Best Buy Sold My Reserved Guitar Hero

I hope this letter writer comes back and lets us know what, if
anything, she heard from BB.

I would be livid beyond words! This is not the first time I have been
made aware of BB behaving in this manner.

the latest expansion for Everquest II is coming up. I usually
pre-order the digital download, however, the in-game reward this time
is better if you preorder the box. I went through Amazon, avoiding BB
at all coasts.

I do not understand why they did not return your deposit while you
were there if you had your receipt.
They should have given you this because they failed on their part to
supply what they promised.

Keep after them and call a local tv station to complain about them if
you want. I am sure there is a consumer reporter who will jump on even
this. They love to show how big companies mess up.

Agree Best Buy goofed up and did not meet their obligations to this
OP. At minimum they should of given the 5 dollars back plus a little
more.

Reminds me of Pass Pets. Had a friend that put a deposit down on a
snake. A small 12 inch snake. Went on Spring Break and came back to
pick up his snake the following week. The snake had been sold. Pass
Pets did the right thing and allowed my friend to have a much larger
snake to make up for their mistake.

Lucky Me.....he was a roomate at the time. Snake grew and grew and
was so strong it use to push concrete blocks off the top of its
aquarium and get out. Boy was that fun to come home and not know
where it was in the apartment! NOT

I completely agree with the OP, including the request for additional
compensation. She went to Best Buy and reserved the game with every
expectation that they would honor that reservation. She then made the
trip to Best Buy only to find out they in fact did not honor her
reservation. Now, in order to get her $5 refunded or the actual game
when they come back in stock, she'll have to make ANOTHER trip to Best
Buy. Therefore, I don't think the request for additional compensation
is out of line.

I'm going to join in with the others. This was unacceptable of Best
Buy.

I cannot figure out what the $5 deposit was for. While that's a small
amount of money, if the store is going to sell them to whoever arrives
at the store once they're in stock, what does putting down $5 get
you?

I can guess what happened. They came into stock. People came into
the store, eager to buy, cash in hand. Maybe BB pulled out stock to
cover the people that reserved (maybe not). But, then, someone says
"I was standing outside since 5 AM to buy this. What do you mean
you're already sold out. That's false advertising! This was a bogus
sale!" (See many other letters at PlanetFeedback, including one
that's currently in the top 10)

So, to please those people that were yelling "bait and switch" (even
though the term wouldn't really be correct), they pulled from the
reserved stock. Maybe intentionally, maybe not realizing that that
stock was ONLY for those that had reserved.

Regardless, I cannot see how Best Buy can possibly justify taking your
$5 and then doing nothing different than they did for anyone else.

I'm usually against people asking for compensation or consideration.
But this is a case where I think the store acted in a sufficiently
inappropriate manner that they need to provide a REALISTIC peace
offering. First, they do need to return the $5 that that took on
false pretenses. Second, they should apologize for their mistake (and
they should admit that it was a mistake). Third, the manager should
offer to have one shipped to you, overnight delivery, from another
store (or the bestbuy.com warehouse) if another is available. If not,
that shipment to your house should occur whenever they DO get their
hands on the product. If that'll be 2 weeks, a small discount or gift
card ($5 or $10) would be a nice token, although not called for.

I happen to think, from my experience with Best Buy, that you'll get
that small gift card. It might even be $15 or $20. It's been my
experience that, at least in the past, they throw small gift cards at
people that complain about stuff like this. In fact, I've been given
gift cards when it was MY mistake and I didn't even ask for
compensation.

...I agree with the other posters. This was bad customer service and
cannot believe they kept the $5 deposit and sold the merchandise. This
could really get them into trouble.

I never shop at BB b/c I don't think their prices are the "best buy"
anyway, and now this letter really makes me want to never go there at
all.

Take $5 from people thinking they will be guaranteed a copy and then
sell those out the back door to anyone standing in the store with
money!

Apparently retail has sunk to a new low this holiday season!

So which system was it for? That would make it helpful for the person
reading and investigating the situation. If you do not even know the
system you reserved it for, you have no idea if the one for the system
you wanted was sold out or not.

Wow, this really, really sucks. I would have demanded to see a
manager. Reserved means reserved; there's no point in paying the five
dollars if they're just going to sell it if they run out. That kind of
defeats the purpose of reserving something!

That is simply horrible service. And that they kept your $5? I
almost think you should have called the police and charged them with
$5 theft (maybe theft by swindle!). What jerks.

Based on this description (I have never 'reserved' anything at BB)
this totally sucks. They should have returned the fee, and I would
have refused to leave the store without it. I didn't see where you
requested it back before you left.

As far as additional compensation, I don't think they owe you any. An
explanation and apology from management would be nice. "We sold all
the units on reserve" is not an acceptable explanation. Good luck.

"She informed me that alot of customers came in to buy GWHT that they
took the GWHT's in reserve and sold them and there was nothing that
they could do."

Wow. I respectfully disagree with that statement.
What they could do is uphold their terms of reservation and failing
that, refund the deposits of those whose merchandise was sold.
When you made the reservation, did you receive any documentation or
terms of agreement?

Deborah G.,

Sorry to hear that this happened.

I notice that you spoke with an associate, got their response and
still did not acceot it. Why did you not take this whole matter up
with the Store Manager at that poit?

Assuming BestBuy accepts email from third parties in all likelihood
they will kick it back to the very same person or very close to the
one who is in the best position to explain what happened and give some
form of resolution.

Stop back and let us know how this shakes out.

BillR.