Weird, but awesome, experience at Best Buy tonight.

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Whambamm

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I'm not sure how or why this happened, but I was at Best Buy tonight trying to figure out what to spend the around $22 I had left on 2 gift cards from Christmas. I decided to get 3 CDs and pay for the difference left over.

When I was paying the total came out to $37.xx and I give the cashier the 2 gift cards to take off the total. She scans the first one and it takes off $7.95, the amount that was left on it. I then hand her a $15 gift card that hadn't been used before, and it takes all of the remaining $30.99 off. The receipt shows that the $15 gift card took off $30.99 and had a remaining balance of $0.00. The cashier thinks that its so funny how I had the exact amount on the gift cards and I wasn't going to argue that the second gift card had more than double what it was supposed to have on it. So, I took the CDs and left.

Has anyone heard about a glitch like this before?
 
Wasn't Dishonest. Does anyone know for sure how much was on that gift card? Unless the OP bought said giftcard himself and put on $15.00 we might never know if it happened when the person bought the gifftcard or when OP redeemed giftcard.
 
I've come across other little glitches too, but it was due more to human error that wasn't noticed until days later. I ordered a CD online for instore pickup. I went to the counter and the store supervisor person was the one that ended up helping me. He got the CD, and then checked my card....but didn't swipe it. Which I thought was odd, but whatever. I get back home thinking nothing of it, but then 2 days later I get a notice saying my pickup had been canceled ( I had waited like 5-6 days to pick the CD up) and my card was credited the amount of the CD.
 
I don't think it was anymore dishonest than a price mistake or a glitch.

Getting more change back than you are supposed to is different as that would make the employee's cash drawer short and they might have to pay the difference.
 
[quote name='pimpinc333']Wasn't Dishonest. Does anyone know for sure how much was on that gift card? Unless the OP bought said giftcard himself and put on $15.00 we might never know if it happened when the person bought the gifftcard or when OP redeemed giftcard.[/QUOTE]

Exactly, and if he said "Hey this gift card dosen't have THAT much on it", what are they going to do? Unless he carries receipts with him detailing how much is left on, he can't prove how much SHOULD be on there... the manager can come over and take his gift card, call it a fake, and not give him shit.

As Yoshi said, this dosen't affect the cashier at all.
 
I don't know about this one. Yeah, if it was $100 I would think the right thing to do is to call the manager over and sit there explaining the situation, waiting for them to straighten things out.

But for $15.99? Waste 5 minutes of your time plus the effort of explaining to a manager who's looking at you wearily because he thinks some dumbass is making him leave his office because of some confusion on your part? And at the same time, a crowd gathers to look at you, wondering what's up? I'd say the time and effort spent, the potentially awkward social situation, and the potential that somebody did indeed put more money into that gift card than you realized add up to not calling attention to the situation. Plus, maybe you forgot how much was on that gift card. ;)
 
Is it possible $15 giftcards (when used with another giftcard before it) take of the remaining amount of a transaction?
 
[quote name='djkunai']Is it possible $15 giftcards (when used with another giftcard before it) take of the remaining amount of a transaction?[/quote]

Why don't you go try and let us know?
 
[quote name='Collectordragon']What you did is quite dishonest. Do you also keep extra change given to you by mistake?[/QUOTE]

Man, I should revoke your CAG status. Are you sure you are in the right place?
:booty:
 
I had a similar experience in which I ended up with several free games. After contacting the company twice on the phone, they let me keep them anyway.

All that is not to pat myself on the back but to say in my experience you sleep a lot better when you know you've done your part to give the company who made a "mistake" every opportunity to save themselves from having to pay for an unexpected glitch in their system.
 
[quote name='chosen1s']
All that is not to pat myself on the back but to say in my experience you sleep a lot better when you know you've done your part to give the company who made a "mistake" every opportunity to save themselves from having to pay for an unexpected glitch in their system.[/quote]

So i guess im a bad guy for buying that $25 Star Trek : Enterprise Complete series set from walmart (instead of the $348 price they fixed it to later)? :lol:
 
I remember I had a $50.00 dollar giftcard for Hot Topic and I used most of it, there should of been like $3.00 dollars left on it, but when I went to use the rest of it there was still $50.00.

That was pretty nice.
 
[quote name='daphatty']Man, I should revoke your CAG status. Are you sure you are in the right place?
:booty:[/QUOTE]

Since when has being cheap meant you were ok with thievery? You're not a proponent of five-finger discounts are you? That gets you the best deals. ;)
 
[quote name='Collectordragon']Since when has being cheap meant you were ok with thievery? You're not a proponent of five-finger discounts are you? That gets you the best deals. ;)[/quote]

And at what point did he steal something?
 
