- Report: #1083900
Complaint Review: BestBuy.com - Internet
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BestBuy.com
Internet, USA
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www.bestbuy.com
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BestBuy.com Pre-order scam Internet
Beware of the latest scam from BestBuy.com. I preordered Star Trek: Into Darkness from BestBuy.com in May with the expectation they would deliver it on the release date (9/10/13) just like Amazon.com is capable of doing. However, the delivery is currently schedule 5 days after the release date because of the extremely poor logistics that Best Buy deploys with their package service through UPS.
Because they were so recklessly delinquent I wanted to purchase the movie from Wal-Mart (who amazingly has better customer service than Best Buy at this point). However, I thought I should ask Best Buy if I can return the movie with no issues. I left a message on their community bulletin board but after 24 hours without reply I tried their webchat feature.
I chatted with Randy J who told me that Best Buy doesn't even ship the movies until they are released. Which is untrue; they shipped it 4 days before the release date (in other words Randy had no clue of his company’s practices). But Randy reviewed my order and told me that I can in fact return the movie (although seemed disappointed when I ask if he could provide me directions to the nearest competitor).
A few hours later Allen replied to my post on the bulletin board. Here is Allen's statement "You can of course return this movie un-opened within 15 days from the date you receive the item. Because you should have received a code for a free digital copy of the movie, from CinemaNow with this pre-order, we would then end up charging you for the digital copy if the hard copy is returned." So because they sent me an email with a code that I never used (and never had any use for) they would charge me for that. Conveniently Allen did not tell me how much the digital copy costs, nor is this information available on their website at the time of this posting. I assume it would be in line with Amazon's pricing which is $14.99. So I can return the movie but I would get just $5 back from my $20 purchase even though I never used the code.
Beware this scam from Best Buy. They have no real reason to ensure your satisfaction on these preorders because they will keep most of your money by sending you a code on an email for something you may not even use.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
jrk
Illinois,Bad Allegations
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, September 18, 2013
The party filing this complaint, as they stated did receive a reply as it evident on Best Buys help forum. The problem I see is this party has done nothing but complain about something that was written clear as day in all purchases and emails fine prints that all ship dates are estimated. The party further claims that Amazon ships with delivery on release date; this is inaccurate as I ahve also done repeat business with Amazon and unless they specifically say there is a special release date, NO item is shipped before it is released for general sale. I say this as a consumer whom has done business with BestBuy repeatedly both online and in store. Very professional staff. I'd like to point out that the accusser is making accussations they know nothing about accusing peoples training and knowledge and then of course threatening a company and its representatives with bad reveiws for what is a standing policy with every store that exists. Below I have include that which was left out from the Best Buy Representatives reply
I’m truly sorry for any disappointment this has caused you, and hopefully I can add some clarification in this matter. I should first point out that per our shipping information on our website any dates given for shipping delivery are estimates. When you placed this order you should have received an email with the estimated dates in which we anticipated this movie would be delivered to you, and this email should not have guaranteed this movie would arrive at your home on the release date.
Thanks for your quick response. The reason we charge for the digital copy provided you if the hard-copy is returned is because we have no way of verifying if the CinemaNow redemption code for this digital copy has been used. It is also my understanding that we have no way of making one of these codes invalid once issued to a customer.
As you can imagine there would be quite a number of people ordering the hard-copy just to get the free code if we didn't charge for the digital copy if the ordered hard-copy was returned.
I have to say that I'm not aware of a new business model that has changed how pre-ordered movies are shipped to a customer, and from what I understand any estimated date of delivery for a shipment to a customer has always been that just an estimate. Unforeseen circumstances can of course cause any order to arrive prior to these estimates or after these shipping estimates.
Now that being all listed, sure the representative didn't give the accuser the digital copy price and maybe he should have but at the same time the accuser should also have taken the initiative to look the price up themselves.
I truly am sorry for any disappointment this has caused you.
ArchieD
Caddo Mills,Texas,
refund
#3Author of original report
Sun, September 15, 2013
After reaching out to the CEO via email I was granted a full refund.
