Complaint Review: Best Buy - Santa Maria California

""BestBuy is a huge company and they have a huge computer system. You can't have a Point Of Sale system do the task of taking stuff out of stock the instant it is sold."" Correct (but only because of symantics). It's not taken out of stock the "instant" it is sold. With "smart terminals" at the checkout that are tied into inventory control systems it takes something along the lines of 500 milliseconds or more to update the store inventory. The "corporate" inventory is usually updated sometime after that, although certain merchants and manufacturing facilities will also update the "corporate" database in almost real time. ""It would cause WAY too much overhead, and it would slow down point of sale. (My day job is a Computer Engineer.... my fun job is Best Buy... and I like the discount.)"" The additional overhead would be for the full time dedicated communication links, and most large manufacturers (such as the one I worked for) had such dedicated broadband (t3) connections. Our manufacturing machines updated inventory and corporate databases in almost real time. So you're a computer engineer who moonlights at best buy for fun? Yeah, I believe that one.

""Well, copyright law is the reason that opened software, games, and movies can not be retrned."" Since you claim to be an employee, it should be NO PROBLEM for you to obtain a copy of the section of copyright law that states this. I already know YOU CAN'T, but go ahead and try. Perhaps then you'll learn this "excuse" for store policy is just that, an excuse. Many businesses buy and sell OPENED cds and dvds. There are game stores that sell USED PC and console games. Heck, even BLOCKBUSTER sells their old USED dvd movies. What makes your employer different? I know the true answer, but let's see you discover it for yourself. I'll give you a hint: merchant agreement with supplier. ""Think about how many people would use BestBuy as a free Blockbuster rental place???"" You're getting closer to the TRUE reason they won't accept opened returns but this is still not the actual reason. Now, kindly go up the chain of command and request of copy of the actual section of copyright law that clearly prohibits them from accepting a return of an OPENED cd or dvd.

Well, copyright law is the reason that opened software, games, and movies can not be retrned. Think about how many people would use BestBuy as a free Blockbuster rental place??? That being said, the customer service person you had to deal with, had no brain, and I am sorry about that. They need to put a certain kind of person in Customer Service, and that store obviously has poor management because the wrong person is in that position. I hope you also did the survey at the bottom of the receipt, because those are read by most of the employees and management of the store. BestBuy would not have taken a loss to take your movie back... they get reimbursed. You should have gotten the lower of the marked prices, gotten a refund, etc. Also... as for their inventory system... BestBuy is a huge company and they have a huge computer system. You can't have a Point Of Sale system do the task of taking stuff out of stock the instant it is sold. It would cause WAY too much overhead, and it would slow down point of sale. (My day job is a Computer Engineer.... my fun job is Best Buy... and I like the discount.) The inventory system is updated in batches every few hours.

""However, Best Buy has to comply with this policy. Because it is not only a policy it is a federal copyright law. Which would mean even with you not leaving the store, to be able to return an open dvd would mean they would be breaking the law."" This is nonsense. I know of NOTHING in US copyright law, including the DMCA, that would prevent the store from accepting the return-this is store POLICY, not law. I seen many so called "employees" claim this but as yet NO ONE has posted the section of the LAW that states this. ""Best Buy is a department store and is not allowed to sell open dvds like some stores such as game crazy, where you can get a refund for open games, which have the exact same copyright law."" This is store policy set by Best Buy, not law. FYI many stores sell "open box" items. The author of this report does have a course of action. The UCC covers this nicely and has been adopted in some degree by every state. What best buy could have done is: 1. Accepted the return because the product NEVER left the store and processed a refund to the customer. 2. Offered to ORDER a replacement DVD (at no additional cost.) 3. Substituted the other season at no additional cost to the customer.

I understand your frustration completely. I, myself work for the customer service desk in Wal-Mart. We go over the same issues entirely every single day. After reading your complaint, I do agree with some parts. The cashier should have offered to open the disk when noticing that it was a "shaker" before paying for it. Best Buy is a huge corporation and could afford to claims it out. Which Best Buy would get the full price credit anyhow, so they would not lose any money for general customer service. However, Best Buy has to comply with this policy. Because it is not only a policy it is a federal copyright law. Which would mean even with you not leaving the store, to be able to return an open dvd would mean they would be breaking the law. Best Buy is a department store and is not allowed to sell open dvds like some stores such as game crazy, where you can get a refund for open games, which have the exact same copyright law. Just trying to provide some feedback!