Complaint Review: Best Buy - Hanover Maryland

I forgot to mention I train sales people and managers;) on the floor model that I requested to purchase i offered to buy it at regular price minus the advertised 150.00 instant off, this was not one of those SUPER deal, drive you into the store, limited time only deals, it was a model on the way out and being replaced so to drive the model out they offered 150 off the original price "now obsolete due to new model arrival;)" I know the business, what kicked this off was that they showed the model with NON in stock with the ad price still showing on the display model, in almost any state with consumer protection they need to rain check that item, find the item or sell that last one;) They even had THE SAME MODEL but one being returned to manufacture on display right after removing the one I purchased;)

I wanted to post, I called the next morning and talked with Gary there story manager, he seemed to be a bit shocked and had not heard of what happened, we talked on the phone as I explained things, in the end he offered to find a laptop, get it to the nearest store to me, ship it for free to my parents. OR I could purchase the floor model, Mind you the same one i tried to buy without any floor discount, but they knocked another 50.00 off the price after the 150 instant rebate. Gary seemed concerned about an upset customer. I can say after going to the store and talking with gary and purchasing the laptop i was pleased and displeased with some things that happened. As i walked around this store a few people were asking me all about what happened and a few acted a bit upset that i was there and that i had complaigned. I was even asked, well if he got you upset enough would you have hit him??? I was shocked at this statement and just replied, sorry not the violent type here, I prefer to do the best thing and that is make it verbal and public knowledge about what was done. I do still plan to call/write a letter about his behavior as I personally feel inhouse manager always try to lean towards there team vs the complaints. IF this is how he treats others and they complaign then he will not be dealing with there customers for long. Laura

I agree the way you were treated was horrible & your upset about that (rightly so I'll address at the end) but I wanted to clear some things up and try to be fair to both sides. We live in a Capitalist country.. when it comes to a private sale between a buyer & a seller.. the seller is not legally required to sell something to you if they don't want to.. say a restaurant has a special $10 NY steak dinner Advertisment in the newspaper for one night only ending at 10pm... you walk in with $10 ready to spend at 9:50pm.. but your not wearing a tie or dress shirt.. they can say "no shirt.. no shoes.. no service" you can't demand that they ignore this rule.. or hold the deal over until 10:30pm so you can go home and change clothes or sell you the steak as a "to go" order -vs- dinning in.. or lets say they sell 100 steak dinners and have no more beef left.. and are now "sold out" and are turning people away at the door.. you can't demand a "rain check" or that they carry over the deal for another night to accomidate everyone in the world that wanted to buy the steak dinner but couldn't.. or demand they sell you the sample steak dinner display that is sitting in the window.. in your specific case, Best Buy is NOT refusing to sell you something they have in stock.. because of your gender, age, race etc. they don't have it in stock.. you can verify this from the weblink you posted to this group.. I just checked it .. none of this model at ANY store in the state of maryland.. there is no law that says "a store must provide a raincheck to a customer or sell you a display model" usually the printed advertisment provide a min quantity "on hand" the stores are also not responsible for typographical errors in printed ads.. (for example a DVD listed for $1 -vs- $10) they post a correction notice.. I read your legal quote on maryland law and to be fair Best Buy didn't violate anything.. they will be able to prove in court that they had that many on hand when the store opened on Sunday at 10am.. and they probably sold out at 10:10am.. because anytime a deep discounted laptop is in the newspaper.. (people are lined up at the door at least 1hr before opening to buy it -just remember the day after thanksgiving sale) They probably even got more instock on friday and sold out again sometime on saturday.. the website probably had about 200 laptops in stock and yes.. they sold out.. in regards of a sales person knowning the inventory levels of every product in the store (in his head) is impossible many times a sales person has "closed" a sale with a customer an item.. about to get it .. only to find they are sold out.. regarding the customer service issue all customers should be treated with respect and from what you said it appears you were not.. I can tell you (probably) why you were treated this way.. you mentioned some other floor models were already marked 50% (probably discontinued clearance items) lets for example say $300 instead of you offering say $290.. you ask for another 50% off.. or $150.. for a laptop that sells for $600 sales people exist to make a profit for the company.. it isn't a non-profit organization.. you were labeled a "cheapscape" in the sales persons mind.. and this probably upset him and he passed this attitute onto you (in other words he takes his job at best buy too seriously - me I didn't care if the store was at 60% or 120% to budget my pay was the same) your welcome to contact Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson office (ask for the Executive Resolutions dept) by calling the main corporate phone number 612 291-1000 explain everything that happened.. it will make you feel good to unload.. the person will apoligize and maybe offer you a free $20 gift card with an apology letter.. of course when you go to spend the free $20 gift card.. statistics say you will actually end up spending around $50 or more .. so Best Buy actually ends up making even more money.. your happy for the free $20.. and best buy make a 150% revenue on money you otherwise would have never spent.. so there happy .. everyone wins.. one last comment about filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) it's a joke business pay to be added to the list and for confidentality of issues. even though dozens of complaints are filed on this website the company still has a "satisfactory" rating.

This Jim character doesn't want you getting to the district office because he is in the wrong. What I suggest you do is search the white pages online. You can put in "Best Buy" and put in the state of Maryland. I did this and actually came up with the number for the regional offices. Call and complain. Best Buy does not want people like Jim working for the company!

About the district manager part, I was informed by JIM, " I WON'T ALLOW things to escalate to that level" , now I did reply NO you won't because you know your wrong and don't want that info to get to them and left