It’s Time For An Apology
Today was a very interesting day. I find it completely ironic how a company will change it’s tune when they realize they have been nothing but complete and utter schmucks. I’m pretty sure the staff that insulted and berated my mother-in-law didn’t give their actions a second thought when they showed up for work today, but this evening I uncovered some things that put the ball is back in our court, and they are not going to be too happy about it.
Twenty-four hours ago my mother-in-law was called a liar, she was demeaned by Erica (a Best Buy staff member), the “manager” Nathaniel refused to engage her on the phone, and the corporate “customer relations” representative, Billy, told her there was nothing he could do about it. My mother-in-law endured Erica’s sarcasm and her rude and inconsiderate attitude. She tried to humiliate her over the phone and then Billy took the word of Nathaniel and Erica over the word of their customer, without knowing one way or the other, who might be telling the truth.
I’m pretty sure if asked, the corporate office will deny that ‘jackass’ training is included when they hire new employees, but Erica did her best to make my mother-in-law feel stupid for trying to pursue the matter, and after insulting her and getting very sarcastic with her on the phone, she told my mother-in-law to call the corporate office and hung up on her.
When my mother-in-law called the corporate office, Billy told her there was nothing they could do because the manager at the store informed him that the camera “appeared it had been dropped”.
Take a look at these photos and tell me where the visible damage is.
Here’s the front,
and here’s the back,
So, could you find it? Of course you couldn’t. There is a small “scratch”, if you can even call it that, on the bottom right on the front side, and there is a small “scuff” mark on the bottom left on the back. That’s it. That’s their argument for “appeared it had been dropped”. Of course, that scratch and the scuff mark could have been made while the camera was in someone’s pocket or in a camera bag. Either way, it appears to be normal use. Normal use of a camera that according to them had never been used before my mother-in-law purchased it.
When my father-in-law stood in the store with the camera in hand, Nathaniel informed him there were no longer any images on the camera. Well, duh, my mother-in-law already told him they had been deleted to make room for my son’s photographic masterpieces. Nathaniel also said that the photos I deleted were only “demo” photos placed on the camera by the nice folks at Casio.
You know it and I know it. Casio does not put demo photos on their cameras. If they did, I doubt they would use photos of a black woman sitting seductively on a bed with the camera box at the corner of the bed. Fuzzy photos of white shutters in the same bedroom won’t exactly sell any cameras either.
Anyway, have you ever heard of “PhotoRescue Expert”? It’s a really nice application that allows you to recover images you may have accidently deleted. Wouldn’t it be awesome if I was able to run that application and scan the camera to see if I could recover any of those “demo” photos?
Oh but wait, I did. Due to the fact we had taken a couple photos before we realized the camera wasn’t working right, the first couple images were not recoverable.
The first photo showed a young black woman sitting on a bed. The second shot showed the empty bed with the camera box sitting at the end of the bed. The third shot… Oh, here, you can see the third shot for yourself. You can see the woman and the headboard in this photo.
Here is the fourth photo, notice the bed and the camera box sitting on the bed. Those are some fuzzy looking blinds if you ask me. Nice demo.
The fifth image shows a close up of the camera box. You can clearly see the broken seal on the cd sitting on top of the camera box. Of course, this can’t be the box for this camera because Nathaniel and Erica both say the camera had never been used before it was purchased by my mother-in-law.
The three remaining images we recovered were taken by my son (when we first realized there was an issue with the camera). The image at the top of this post is one of those oddly exposed images.
In addition to recovering the photos, PhotoRescue Expert also reveals the date and time the photos were taken. That first photo was taken on February 8, 2009 at 3:24. Funny. My mother-in-law didn’t purchase the camera until February 25th.
As I said before, today was a very interesting day. Not only did I prove the camera had no signs of damage, I also proved that the camera had indeed been used before my mother-in-law purchased it. But that wasn’t all I found…
After recovering the images this evening, I called the Best Buy “customer relations” number again. TJ informed me that he could not help me from the corporate office and said I would have to take the camera back into the store with the “evidence” to show the store manager. I decided to call the store and ask a few questions.
