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Cathie
Member
08-16-2000
| Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 10:09 pm
BIG MAJOR SCREAM HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My video card on this computer is going out (hope I can see well enough to edit this!) and I stopped at Best Buy on the way home and bought a new one for $199, more than I wanted to pay but I had a couple of gift cards left over from Christmas so it wasn't that bad. I opened the box after watching The Apprentice, planning to install it tonight. It was in what looks like the original shrink wrap (sticker from the factory on the shrink wrap), with a heavier brown cardboard box inside the outer thin cardboard box. When I slid the heavier box out of the wrapping it popped open to reveal about a half a ream of paper with "Happy Birthday" scribbled in ink on the top page. And that's it. No fancy video card, nothing. And, of course, it was 9:03 and the store closed at 9:00. I tried calling but the phone was just on the recorder to call back during business hours. I am so friggin' mad! Will they even believe me? I know I would be suspicious if I were them, yeah, sure lady, it was that way from the factory... They open at 10am and I have an important meeting at work at 10am so I will have to wait 'til after my meeting to take it back. Did I mention I AM MAD????????????????? I wish I could take it back now WHILE I'M MAD!!! Any suggestions for how to deal with this? Anyone want to buy a box of $199 copy paper?
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Legalboxer
Member
11-17-2003
| Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 10:15 pm
i am speechless
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Cathie
Member
08-16-2000
| Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 10:33 pm
I just emailed the manufacturer, ATI, about the situation and asked if they perhaps had any disgruntled employees in their packaging department. I know it was probably worthless, but I feel like I have to do something, and at least I have gone on record with them. Special sale, tonight only, $198 for the whole box...any takers?
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 10:51 pm
Cathie..Best buy has good cust service policy, I am positve they will exchange that for a new one. My thought is someone bought it, took it out, filled the box with that ream, sealed it and returned it to best buy. Hopefully they can track it by the upc code
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Carrie92
Member
09-15-2003
| Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 10:59 pm
Wow, Cathie. That is AWFUL! I hope you get compensated and thensome! I would be screaming mad too.
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Max
Member
08-12-2000
| Thursday, February 12, 2004 - 11:57 pm
I think it's good that you couldn't go back to the store when you're mad. I know that it's now a huge inconvenience for you, but it's better to approach the store when you are not angry. You'll have a better chance of a good outcome. Best Buy does have a great customer service policy, as Pamy said. Take the entire thing back and start with the assumption that they will "make you whole" without any problems. If you start from that assumption, and be polite with the people at the counter, you might all get a good laugh out of the situation by the end of the transaction. Chances are someone brought pulled a scheme on the store by returning the box in pristine condition on the exterior and the person who accepted it didn't check inside all the inner boxes. Stores get ripped off in various ways all the time and this is one of the more inventive ones I've heard. Anyway, I'm betting you'll come out okay. Keep a positive attitude! Now, here's my most recent similar experience (just so you know you're not alone). I went to Frye's Electronics on Tuesday and bought several things, including a 9-in-4 USB card reader (reads a variety of memory cards from digital cameras and what not). The original price was $49.99, it was on sale for $39.99, and it had a $10 rebate on top of that. Okay, so I check out and the guy has to go to a central area behind the LONG checkout counter (it's a big warehouse kind of store) to get the rebate forms for me. After about five minutes, he finally comes back, hands me the rebate forms, and I'm on my way. The guy at the door checks my receipt and my bag (standard procedure) and I'm off. Get home that night and start to play with my new "toys," hooking up various stuff. Suddenly, I realized that the card reader isn't in the bag! Back out to the car to see if it fell out in the trunk. Nope. Store is closed for the night. I couldn't figure out what happened! Then I realize that the guy probably took the card reader with him to get the correct rebate form and somehow forgot to bring it back with the form. I was spacing out and didn't even notice. The next day, I called the store and explained the situation to the gal on the phone. She took my receipt number and the item's SKU number and said a manager would have to call me back. Never heard a thing. Well, today, a manager DID call me back. He was embarrassed. They had the card reader, found in the rebate area behind the counter. I'm going to pick it up on Saturday (it's about a half hour drive to get there). Inconvenient for me, but I should have been paying more attention anyway. I'm just glad they believed me and are making sure I'm happy.
