims - denial is the first step in protecting the bottom line.
If nobody accepted such bollocks, it would be more economical to actually investigate, provide service & improve processes - rather than trying to bin complaints at the first hurdle.
Prime (lol) example over here is with Amazon not making it easy to return shit after 30 days, by hiding all the easy return options at that point. You can still do it by contacting customer service and they will generally acquiesce, but just having the extra steps there is enough to save a ton of money by keeping the uninformed in the dark.
Fuck em. Make it difficult for them. Be the goddamn squeakiest wheel you can possibly be.
For every person like you that won’t take the shit, there are many more that will just give up. Just like unemployment and insurance claims - denial is the first step in protecting the bottom line.
This is the crucial part. Same reason many brands have shifted from giving discounts to “rebates”. You have to jump through a few hoops yourself to get it, it’s not automatic. And that immediately results in a decent % of customers simply not even bothering, which is exactly what manufacturers are banking on.
That decent percent is in fact roughly 60%, in my industry. At least according to what my vendor reps tell me.
Only 4 in 10 people even bother to attempt to do their rebates. The manufacturers love that, because it allows them to put a giant "$2000 OFF!!! viamailinrebate" on their marketing literature and that gets eyeballs on the ad and feet in the door, but they know damn well they won’t actually have to pay out on the majority of those promos and in fact they don’t even budget with the expectation that they will.
sometimes it goes wrong for companies doing this
I worked retail almost 20 years ago and that was the last time I saw a rebate. I haven’t had to mail in or apply for a rebate in ages.
Menard’s has a perpetual 11% rebate program. It’s super obnoxious having to mail it in
I doubt Menards exists in a country where someone uses the term “bollocks”, but that’s fair. I’m curious to know how many Brit places have mail-in rebates nowadays.
Tangentially related, SSDI disability process does the same thing.
A bazillion hoops with no hope of doing it all correct unless you have a lawyer. Each step of the process is prolonged with denials, extentions, hearings, appointments, reviews, etc.
You can’t work during the process, so if they take long enough they can force your hand. Can you actually find some gainful activity? You better because you have bills and it’s year 3 now. Private disability insurance runs out after 2 years or so.
Oh look, you happen to be able to do a job. Looks like you aren’t disabled. Denied.
Yes &
For every person like you
There’s at least 1/10 of a person doing their best to commit fraud. Maybe they’ll pretend they found a hair in their food, maybe worse:
Source of that is a terrible rap song, Punchmade Dev - Wire Fraud Tutorial
These are the kind of criminals support agents deal with all day long. Then you and I come along and nobody trusts us.
Well whatever is after Veo 3 should make all our lives easier. Hey we can always face-to-face barter whatever we whittle!
I had a similar thing happen with Best Buy. I ordered a laptop which showed as “delivered” but never arrived. In fact I was at home the whole day they claimed it was delivered and nobody even came. Best Buy had no proof it was delivered other than a tracking number, and wouldn’t send me a new one or refund me. The employee on the phone told me to just call the police and report it as stolen. I escalated it to a supervisor and asked them to listen to the original conversation, and explained that it’s not my responsibility to get the laptop - it’s their responsibility to ship it to me. I also at the same time disputed it with my credit card. The end result was someone at Best Buy calling me back and apologizing for the employee’s mistake, and my credit card company saying they refunded my money, as well as telling me I could keep the laptop if it ever arrived later. So it ended up working out. I just had to escalate it and be the squeaky wheel.
Yeah this is what back charges are for, and the absolute beauty of credit.
Won’t hear me say that much.
But you don’t have to go through the nonsense if you use credit.
You tell them “hey I bought this and didn’t get it I am disputing the charge.”
And their legal team calls their legal team and says “we want receipts and proof or we will litigate and also we are a financial institution and you’re best buy so be smart here.”
Instant (well not really, but effortless) resolve almost every time you’re in the right.
Yes, the system works, but it kinds sucks that it’s based on getting the biggest gorilla on your side, rather than which side is actually in the right.
That’s kinda the way of the world in general unfortunately.
I use my credit card for everything, and pay it off fully every month.
I had to do a chargeback once. Convert tickets bought in December 2019, concert obviously cancelled. Ticket site wouldn’t refund, they just kept saying “oh just wait until it’s rescheduled” when I E-mailed for a refund. I asked four times. I told them “even if it is rescheduled, I’m not going to a concert in a pandemic.”