It turns out Nathaniel is NOT the store manager. He is the service manager. My mother-in-law was under the impression he was the store manager, since that is who she had asked to speak to. The store managers name is Ryan and after hearing what I had to say, he was quick to offer his assistance. I told him that I wanted to file a formal complaint against Erica because she was way out of line treating my mother-in-law the way she did. Once I mentioned the “evidence” (which I will describe below) from the camera and the formal complaint, he asked me what I was doing on Thursday.
No, he wasn’t asking me out on a date, at least I don’t think he was, but he told me to come in on Thursday and ask for him. He stressed that I wasn’t to ask for anyone else, and that he personally would take care of everything at that time.
Now my question is, why is he being so quick to exchange the camera now? Sure, he knows his staff has done wrong, but they’ve done wrong in the past and that didn’t stop them. Sure, he knows the gig is up, but that never stopped employees from that location from being pinheads before. So what’s changed this time?
Maybe it has to do with the final two images on the camera. It could be that those two images hold the key to this whole debacle. The final two images I found on the camera were not recovered by the software because they had never been deleted. They were simply sitting in a separate folder and neither I, nor the employees at the store, noticed them. These two images are evidence that employees at the Best Buy location in Douglasville, Georgia knowingly sold a used camera as new.
Here is the image ‘CIMG0537.JPG’,
and here is ‘CIMG0538.JPG’.
Although the photos are a bit fuzzy, I think it’s very clear why Ryan is so willing to “take care of me” on Thursday. These last two photos show none other than a member of Best Buy’s own “Geek Squad”. There is no denying it now. Someone at that store knew this camera was used, and they knew is since January 1, 2008, which is the timestamp on those two photos. Notice the filenames. It’s also clear that this camera had taken hundred of photos before my mother-in-law purchased it last week.
Best Buy has a lot of explaining to do. First and foremost, they owe my mother-in-law an apology. The mother of all apologies. Disciplinary action should be taken against Nathaniel and Erica, at the very least, and someone from the corporate office needs to contact my mother-in-law and explain why Best Buy Store #519 in Douglasville, Georgia is selling used cameras as if they were brand new.
Isn’t there some sort of law or regulation that covers the deceptive business practice of packing used items and selling them as new? Are there any lawyers out there that could shed some light on this topic for me? Through my own experiences, I have noticed a consistent pattern at that local Best Buy store, but I never though deceptive business practices was part of their modus operandi.
It should be noted that the images used in this post are copies of the originals. I have the originals available on my computer, plus they’re still sitting on the camera waiting to be recovered again and again, if necessary.
This is no longer just about the camera. This is about doing the right thing. If we, as consumers, don’t stand up for what is right, corporations like Best Buy will never change their policies to prevent this kind of behavior from their staff, and they will never stop taking advantage of their customers.
The ball is in our court, and it’s up to Best Buy to make this right. Offering an apology to my mother-in-law and explaining how a used camera was sold as new would be a good start.
[Note (03/05/2009 00:43)]: I have posted an update to this entry titled, Holding Those Accountable.
[Note (03/05/2009 23:25)]: I have posted another update to this entry titled, An Optimistic Outlook.
[Note (03/06/2009 23:38)]: This matter has been resolved with Best Buy. Read my post titled, Above And Beyond, for the details.
I think i know this women. She in chemistry with me. (University of West Georgia) I will ask her about this, but she’ll probably be unhappy that her picture is all over the web and the top story on digg.
Found this from digg.com.
Keep up the good fight. I worked @ store 338 in West Albuq when in college and saw ALL kinds of things happen at that store. Some honest mistakes and some dishonest.
Remember:
All it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing.
I wouldn’t say this was evil, but the principle of the statement remains. Unless people make the effort to hold people and corporations responsible for illegal behavior, change will never occur.
Glad to hear you’re doing something about it.
heheh i bet this wont go further than him getting his money back or a replacement. plus, nobody has said whether they find that woman hot, that is to me real the question in here. :D
Huh, I just want to beat the shit out of the so-called managers. What happened to customer support and professionalism?
Huh, I just want to beat the shit out of the so-called managers that they don’t know what they are doing.
What happened to customer support and professionalism?
This is what happens with these companies. They are so great when they are spreading across the country, but once they are too large the customer support and prices all go down the tubes.
BEST BUY SUXS !!
Why don’t you call the Office of Consumer Affairs with the Georgia Attorney General, as well as the Federal Trade Commission or file a complaint online at (www.ftc.gov)?
