Interesting indeed (pun unintended.) Check out the sample size for the Best Buy reviews (almost 15k) compared to the one for Apple. I gotta hand it to Best Buy there ... they scored much better than I would have expected.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
BestBuy banning people for returning things
- Thread starter xx22
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Interesting indeed (pun unintended.) Check out the sample size for the Best Buy reviews (almost 15k) compared to the one for Apple. I gotta hand it to Best Buy there ... they scored much better than I would have expected.
Pretty sure this would be illegal in the EU. Consumer protection laws provide a right to return, perhaps someone should suggest this to US lawmakers?
Agreed! Plus, what happens if (when?) TRE's decision making is applied cross-company? e.g. You get flagged at Best Buy, but that also applies to other companies TRE supports. This may not be happening now, but how hard is it to imagine Company B wanting to know if a customer is flagged elsewhere?
There are lots of people who buy a tv the day before the Super Bowl and return it the Monday after it. Gee wonder why Best Buy is changing their return policy.
Abuse can occurs on both sides. I think OP's example is a corporation going too far, but there are examples from both points of view. There was a great example where a band held a concert in Central Park. The staff went to Best Buy to buy all their digital cameras, used them for the concert, then returned them all a few days later. Essentially, "renting" cameras for free. Then Best Buy was stuck with dozens of opened, used cameras.
I've also heard a coworker who did the same thing--she uses it for vacation, then returns it when she's back home and got the photos off. That way, she says, she always has the latest and best camera instead of an obsolete camera with a dead battery that won't hold a charge.
I have a friend who buys one of each kind of competing device (for example MP3 players) with the intention of keeping only the best, and returning all the rest.
Heck, I've seen people on right here on MR return iDevices over and over and over again due to some perceived "problem" like they didn't get the better of the two manufacturers who provide LCD panels, or CPUs, or batteries for the iDevice.
I frequently see EU citizens complaining that things cost more in the EU than they do in the USA. These kinds of EU laws provide valuable consumer protections, but they also enable abuse, so naturally they also add to the cost of doing business.
Last edited:
If they were siccing their TRE dog on people like that it would make sense, but that's not what they're doing.
Well, sort of. One store's ban is not automatically applied across all stores using TRE data. However, the return data is shared between the stores, so Best Buy's algorithm can ban you in part due to your return history from other stores.
I'm a little surprised Best Buy and other stores haven't experimented with non-returnable purchase prices like the airlines. For example they might offer a doohickey for $50 with the usual return policy, but if you want you can spend $45 for a non-returnable version.
I'm not actually SUGGESTING this as a good idea, I'm just surprised it hasn't come up yet.
I'm not actually SUGGESTING this as a good idea, I'm just surprised it hasn't come up yet.
Well, restocking fees serve much the same purpose. I ordered a camera from Best Buy the other day (because pricing is fairly comparable everywhere and they claim to have it in stock sooner than anyone else), with a restocking fee of 15% (about $500 for a $3300 camera). For all practical purposes, that’s a nonrefundable fare.
They could be doing that; none of us know for certain. It would make sense as those are the types of returns they don't want to have.
I would go for that, as there are items I know I won't return and would be nice to have at a lower price, even if it is a few dollars.
This happened to me - 3 returns in one year and 2 of them were for legitimate "issues" with their own certified (or whatever they call it) open box Apple items.
Seriously - F Best Buy
That's outrageous to punish me for returning defective items they claim they've "inspected"
I will avoid buying anything there at all costs now.
Mission accomplished BB - You got rid of a customer who spent over $3k there last year on items that were not returned... (was that the goal? - to get rid of a customer over defective returns totaling $200?)
I'm not spending a second of my time interacting with whatever scummy 3rd party they've gotten involved with on the returns tracking. Screw BB and them.
Seriously - F Best Buy
That's outrageous to punish me for returning defective items they claim they've "inspected"
I will avoid buying anything there at all costs now.
Mission accomplished BB - You got rid of a customer who spent over $3k there last year on items that were not returned... (was that the goal? - to get rid of a customer over defective returns totaling $200?)
I'm not spending a second of my time interacting with whatever scummy 3rd party they've gotten involved with on the returns tracking. Screw BB and them.
Sure we know for certain. Neither me nor all the other people who are victimized by their fraudulent return policy are doing anything of the sort. In fact they seem to be picking out the best longest time customers to do it to. You can find our stories online or on the links earlier in this thread. Meanwhile, like I mentioned before, the BB store manager showed me one customer on his computer with a huge list of returns and said he wasn't banned and he has no idea why I was, and also meanwhile the BB salespeople keep touting their return policy, which is even shown on a big sign above the cash registers, saying, "Hey try it out for 15 days (30 for their elite members) and if you don't like it just return it. What have you got to lose? "
I'm with Turbine. I hope they go belly up like CompUsa and CircuitCity, tho Comp - or was it CC? - I forgot already - was too bad since I had a lifetime 10% discount there because I stopped a thief who was stabbing their employees. PS Then they fired their employees for trying to stop the thief! They all suck.
Me too.
Returns for a product being defective should be completely exempt from any of these policies.
It's outrageous quite frankly.
Nobody said you were. It also doesn’t mean they are not also banning those that do. You have no evidence otherwise; I am fairly certain the online anecdotes do not constitute all who were banned.
