I never had a problem with Best Buy until now.
On 9/23/07 I purchased a 61" Samsung DLP (HLT6187S) from Best Buy. Everything at first went smoothly. I got home and unpacked/set up the TV. It was then I realized this TV was either used, or returned. It came with NO remote control, power cord or manual, and was pretty dusty on the back side.
I rushed down to the store, getting there 3 minutes before they closed, and they gave me a used remote (wrong kind, but it worked) and a power cable. I was told to just download the user manual.
Now this issue of spending GOOD money to get a used TV has been gnawing at me for the past 3+ weeks. I wanted to exchange the TV for a new one, since that's what I paid for, but I had no way to do this because I no longer had access to a vehicle large enough to get it. (I borrowed my friends truck the day I bought it.)
Anyway fast-forward to today. I convinced my buddy to come down with his truck so I could go exchange my set for a new one. Now just to be clear, I have no buyers remorse, I like my TV and I just want to get what I paid for, a NEW TV.
After checking online, I saw the store still has these sets in stock. I called just to confirm, and to let them know I'd be coming down to get an exchange.
I was told I CANNOT exchange this 1-for-1 since I bought this while it was on sale. He told me I'd have to pay the difference of $500 if I wanted to exchange it. What a bunch of bull. This makes no sense to me. I've never heard of anyone having to pay a price difference on a straight-up exchange. Now I only have 4 days left in my 30 days to do anything about this. I think they're just trying to discourage me from doing anything while my time runs out.
I told them that policy makes no sense and I read the return policy to him:
"30-DAY RETURN PERIOD We accept returns or exchanged 30 days from the original purchase. Please review the exceptions below."
Ok now there are no exceptions for my case. I bought a new TV, it was used and I simply want what I paid for. Pretty clear-cut.
After explaining the above to him very calmly, (I never lost my cool) he proceeds to tell me all remaining stock are returns, so I'd get the same thing anyway if I tried to exchange it.
I'm still on the phone now as I'm typing this. An hour and 47 minutes so far, 95% of that time on hold.
I suppose I could return the TV, but I'd rather not. What should I do?
EDIT:
Just got home from BB.
After all the crap I went through to secure my buddy's truck, I was hoping something positive would happen tonight. Boy was I wrong. Upon arriving at BB, I was told they didn't have the set in stock. Now I *know* this is a lie because not only did the store manager say they had them, I checked the availability prior to leaving my place and they showed as IN STOCK.
But anyway, whatever, because I planned on returning it anyway if they didn't exchange it for a NEW set. It just irked me that they'd blatantly lie to me like this.
I let him know I changed my mind and I now wanted to return it. It was only at this point where they started to take me seriously. Now I'm not sure how this happened, but the manager convinced me to NOT return it. After basically keeping me in limbo until the store closed as he "looked in to it", I was finally told they'd have a BRAND NEW replacement in on 10/23, which coincidentally is the LAST day I can return or exchange it.
So basically if something happens and the set isn't in by the 23rd, I'm fvcked, and this time it'll be my fault.
I am so pissed off right now for two reasons. That fact that I'm being taken advantage of, and the fact that I'm letting it happen.
It feels like my head is on fire. :|
Update #2: 10/23-10/24
This isn't terribly exciting, but some of you wanted an update, so here it is.
Let me just make something clear before I update. A few of you had some strong opinions as to what I should do. (omg return it, they're taking advantage of you / you r teh fail / get it from Amazon / where's your man card, etc etc) The fact of the matter is, I work and cannot have stuff delivered at work. In addition, I can't afford to take time off to be home waiting for deliveries. Having an item this large delivered is simply not an option. My only pain-in-the-ass option is to borrow a truck and physically pick it up during my personal time.
TV #2
Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) I went back to Best Buy. They had a brand new set waiting for me. The store manager made it clear that I was on day 31 and they were doing me a favor at this point by even exchanging it.
Anyway, whatever, I was just glad to get my NEW set. Quite honestly AT THE TIME I really didn't want to go through the time and frustration of contesting the charge, and ordering a new set from Amazon or whatever. I just wanted a NEW set with as little hassle as possible. If BB was willing to give me a new set, I was happy.
I get my set home and turn it on. Immediately I notice four purple blobs on the "searching for signal" screen. UGGGHH. After much research, I found many recent batches of these Samsung sets suffer from what's called the "Prism effect", where the purple blobs are caused by a reflection off the lens assembly within the Light Engine coming from the blue LED. Samsung is taking a beating on these repairs and have discontinued the light engine as a result.
