I think Best Buy might have just given me about $900 in credit by mistake.

T

the_gloaming

CAGiversary!
So last Tuesday, I bought a brand new laptop so I could finally replace my old desktop, which really can't run a damn thing on it. The new one was $1600 after tax, and somehow I managed to get a really awesome deal because it runs just like I want it to. I put down $700 on it, and had the rest put into a payment plan.

Everything was great, except for one thing -- the battery wouldn't charge, at all. After going through customer service with the manufacturer for about an hour and a half, it was determined that the battery hold or something was defective and because it'd only been four days since I bought it, I should exchange it with Best Buy.

So yesterday I went to Best Buy for an exchange -- they didn't have any in stock. The customer service representative told me that "RSS" was down (if anyone knows what that is, please let me know) and she couldn't check other stores for their stock. So she issued a full return on the defective computer, waived the restocking fee, and then issued me a gift card for just over $1600.

Then she went to BestBuy.com to order it using the gift card, but they were out of stock too. Somewhere around this point, RSS came back up, and they issued an order to another store, used my new $1600 gift card to purchase it, and told me to come pick it up in a few days.

So my question is, when she did the return on the laptop initially, did that clear away my payment plan? And did Best Buy just eat the rest of my payment for me by mistake?
 
Their mistake is your gain.

In any case, if the employee did do a complete refund/return, I would think that it would constitute cancelling everything associated with the purchase. That would include any protection plans, payment plans, etc. Why? Because it doesn't make sense to keep a protection plan or payment plan if you returned the product.

If indeed the gift card that the employee issued you was for the full price of the laptop, then I'd say that the employee did accidentally give you a wonderful $900 in credit.

Take it and head for the border. Heh.

So the question now would be, does Best Buy keep records of cancelled/refunded purchases (and anything associated with the purchase, including payment plans), and if there is someone checking cancelled/refunded purchases. If they do, and if there is someone who checks up on that type of stuff, then I say you may get a call sometime soon to try and correct this mistake. I'm sure that they would keep such records, and probably have someone hired specifically to review these records.
 
RSS = Real Simple Syndication. Many sites have this to keep track of updates.

If you use Firefox, you'll see RSS with your "Latest Headlines" tab on your bookmarks toolbar.

For more info, go here:

RSS on wiki
 
Knowing that it's Best Buy, they probably screwed you.

You are probably still into their payment program for $900. Not only would you have to pay them $900 over the length of the plan, you likely can not use the gift card to do it. Thus you have essentially purchased $900 worth of gift card via a payment plan. The kicker is that they refunded your $700 back, but onto a gift card that you can only use with them, essentially locking in that money with them instead of giving your money back like a respectable retailer.

Therefore, your $1600 gift card is worth your initial $700 plus $900 worth of store credit you can only use at Best Buy, with a $900 debt waiting in the wings. From Best Buy's perspective, you have at this point purchased a $1600 gift card with $700 now and $900 later. If you use that on a new laptop, then you are back where you intended. If you buy anything ELSE with it, you are suddenly into a payment plan for $900 worth of game consoles, or what have you, beyond your initial $700.

Buy a laptop, and if I'm wrong about the payment plan part of it, then smile about getting a $1600 laptop for $700.
 
From reading the_gloaming's post, sounds like the gift card has already been completely used to order up the replacement laptop. The only question is whether or not he'll still have to pay back the $900 that was put on the payment plan. I'm rooting for you, the_gloaming, but I wouldn't be shocked if their computer system is solid enough to keep employees from making stupid errors like this.
 
[quote name='Caliburn']RSS = Real Simple Syndication. Many sites have this to keep track of updates.

If you use Firefox, you'll see RSS with your "Latest Headlines" tab on your bookmarks toolbar.

For more info, go here:

RSS on wiki[/QUOTE]
RSS does indeed mean that, but that doesn't have anything to do with checking stock in Best Buy's computer system. In this case it means "retail stock system" and is apparently their name for the computer system that checks stock across stores.
 
sounds to me like you will still be getting bills on that one... because either way the "credit line" was still open from the sound of it, i really doubt you'd "get away" w/ it but if you do great cuz best buy is evil.
 
The employees can't cancel out debt on a payment plan...Best Buy uses a third party billing company for that stuff like most companies do. You'll still get a bill.
 
[quote name='Rictor']The employees can't cancel out debt on a payment plan...Best Buy uses a third party billing company for that stuff like most companies do. You'll still get a bill.[/QUOTE]


bingo.

which is unfortunate-- I was rooting for you when I saw the topic :)
 
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