One time I had to cash in my ipod warranty at bestbuy. I paid 400$ for the ipod, and the extra 30$ or whatever for the 2 year warranty. Just over a year in, i dropped my ipod, so i called them up, mailed it in and got a check in the mail. However, the check was for 300$... they still owed me $100. So I called them up to correct it.

They told me to spend the 300$, and they would send out a check for the difference. So I bought myself a new ipod (a mini, if i recall), and the 300$ covered it just fine. So one day the check arrives, and i decide to go shopping again... after all, i've got 100$ to burn.

So a certain model tivo/dvd player was on sale for 150$ that week, and I walk into best buy, grab one, and walk up to the counter with my 100$ check, and my debit card. The lady scans the tivo, then scans the check... then she says "hold on" and walks away... she comes back with a gift card, swipes it through... my receipt prints out, and she hands me the receipt and gift card, saying only, "you're all set."

I take the tivo and receipt and gift card and walk out to the parking lot to see what the fuck just happened... the balance on my giftcard was 250$... turns out the 100$ check, even though it clearly read 100$, had the full amount of $400.00 on it.

Needless to say, I went on a shopping spree that evening. To anyone who thinks I didn't "do the right thing," put yourself in that situation. Come on, I think bestbuy can afford it. If it was a situation where I found 250$ and a tivo inside of a wallet, you can bet your ass I would return the wallet with everything intact... i know i'd want someone to do the same. maybe if i own a multi-million $ corporation someday, I'll revise my stance.
 
The guy never stole anything and for all he knew, the cashier that originally rang up the giftcard when it was first purchased could have punched in the wrong amount. That's no fault of his.
 
Im guessing it was a mistake on the cashier's part, just a hunch. Wouldn't worry about it though.
 
point is, the cashier NOTICED the oddity and - pass go collect $100. done.

ps - today at work, some guys selling flashlights and rachet sets in the parking lot. same guys as the ones who sell coloring books and so forth. i saw them and wanted a flashlight. it was one of those 3,000,000 candel light power things with an AC and car adapter for $10. the rachet set was $5. i turned the light on to make sure it worked and gave the boss (the money man) a ten dollar bill. he then gave it to his partner and said "now we have change" the partner took the ten and immediately gave me a twenty. i looked at his and said, obviously confused, "uhhhhh, huh?" and his boss said whats going on. at that point i could've walked away with my flashlight and the twenty but didn't and forced the guy to think about what he just did. the boss cought on and gave him 'that look'. yeah, it went accross my mind, but that negative $10 could've costed him his job. blood money. something like that, where the guy obviously didn't know what was going on, or was stoned on weed, would've been steeling. also, the extra $10 and flashlight would be blood money.
 
[quote name='minos1067']point is, the cashier NOTICED the oddity and - pass go collect $100. done.

ps - today at work, some guys selling flashlights and rachet sets in the parking lot. same guys as the ones who sell coloring books and so forth. i saw them and wanted a flashlight. it was one of those 3,000,000 candel light power things with an AC and car adapter for $10. the rachet set was $5. i turned the light on to make sure it worked and gave the boss (the money man) a ten dollar bill. he then gave it to his partner and said "now we have change" the partner took the ten and immediately gave me a twenty. i looked at his and said, obviously confused, "uhhhhh, huh?" and his boss said whats going on. at that point i could've walked away with my flashlight and the twenty but didn't and forced the guy to think about what he just did. the boss cought on and gave him 'that look'. yeah, it went accross my mind, but that negative $10 could've costed him his job. blood money. something like that, where the guy obviously didn't know what was going on, or was stoned on weed, would've been steeling. also, the extra $10 and flashlight would be blood money.[/QUOTE]

That's different though. In that situation, they're short on money and yes, he could have list his job. In a gift card situation like this however, the money is actually there, it's just not supposed to be. As far as their concerned, everything is fine. I know what you mean though. One time I cashed an $8 money order at the bank and the teller misread it for $80. I pointed out the mistake and it was fixed. Now that would have been stealing. I just don't feel like something like this is.
 
My dad managed to get a 32 inch Magnavox LCD tv for $400. It was originally $1000 but had a $300 gift card/instant rebate due to it being an open box item and he somehow got an extra $300 off.
 
[quote name='varsitygamer']One time I had to cash in my ipod warranty at bestbuy. I paid 400$ for the ipod, and the extra 30$ or whatever for the 2 year warranty. Just over a year in, i dropped my ipod, so i called them up, mailed it in and got a check in the mail. However, the check was for 300$... they still owed me $100. So I called them up to correct it.