Now I researched the crap out of this set before I bought it, but this slipped past me. I had only read the linked thread above up to page 150 or so prior to my purchase. The "Prism/halo effect" discussion doesn't start until after that point.
This prism effect is VERY noticeable on dark scenes in a dark room. My cellphone camera sucks and can't really pick up what's going on. The following images of the prism effect are from this thread.
1
2
3
4
OH, BUT THAT'S NOT ALL FOLKS. Fast-forward to today (9/24)
TV #3:
I took today off because I was/am pissed off at this TV/BB fiasco. I convinced my buddy to once again come down with his truck so we could return this freaking lemon of a TV set. I'm gonna take him to the Patriots game on Sunday for his trouble. The manager said no to a full refund and no to an exchange. After 10 minutes of back and forthing, he told me I could get store credit or a different set. I emphatically declined. Anyway, 10 minutes later I had my 3rd HL-T6187S loaded up in the truck.
Ok now I know you all are thinking, "WHY THE FVCK DID YOU GET A 3RD SET AND NOT YOUR MONEY BACK?" The answer is simple: If I can get my hands on this particular set without the purple halo, it's quite simply nearly the perfect TV and the best DLP on the market. No one other than Samsung has LED backlighting, and the reviews on this set are stellar. I don't want another set, nor do I want another brand. So basically I took a chance that the 3rd set would finally be the one I was looking for.
I got it home and set it up and guess what? PURPLE HALOS AGAIN, even worse this time. It is such a pain in the ass just to get this thing in my house and I've now done this THREE times in a month. I called BB and they told me it's the end of the line. No more exchanges/returns. We'll see about that! Now at this point I *could* just open a ticket at Samsung and wait a month or whatever and get this repaired, but screw that, I've had enough.
As much as it pains me to say this, I've now officially given up on these 2nd generation Samsung backlit LED DLPs. I will be leaving this set at the doorstep at BB regardless of what they told me on the phone. Maybe I'll even get a video of us leaving it there and driving off.
I am utterly sick of this. I guess I'll be waiting for the 2008 CES show to hear about the 3rd generation LED sets and hopefully by then these issues will be ironed out.
Oh, I've never contested a CC charge before. Would it be best if I started the process right now, or only after I dump this POS at the door of BB?
UPDATE #3: 10/25/07 (a)
I feel like I'm living in the Twilight Zone. I just got off the phone with AMEX and learned they have two levels of "consumer protection" for returns.
1) 90-day protection plan basic: I return the item valued up to $300 directly to AMEX and they credit my account.
2) 90-day protection plan premium: *For now*, they have frozen the charge and I'm not responsible for payment. AMEX will fight on my behalf and ask BB to release the funds. BB then has 6-8 weeks to decide. At that point, if BB ultimately doesn't comply for whatever reason, and refuses payment, I'm out of luck. If this happens I'm only covered up to $1,000 by AMEX.
Sigh.
Obviously #1 is out of the question. #2 may or may not work although I was told merchants generally comply with disputes. They will be contacted via letter from AMEX regarding this dispute. This gives me time to go to the store again and state my case before they even know about the dispute. If things go sour, I mention said dispute and perhaps this will convince them to authorize the refund. If that doesn't work, I wait for 8 weeks and most likely end up getting this TV repaired, wasting yet more time.
I was surprised at the $1,000 limit thing. Only the Platinum card offers higher protection at $10,000. I'm gonna need to find a nice MC/Visa with good consumer dispute protection.
UPDATE: 10/25/07 (b)
Just got a call out of the blue from the lead store manager.
They're gonna refund me the entire amount even though I'm over my 30 days. He profusely apologized and said he was upset when he learned I was initially denied a refund.
He roughly said, "You went through 3 sets, we are very sorry for your troubles. Our 30 day return/exchange policy absolutely does not apply to your situation. Our store doesn't work like that. I want to make this right and it's your choice how you want to proceed whether that be another exchange, store credit or a full refund."
:Q
Wow, talk about a complete 180. Well the journey certainly was very frustrating and I made some questionable decisions along the way, but I'm very happy with the outcome here. Best Buy did the right thing.
</thread>
CLIFFS: (per KK's request)
1) Best Buy sucks
2) I suck
3) Samsung sucks
4) I have piss-poor luck
5) ...