You have a large tech-savy community backing you, digg it:
http://digg.com/tech_news/Best_Buy_Sells_Busted_Cam_Blames_You_Oops_Employee_Pix?OTC-twf1
I’m not 100% familiar with the camera, but does it come with an SD card or did you purchase the separately? If it doesn’t come bundled with the camera, how can you be sure that the pictures were taken with this camera and not another? You might want to figure that out before proceeding further.
Hey man, out of respect you should probably blur out the peoples faces. I mean since you speak of respect i don’t think you’d want your face smeared for everyone to see if you were not directly involved with this situation. You never mentioned having any discussions with Mr. Mutton Chops or the female so why paste their faces, you could smear them and just say you did to protect their identity. I guess that makes too much sense though. But good luck with Best Buy and hopefully you get what you want from them.
way to stick it to the man. good luck on straightening everything out.
Just to be devil’s advocate here, you contradicted yourself once and I would like to know which is true. You said that as soon as you explained the situation to the store manager Ryan, he “he was quick to offer his assistance”, you also said that it wasn’t until you surfaced the pictures of the Geek Squad agent that anyone was willing to help. It sounds like Ryan had no idea what was going on until you explained it to him, and as soon as you explained he was willing to help. So, personally I would at least give Ryan the benefit of the doubt as to not knowing what was going on until you complained to him. I am in NO WAY excusing the actions of Nathaniel and Erica who should definitely be dealt with, but from the other comments on this board MOST customers even though still say they aren’t going to shop at Best Buy again when they returned their “used” merchandise, Best Buy was quick to return it.
Just so you know where I am coming from my husband is a manager at Best Buy and has been for 5 years. He is constantly working to improve or fire employees who are just there for a paycheck, and could care less about the company or the customers, and he gets really annoyed when people blame the entire company because one store has messed up management or one employee ruins it for everyone.
Just my 2 cents. Find me a retail company that DOESN’T have any issues with certain employees or stores. People are human.
Opportunity to teach these best buys people a lesson. This has happen before to many people, camera boxes with rocks in them etc. Make them learn from this!
Kevin, I’m not entirely sure how you can actually ask that about a SD card. He said he used an app to recover deleted images. If he knows how to do this, I’m fairly certain an SD card would not have gone overlooked. He’s no noob.
Just to clarify a couple things.
People have asked about the seal on the box. There was no seal from Casio, there was no other clear tape seal on the box. The only seal, if you can call it that, on the box was Best Buy’s 14 day return policy sticker they put on it.
The seal was broken when we unstapled the bag. Yes, the box was in a bag that was stapled by the salesperson at the time of the sale. The broken seal was not discovered until we got the bag home later that evening, which was just before my mother-in-law originally called and spoke to Nathan about the return.
There was no SD card in the camera. The camera has a small amount of memory, I think it is 13mb, onboard, and it was that memory that was checked by the recovery software. There never was an SD card associated with this camera.
Hopefully that clears things up for some of you.
good luck
Good luck with #98. It is illegal to sell used goods as new but have you ever heard of extortion? The time to “negotiate” like this is after legal proceedings have begun unless you want to end up in jail as well.
this is why you shop at staples.
E.A.S.Y Tech FTW
The last time I went to Best Buy, I bought a brand new $150 tax external hard drive only to realize that it was the biggest pile of defective crap I’ve ever used. The damn hard drive wasn’t compatible with the 4-5 computers I tested it on (even though it said on the box that it was) Apparently a couple of my friends bought the SAME product and told me they experienced the same problems that I had. The only reason why they refunded my purchase was because I returned it 4-5 hours after purchasing it. Even then, the lady I was returning it to was giving me a bitchy attitude and interrogated me like I was a criminal. Why the hell are they selling garbage products to consumers anyways?
@99
“but anyone who read the article can see that the author is not very smart at all. The author claimed the camera was malfuntioning, yet the pictures that were “recovered” of both the previous user and geek squad came out with perfect quality.”
Um… er… so I suppose all the irregular horizontal banding seen across every posted image is ‘perfect quality’? Maybe you should think twice before calling out someone as ‘not very smart’. Also, you misspelled malfunctioning, idiot.
