Originally Posted by Optimus Vader (Post 216862)

Can everyone please list where you're a higher up so those of us reading this debate can better understand what should be done in different situations?

Originally Posted by Spacemafia (Post 216905)

No legitimate retail store will accept open media
returned to them. Why? because no media vendor (the people that sell
it to target, BB, Walmart) will accept them.

Why? Because once you open a DVD,
CD, Cassette tape, atari game, video game, software, the one time license for the media within is transferred to you.

As the end-user, you are licensed to enjoy the media, but you may not
copy it, distribute it, or *re-transfer* the license without express
authorization. That means once you own your right to view the video,
you can't sell that right back to anyone, including the store you
bought it from. This is why you can't legally resell your DVD's or
software. This is why opened DVD's, CD's, software, etc can't be sold
on ebay.

You should have:

1. Read the box
2. Read the return policy
3. Not have even tried to return it.

No manager, Employee, whoever is going to break this rule....sorry...

Im not trying to be an ass, but this is a universal thing in all USA Retail Stores that sale Video games, DVDs, CDs...........

You can return them, BUT IT HAS TO BE THE VERY SAME ITEM!!!!

Originally Posted by Spacemafia (Post 216905)

This is why you can't legally resell your DVD's or
software. This is why opened DVD's, CD's, software, etc can't be sold
on ebay.

Originally Posted by Spacemafia (Post 216925)

What does this have to do with unopened Merch????

Originally Posted by CLASSIFIED (Post 216719)

It is BB fault.

The time between when I bought it and tried to return it was just minutes; not really enough time to burn a copy, which I couldn't do anyway because I don't posses the tech or knowledge to do so.

That is not the point though.

All retail organizations have policies put in place that managers of said retail organizations break routinely to satisfy customers.

In this particular instance the manager should have made an exception because at the time I was a regular customer who bought new dvd's from them every Tuesday.

Now, because that mangager didn't break policy, I get my new dvd's from Target.

So yeah, like I said, BB sux.

Originally Posted by trebleshot (Post 216938)

The number one rule in retail is "The Customer is Always Right." Negative feedback is always much worse than positive feedback. If you have a good experience at a store, you might tell one or two people. If it's a bad experience, you might tell 10 people or more.

Or, you know, post it on a website, or something. ;)



I beg to differ:
Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope 4 (DVD) Digitally remastered and original discs (024543263739) | eBay

You can also find them on Amazon and a host of other sites. It is not illegal sell opened media. The return policies regarding electronic media at retail chains are in place to protect new media from piracy and to prevent the loss of profits from said piracy.



You stated that once opened, that piece of media cannot be legally re-sold to anyone and that is why retailers will not accept any returned media once opened. You also stated that it is the same reason Ebay will not allow anyone to sell used DVDs, etc. I have proven that the latter statement is false.

The fact that any store can sell items as used means that they can re-sell items once opened, which is in direct contrast to what you stated.

Retailers won't accept the return due to potential piracy issues and because they would lose money. If they accepted your return, they would have to refund you the full amount. But since they can't sell the item as new anymore, they would have to sell it at a discount for someone else to buy an opened (or "used") copy. The difference between the retail price and the opened price is the amount they would lose.

However, in Classified's defence, that amount is insignificant to the amount of money they lost due by losing him as a customer.

Originally Posted by Spacemafia (Post 216893)

Im sorry...its a DVD. Once opened they cant be returned EXCEPT for the same thing....not an upgrade, not another DVD....

Originally Posted by Spacemafia (Post 216967)

Believe me 10 more stepped up to take his place....I dont know how people on Ebay get away with....but I showed you the policy of many stores...

You cant return opened stuff in the form of DVD, CD, Games, HD......Why are you and others ignoring a rule???

I work in retail and the customer is never right ever.....they are cocky, mean and a Holes....

Fact is a rule is a rule....you have them here and issue warnings and/or ban to someone for breaking them. If it wasnt for us then these websites wouldnt be here. Yet we have to go by your rules.

Customers are the reason I have a job...but they still are pricks half the time.

In life we all have to live by rules....sucks, but it gives us order.

He bought the wrong thing, but yet you can clearly tell when its a reg DVD and tell when its HD....

He opened it....and the store followed its own rules....

Originally Posted by TVC15 (Post 216946)

And "the customer is right" argument might work on a smaller store, but I assure you it rarely applies to the major corporate chains. I just can't believe anyone would even try to use that in an argument for a store of Best Buy's scale. That's only more self-entitlement, something you should be helping the original poster to get away from.

Originally Posted by Spacemafia (Post 216967)

I dont know how people on Ebay get away with....

Originally Posted by trebleshot (Post 217222)

I never said it was justification for his actions, nor was I using it that way. I simply made a comment about that phrase in reference to the exact opposite attitude that most major retailers seem to have now.

I am certainly not suggesting that everyone say "To hell with the rules, let's make our customers happy all the time! Who cares if we go out of business?" But I'm also not about to say that all customers are self-entitled jerks who are out to screw over the company.

Managers (and some staff) have to make a judgment call in any situation like this. That's really the bottom line. And if the company is truly about customer-retention, they will give managers/staff some wiggle room to work with customers with legitimate issues. It was like that with the last retail company I worked for. It was not that way for the company I worked for before that. That business is now scrambling to stay afloat.

But neither the customers nor the staff should ever be rude to each other. I understand being upset, but the last thing you want to do is piss off the other side. It will never end well, and you will rarely get what you wanted anyway.



Because it's not illegal to sell used media.



Policy is not law. And I'm not arguing policy with you.



I'm not. I agree that most retailers have a policy like that. What I am disagreeing with, is your statement that you cannot legally re-sell open media. That is simply not true. There are literally hundreds of businesses that deal in used media sales on a daily basis. No one has every been arrested for selling used media. Pirated media, on the other hand...



If that's the attitude you and your co-workers have towards your customers, then I don't think I want to shop at your store anyway. I understand having to deal with angry/irate/shady customers (I've dealt with a few doozies myself), but to over-generalise your entire customer base, solely because of those jerks is a little extreme.

The fact is, sometimes the customer is right and sometimes they're not. In the OP's case, I would side with him. Being given the run-around and outright lied to is unacceptable behavior. I would have started collecting names and phone numbers of everyone I talked to and exactly what they said to me the minute something went sideways. But that's because I've been burned before and am that much more cautious now.

In Classified's case, I would side with Best Buy. But the manager could have given him store credit and marked the return used, then put it with their other "Trade-In" merchandise. Instead, the manager chose not to, and Classified chose to stop being their customer.

Originally Posted by CLASSIFIED (Post 217262)

Is the customer always right?

In retail the correct answer is that it doesn't matter.

Managers have to look at the big picture and think in the long term.

Breaking a policy durring a pivitol moment could mean the difference between having a customer for life and no customer at all.

That is the moral of the Anti-Best Buy thread; not that the rules are the rules and shmae on you if you didn't know them.