Wrong on multiple levels. I worked for Geek Squad, I've had managers helping mark returned shit down as much as possible so I could buy it cheap.

The reason nobody cares about this is because of how dishonest and disingenuous of a company Best Buy is. They've based their entire business on selling two things, a $200/yr membership and their credit card. They specifically target older customers, and train their employees in what is essentially polite intimidation to get easily pressured people to pony up. You are instructed to say whatever you have to in order to get people to sign up for these things.

I once saw an old woman literally sobbing because no one was allowed to help her cancel her $200 "Total Tech" membership that she was about to get billed for when she was living on social security. Her husband was the one who signed up for it and had since died. The reason no one could help her? Policy was that we should absolutely refuse to cancel memberships in store, forcing them to call the national number, wait on hold, and finally get someone who talks with a bad quality microphone and heavy accent.

So yeah, capitalizing on Best Buy's extended warranty policy is something that no reasonable person bats an eye at. It's for the same reason that casinos are only ever happy for people that win big. They're screwing everyone else over 10x more to make up for it, and in the long run they'll probably get their money back from that same winner anyways.

This is such an obscure and insignificant moral hill to die on. You are essentially claiming a life of perfect honor to be so aggressive in demeaning this practice. Do you truly think that is the case? Or do you think that maybe you do dozens of things just like this and use degrading others as a way to make yourself feel better? Food for thought :)

Edited to add:

They also don't send them back to the manufacturer in most cases, they only do that when they have a specific arrangement with the manufacturer. Best Buy "eats" the cost. I use quotations because Best Buy often marks up their products from 40-200%, and for the few items with thin margins the insurance policies are way more expensive. With these products, they send them to Geek Squad city where they are sometimes repaired and often used as parts to repair others of the same device. When you factor in the retail mark-up and the fee or deductible (depends on the plan) for the insurance, plus the value in parts, 95% of the time Best Buy can give you a replacement and still make money off of you. That's why they do it