Why do people Best Buy employees make up stuff like "customers only allowed to buy one sale laptop every three years"?
My kid belongs to a riding club that holds a couple big fund raising events per year. There are usually 300 riders over the course of 2 days. It takes a lot of energy, volunteers and two computers to handle the scoring in a timely fashion. The club also has 2-3 smaller events where laptops are used for scoring. The club normally borrowed laptops but it was a hassle getting the, reconfiguring them and then putting them back to their original state. The club rented laptops for one event but then they figured out that a pair of sale laptops would pay for themselves in 12 months. So, I was asked to identify inexpensive laptops that could run Microsoft XP, Microsoft Office 2003l. My first thought was to buy Dell Vostro 1000 dual cores @ $429 because they came with XP already installed which would save me some work. I'm a fan of Dell support and own 5 Dell Latitude laptops but decided that I'd like to buy the club's laptops locally if possible. Thus begins my painful Best Buy saga...
I read a message on Fat Wallet that said some of the Best Buy stores were closing out the Compaq V6719NR AMD dual core, DVD R/W, NVidia chipset laptops at under $379. Note that this is not an advertised special. It is one set by the store manager to clear stock. This was a good price for a machine with a nice chipset. I drove to the Shady Grove Best Buy to see if they had any with low hopes because I'd never found a deal like that there. A quick look in the laptop cage revealed 6 of the units. One of the sales guys came up and we had a discussion something like this. I'll call the sales guy "Poor Job" and the manager "Unhelpful Manager"
Begin Store Experience
BestBuy store management will make up corporate policies, information tracking and a three year waiting period, when they don't want you to buy an item. Their 800 number customer service organization cannot resolve issues and can't tell you if any action is, has or will be taken.
- Me: A sales guy walks up to me and ask if he can help. I'll refer to the sales guy as PJ for the rest of this discussion. I told the sales guy that I'd like to get a price check on the V6719NR.
- PJ: The sales guy got one out and scanned it the price was $379. He's pretty surprised at the price.
- Me: I told him that I wanted two of them.
- PJ: He said that no, they had a company policy against selling two of the discounted laptops to the same person.
- Me: I said that I need them for a non-profit and would really like two. I tell him they aren't for me.
- PJ: He said he couldn't do that.
- Me: I asked to talk to the department head and the sales guy said he was the computer manager and that they couldn't do it.
- PJ: He said he was the department manager.
- Me: I said I needed two of these for my club.
- PJ: He says that Best Buy does not allow purchases for resale.
- Me: I say that it isn't for resale, that I'll be reimbursed by the club.
- PJ: He says that Best Buy views this as resale and that I'd have to go through Best Buy for business. He tells me he couldn't sell me two even if I wanted one for myself and one for my kid.
- Me: I reiterate that I'm not reselling. Then we repeat the previous few interchanges because I'm dumbfounded that we're even having this discussion.
- Me: I say that I've got a Best Buy business rewards and ask if that would work. Then I say that I'll create an account.
- PJ: He says that I'd have to purchase from the Best Buy for Business and that I'd have to open account and they would contact me in a couple days. Then I'd have to buy from the BB for B account. We then look and find that the computer I want to purchase isn't offered by Best Buy for Business. He then tells me I couldn't purchase under Best Buy for Business today that I'd have to wait for someone to call me.
- Me: I tell him fine, that I'll buy one tonight and then purchase another one the next day if there are any left.
- PJ: He then tells me that they track all purchases and that I won't be allowed to buy a second unit. He says all the sales guys are responsible for enforcing this.
- Me: I tell him that I could buy more Dells but I didn't wanted to buy locally if I could.
- PJ: He tells me I should buy from Dell if I need two machines.
- Me: I tell him that I want to talk to the manager.
- PJ: He tells me that it won't matter but that he'll get the manager.
- Me: I wait around for a couple minutes and walk over to the TV section where the manager, hereafter referred to as UM, are laughing about something. I head back to the computer department to wait.
