For those keeping score at home, I have been trying to get Best Buy to replace my broken iPod. So far, so bad. I am not going to go into all the gory details, but I will say that on Monday I was told I should know something by Wednesday. On Wednesday I learned that the system board was bad, but nothing could be done until I spoke with the Geek Squad manager.
So today I finally get to talk to the manger and he agrees to give me a new replacement iPod. I win! Or so I mistakenly thought.
For starters, this whole buy it online, pick it up in the store is a shame. I ordered my iPod through bestbuy.com, picked the iPod in the store, and paid for my product service plan in the store at the time I picked up the iPod.
Guess what? If you buy online, your product info is not on the store system. So I have to go home, and come back with receipt info. But wait, there is more! Info in hand does me no good because apparently there is no way to replace an item in store that was purchased online. The standard Best Buy store software does not handle such a return. Freaking ridiculous. Oh yes, there is still more.
I get the store manger to work out the details of the exchange, so I am almost on my way. I was then shocked when I was told that I could only have the iPod, not the actual box. Sounds like a stupid policy, but I guess they did not want me to get an extra pair of headphones. Not sure how that would damage Best Buy, but I finally relented and told them to give me the damn replacement iPod so I could go home.
I then realize that they have given me an iPod Photo 40GB 4G. Nice, but I tell them this is a mistake. No one seems to care. At this point I get a little concerned and ask again for the software, manuals, etc because I figure something has to be different. The Geek Squad guy tells me everything is the same. Once again I relent and say screw it, and head for home with my new iPod Photo, happy that I have a working iPod.
As I was leaving the store I decide to go back to the counter and ask one last time for the manual. The Geek Squad guy realizes that he made a mistake – I should have been giving a regular 40GB iPod, not the photo version. The guy is nice enough to give the instructions.
So now I am home and I am an unhappy camper. I do not have the right software, I do not have the right dock (the iPod Photo Dock is actually different than my standard iPod 4G doc), and I do not have the photo cables that are included. It will cost me $70 bucks to get the right dock and cables, which makes this not such a bargain.
I guess I have to go back to the store tomorrow, demand a replacement 40GB 4G or the box and other crap.
Talk about the agony of defeat. This whole ordeal has been something out of Wonderland.
Sorry to hear you have to deal with this garbage. I haven’t used Best Buy for over a year. I’ve never had a horror story like yours, but I have my own reasons for disliking the store. I personally hate the fact that the employee that takes the most interest in me at the store is the guy guarding the exit who has to look in my bag before I’m allowed to leave. Hope you get it resolved soon.
Ted
THAT SUCKS!
BEST BUY is horrid. GOOD LUCK. why didn’t they give you the box? keep us posted!
JC, I sometimes find myself in similar situations at work (I work for Vodafone) – we’ve bought out a variety of different mobile phone vendors and billing companies and are trying to migrate them onto our systems. Trying.
Our current migrations centre around a firm called Singlepoint who have been taken over by the mighty Vodafone empire. Upgrade your phone with Singlepoint and you go onto a Vodafone system. Have any problems with your upgraded phone and neither I nor any other Vodafone upgrades agent can help you. We will send you a replacement, eventually, provided you first go away and speak to Singlepoint, who are owned by…
All slightly cuckoo, especially when you’re faced with the task of explaining to a customer that you will send another handset out to them, but not just yet. They love that one.
However, that policy isn’t my doing or my fault. The Best Buy business is just awful customer service – the sort of thing I’d be disciplined for, in fact. Hope you have some luck with them.
Cheers,
Adam
Ted – the whole guy at the exits sucks. Sam’s Club does the same thing. Nothing like making customers feel like they have to prove they did not steal from the store.
Dan – I was told that I could not have the box because I did not bring in the box. I just posted an update – I gave them all my old stuff, including the box, just so I could get all the iPod Photo stuff. I guess they figured I would have sold the stuff on eBay (and I would have), but WTF does it matter when the store is just going to "junk" the original to get back a credit from Apple?
The store manager said they would not get full credit if they did not return all the parts. We almost had a coming to Jesus over the fact that I did not have my iTunes CD when I returned all my junk.
What jcalvert wrote about best buy is so true. I have had similar experience and I am very reluctant to go back to best buy.