I worked at store #519 for three years until I was in a near death car accident that severed my right ear, tore a 5 inch gash along the right side of my head that you could actually see my skull through. I was fired, for being in a car accident, almost dying and not being able to return to work until I had medical clearance. FYI I worked with “Nate” when we both started out in PCHO(Personal Computers and Home Office), he was a little prick when he was 17, and things have not changed at all from the appearance of your current situation. You and the rest of your families experience with him is not a unique one I assure you, from the time I have known him I have observed him to be arrogant, condescending and a jerk in general. There are a lot of good folks at #519 that genuinely cared for the customer and their experience with the store, unfortunately Best Buy Co. has let a majority of them go in order to make more room for people like Nate and their salaries. I encourage you to resolve the situation however you see fit, just felt like giving you my perspective of the store in general and one of the individuals at the root of your problem.
Michael,
This story is incredible, and well told. I, too, hate Best Buy with a passion. This past summer, I bought a new computer. The model I intended to buy, they had four models on display (why four models of the same computer on display??). Their inventory said they had seven in stock (including the four display models). They couldn’t find any of the unopened boxes, so I asked about open box with a discount. They searched for an hour for all the pieces of make one sellable product. No joy.
It so happens that at that time, a new model of the same computer was just about to be released. Every other store in town had it available for pre-order at $1059. That was the retail price: online, everywhere. Best Buy happened to have one box of that model just sitting on their floor. It was a better graphics card and more memory, and for less than the older model, even with an open-box discount. So, I went for it. But when they rang it up, it came up as $1298. I was confused, but so annoyed, and–since that’s exactly what I had originally planned to pay for the older model anyway, I went ahead and paid for it.
I used the computer for a few days then went on a two-week vacation. Upon my return, I went back into Best Buy for some Wireless G networking gear, and saw that the new model for the computer was now on display, with a sale price of $1059. I still had my receipt in my wallet, so I went right up to the service desk. But, because more than 14 days had past, there was nothing they could do about their change in price. I tried to tell them that there was no “change” in price. That their inventory system had obviously had an incorrect price in it and that they overcharged me to begin with. When I asked to speak with a manager, the manager came and spoke to the service rep (not to me), walked away, and I was told that the only thing I could do about it was talk to their corporate service reps. I now presume that wasn’t the actual manager, either, as was in your case.
When I spoke to the corporate folks, they were much nicer to me, looked around the web and their own databases to corroborate my story took my information, my receipt number, told me they’d contact the store to see what date the price was corrected internally, and then call me back.
Well, I never heard back. I had more important things to deal with at the time, so I basically just chalk it up to having paid $239 in stupid tax.
In my town, I have a Fry’s Electronics and a MicroCenter. I don’t give Best Buy my business any more.
Oh, one other remark on your story, however: I do give PEOPLE–individuals–the benefit of the doubt. When the manager Ryan was “suddenly” helpful to you, you play it up that it’s the importance of your new revelations and evidence that make him, personally, more willing to help you than he personally previously had been. However, the way you tell the story, this is the first time you talked to him. So, while it’s possible that HAD you talked to him before he may have ignored your complaints until you presented evidence, but you don’t know that.
It’s just as likely (likelier, in my opinion), that you actually finally got to talk to the one guy in the store that cares about the business and its customers, and that he would have treated you with the same respect without the evidence. Certainly the presentation of the evidence to him compelled him to act more efficaciously, but you can’t act like this was a person who himself had treated you poorly and then, when presented with the information, changed his tune. The whole situation, evidence and all, was one single, new experience to him, and from what I can tell, he handled it exactly the way he should have. Of course, the real proof is in whether he fires or otherwise disciplines Erica for having been rude.
Just wanted to point out a minor flaw in your story telling that paints Ryan, who looks to me to be a guy actually doing his job, with the same brush that otherwise perfectly colours that whole mindlessly evil corporation.
Tom:
Had you been on the phone with Ryan, who made it evidently clear what his position was, you too would have sensed his “sudden” change in demeanor.
Also, as it turns out, Ryan was NOT the store manager. He is just the sales manager. Nathan is the service manager. A guy by the name of Robert, who went above and beyond for us is the general manager, and the one who made sure everything was resolved.
