- Report: #76191
Complaint Review: Best Buy - Richfield Minnesota
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Author Confirmed
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Best Buy
494 & Lyndale, Richfield, 55437 Minnesota, U.S.A.
Phone:
952-832-9937
Web:
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Best Buy is a Scrooge when it comes to gift cards! 494 & Lyndale Minnesota)
*UPDATE Employee: Yes, and i lost the winning lottery ticket on the subway too....
*Author of original report: The result . . . Best Buy was at fault, but the store manager still will not admit it
*Consumer Suggestion: pretty iron clad way to rip off customers
*Consumer Comment: Gift cards, ripe for employee theft.
My husband loves his electronics, so he often gets gift cards to Best Buy for Christmas and birthday gifts, and he saves them up to purchase whatever new item is on his wish list. Well, today he went into a Best Buy in Richfield, Minnesota, located on 494 & Lyndale, to purchase a new VCR and firewall software, and went to pay with several gift cards that he had and the teller told him that one of them was blank.
They refused to redeem it and told him that it did not exist in their system. They want my husband to produce "proof" for this card before they will activate it . . . I said, "I have it in my hand and it was in one of those gift card envelopes and it says Best Buy - $50 right on the card . . . what more proof do you need that the card exists?"
The guy I was on the phone with stated that the card are out in the open, where anyone can pick them up, and I said to him "Are you trying to say that whoever gave my husband this card for a gift shoplifted it?" and he said, "Well, the card is not in our system"
My husband had to call every person who gave him a gift card, get their credit card numbers and give them to Best Buy so that they could try to cross check things to see if there was a record of this card being purchased. They called us to say that they could not find any record this way either. I asked what happens next, and they said nothing, the card is no good.
My husband then spoke with the manager and told him that this was a gift and he gave him all of the info we had. The manager said that if we could produce proof that the card was paid for, like a receipt, they could activate it, and my husband said "Who saves the receipt for a gift card that they are giving to someone else for a gift?!?" Best Buy said that if we had record on a credit card statement they could activate it, and we said "What if was paid for with cash?"
What if the cashier who rang up the gift card forgot to activate the card? The manager agreed that this could happen, and that is something that they would have to find out so that they could correct that problem, but he still was not ready to activate the card for us, so I guess that means that if the employee screws up the customer is the one who suffers.
I guess Best Buy has never heard of a thing called customer service, or a phrase that says "the customer is always right." I know that we will never shop at Best Buy again, and we are telling all of our friends and family about this also.
Shawn
Bloomington, Minnesota
U.S.A.
They refused to redeem it and told him that it did not exist in their system. They want my husband to produce "proof" for this card before they will activate it . . . I said, "I have it in my hand and it was in one of those gift card envelopes and it says Best Buy - $50 right on the card . . . what more proof do you need that the card exists?"
The guy I was on the phone with stated that the card are out in the open, where anyone can pick them up, and I said to him "Are you trying to say that whoever gave my husband this card for a gift shoplifted it?" and he said, "Well, the card is not in our system"
My husband had to call every person who gave him a gift card, get their credit card numbers and give them to Best Buy so that they could try to cross check things to see if there was a record of this card being purchased. They called us to say that they could not find any record this way either. I asked what happens next, and they said nothing, the card is no good.
My husband then spoke with the manager and told him that this was a gift and he gave him all of the info we had. The manager said that if we could produce proof that the card was paid for, like a receipt, they could activate it, and my husband said "Who saves the receipt for a gift card that they are giving to someone else for a gift?!?" Best Buy said that if we had record on a credit card statement they could activate it, and we said "What if was paid for with cash?"
What if the cashier who rang up the gift card forgot to activate the card? The manager agreed that this could happen, and that is something that they would have to find out so that they could correct that problem, but he still was not ready to activate the card for us, so I guess that means that if the employee screws up the customer is the one who suffers.
I guess Best Buy has never heard of a thing called customer service, or a phrase that says "the customer is always right." I know that we will never shop at Best Buy again, and we are telling all of our friends and family about this also.
Shawn
Bloomington, Minnesota
U.S.A.
4 Updates & Rebuttals
Don
Mound,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
Gift cards, ripe for employee theft.
#2Consumer Comment
Wed, March 28, 2007
I am a store detective. I've done it for 10 years, gift cards are the biggest pain in the butt items out there. Employees will keep empty, non-activated cards at their register, when a customer comes up, usually during the hoildays, they activate the card, then switch it for an empty card, pocketing the card with money on it. Since most people won't find out for weeks due to it being a gift, by the time it gets back to us we no longer have video on it. I catch several employees each year doing this. Best defense? call the 800# on the back of the card right after you buy it to make sure it is activated, if not, call over a manager. Not only will you save yourself headache, but you'll help get rid of a dishonest employee.
C.
Mpls,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
pretty iron clad way to rip off customers
#3Consumer Suggestion
Thu, January 15, 2004
Obviously they have to start keeping inventory of these cards because that sounds like a pretty iron clad way to rip off customers buying gift cards, the employee can switch out the card for a blank and the company will not hold them responsible for theft. Only the Mgr should have access to activate these cards, and should be personally responsible for handing them to the customer. I live in Richfield and this is good to know. Thanks for writing in.
Shawn
Bloomington,Minnesota,
U.S.A.
The result . . . Best Buy was at fault, but the store manager still will not admit it
#4Author of original report
Tue, January 13, 2004
My husband spoke with someone at the corporate level of Best Buy, and within minutes they were able to find the transaction. There were three gift cards purchased on my father-in-law's credit card (onr for each son) . . . one of the numbers match the card that the oldest son was given, and one matched the number of the card the youngest son was given. There was a third card paid for, but the one my husband has does not match any of the numbers on the transaction. So that is the proof that Best Buy needs . . . three gift cards were purchased by my father-in-law, and one of those three cards were not given to him. The person at corporate said that the clerk, either knowingly or unknowingly, must have handed Jeff's dad a card other than the ones that were scanned. (It could be a case of the clerk switched them out so they could keep the one that was activated, or it could have been an honest mistake) But the worst part is, even with all of this proof the manager at this Best Buy location cannot admit that it is even possible that this could be a case of employee error, or employee theft.
Bob
Green Bay,Wisconsin,
U.S.A.
Yes, and i lost the winning lottery ticket on the subway too....
#5UPDATE Employee
Sun, January 11, 2004
First off, customers are not always right. Many, many, many times that problems occur is when the customer doesn't know what the hell they're talking about. They thought one way while things are they other way. Secondly, how is anyone there supposed to know that gift card was actually purchased if it's blank and you don't have any proof? If they were just like "OK, here's your $50", do you know how many people would just steal cards and go in and get them activated? Who saves a receipt for a gift card? Everyone should. You should save all receipts from EVERYTHING. I have a s****.. So, who's to say the gift card was actually paid for? You have no proof, therefore it doesn't exist. It could have been a cashier error, it could have been a shoplifter. Think from the other side and you might understand (and start saving receipts too).
