If you were a manager/owner of a corporation, would you risk losing a lifetime customer over $30?
So about 5 month's ago, I purchased a digital camera online from Best Buy. On the web page for the camera it said "Free $30 Gift Card with Purchase." So a week later, I get the camera in the mail and there is no gift card. I call up Best Buy, and they tell me that I had to purchase a printer as well as the camera to get my gift card. I tell them I didn't recall seeing that, but they said that the "Free $30 Gift Card with Purchase" was actually a link to another page that explained the promotion in full.
So I go back to the web page and sure enough, it is a link. There were three lines on the left side:
"On Sale"
"Free Shipping"
"Free $30 Gift Card with Purchase"
Only the bottom one was a link, the other two were not. They all looked identical, though. Apperantly I was supposed to hover my mouse over every inch of the page searching for a link.
There was no asterisk next to it or something else telling me there was a footnot explaining that the additional purchase of a printer was needed. There was nothing that said "Click here for more details". It just said "Free $30 Gift Card with Purchase."
So instead of calling, I decide to send emails so that I can get everything in writing. I went back and forth about 6 or 7 times with about 4 different people and they wouldn't budge. One of them even said "We understand that our promotions can some times be confusing, but at this time there is nothing further we can do."
So I call back and speak with the Customer Service Manager and explain everything and tell him that I have every email printed out (even the one of them admitting that they have confusing promotions). I also ask if he can pull up my Best Buy account history. I tell him that he will see that I've spent several thousand dollars over the last year including (not including a $2K tv, I paid cash for) and plan on spending much more as we just moved into a new house and I need to set up a few more rooms. He confirms that he see's this on his side. I basically ask him if he is willing to throw away that kind of customer over $30. He says that he is sorry, but he cannot do anything. So I told him that I fully intend to file a complaint with the FTC (don't know if it will matter, but my co-worker said that a legit complaint usually results in a $5K or so fin). And then I asked him to transfer me to their credit people so I could close my account.
So I close my account, file my complaint with the FTC, return my TV (how convienent that something went wrong a month before the warranty expired
) and returend about $800 worth of indoor speakers that I hadn't installed yet.
Finally, I took a copy of the letter I sent to the FTC, their aknowledgement of it's receipt, the letter from Best Buy stating my credit card had been closed, the return receipt of over $3,000 (with tax) of my TV and speakers as well as a new receipt from Circuit City where I re-purchased the equipment and every email that was sent back and forth and put it all in a nice little envelope and mailed it to the office with a note that read "Hope all this was worth $30."
I know it won't matter to them, but it felt good. I hope that moron get's fired and now I smile everytime I drive past Best Buy on my way to Circuit City. I haven't stepped in a Best Buy since then and only browse their site in order to get a price match for Circuit City or Fry's, etc. Now, on that same camera, the link now says "Free $30 Gift Card with Purchase of Camera and Printer"
I still can't believe that they through a good customer away over something so small. It's not like I went there to buy a CD every few month's, I spent a lot of $$$ there and intended to keep doing so. It just seems stupid.
Maybe I see it different, but I work for a company that prides itself on customer service and will always bite the bullet to keep a customer happy. If that happened at my company, I'm pretty sure someone would have been fired.
So about 5 month's ago, I purchased a digital camera online from Best Buy. On the web page for the camera it said "Free $30 Gift Card with Purchase." So a week later, I get the camera in the mail and there is no gift card. I call up Best Buy, and they tell me that I had to purchase a printer as well as the camera to get my gift card. I tell them I didn't recall seeing that, but they said that the "Free $30 Gift Card with Purchase" was actually a link to another page that explained the promotion in full.
So I go back to the web page and sure enough, it is a link. There were three lines on the left side:
"On Sale"
"Free Shipping"
"Free $30 Gift Card with Purchase"
Only the bottom one was a link, the other two were not. They all looked identical, though. Apperantly I was supposed to hover my mouse over every inch of the page searching for a link.
There was no asterisk next to it or something else telling me there was a footnot explaining that the additional purchase of a printer was needed. There was nothing that said "Click here for more details". It just said "Free $30 Gift Card with Purchase."
So instead of calling, I decide to send emails so that I can get everything in writing. I went back and forth about 6 or 7 times with about 4 different people and they wouldn't budge. One of them even said "We understand that our promotions can some times be confusing, but at this time there is nothing further we can do."
So I call back and speak with the Customer Service Manager and explain everything and tell him that I have every email printed out (even the one of them admitting that they have confusing promotions). I also ask if he can pull up my Best Buy account history. I tell him that he will see that I've spent several thousand dollars over the last year including (not including a $2K tv, I paid cash for) and plan on spending much more as we just moved into a new house and I need to set up a few more rooms. He confirms that he see's this on his side. I basically ask him if he is willing to throw away that kind of customer over $30. He says that he is sorry, but he cannot do anything. So I told him that I fully intend to file a complaint with the FTC (don't know if it will matter, but my co-worker said that a legit complaint usually results in a $5K or so fin). And then I asked him to transfer me to their credit people so I could close my account.
So I close my account, file my complaint with the FTC, return my TV (how convienent that something went wrong a month before the warranty expired
) and returend about $800 worth of indoor speakers that I hadn't installed yet. Finally, I took a copy of the letter I sent to the FTC, their aknowledgement of it's receipt, the letter from Best Buy stating my credit card had been closed, the return receipt of over $3,000 (with tax) of my TV and speakers as well as a new receipt from Circuit City where I re-purchased the equipment and every email that was sent back and forth and put it all in a nice little envelope and mailed it to the office with a note that read "Hope all this was worth $30."
I know it won't matter to them, but it felt good. I hope that moron get's fired and now I smile everytime I drive past Best Buy on my way to Circuit City. I haven't stepped in a Best Buy since then and only browse their site in order to get a price match for Circuit City or Fry's, etc. Now, on that same camera, the link now says "Free $30 Gift Card with Purchase of Camera and Printer"
I still can't believe that they through a good customer away over something so small. It's not like I went there to buy a CD every few month's, I spent a lot of $$$ there and intended to keep doing so. It just seems stupid.
Maybe I see it different, but I work for a company that prides itself on customer service and will always bite the bullet to keep a customer happy. If that happened at my company, I'm pretty sure someone would have been fired.
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