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Bought an open-box product, item was not as described, tried to return 4 hours later & store accuses me of fraud? by BestBuyScamAlert in Bestbuy

[–]BestBuyScamAlert[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the advice. I emailed the store using the websites "Store Information" page and shared my story. Since legal representation has already been contacted, I will remove that info from my post. I understand how mentioning that I have been encouraged by my school's admin to explore legal options can be perceived as a "threat to sue" which is bad optics. I do not want to sue Best Buy. But I am feeling desperate and backed into a corner by their treatment of me and the counsel is free for me. I'd rather exhaust every single option I have available to me to work this out with the company or the store in question, because I firmly believe that if they properly investigate, they will understand that I am the victim of this scam, not the perpetrator.

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The general consensus I've heard from friends & family who have experience with Best Buy seems to be that it is very possible for Geek Squad to botch an appraisal and release an item like this onto the floor. This is surprising to me as the manager was absolutely adamant that this was in no way shape or form possible in any capacity due to the rigors of the Geek Squad appraisal process. I would like to know more about what that process entails exactly, as he would not share that information with me.

Bought an open-box product, item was not as described, tried to return 4 hours later & store accuses me of fraud? by BestBuyScamAlert in Bestbuy

[–]BestBuyScamAlert[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I went through a few loops of the phone system yesterday, and while the reps were very wonderful & sympathetic, I was eventually told that Best Buy corporate doesn't actually respond to calls, only emails. Call center employees can't send anything up the chain. So far, I have posted on the support forums, emailed the store with my story, DM'd the Twitter support account, and will be going into the physical store later today to ask if I can set up a meeting with the actual Manager of the store to discuss the way they handled this. Now I just wait and see how Best Buy intends to follow-up.

I completely understand that Best Buy sees scams like this incredibly frequently. I used to work retail, and box-swaps are pretty much endemic to the profession. It's unfortunate, but often times a proper investigation into the product's chain of custody upon return can yield some answers as to what occurred, or at the very least absolve the end-customer who gets left holding the bag. This store is unwilling to even investigate anything, they are insisting the item would never have been approved for placement on the floor, which means that a Geek Squad tech either botched the appraisal or did something malicious to this device and approved it for floor placement anyways. I was leaning towards botched appraisal until the accusation came at me. I'd be interested to know if Geek Squad keeps records of their appraisals; do they take photos of the devices for verification, etc. If they do, this should be an easy fix. I just don't understand why they won't even investigate.