6) PROFIT
On 9/23/07 I purchased a 61" Samsung DLP (HLT6187S) from Best Buy. Everything at first went smoothly. I got home and unpacked/set up the TV. It was then I realized this TV was either used, or returned. It came with NO remote control, power cord or manual, and was pretty dusty on the back side.
I rushed down to the store, getting there 3 minutes before they closed, and they gave me a used remote (wrong kind, but it worked) and a power cable. I was told to just download the user manual.
Now this issue of spending GOOD money to get a used TV has been gnawing at me for the past 3+ weeks. I wanted to exchange the TV for a new one, since that's what I paid for, but I had no way to do this because I no longer had access to a vehicle large enough to get it. (I borrowed my friends truck the day I bought it.)
Anyway fast-forward to today. I convinced my buddy to come down with his truck so I could go exchange my set for a new one. Now just to be clear, I have no buyers remorse, I like my TV and I just want to get what I paid for, a NEW TV.
After checking online, I saw the store still has these sets in stock. I called just to confirm, and to let them know I'd be coming down to get an exchange.
I was told I CANNOT exchange this 1-for-1 since I bought this while it was on sale. He told me I'd have to pay the difference of $500 if I wanted to exchange it. What a bunch of bull. This makes no sense to me. I've never heard of anyone having to pay a price difference on a straight-up exchange. Now I only have 4 days left in my 30 days to do anything about this. I think they're just trying to discourage me from doing anything while my time runs out.
I told them that policy makes no sense and I read the return policy to him:
"30-DAY RETURN PERIOD We accept returns or exchanged 30 days from the original purchase. Please review the exceptions below."
Ok now there are no exceptions for my case. I bought a new TV, it was used and I simply want what I paid for. Pretty clear-cut.
After explaining the above to him very calmly, (I never lost my cool) he proceeds to tell me all remaining stock are returns, so I'd get the same thing anyway if I tried to exchange it.
I'm still on the phone now as I'm typing this. An hour and 47 minutes so far, 95% of that time on hold.
I suppose I could return the TV, but I'd rather not. What should I do?
EDIT:
Just got home from BB.
After all the crap I went through to secure my buddy's truck, I was hoping something positive would happen tonight. Boy was I wrong. Upon arriving at BB, I was told they didn't have the set in stock. Now I *know* this is a lie because not only did the store manager say they had them, I checked the availability prior to leaving my place and they showed as IN STOCK.
But anyway, whatever, because I planned on returning it anyway if they didn't exchange it for a NEW set. It just irked me that they'd blatantly lie to me like this.
I let him know I changed my mind and I now wanted to return it. It was only at this point where they started to take me seriously. Now I'm not sure how this happened, but the manager convinced me to NOT return it. After basically keeping me in limbo until the store closed as he "looked in to it", I was finally told they'd have a BRAND NEW replacement in on 10/23, which coincidentally is the LAST day I can return or exchange it.
So basically if something happens and the set isn't in by the 23rd, I'm fvcked, and this time it'll be my fault.
I am so pissed off right now for two reasons. That fact that I'm being taken advantage of, and the fact that I'm letting it happen.
It feels like my head is on fire. :|
Update #2: 10/23-10/24
This isn't terribly exciting, but some of you wanted an update, so here it is.
Let me just make something clear before I update. A few of you had some strong opinions as to what I should do. (omg return it, they're taking advantage of you / you r teh fail / get it from Amazon / where's your man card, etc etc) The fact of the matter is, I work and cannot have stuff delivered at work. In addition, I can't afford to take time off to be home waiting for deliveries. Having an item this large delivered is simply not an option. My only pain-in-the-ass option is to borrow a truck and physically pick it up during my personal time.
TV #2
Yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) I went back to Best Buy. They had a brand new set waiting for me. The store manager made it clear that I was on day 31 and they were doing me a favor at this point by even exchanging it.
Anyway, whatever, I was just glad to get my NEW set. Quite honestly AT THE TIME I really didn't want to go through the time and frustration of contesting the charge, and ordering a new set from Amazon or whatever. I just wanted a NEW set with as little hassle as possible. If BB was willing to give me a new set, I was happy.
I get my set home and turn it on. Immediately I notice four purple blobs on the "searching for signal" screen. UGGGHH. After much research, I found many recent batches of these Samsung sets suffer from what's called the "Prism effect", where the purple blobs are caused by a reflection off the lens assembly within the Light Engine coming from the blue LED. Samsung is taking a beating on these repairs and have discontinued the light engine as a result.
