| 4500+ Great Links | My Negative Experience Of Returning A Camera To Best Buy |
| Copyright © 2005 by Zack Smith. All rights reserved. I had bought at BestBuy a Canon PowerShot camera, which is a line of cameras that I had previously been very happy with. Not this one, however. Whenever I recorded video the resulting AVI file had a whiny sound on top of the normal audio. So, back to BestBuy I went... 1. I walk in the door, the guy puts the yellow tag on my return item. 2. I wait 5 minutes in line. 3. I tell the customer service woman my intention to return the defective Canon A620 camera whose movie mode always records a hiss sound, unlike the A80 and A70 that I've used. 4. We go to the 'geek squad' dork (male) who grinningly rejects the idea out of hand without even really trying the device. I explain that it is a real problem and he continues to stonewall. I demand to see a manager. 5. Manager comes. He feigns an effort to hear a noise, but admits that the store is too noisy to hear any sound from the camera. He says I will have to pay a $60 restocking fee. I balk at that. I ask him, is there a quiet place in the store anywhere? He says no. 6. He offers a bizarre scheme to help me avoid the restocking fee ($60) for this defective camera, involving buying another camera possibly on another day, but he would have to be around when I show up. I balk at that. 7. He admits that the bathroom is quiet. I proceed there (it's empty) and record silence, plus the defective camera's hiss. I return to him and report my success. He listens, he agrees there is a defect. He offers the full refund. Problem solved. Total time to accomplish this: 20 minutes. Conclusion: $60 defended in 20 minutes. If it were income, it would effectively be $180 per hour, well worth the effort and if consumerism were a sport, I would say it was a good match (which I won). AsideI have heard horror stories about BestBuy, but I am basically happy with the store. I've had to return a couple laptop computers in the past, possibly because the boxes were opened before I had a chance to check the factory seal. Always check that!The worst story I've heard so far is the disgruntled shopper who was stuck with an unjust installation fee for a defective car audio product, at a Baltimore BestBuy. And when he tried to pay them with unusual but perfectly legal $2 bills, they called the cops and had him arrested. Gosh, I hope he sued BestBuy. Links
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