Black Friday @ BEST BUY, buyer beware NEW RETURN POLICIES could burn you !!!!! - Page 3

I agree this thread is a good example, that post included.

This issue is not JUST about defective merchandise.
After all of the posts so far, continuing to frame the debate that way is intellectually dishonest.
Doing that makes it more about winning an argument by obscuring the issue than about finding truth.

Best Buy has been great to me. It may help that I am a silver rewards member, but they seem to bend over backwards to make me happy. If someone in the store does not do what I want, the customer service 1-800 team does.

I know I may find better prices elsewhere, but with 60 day price protection and great financing, I often find myself going back several times on purchases getting credit back as prices drop. I love the $5 trade credit for DVD towards BD and extended warranties on items that break often like gaming headsets for my kids.

I even got to tap into the Black Friday deals early and now I don’t have to deal with the crowds and I still got some darn good deals.

I applaud Best Buy for protecting themselves. If anything, targeting shady individuals from exploiting their return policy vs. changing it for everyone is a great idea. If the system ever flags me, then I feel comfortable that their customer service, at least the 1-800 team, will ensure I get taken care of.

I remember when my kids were small, returning stuff and 2 women who got toys free from a charity, returning stuff for cash. They had no qualms about allowing others to know what they were up to. The store policy said any store purchase was returnable. one said to the other "we'll do this again next year"

Seeing how much money Best Buy is losing, most people have already taken this action.

You really have to be abusing the return/exchange policy to receive one of these warnings....People with normal shopping habits will never have a problem with this.

I have no idea if this return policy is likely to cause the average consumer problems, but I generally avoid Best Buy, as most things can be bought cheaper online, and it's easier to do the research online as well. I guess the main exception to this rule would be Black Friday DoorBuster deals, but after having experienced their endless daisy chain of upgrade lines a couple of years ago, I will never participate in that again either. Best Buy is a strange store that has made many poor customer service choices over the years. My favorite was the "free magazine" subscription that they gave me without asking and that I had to fight to opt out of. Good times.

And an all-you-can-eat buffet with a two hour time limit could limit the amount of food you can eat... but like BesyBuy's new policy, it just doesn't apply to most customers. Your warning is only a warning for people who do what you do* - buy up a stack of goods that you hope to make a profit off of, and return unwanted items later. For the average customer, the new policy is not a big deal at all.

*For the record, I have no problem with what you do. Some people consider it "unfair" to your fellow shoppers since the stores only have a limited amount of merch, but if you aren't breaking any laws/rules and you've found a way to exploit the system, then enjoy it while it lasts. That being said, BestBuy doesn't owe you or anyone else the same hospitality as it did before you started taking advantage of the system. New rules are implemented to curb a behavior that costs them money and customers. Seems fair to me.

BB sells all their old stuffs that carries no value. Puts them up for sell for dirt cheap on Black Friday. They definitely don't want it back. So it's all sells final.

Yea, I remember couple years ago went in on a BF to buy a Kuro 151 pro. Ask them why ain't the Kuro's on BF sale? They said those will never go on a BF sale. Not even if its a old stock..

This is EASY!! No company is holds its consumers hostage. If their policies do not work for you - buy somewhere else! So many other places to buy consumer goods.

except... i'm not the one framing it that way... the op is... i'm using his own words...

no intellectual dishonesty here...

Way off track here but best buy has an excellent selection in Magnolia stores. Not much better than VT50 series TV and guess whos got them.I would easily bet Anthem, low end Arcam, etc all want some best buy space but won't get it anytime soon. NAD might get by with Crutchfield.

Anyway everyone says audition audition audition. Only place in Raleigh NC to really audition in Best Buy Magnolia.

One store had Anthem, and Klipsch, Paradigm, but not set up.
One store had Golden Ear, ... but not set up, They did have 5k speakers they can't move set up.

It's a fine line from being an audiofile to an audiofool. Two days of research proved it to me.

Except this policy is not new. It has been going on for years. Over a decade ago they had a similar policy before the third party was added. You could only have a set amount of returns without a receipt, then you were denied for a period of time. The fact that this has been going on for over 12 years, and has yet to inconvenience more than a handful of people, is a testament to the fact that it is not anywhere near as restrictive as "joehonest" thinks. Maybe you should change your handle to "joesensationalist".

Magnolia Design Center stores also have Arcam, McIntosh, Sonus Faber, Marantz Reference & B&W 800 series among others. Eventually there will probably be one near you in NC.