Now I researched the crap out of this set before I bought it, but this slipped past me. I had only read the linked thread above up to page 150 or so prior to my purchase. The "Prism/halo effect" discussion doesn't start until after that point.
This prism effect is VERY noticeable on dark scenes in a dark room. My cellphone camera sucks and can't really pick up what's going on. The following images of the prism effect are from this thread.
1
2
3
4
OH, BUT THAT'S NOT ALL FOLKS. Fast-forward to today (9/24)
TV #3:
I took today off because I was/am pissed off at this TV/BB fiasco. I convinced my buddy to once again come down with his truck so we could return this freaking lemon of a TV set. I'm gonna take him to the Patriots game on Sunday for his trouble. The manager said no to a full refund and no to an exchange. After 10 minutes of back and forthing, he told me I could get store credit or a different set. I emphatically declined. Anyway, 10 minutes later I had my 3rd HL-T6187S loaded up in the truck.
Ok now I know you all are thinking, "WHY THE FVCK DID YOU GET A 3RD SET AND NOT YOUR MONEY BACK?" The answer is simple: If I can get my hands on this particular set without the purple halo, it's quite simply nearly the perfect TV and the best DLP on the market. No one other than Samsung has LED backlighting, and the reviews on this set are stellar. I don't want another set, nor do I want another brand. So basically I took a chance that the 3rd set would finally be the one I was looking for.
I got it home and set it up and guess what? PURPLE HALOS AGAIN, even worse this time. It is such a pain in the ass just to get this thing in my house and I've now done this THREE times in a month. I called BB and they told me it's the end of the line. No more exchanges/returns. We'll see about that! Now at this point I *could* just open a ticket at Samsung and wait a month or whatever and get this repaired, but screw that, I've had enough.
As much as it pains me to say this, I've now officially given up on these 2nd generation Samsung backlit LED DLPs. I will be leaving this set at the doorstep at BB regardless of what they told me on the phone. Maybe I'll even get a video of us leaving it there and driving off.
I am utterly sick of this. I guess I'll be waiting for the 2008 CES show to hear about the 3rd generation LED sets and hopefully by then these issues will be ironed out.
Oh, I've never contested a CC charge before. Would it be best if I started the process right now, or only after I dump this POS at the door of BB?
UPDATE #3: 10/25/07 (a)
I feel like I'm living in the Twilight Zone. I just got off the phone with AMEX and learned they have two levels of "consumer protection" for returns.
1) 90-day protection plan basic: I return the item valued up to $300 directly to AMEX and they credit my account.
2) 90-day protection plan premium: *For now*, they have frozen the charge and I'm not responsible for payment. AMEX will fight on my behalf and ask BB to release the funds. BB then has 6-8 weeks to decide. At that point, if BB ultimately doesn't comply for whatever reason, and refuses payment, I'm out of luck. If this happens I'm only covered up to $1,000 by AMEX.
Sigh.
Obviously #1 is out of the question. #2 may or may not work although I was told merchants generally comply with disputes. They will be contacted via letter from AMEX regarding this dispute. This gives me time to go to the store again and state my case before they even know about the dispute. If things go sour, I mention said dispute and perhaps this will convince them to authorize the refund. If that doesn't work, I wait for 8 weeks and most likely end up getting this TV repaired, wasting yet more time.
I was surprised at the $1,000 limit thing. Only the Platinum card offers higher protection at $10,000. I'm gonna need to find a nice MC/Visa with good consumer dispute protection.
UPDATE: 10/25/07 (b)
Just got a call out of the blue from the lead store manager.
They're gonna refund me the entire amount even though I'm over my 30 days. He profusely apologized and said he was upset when he learned I was initially denied a refund.
He roughly said, "You went through 3 sets, we are very sorry for your troubles. Our 30 day return/exchange policy absolutely does not apply to your situation. Our store doesn't work like that. I want to make this right and it's your choice how you want to proceed whether that be another exchange, store credit or a full refund."
:Q
Wow, talk about a complete 180.
Well the journey certainly was very frustrating and I made some questionable decisions along the way, but I'm very happy with the outcome here. Best Buy did the right thing.</thread>
CLIFFS: (per KK's request)
1) Best Buy sucks
2) I suck
3) Samsung sucks
4) I have piss-poor luck
5) ...
6) PROFIT
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