- PJ: He comes back and tells me the manager is busy but will be over when he can.
- Me: I wait for about 5-10 minutes and then bug PJ about the manager.
- PJ: He wanders off to find the manager and I trail behind to see if they actually talk. The yuk it up for a couple minutes and then the manager wanders over to me.
- UM: The manager walks up and asks if he can help.
- Me: I tell him that I need two laptops for my club and ask how I can purchase these items in the cage that have a price already set in the system.
- UM: He tells me they have a company policy that only allows one laptop per houshold.
- ME: I tell him I'm buying them for my club and that I need two.
- UM: He says that I can't have two.
- UM: The manager now asks me where I heard about the price.
- Me: I tell him on the internet.
- UM: The manager now asks me where I heard about the price.
- Me: I tell him on the internet. (yes, we did this at least twice)
- Me: I'm kind of tired by this point so I say that I'll buy one of the laptops in the sale circular to go with my close out unit.
- UM: The manager says that I cant' buy two different sale item, that I'm only allowed one sale laptop.
- Me: I ask if I could buy two closeout TVs if he had them.
- UM: He says that he would be happy to sell me two TVs but not two computers because it's against corporate policy.
- UM: The manager asks me where I found out the deal. He tells me they got rid of rebates so they lose money on many sale items. They have a lot of folks reselling on ebay so they are restricting the sale of sale and closeout items.
- Me: I mention that the manager sets the price on closeouts and that they shouldn't lower them so much.
- Me: I ask when I can come back to buy another sale laptop because we have an event coming up in a month.
- UM: The manager says that it will be a while.
- Me: I ask if its a month, year, how long.
- UM: He starts talking about he average replacement cycles for laptops is in years so it would have to be that long before I purchase another laptop from them.
- Me: I tell him I have 5 Dell laptops for my company and that I buy another one every year.
- UM: He says to buy from Dell if I have a problem with this.
- Me: I ask how long would it be, a month, year , 3 years.
- UM: He says that the average cycle would be 3 years so they don't expect folks to buy laptops from them more than once every 1-3 years.
- Me: I'm sort of floored by the 3 years number. It is hard to believe that Best Buy wants to track or even has a hook in their register system to enforce anything this ridiculous. I ask if I could buy an Apple Mac at the same time I buy this laptop.
- UM: He says that would be fine because the Macs are never on sale.
- The manager and I decide there is no more to talk about.
- Me: I purchase the laptop and send an email to our groups advisory council for our club asking if anyone could purchase a 2nd laptop for the club. Some one picks up the laptop the next day so we have our two machines. She tells me there were only two left when she went in that morning. They somehow sold 4 of the machines between 6PM when I left and 10:30 the next morning. I ask PJ for the customer service number so I can complain to corporate. he gives me one of their flyers.
- Me: I call customer service that night and tell them what happened. They ask about the unit and the price and put me on hold
- CS: They come back on and say there is no corporate policy limiting the number of sale items per year. They say that the local manager can restrict sales of closeout machines to give more folks a chance but that there are no corporate policies limiting the number of sale items over any time period.
- Me: I tell the CS representative about the 3 year purchase limit.
- CS: The customer service person tells me they don't have that policy and that he doubts they even have a way to enforce it since they don't know who's buying items.
- Me: I ask to create a customer service request.
- CS: They say they will send the request but that it will go into the email system that is not linked to their call tracking system. The message goes to the regional manager and they handle it. The customer service group never sees the responses or is informed of any action taken.
- ME: I tell them I'd like to know what happens as a result of this.
- CS: They tell me they could never tell me what happens even if they find out because of employee privacy issues.
BestBuy store management will make up corporate policies, information tracking and a three year waiting period, when they don't want you to buy an item. Their 800 number customer service organization cannot resolve issues and can't tell you if any action is, has or will be taken.
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