MrBlank
CAGiversary!
A month or two ago, I placed a Halo 3 preorder through Best Buy with a promotion for three Xbox Live point cards at $5 each. It was a great deal and since I was saving so much money, I splurged and got the collector’s edition. Once my order was placed, I was able to pick up the cards at the store, but I had to have the game delivered to me. No big deal. I’d just get it a few days after the release date.
The release date for Halo 3 soon arrived and the whole scratched disc fiasco threw-up all over the internets, which got me a little worried. At least Microsoft was offering to replace discs for free (of course, you have to pay to ship it to them and be without the game for two weeks). But really, there isn’t any excuse for the collector’s edition to have shitty packaging. I took some comfort in the fact that I bought it from Best Buy and I’d be able to exchange a scratched one for another. So I thought.
After a week of waiting the package arrived and it was in a padded envelope — a padded envelope. My special collector’s edition — the one that you have to pay extra for, in a tin box — showed up beat to hell and dented in. Oh, and the discs where scratched too.
I immediately took it back to Best Buy to exchange. I explained my problem and showed the smashed, scratched game and the girl behind the counter told me to go grab another. I picked through the stacks of games on display until I found one that didn’t sound like it had discs flopping around inside and took it back to the counter.
Then I get the “Oh, you bought this at bestbuy.com?” and was told that I couldn’t exchange the game at the store. I had to mail it back and they’d ship me another. I said I didn’t want to wait and it would be shipped back to me in the same type of padded envelope and I’d be back here again with a smashed game. They had plenty of copies there. Why couldn’t I just trade my broken one for another?
Next, I got the option to return the game, but I’d have to pay full price for the three points cards. I said I didn’t want to do that, but I wasn’t going to keep the damaged game. While I was fuming, the girl refunded my card and handed me the receipt with a refund of $27.94.
The game was $69.99! “I didn’t want you to do that!” I said, “undo that.” She said she couldn’t. I told her to fix it, so she got on the phone for a while and came up with a “fix.” I would buy another copy of the game, at full price and corporate would call me later in the week to confirm the purchace and then refund me the promotional price on the cards. I laughed, so did the guy behind me, and I said no thank you.
Then I said I wanted to talk to a manager. She said she was managing customer service today. I was about to loose it, so I cut my losses and left. I went home and grabbed the two points cards I didn’t open and went back for a refund on them.
I got all but $22.96 of my money back and all I have to show for it is a couple of wasted hours, wasted gas and 1600 MS points.
The moral of the story is
Don’t have Best Buy ship you anything. It will take a long time to get to you and it will be in inadequate packaging. Always pick up at the store.
If you have a problem, the customer service will do what ever it takes to get rid of you, including making up phony stories about corporate calling you later to refund you money if you buy more stuff from them.
For some reason, Best Buy wants to treat their online store and their brick and mortar stores differently, but present them as the same to the consumer with store pick-up and returns with online orders. I find that dishonest and pretty much the root of all the trouble I had today, so I’ll be shopping elsewhere next time. At least I was finally able to get my copy at the local used CD shop, where I should have gone in the first place.
The release date for Halo 3 soon arrived and the whole scratched disc fiasco threw-up all over the internets, which got me a little worried. At least Microsoft was offering to replace discs for free (of course, you have to pay to ship it to them and be without the game for two weeks). But really, there isn’t any excuse for the collector’s edition to have shitty packaging. I took some comfort in the fact that I bought it from Best Buy and I’d be able to exchange a scratched one for another. So I thought.
After a week of waiting the package arrived and it was in a padded envelope — a padded envelope. My special collector’s edition — the one that you have to pay extra for, in a tin box — showed up beat to hell and dented in. Oh, and the discs where scratched too.
I immediately took it back to Best Buy to exchange. I explained my problem and showed the smashed, scratched game and the girl behind the counter told me to go grab another. I picked through the stacks of games on display until I found one that didn’t sound like it had discs flopping around inside and took it back to the counter.
Then I get the “Oh, you bought this at bestbuy.com?” and was told that I couldn’t exchange the game at the store. I had to mail it back and they’d ship me another. I said I didn’t want to wait and it would be shipped back to me in the same type of padded envelope and I’d be back here again with a smashed game. They had plenty of copies there. Why couldn’t I just trade my broken one for another?
Next, I got the option to return the game, but I’d have to pay full price for the three points cards. I said I didn’t want to do that, but I wasn’t going to keep the damaged game. While I was fuming, the girl refunded my card and handed me the receipt with a refund of $27.94.
The game was $69.99! “I didn’t want you to do that!” I said, “undo that.” She said she couldn’t. I told her to fix it, so she got on the phone for a while and came up with a “fix.” I would buy another copy of the game, at full price and corporate would call me later in the week to confirm the purchace and then refund me the promotional price on the cards. I laughed, so did the guy behind me, and I said no thank you.
Then I said I wanted to talk to a manager. She said she was managing customer service today. I was about to loose it, so I cut my losses and left. I went home and grabbed the two points cards I didn’t open and went back for a refund on them.
I got all but $22.96 of my money back and all I have to show for it is a couple of wasted hours, wasted gas and 1600 MS points.
The moral of the story is
Don’t have Best Buy ship you anything. It will take a long time to get to you and it will be in inadequate packaging. Always pick up at the store.
If you have a problem, the customer service will do what ever it takes to get rid of you, including making up phony stories about corporate calling you later to refund you money if you buy more stuff from them.
For some reason, Best Buy wants to treat their online store and their brick and mortar stores differently, but present them as the same to the consumer with store pick-up and returns with online orders. I find that dishonest and pretty much the root of all the trouble I had today, so I’ll be shopping elsewhere next time. At least I was finally able to get my copy at the local used CD shop, where I should have gone in the first place.
mail order , B&M FTW .