I went to my credit card’s web site, clicked a button, wrote a sentence, and the charge was gone. Never heard about it again. It’s truly the way to go.
Yup. I use credit a lot but also pay off my cards every pay period. I get that it sucks for merchants, but you know what sucks worse: getting cheated like this on a debit/cash transaction, or worse having your debit card skimmed.
A relative of mine had the latter and the bank froze her account for weeks while investigating. If it was a credit card they’d just freeze the transaction and maybe send you a replacement card with different #
Post the video to the internet. Explain what it is make sure to credit the two companies for their involvement. Don’t stop at one post and hope it catches on.
Send your story and video to some of the tech press. I’d bet someone picks it up and Best Buy suddenly gives you whatever you want to make it right.
That’s a fantastic idea
Also I’m never buying anything valuable off of Best Buy after reading this
That’s messed up. Just on the basis of it being a picture of a different door is grounds for a refund, that clearly shows they did not deliver it to the address they were paid to deliver it to. Super frustrating and I hope it all gets worked out for you.
I have an order arriving today from Best Buy! It’s being handled by DoorDash… 🤞 Sorry to hear about your ordeal. Not fun. I think I’m going to avoid BB purchases if this is how they handle deliveries now.
have an order arriving today from Best Buy! It’s being handled by DoorDash… 🤞
OMG you need to give us an update on if it arrives. I hope you have better luck, if not, you could alway make another post on this comm 😉
Success! Sorry that it’s not more interesting, but I’m kinda glad it isn’t, too. I hope your situation turns out for the better, with little headache, friend!
I wish my driver had the same moral integrity as yours
Is this the thing where they sent it by doordash?? Wtf!?
Go to your attorney general’s website and fill out a form for a complaint. Check the box says you don’t mind getting the news involved and detail everything you’ve done so far that hasn’t worked.
I worked in customer service escalations for a large company. We had a couple of dedicated people who handled inquiries on complaints sent to the AG, skipping several tiers of support if someone from the AG’s office asked about it. Usually it was some bored office adminstrator who’d share the customer’s complaint and await a response from the company and make sure everything was above the board, and largely exist as a mediator between the customer and the company. Involving the AG is a very good step to take in a customer service failure on any kind of order/RMA problems, especially if you’re out money
If your bank fucks you, small claims court time and new bank time.
That means BestBuy effectively gets a $700+ dollars interest free loan from me for a few months, since courts take months.
If you exhaust all other options, what else can you do? The suggestion of filing complaints with your state AG and any applicable groups would also be a good move - good suggestion from Fugly!
Actually, now that I think about it, you could try contacting higher ups at Best Buy to see if they would make it right, make noise on social media, and consider contacting local news if you’re up for it. Putting pressure on them like that might speed up the resolution.
This is actually where Twitter was good. I would always get a better response with a public @ mention to the company on Twitter.
I had a similar experience with Reddit and ENGWE after their faulty front fender broke my fucking arm. They didn’t seem to give a shit until I started making noise. After that they reimbursed me for my helmet, but I still need physical therapy and a new fender. We’ll see how that goes.
good luck with getting the PT covered!
Thanks, I live in America so my healthcare is a God damned dumpster fire.
The ironic twist there is that insurance companies here should have good legal teams to go after someone else to cover it.
Maybe reach out to your state AG before going the small claims court. Report them for anti-consumer behavior. Frequently, the notice saying they’ve received a complaint and asking for what’s up is enough to get them to change tune immediately.
Did you choose to pay with installments for the laptop, is that why they’ll get more money from you? For the privilege of not having the product…
One time single payment. If I were in such a financial position that I need to pay in installments, I’d either just (a) get a cheaper laptop, or (b) just postpone it for a few months, since phones are essentially replacing most of the functions of a computer, and its more of a “want” than a “need” (for watching tv shows and movies and maybe some light gaming), phone screen is too small, but if money is an issue, I’d skip it and begrudgingly watch on my tiny phone screen lol.
Ah I understand now, I was a little slow to get that the “loan” is the $700 and it won’t be repaid for a while… Damn. Well I hope the next update is a positive one! YMMV but I’ve learned that harassing customer service often works, by chasing it up with another email every few days to however often you can handle it
The crap leave it on the doorstep and hope no one nicks it delivery wasn’t a thing in my country until amazon made it a thing. Don’t make out they’re the good guys. They’re absolutely not.