They told me to spend the 300$, and they would send out a check for the difference. So I bought myself a new ipod (a mini, if i recall), and the 300$ covered it just fine. So one day the check arrives, and i decide to go shopping again... after all, i've got 100$ to burn.

So a certain model tivo/dvd player was on sale for 150$ that week, and I walk into best buy, grab one, and walk up to the counter with my 100$ check, and my debit card. The lady scans the tivo, then scans the check... then she says "hold on" and walks away... she comes back with a gift card, swipes it through... my receipt prints out, and she hands me the receipt and gift card, saying only, "you're all set."

I take the tivo and receipt and gift card and walk out to the parking lot to see what the fuck just happened... the balance on my giftcard was 250$... turns out the 100$ check, even though it clearly read 100$, had the full amount of $400.00 on it.

Needless to say, I went on a shopping spree that evening. To anyone who thinks I didn't "do the right thing," put yourself in that situation. Come on, I think bestbuy can afford it. If it was a situation where I found 250$ and a tivo inside of a wallet, you can bet your ass I would return the wallet with everything intact... i know i'd want someone to do the same. maybe if i own a multi-million $ corporation someday, I'll revise my stance.[/quote]

Haha, that's awesome. What all did you buy? :D
 
Merry Christmas from Best Buy!

PS: If you get overchanged more than a dollar, please let the employee know. I was sharing a shift with my co-worker and one of us overchanged by $10 (grabbed a $20 instead of a $10) and we had to pay out of our own pocket in order for us to keep the job.
 
[quote name='Scorch']Merry Christmas from Best Buy!

PS: If you get overchanged more than a dollar, please let the employee know. I was sharing a shift with my co-worker and one of us overchanged by $10 (grabbed a $20 instead of a $10) and we had to pay out of our own pocket in order for us to keep the job.[/QUOTE]

That's for cash though... dosen't really apply to gift cards, since there is no way to ever see the amount that was on there ahead of time.

In the final tally of the register, it'll just show someone used a $31 gift card and that's the end of that.
 
[quote name='bil4ltool']I agree, it was dishonest.....but it was Best Buy and if there's any company that deserves it, Best Buy is it.[/QUOTE]
agreed
 
So basically, if this is a glitch, I could go into BB with 2 gift cards and walk out with something of ANY value? KA CHING!!! IF this were a valid 'glitch', I would SO be upgrading to a nice HDTV using my $20 gift card they sent me for bitching about not getting the .00 guides and another one I'd put like .50 on. LOL

That is, of course, if this were an actual glitch that would cover the entire cost of the item I brought up.

Then again, who keeps $600-2000 on a gift card?!?!?! LOL

And yeah, maybe I'm the shady kind of person who might think bout doing this, but all the legal ramifications if I got caught would have me crapping my shorts while they're ringing me out and I'd chicken out.

Either way though, if it IS a glitch, I know some will exploit it fully soon enough.
 
As an indvidual the ethical thing to do is point out that there is a problem and if the manager or whomever doesn't care then no big deal.

However, to say best buy deserves to get ripped off because they are an unethical company then it can be concluded that you should not shop there in the first place and reward bad behavior. If you allow that Best Buy is a shady company but you take advantage of thier prices and services anyway don't ruin your karma by taking advantage of a situation and justifying it later. You have become the thing you hate and now the darkside's victory is complete.:cool:
 
If the manager is really cool they will also let you off the hook and you will get your stuff for free without feeling guilty (really unlikely to happen at best buy though). I was at pizza hut last week ordering pizza with one of the reciepts that have a place to enter a survey code number on them, after you do the survey you write the code in and you get to order a medium pizza for 3.99 with anything you want on it (at least thats how it is at my pizza hut!). So we had a medium pizza with like 5 toppings and ate in the restaurant however when we got the bill there was no drinks on the bill and only a 10$ charge for the pizza (based on a different promotion they were having). The managers at our pizza hut are really cool btw, and they are so nice, i wish the gamestop managers were this nice. Basically with the coupon we had a pizza and 3 drinks for about 4-5$, because of the waitresses stupidity to not put the drinks on the bill even though we offered to pay for the drinks even though they were not on the bill, but the manager let it slide and yes we still got to use the coupon for 3.99 thats how we got the pizza so cheap!
 
Not only is bestbuy a shady business that would steal money from your pocket if they could, everything at bestbuy is overpriced to begin with. I'm glad this error occurred. I would actually condone people stealing money out of the cash registers at bestbuy as long as nobody got hurt.
 
Awesome, I am going to best buy, I am hoping they will sell me the left over pre order boxes for lost planet since it already came out. On second though.....better check wal mart too.:rofl::whistle2:\"
 
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