Store dishonesty

[checklax]

Well, in the past year that we have been buying things at my house, a number of them have come out wrong. First my mom bought an ipod and to our surprise after a couple days of use it started going crazy. We took it back to the store and with the warranty got a new one with no problem. Then, my brother and I got an xbox 360 for christmas at best buy. The day we got it and turend it on, it couldnt read any disks. We took it back, and got another one to replace it with the warranty after going through a huge hassle. We also noticed that as we turned it in, they took the damaged xbox, packaged it, and put it back up for sale. Yesterday my dad went out and got a flatscreen tv. It works fine but we've noticed that the screen has random lines going through it at times, and the lighting on the screen goes from light to gloomy dark in seconds. It was obviously damaged, because when my dad got it at sears it had been re-packaged with tape. So I've come to the conclusion that alot of stores are just re-packaging damaged items that are turned in, and sell them again. What's the point of this if they're going to have to go through the hassle of giving the customer another one with warranty everytime anyway? Share your opinions on this, and any similar experiences you have had.

[RgLax]

my hdtv has the lines on it too.. and its a really nice tv

[Khaos]

Well i guess that most people are oblivious to warrantys (us lax players break stuff so often it would be absolutly awful not knowing about warrantys) they buy someting ...works fine for a while.... brakes.... dissapointed go back to same store and just buy a different brand. ignorance isnt bliss

[EricL]

No its a curse I have it too. Everytime I buy an electronic, it usually stop working within the month. Thats why I get my friend to buy my stuff now. I have probably 4 non working mp3 players =( (all over 100 dollar worth ones too).

[fenwicklax89]

buy your electronics from a reliable, trustworthy store. 99.9% of the time, places like Best Buy and Circuit City are not these types of stores.

[Lowell]

I've really never had any problems with my electronics because I use amazon.com and they are really good.

[the wister]

Ever heard of "Open Box Deals"? Usually a company doesn't have much hassle with returned products, they just send it back to the manufacturer and get a refund, I've even returned cereal before simply because 'it wasn't what I suspected.' About your 360, how do you know they put it back on sale? Did you stay at the store long enough to see them put it back out? They send the entire box back after they repack it, you probably just saw the employess preparing it for shipping.

[Laxmann019]

buy your electronics from a reliable, trustworthy store. 99.9% of the time, places like Best Buy and Circuit City are not these types of stores.

Well they're well known name stores so they don't really need to be cheap (even though they are pricey)

[goalie33fan]

Welcome to the bussiness world. It may not be a good way of doing buisseness, but its very competitive with stores like that and will do anything to make money.

Also, maybe you shouldnt buy stuff that isnt closed properly in its box.

[Mavido]

yeah, you say returning stuff is a huge hassle. The few things i've ever had to return.. i just walk in to best buy with recipt in hand, and they are pretty freakin awesome about it. They hold onto my stuff, say go get another, i grab another, come back, and bam.. im out. Never taken more then 10 minutes or so. The geek squad folks can do returns and exchanges aswell.

[checklax]

yeah, you say returning stuff is a huge hassle. The few things i've ever had to return.. i just walk in to best buy with recipt in hand, and they are pretty freakin awesome about it. They hold onto my stuff, say go get another, i grab another, come back, and bam.. im out. Never taken more then 10 minutes or so. The geek squad folks can do returns and exchanges aswell.

Maybe at your Best Buy the employees weren't making it as hard as possible with the receipt (which I did have) and everything. Just the fact of having to go back to the store everytime you get something instead of just being able to enjoy it the first time you get it is a hassle to me.

[the wister]

Just the fact of having to go back to the store everytime you get something instead of just being able to enjoy it the first time you get it is a hassle to me.
True.

As long as you know the return policy and keep your requests reasonable, you shouldn't have a bad experience. I hate when people get pissed about things that are totally out of the employees' hands. Such as a man in front of me at Best Buy was ticked off because he was returning an opened DVD and they said they would exchange it but couldn't issue a refund, for obvious reasons. It says on the reciept that you cannot return unopened DVDs, yet this guy was still mad because he wasn't getting what he wanted. After having worked retail, you realize that returning something is a hassle for the employees too, not just yourself. They are not just making things hard for you for fun, and as long as you keep that in mind, things tend to go much more smoothly.

[MadMikeTheSpike]

Oh, geez, it happens all the time. They re-package them, hoping that somebody for some reason won't be able to return them, or if they get like alittle scratch on it, then they can claim that it's abuse that broke the system. This happens to me with bikes all the time, I got a really nice looking bike when I was confirmed last year. Within 3 months, I had gone over a bump, and the frame bent. The rest of it was pretty durable, so I don't think that the fact that I'm a little overweight had much to do with it. We took pictures of it and tried to send it in, but they told us that we had abused it. We took it to Toys R Us, the only place to have a selection of bikes in my town without spending $200+ for a street bike, the lady at the customer service counter acted like we were hassling her and that she didn't have time for us, which is no way to treat a customer! Then she called somebody from the bike department back and he totally sided with us! It was great! So anyway, we went straight to the company once again, because Toys R Us wouldn't accept the voucher for the extended warranty we purchased, just because this lady thought she didn't have to make time for us. We e-mailed pictures of the bike to the head of the company, and she sent us pictures of different bikes to choose from, I picked this really sweet silver and yellow/gold bike, with a really cool seat with a stripe on the center that made it look like a racing bike. I chose that one, and few weeks later I came home from school to find a huge package at my house, with my new bike! I opened it right away and put it together alright thanks to the specific instructions. Then one day, I started to ride downtown, I get a block from my house and one of the brake cables broke off. I couldn't use my back brakes, but I kept going. Then a few weeks after that, I was riding home and all of a sudden I just slowed down, and eventually my bike just completely stopped, and I had to carry it home! Anyway, now my bike is sitting in my backyard, while I sit inside wishing I didn't have to walk everywhere. Oh well, my Mom said she'd find a place we could take it to get it tuned up, and I really hope she let's me before Spring Break is over!

[dillz18]

Similar story. I ordered K18 gloves from SportStop. (Royal, 12") They come A MONTH LATER!, and they are too small, so I want to exchange them. But everytime I call I get an answering machine, no forward number, no anything. And they won't answer my e-mails either. :(

[Levin]

True.

I hate when people get pissed about things that are totally out of the employees' hands.


you want that? try working at a movie theater. I get so much crap because our stuff is overpriced (which it is...), and they sit there accusing me for bending them over... when they don't have to buy it.

[hclax14]

Similar story. I ordered K18 gloves from SportStop. (Royal, 12") They come A MONTH LATER!, and they are too small, so I want to exchange them. But everytime I call I get an answering machine, no forward number, no anything. And they won't answer my e-mails either. :(


k18 gloves run small, i have the 13'' and they are nowhere near as roomy as my superfreaks, but i like them like that