Seems like you’re in the UK too.
Yeah, this was never a thing until Amazon made it one.
Thankfully, the law is very unambiguous about this, and if a parcel is left outside and then stolen before it gets into your hands (unless you specifically asked for it to be left outside) then you are entitled to a refund or replacement.
Amazon play the numbers game and figure that replacing x number of packages costs less than needing their drivers to bring all the undeliverable packages back and try again a different day.
It’s not a cool precedent though and I very much dislike it being normalised.
And when I order laptops from Amazon, they generally send them UPS and make me sign for them. Pretty much anything expensive I’ve had to sign for. Chargeback should be ezpz for OP, though they may want to file a police report (can’t recall the first thread, if they did or not).
TBF they sometimes hide it from public view by putting it in the bin - trashcan in the US - on bin collection day. Genius.
First time they did that for us, they put it in the paper recycling wheelie bin, which was definitely the cleanest bin, and the easiest to get it out of because it was 3/4 full, but it was in the run up to Christmas and it was very camouflaged amongst all the other already opened amazon packages. No note, of course.
Honestly I would try reaching out to some local or regional news networks to see if they want to run your story. I’m sure they’ll love also having the video because they can show it during the segment. It sucks that it has to suddenly become a PR matter for the companies involved for them to give a shit.
Terrible, terrible place.
I was so much happier when I realized that Staples had almost as much tech stuff. Staples staff answers all my dumb questions clearly and never tries to oversell.
Seconded. This seems like a gamers nexus story ready to happen.
Or if you’re in Canada: London Drugs actually has decent service in their computer dept
Frequent sales and stock too
Best Buy is the worst about this stuff! I’m still bitter bc a few years back they delivered a brand new washing machine that didn’t work. I asked them to come back and pick it up to exchange it for something else and their pick up crew didn’t record that they took the machine back. Luckily they left me a slip showing they picked it up. But it still took me 9 months of fighting with the store to get a refund and I was accused by the manager of creating a “loss issue.” After they finally refunded me they still charged me a pro-rated amount for having the warranty for 9 months bc they didn’t cancel it the same week they picked up the machine.
What worked for me was to go to a different Best Buy store (bc the manager was a dick) and show them the evidence in person and ask for help to resolve or escalate the issue.
But it still took me 9 months of fighting with the store to get a refund and I was accused by the manager of creating a “loss issue.”
9 months?
I mean, does your country have strong customer protections? I know some countries don’t and you’d have to deal with the merchant. But if your country does have consumer protections, you probably should’ve filed a dispute, because they have to be filed within 60 days in the banks I’ve used, so I would not have waited that long because that’s kinda just gambling on the store playing nice.
I immediately reported it to my bank and disputed the charges. After 60 days they recharged me because they sided with Best Buy stating that I had actually received the machine, and it was now up to the company to provide a refund based on their policy (thanks Chase!)
Chase
Oh my fucking god. That’s my bank right now.
😖 (Am I fucked?)
Chase is an awful bank so be ready to fight them too. I am still upset about the money they siphoned from my account after taking over a regional bank here. I would change banks when you are able to. I wish you good fortunes.
I made the mistake of buying a 14tb external drive there that I needed that day and couldn’t afford to wait since I had a drive failing. Little did I know they dropped their return policy to 15 days but even bringing it back on day 8 after the drive burned up from overheating from copying 14tb of shit they rejected it and said that it was “all scratched up” because it has the crappy piano black finish you can scratch with your nail.
Got it replaced through the manufacturer and pretty much opted to never go back to a best buy after that. Used to be one of my favorite stores but all the anti consumer bullshit is driving it into the ground. Made a minor issue way more pain than it ever needed to be
Best buy had one of the lowest lows and best recoveries I had ever seen while working there. The new French CEO made it about customer service, and I saw people and teens who had never considered going to a best buy start going. Stock price went up, people were happy.
Then the board ousted him a few years ago and made it all about profits, going right back to where they were in the downward spiral, completely unaware of the irony. I hope they fail now. They could have come out on top but greed took over again.
It’s likely intentional. What’s the point of a good reputation if you don’t milk it for profit? Bestbuy alternates between good and bad. Build a good reputation, the cut corners for profit for several years until people notice while banking that profit. Then restart the good reputation.
Credit Card Charge back.
They already did. See the top of their post
