Originally, I was going to title my rant here "Best Buy Sucks".  A quick google search , however, shows that neither the phrase nor the sentiment is particularly unique.  I've read a lot of horror stories about people and their experiences with this particular retail chain.  One of my favorite ones (here ) was about a guy who refused to allow his bag to be searched at exit - they "pinned" him to his car and called the police.  He had not stolen anything.  This one was a fun read, and got coverage on some larger websites.  It is about a girl who was "cheated" out of an IPOD by Best Buy.  The last one I'll highlight is this one , where a guy bought a hard drive and recieved a box of bathroom tiles.  The heartwarming part of that story is where Best Buy wouldn't refund payment.

Now, I don't know if these are true or not, but I do know that I have had my own altercation with their famously friendly customer service.  The details of this interaction are outlined below. 

Mistake #1:  I bought a car stereo head unit from Best Buy as a gift for someone.  I normally would have bought an item like this from an online source, but I didn't have time because I procrastinated in obtaining this gift.  I purchase the item and pay via my debit card. 

Mistake #2:  After buying the radio, I realized that I would need a wiring harness for a neat and tidy installation.  I asked the same guy who sold me the head unit for a wiring harness.  He asked the details of the vehicle and produced a wiring harness.  The item was in a plastic baggy and came from the back "installation area".  This item was around $10.  I checked out and paid cash. 

Mistake #3:  I left the store and went over to present the intended recipient with this gift.  I didn't wrap it - I think plastic bags count as wrapping.  I went to install the item in their vehicle and quickly realized that Best Buy had sold me the wrong wiring harness.  No matter, there was a Walmart nearby.  I ran over there and grabbed the right wiring harness.  The install completed without a hitch.

Mistake #4:  A few days later when I was back in the area of Best Buy, I stopped in to return the wiring harness and pick up a DVD player for another gift for someone else.  There are a few months in my family where it seems everyone has a birthday. I pick out my DVD player and go to the desk to return the wiring harness.  I didn't have a receipt, but figured they would just issue me store credit.

Mistake #5:  The ever-helpful customer service associate refused my return.  The basis was that I didn't have a receipt, and since I had paid cash, they couldn't look up my purchase in the computer.  I tried to explain that if I kept the receipt for every $10 and under purchase that I made, I would literally have many thousands of receipts.  My logic was, of course, wasted.  I went on to detail how this item was picked out and supplied by Best Buy themselves.  Specifically, the reason it needs to be returned is because they either gave me the wrong one or mis-represented the one they gave me.  Again, my reasoning, though rock solid to me were lost on the customer service associate.

Mistake #6:  I walked away, wiring harness in hand.  I didn't really care about the $10, but I was pretty stoked up about the principle of the thing.  I mean, THEY chose the wrong harness and represented it as the harness I needed.  How is it my fault in any way?  I put down the DVD player and left the store.  I ended up buying a DVD player somewhere else.  It drives me crazy how counter-intuitive this was.  In addition to the obvious shoddy business practice, isn't it also not the most profitable approach?  I was going to buy a fairly expensive DVD player, the profit from which probably exceeded whatever loss they would have obtained by accepting my return - even if they couldn't re-sell the item (but they could).

Mistake #7: Going to Best Buy at all.  Ever.  If you want my advice, you'll listen to the story presented here and on roughly 472,000 other websites.  There are many stores out there that can compete with Best Buy, use your wallet to send a message to Best Buy that customer service matters.  I think that in general, I am going to start paying more attention to return policies, particularly unreasonable ones where you can get stuck with stuff that the vendor sells you in a border-line fraudulent manner.

More Best Buy stories:
http://www.screaming-penguin.com/node/2506
http://www.breakitdownblog.com/best-buy-sucks-54-million-lawsuit/