You’re issue as common as it may seem could have indeed been a legitimate issue. If the problem was resolved move on and equally act as an adult and realize that problems happen. It’s pathetic that you would attempt to stir up controversy to try and make a name for yourself. The fact that “we” Americans have become so demoralized in our sue everyone society. I understand your frustration and the fact that something needed to be done. Customer service is an issue at every single retailer nationwide just be happy you didn’t purchase it at Circuit City because there would have never been any resolution.
Matt:
What are you taking about? My issue was a legitimate issue. It wasn’t resolved until last night. I was acting like an adult. I was trying to get resolution of the issue.
This had nothing to do with making a name for myself or suing anyone, it had to do with getting a camera that was in working order, like anyone else would have expected.
Now, take your high horse and ride your pathetic ass out of here.
I can say that It may not be officially in the training manuals that BB employees must be jackasses but unofficially thats what they what them to be. I had a serious issue with them when i worked for them in 02 and they will try to get u to basically lye and steal from people and I thought that was dead wrong.
Maybe it’s just me, but when you described the first photo…”The first photo showed a young black woman sitting on a bed.” but never make this reference to anyone else.
The Hispanic male in the photo, or the white manager. I just found it odd. :-)
@Jess: Do you always nitpick, or just when it involves a black person? Who freaking cares?! Is the woman black? YES!!! It’s a description just like saying she was tall or she was short or she was fat. Does it matter if none of the others have a description? NO!!!! The poster is free to write whatever he wants.
What has happened to the freedom of expression? Oh wait, I know. You’re free to express yourself, so long as you don’t offend anyone. Particularly nitpicky people.
*sheesh*
/rant
“you People”–am I gonna be called Racist now, since I said “you people”—but “you people” are a bunch of whack jobs. So the guy said Black Female.So WHAT!
People are dying in Iraq right now.
Some kid, somewhere in America is about to be “homeless” today because his/her mother and/or father is getting their home foreclosed on, and you want to debate over whether or not Dude is Racist because he said “Black Female”.
If I opened my box and found a picture of a Black Female, I sure as HECK would tell the manager–I didn’t take the photo and their’s PROOF because there’s a picture of a “Black Female”—that I didn’t take!!!
I’m sure if the first thing he looked at was a NEKKID (sic) for those who don’t get sarcasm–but if a NEKKID BUXOM Blonde were spread eagle on the Bed–I’m sure he would have said—”This was used before because there is a picture of a NEKKID BLONDE on the CAMERA!
He said that, because it was UNIQUE to his situation(he’s not going around taking pictures of Black Females sitting on a Bed.
Now that we got this debate solved! Why not go use your time wisely and offer to help a Neighbor—or a Friend of a Friend—you might know who is losing their home today. Offer to give them a hand. They need to be given “Hope”, and the best way to do that is a stranger walking up offering them UNCONDITIONAL support and doing what you can to help them in the most DISTURBING day of their LIFE!
God Speed!
i know i know there are aholes
go to whatreallyhappened.com to find the truth about the world around you
black is black and you cann’t get your money back
white is white and you think you are right
Selling used items as new, especially with the previous owner’s pics on them and broken is nothing less than fraud. File charges and take them to court. Document everything including those conversations that ‘may be recorded for quality control purposes’ or more realistically for evidentiary purposes. After hearing about them selling empty boxes as hard drives etc I would NEVER shop there and would only cash in a ‘gift card’ from them. I used to repair consumer electronics and those units would be called ‘refurbs’, short for refurbished unit and would be tested to make sure they worked as new. Obviously Best Buy cannot fix the products or be honest about what they are selling. Sadly we have become a country where ‘service’ is only granted after lawyers get involved. No wonder everything, especially ‘healthmarketing’ which masquerades as healthcare is so damn expensive.
I had several experiences with Best Buy dating back to 1993. One was an air conditioner, another one a computer. The incidences: in ’93 for the a/c, and in ’97 with the computer. To say the least, I no longer buy at Best Buy, and haven’t for over 16 years. I’ve also told everyone who buys there how badly they treat the merchandise and the customers. They’re also very bad liars. I own four duplexes in Ft. Lauderdale, and I can almost calculate the amount of lost sales just from what I would have purchased. It adds up, but do you think one of these bozos would ever think in those terms? Four duplexes = 8 dwellings, complete with a/c, refrigerators, stoves…you get the idea. Now I wonder how much they would have made if they WEREN’T a bunch of BOZOS.