It’s their prerogative to refuse service. Just because you don’t agree does not make it fraudulent.
I agree that returning defective items should not qualify as long as the customer doesn’t return everything as defective.
I would hazard a guess and say that a fair amount of defective returns are not. Just peruse the forums for iPhones and laptops and we see some folks returning a product 4, 5, even 7 times because its not exactly waht they wanted. Their contention that its defective, even if its not really.
Could be..
But I personally do not return things as defective that are not.
Best Buy needs to do a better job of ensuring something is actually defective and allowing returns, not just proceed to mass banning otherwise great customers.
Their policy on returns should also be more lenient on things that are already opened/open box as that's certainly more likely to elicit a return for any reason.
It's embarrassing what they consider "inspected/certified" sometimes..
Last edited:
I know this is kind of an old-ish thread, but I wanted to chime in that apparently it looks like I'm banned, too. I looked at my account and I can only find three returns in the last year of any substance. None of which were even opened. Do I just wait around now and hope they release it or what? I'm not shopping there anymore as it stands. But this is still ridiculous. I got ZERO warning until I figured it out when I had a few items recently purchased and I tried to return them online and it won't let me. I put 2 and 2 together.
I got a warning on the bottom of my receipt during my last return. Said one more and I am banned for a year. Guess what? I won't be shopping at BB anymore.
Here in the UK where we have strong consumer protection laws, such abuse is rife and I would like to see the law changed and something akin to Best Buy's policy happening here.
Frequent returning has even become socially acceptable now, and it isn't fair on the honest customers who are having to fund this obsession through inflated prices.
The most common example is people ordering a dress or a suit in three different sizes and immediately returning at least two of them. The retailer has to not only accept the return by law, but also (in most cases) pay your return postage cost or provide a pre-paid shipping label. So returns are free for the customer.
"Free" means "inefficient". Put a (small) price on returns and allow the market to return to efficiency.
(Funnily, these people would be horrified if the items they bought arrived already opened/tried on. So that subset of obnoxious consumer expects to be able to return free of charge, and have said goods not re-sold as new. Such a waste of resources.)
Frequent returning has even become socially acceptable now, and it isn't fair on the honest customers who are having to fund this obsession through inflated prices.
The most common example is people ordering a dress or a suit in three different sizes and immediately returning at least two of them. The retailer has to not only accept the return by law, but also (in most cases) pay your return postage cost or provide a pre-paid shipping label. So returns are free for the customer.
"Free" means "inefficient". Put a (small) price on returns and allow the market to return to efficiency.
(Funnily, these people would be horrified if the items they bought arrived already opened/tried on. So that subset of obnoxious consumer expects to be able to return free of charge, and have said goods not re-sold as new. Such a waste of resources.)
Glad to see others wising up.
Best Buy got what they, apparently, wanted. (got rid of me)
I don't care what deal or what offer or what they have.
I'm done as a customer there, permanently.
Enjoy you a-h*les
What a horrible company.
Best Buy got what they, apparently, wanted. (got rid of me)
I don't care what deal or what offer or what they have.
I'm done as a customer there, permanently.
Enjoy you a-h*les
What a horrible company.
I won’t be shopping there either. I’ve returned three items in a year. All of which were completely unopened. And bought on ridiculous sales that they could just turn around and make more on. And they banned me. So I’m done. F*** you Best Buy.
The posted return policy is part of the contract between the retailer and you when you make a purchase. It's a legal obligation.
It only makes sense that customers who purchase the largest number of items will statistically be the most likely to return the most number of items. I would love the see the algorithms used by TRE to determine who gets banned. A faulty analytic premise may be the reason that good customers seem more likely to be banned than the annual Super Bowl TV return (I hadn't heard that one before 
) customer. While there are certainly some egregious return abusers, BB and other retailers should insist on knowing the purchase pattern, e.g., 5 purchases totalling $2,000 with 1 return of $230 vs. 2 purchases of $2,000 with 1 return of $1700, of each customer prior to banning. The first type of customer keeps you in business, while the second one is a net loss to your company....or something like that.
I also believe that while TRE may not share the company information of one company with it's other companies, that it does in fact "anonymously" add in return patterns at all the stores who are it's customers, thereby coming up with some type of "Risk of Return" calculation. I'll bet if the truth were known, that calculation figures into the "banning" of a customer from a particular store.
) customer. While there are certainly some egregious return abusers, BB and other retailers should insist on knowing the purchase pattern, e.g., 5 purchases totalling $2,000 with 1 return of $230 vs. 2 purchases of $2,000 with 1 return of $1700, of each customer prior to banning. The first type of customer keeps you in business, while the second one is a net loss to your company....or something like that.I also believe that while TRE may not share the company information of one company with it's other companies, that it does in fact "anonymously" add in return patterns at all the stores who are it's customers, thereby coming up with some type of "Risk of Return" calculation. I'll bet if the truth were known, that calculation figures into the "banning" of a customer from a particular store.
Screw TRE and BB
Complete ******s
All of this is no way to treat good customers.
The whole premise of TRE is just gross to me.
Complete ******s
All of this is no way to treat good customers.
The whole premise of TRE is just gross to me.