Customer Catches Best Buy Breaking Law, Gets Banned From Store
Some companies sure are sore losers. Take for example the folks at Best Buy, who were not only caught violating consumer protection laws, but who then banned the customer who called them out in court for doing so.
Here's the story from Consumerist reader Jed:
Back in January, I broke the digital-audio-in port on my Sony home theater system's receiver. I looked into repair option, and found I could mail it to Sony or take it to my local Best Buy. I opted for Best Buy, and I paid Best Buy the $34.99 non-refundable deposit, relying on the following three statements by their Geek Squad agent, Joe: (1) that my receiver would be sent from the store to their repair facility; (2) once at the facility, it would be diagnosed and I'd get a call telling me how much the repair would cost and requesting my authorization for the repair; and (3) the estimated completion date for the repair was February 1, 2011.
February 1st comes, no word from Best Buy. I called multiple times over the next few days, couldn't get through to a live person and got no replies to the messages I left. On February 6, I got through to a Geek Squad agent and I was told my receiver was sent from the store to their repair facility, then sent on to Sony on January 26th. He was not able to give me any more information or give me an updated estimated completion date.
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I felt Best Buy violated three consumer protections: First, I was told my receiver would be sent to Best Buy's repair center. If I'd known they'd just send it to Sony, I'd have done that myself. Second, consumer protection laws and regulations (at least in every state I've lived or worked in) say you can't charge someone for work they didn't authorize. Third, all they had to do to avoid violating the completion estimate regulation was inform me of the revised date before the previously stated date passed, which they didn't do.
More:
http://consumerist.com/2011/04/customer-catches-best-buy-breaking-law-gets-banned-from-store.html