From the OP I got the feeling that this applies to ANYONE returning ANYTHING this holiday season. Seems like that is far from the case.

I don't get why this is a big deal, it's nothing new, Best Buy has been doing this for years. I received one of these warning 4 years ago after returning 4 or 5 Blu-ray Christmas gifts without a receipt one year and exchanging them for something else. It was like my 3rd time exchanging something in as many days and they cut me off, I had no problem with it and understood the policy. If you don't like the policy, shop somewhere else but, this is not some new policy that they just started, it's been around for years.

I have never had a single problem with this policy. I've heard people mention it but have never known anyone who was banned. I don't blame a company for using this tactic to stop the renters and the people who want to buy several models and keep one. That all costs the companies a lot of money. The OP repeatedly talks about being stuck with potential defective merchandise but never said one time that he had defective merchandise that he was stuck with. So what is the real Beef with BB? That they are not allowing people to work their system anymore and cost them money with frivolous returns? I applaud them for it. I have never been and never will be a Fan of companies that bend over backwards to help when someone is taking advantage of them. I bought my receiver from Best Buy Magnolia and will do so again when I replace it down the road. I could have saved 100 bucks getting it online but I prefer to give my business to the one who had the equipment where I could audition it and do my research. It's an ethical thing for ME. To each their own, I know there are people who go to stores like this and do all of their research and waste their sales peoples time only to buy from Pauls TV or "insert random company here" I believe if you do that eventually you will not have any place to look at or get any hands on with products and the return policies will be restrictive at best.

I agree and also have no interest in supporting grey market internet or try to save 40 usd on something only to get burned buy some guy selling out of his garage.

I was actually impressed by Magnolia store. I ended up getting Denon AVR2313CI for 799 (200 off in new unopned box). They gave me till 1/24 to return it if defective or unsatisfied and 4% back in best buy bucks if paid in 60 days. They also gave me the discount from two weeks ago because it was slow and they had time. I showed up at 10 am and they took me seriously. Always had Marantz but could not pay the up cost of the 7007 that was at 1701 that day. First choice would have been the new release of discontinued Marantz SR8002 but no plans were announced to upgrade it to sr8008 etc. Almost got 3313 (999) but would never use much of the features available as it is 100% surround sound set up. I knew they could get many things not listed but not aware of Arcam. I saw a killer price on Arcam preprocessor from 8 years but did not want it because it was outdated and kept me in mind that these things depreciate FAST.

They did mention a high end store is planned for Cary, NC in future. Maybe 2-3 years.

My only disappointment was the limitations of ARC return from a TV. It sends back 2 channel because smart TV is self is two channel in lossy format. I'll just use media from a different 1080P player. I also discovered the GTV Sony box is dedicated to scale up to 1080P even if off. That is strange!! Bypassing it from uverse went back to 1080i.

Yeah My receiver is just a tad too old for ARC. It is a middle to high end Yamaha 9.1 and I love it. Unfortunately using 3d is a pain. I have to bypass the receiver because it is not 3d capable but the audio is incredible. I'll upgrade when it dies, HA! No really I am quite happy with their service and I am happy to go back again.

its too bad the idiots who abused costco's return policy who are members here cannot be exposed for doing so. likely this has been the case at best buy and other places. its a shame that a few selfish clots ruin everything. same as it ever was. the forum moderators should have said something to the people who were blatantly posting about doing so in an attempt to at least shame them.

^^^^I remember a poster at another forum who, back in 99 or so, bragged about buying dvds at Costco and returning them after watching--free rental! He was banned from that forum.

I remember years ago, it was the norm that items on sale were not returnable. That 's what you gave up, for the lower price. Items that were put on sale, were items that the store needed to clear its inventory of, for one reason or another.

If the item was defective, it would be repaired under its normal warranty. Returning a defective item back to the store, rather than having it repaired by the manufacturer, is something that's relatively new to retail.

It has become so common place, that such has become story matter for several sitcoms on TV. For example, the henpecked husband buys the BIG screen TV and sound system his wife would not let him have, for the Superbowl party he has planned, with his expectation to return it all after the party. Of course, something "funny" happens to this plan, and he has some trouble returning all the items within the store's time limit.

A "necessity for some to survive"? Really? I think you are exaggerating here.

You make it sound like life or death...to eat or not to eat. Lets just call them as they are "CROOKS" and yeah a few do ruin it for us honest folks...

No big deal, buy with credit card like MasterCard, for defective merchandise just dispute the charge. BB will make nice.