Accept my return, Best Buy

I received a call from Mike Lopez, the General Manager at the Addison,
IL Best Buy location this afternoon. He is going to exchange the tv
for a new one. I commend him for calling and apologizing for my
troubles. He had received a complaint from me from the corporate
office and was more than willing to "make it right." This is all I
wanted since the start of this mess and I thank all of you here for
your help.

I will definitely make sure that the new tv is in brand new working
condition before I leave the store this time.
:)

I just want to say thank you so much for all of the comments and
suggestions you have sent regarding my post.

I ended up doing four things (so far...)

-sending a formal complaint to the Better Business Bureau
-disputing the charges on my credit card
-writing a letter to "the Fixer" at the Chicago Tribune
-made a complaint with their consumer relations department, which only
sent me a recording an hour later stating that the store is still
refusing to take the tv back...

but...This evening I received a call from the general manager of the
Addison, Il Best Buy location. He left me a voice mail and told me he
would call me tomorrow to discuss the situation...So I'm keeping my
fingers crossed that he (Tom Lopez) is going to make the outcome of
this a positive one. If not, I am willing to continue to fight this
until I receive a new tv or a refund on the broken one they sold me.

Again, I will keep everyone posted and thanks so much for all of your
help!!! I greatly appreciate it.

Perhaps this link to an interesting article on The Consumerist can
help:

http://consumerist.com/2010/06/reach-best-buy-executive-resolution-tea
m.html

I'd give the executive resolution team a try. You might get better
results that way.

An even exchange is in order here. They should take the defective one
back, and deal with the manufacturer. For a company as big as Best
Buy, they should factor in eating the cost of a few inferior items
here and there.

If you paid for the TV with a credit card, I recommend that you call
your credit company, explain the situation, and dispute the
transaction for this purchase.

You probably feel like one person being mistreated by a big company.
But, when your credit card company represents you in the dispute,
you'll have a lot of power on your side.

This reminds me of a situation my mom ran into at Best Buy. She
purchased a new laptop and within a couple weeks the cooling fan
broke. She had to have it shipped to their warehouse and was told it
would be a couple weeks. A month goes by and nothing, not even a
phone call. Needing her laptop for work, she continued to call them
and got nothing. Finally, they called and told her it was determined
that liquid had been spilled into the laptop and as such her warranty
was void. My mom would NEVER allow any liquid anywhere near any of
her computers. Our theory is it happened at the warehouse. Best Buy
did nothing for her, she had to eat the cost of the laptop. As a
result, I will NEVER make a major purchase at Best Buy.

Check with the attorney general in your state. Best Buy is always
being dragged into court over things like this, there was a huge
class-action lawsuit here in Ohio a couple years ago.

I buy anything major at Sams Club, where they take back anything. I
know it is too little too late, but the media is your friend. Get your
local TV or newspaper involved. BB may fold.

Yikes! Just bought an Insignia this weekend from Best Buy too!

I bought the floor model (no box or manual) but the plus side was that
I knew it was working and didn't have any defects.

I can completely understand your frustration - it's not like you had
the TV for two weeks when anything could have happened to it.

Good luck - I hope they replace your TV.

I hear more and more of these complaints - about FlatScreens being
opened after purchace and the screens not working. I don't know much
about flat screens to be honest - but why is this?

Would you have any luck if you contact Insignia directly? Explain to
them what happened? Would they be able to replace/repair it?

I know electronics always have weird return policies, but there has to
be something in place when the product doesnt work.

You know, it's letters like this that make me want to demand to open
everything and examine everything and turn on everything -- at the
store, before leaving with it.

I think they should have exchanged the TV at the very least.

Have you tried writing to "The Fixer" in the Chicago Tribune?

Have you called the Best Buy Corporate offices?

I had the same problem with a computer I bought from Best Buy.
Brought it home, it didn't work, brought it back within the hour, they
refused to take it back or replace it. It cost me hundreds in back
and forth shipping to the manufacturer and never did work right.

That was over 10 years ago and I have never even considered purchasing
anything from Best Buy again. Never will.

I just read Best Buys return policy and it states a damaged item
cannot be returned. This corp. is mental. I believe your only
recourse is to go directly to the TV manufacturer. Perhaps they can
do something. Good luck.

I'm wondering how your comment relates back to the issue of poor
customer service? Am I missing something?

SW- this has NOTHING to do with the complaint. You're not missing
anything. The woman bought a television that did not work and got no
help/rude responses from the Best Buy employees. That's what this
complaint is about. Rowdy, I'm sure you're a good guy and I'm not
trying to sound like a broken record but how people choose to spend
their money is their business. If they choose to buy a product (in
this case a flat-screen TV) then they should have a reasonable
expectation that said product works, whether you think it's
financially prudent or not.

There is no mark or dent on the screen whatsoever, but when you plug
it in, it looks like there is a crack behind the screen. There was a
hole in the side of the box that we noticed when we put the box in the
car 10 minutes after we bought the thing, but didn't think anything of
it. We told all of the managers about the hole in the box, but they
still refused to help me. I am just so upset that I threw $300 away.

They should know what impact damage is, because that will certainly
ruin the screen and isn't something that would be covered by the
warranty (just like cell phone and computer screens).

I haven't unpacked one of these units, but I am guessing they must
protect the screen very well as they are somewhat fragile.

Was there any indication that the box had been mistreated?

Was there a mark of any kind on the screen that evidenced an impact?

It sounds like you may have to try contacting the manufacturer, but if
Best Buy insists it is impact damage you may be out of luck.