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Colordeagua
Member
10-25-2003
| Friday, February 13, 2004 - 7:56 am
quote:I'm going to pick it up on Saturday (it's about a half hour drive to get there). Inconvenient for me, but I should have been paying more attention anyway. I'm just glad they believed me and are making sure I'm happy.
Max, I always like your answers. You're so informed and levelheaded. But I don't believe it is up to the customer to be certain that "everything is in the box" or the like. I am very unhappy when I have to make a return trip to a store no matter the distance to correct an error the store made -- and I let them know it.
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Max
Member
08-12-2000
| Friday, February 13, 2004 - 8:55 am
Well, I'm willing to meet them in the middle on this one. The fact that the weather has gotten nicer and I can cruise down there in the VW with the top down doesn't hurt! That's why I was there in the first place -- an excuse to go driving with the top down and pretend it really IS spring. I suppose I could have asked them to ship it to me, but what the heck.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Friday, February 13, 2004 - 2:45 pm
Max, should I point out that this spring-like weather you were driving around in is actually 53 degrees and the first sun we have had all winter? I still think Pacific northwesters do some crazy things when the sun makes a rare appearance, but I think I am getting acclimated.
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Cathie
Member
08-16-2000
| Friday, February 13, 2004 - 10:32 pm
Just following up to let you know I'm finished screaming. Best Buy was gracious, after they consulted with a dozen or so employees, who all decided that the culprit must have been a customer who made the switch and then re-shrink-wrapped it and returned it as one that was never opened (because they swear they would never re-wrap and put it back on the shelf without opening the box and checking the merchandise.) As I was leaving with my new video card two employees were picking up and shaking the remaining boxes on the shelves to see if there were any more like mine, which was actually alot heavier with a half a ream of paper in it than the lightweight video card and small manual in the real boxes. All is well with the world again 
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Friday, February 13, 2004 - 10:40 pm
I knew BB would come thru!!!! YAH Cathie!
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Christy358
Member
07-31-2002
| Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 1:23 am
Have to add my 2 cents. Any time you have a problem with a retail store, your best bet is to remain calm and tell the whole story and expect them to fix the situation. Never ever get mad at the sales people, they did not do it. Just keep calm and keep asking for the next higher up person. As you go up the chain of command, your problem becomes smaller in the greater picture, and more easy to fix. Just stay polite and never take no for an answer.
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 10:17 am
What ever in the world is a 'video card'?
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Draheid
Moderator
09-09-2001
| Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 10:30 am
Ophiliasgrandma: A 'video card' is the part of your computer that puts the information on your monitor. Newer cards usually have more memory dedicated to displaying graphics making what is displayed look even better and help your computer work better for you depending on the programs you run. Hope that helps.
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Tabbyking
Member
03-11-2002
| Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 10:40 am
several years ago, we bought a car alarm system at fry's. we took it around to have it installed (the closest fry's at that time was 100 miles from our home). the young man in service told me he could schedule us in for 9:00 a.m. the following day. i told him their policy was to install it same-day. he called the manager, who asked where i heard that. all of a sudden, their advertising loop came to this point in their loudspeakered announcements: "remember, all car alarms will be installed same day! buy an alarm today and have it installed while you wait." "oh", the manager said. then, since they really didn't have someone who could install it that day (it was maybe 2:00 p.m.), the manager gave me 80 dollars cash for a hotel room and cheap meal, gave me tickets to take the kids to the winchester mystery house, and took 50% off the cost of the alarm. we stayed overnight in sunnyvale, after going to the winchester mystery house and hitting mcdonald's. now, THAT'S service! fry's does have some awful cashiers. my husband is convinced they are the same people who used to work at moffett field, and he is probably right. but when we have had a problem or a return, they take care of it beautifully. i told cathie earlier about this, but two christmases ago i bought my dd an electric shaver. i was going to wrap it and put it under the tree without looking inside the sealed box...then i thought maybe dd would want to use it when she opened it, so wouldn't it be nice if i charged it for the 18 hours or so necessary for a first charge... and i opened it and someone had put two half-empty dirty bottles of lotion in it and the shaver and recharger were nowhere to be seen. thank heaven i opened it early. had dd opened it late christmas eve, it would have had to wait to be returned, and i bought it about 3 weeks ahead of time. some places won't let you return things that far down the line. and, ick, but i swear one of the lotions had a pubic hair on it.

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Landi
Member
07-29-2002
| Saturday, February 14, 2004 - 12:47 pm
okay.. that was just plain ICK!
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