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I bought something from a Best Buy vending machine, and it didn't go so well.
- chris_wot 14y agoI would never spend $80 on something from a vending machine! For tha amount of money, you really need to be able to properly see and even touch the thing your buying. Caveat emptor
- brudgers 14y agoAvoiding caveat emptor is the appeal of the Best Buy brand. The author's point is that these machines hurt the company's image by making returns a hassle.
- pavel_lishin 14y agoThe article made it sound like returns are virtually impossible. You can only return unopened products? What, exactly, would you see on the back of the box once you buy it that you didn't see on the front?
- excuse-me 14y agoMe neither - I normally insist on missing the business meeting I'm going to, or turning around and flying back to a city with a real Best Buy or having a courier fly out with an international power adaptor. You need something, they are selling it, you buy it
- pavel_lishin 14y agoDoes this mean you've never bought an expensive item online?
- ww520 14y agoOnline vendors need extra level of good customer service to reduce people's fear on buying expensive stuff, like Amazon's customer service.
- chrislomax 14y agoTwo things here, 1) I buy things online simply because of the distance selling act. I have 7 days no questions asked returns policy. 2) Amazon customer service is awesome, I experienced this first hand at xmas when my little boys 3DS wasn't charging properly, I emailed customer service to send a new charger and they just sent a whole new device and give me 28 days to return the other one. That is what I call customer service
- pavel_lishin 14y agoYou lucky Brits get all the best consumer protection laws. I don't think such a thing exists in the states, and if it did, I imagine that there would be some sort of shipping loophole. ("Sorry, your device took 4 days to ship, and 3 days to ship back, you don't get a refund. Oh, and if you want your device back, please pay for shipping again.")
- chrislomax 14y agoIt is a great law if used properly. It does however stop my friend from selling beds and sofa's online from this shop because he is afraid of people taking advantage of this law. Large shops can swallow the cost but independent retailers suffer when consumers take the piss and just send stuff back. The shop can't send it back to the manufacturer and is generally stuck with a sofa that has been slightly customised in some way by the customer.
- chris_wot 14y agoCorrect.
- ceejayoz 14y agoYou'd generally be expected to pay for these items prior to removing their shrink-wrap coverage anyways, so there's not really any difference in that respect.
- calloc 14y agoYou can generally ask a manager if he would mind if you opened the product while he is there to make sure it functions for your needs. I've never had an issue with doing that.
- MartinCron 14y agoI recently purchased an iPod Touch from a vending machine inside a Macy's store next to my office in downtown Seattle. I knew what the product was all about, and I knew that either Macy's or Apple would make things right if something went wrong. I trust Macy's and Apple, I don't trust Best Buy very much, and will trust their vending machines even less. That said, other than the novelty of it, there's no reason to buy electronics this way.
- burgerbrain 14y agoWas the entire experience faster than it might have otherwise been? I can see an advantage from a "not having to wait in lines" standpoint. (unless I suppose the machines become heavily trafficked).
- MartinCron 14y agoDefinitely faster than going to a crowded Apple Store, and not having to talk to a sales clerk is a clear bonus if you're an introverted misanthrope like me.
- fleitz 14y agoCan't return? Don't care. Cancel payment with credit card processor. Problem solved.
- tocomment 14y agoDoes that generally work? Best Buy can't block that?
- dangrossman 14y agoAll chargebacks can be disputed. Best Buy can provide evidence, including the return policies shown on the kiosk, which the banks will review to determine if the chargeback should stand or not. If Best Buy also loses the dispute, the customer will keep their money, but Best Buy still has the option of a court case.
- mangodrunk 14y agoIt seems that businesses have an uphill battle in that they have to spend time and money to provide evidence whereas the customer can simply make a claim. And the option of a court case doesn't seem like a good option either, would it cover court costs, and if it does they might be against such things for the bad publicity it might generate.
- HeyLaughingBoy 14y agoThe claim has to be reasonable. If you buy a pair of $10 shoes and try to chargeback a year later, the bank will almost certainly refuse. OTOH, as I said in another post, if you purchased something and it was not as expected and the vendor won't take a return, the chargeback will almost certainly go through. There are exceptions, but not many.
- dangrossman 14y agoThat's one of the reasons most stores have such generous return policies. There's a cost to having an upset customer whether they're right or wrong... at least, when they pay with credit. Sometimes it's cheaper to take a loss on the return than to deal with a chargeback -- which costs time and money even if you successfully dispute the customer's claims.
- warpspeed 14y agoThe vending machine saves money on staffing at the expense of the customer being able to examine or ask questions about what they're purchasing. It would make sense actually to have an even better return policy than the brick and mortar stores to make up for this. Best Buy wants to have their cake and eat it too.
- drsim 14y agoSo they're merely 'Best Buy' branded. If I buy something from your company I expect to return it to any of your outlets, including if I've purchased online. That's why I love Collect+ so much. http://www.collectplus.co.uk/merchants http://www.collectplus.co.uk/merchants
- iends 14y agoAs an aside that I'm probably going to get down voted for... I've always seen store returns as an ethical issue. If at the time of purchase I have full information about the product, I see it as unethical to change my mind a few days latter simply because of buyers remorse. One of the examples given in the article mentions the author returned a playstation after playing it for a few days. I don't see how this is a reasonable return, and it cost the store money all because the buyer was fickle. The main story from the article is a bit different, as the user bought the case expecting X and got Y. I have no problem with returns of this nature. A reasonably informed consumer would not expect there to be two products from the same company, with the same name just only sold at different locations. I'd probably call up AMEX and cancel the charge.
- karamazov 14y agoStore returns are not an ethical issue, but a result of market forces. The more lenient a store is with its return policy, the happier its customers will be, and the more money they'll be inclined to spend there. For example, managers often have the discretion to extend the duration of stated policies; in my experience, they're happy to do so if it'll please the customer. This costs the stores some money, but the people in charge keep the policies in place, so they must have judged them a net win to their business. I'm happy to take advantage of the convenience it offers me; in fact, I'm more likely to shop at a store with a lax return policy, and likely to buy more, as I know I can return it later if I don't like it. Presumably, it's this tradeoff that the store owners are after.
- iends 14y agoI understand why it makes good business sense for a company to offer a good return policy, but that is different from me as a consumer buying things on impulse and then returning them a few days later when I regret my decisions.
- karamazov 14y agoSo, you view this as a bad habit, rather than an ethical dilemma.
- streptomycin 14y agoIt's not really Best Buy's fault if a company makes two different products with the same name.
- crazygringo 14y agoIt's not their fault, but it's their responsibility to clarify differences, or else accept returns if they don't.
- warpspeed 14y agoWell, it depends on what business Best Buy is in. If they're just a vehicle of getting merchandise to customers, you're right; it's not their probem. However, they're going to lose to Amazon in a heartbeat since they'll never be able to win with pricing. On the other hand, if Best Buy offers you personalized assistance in making the right buying decision, they've created a value proposition that Amazon can't match. This is what they claim to do in their brick and mortar stores. In the case of the article, they're clearly going after the convenience market, but it's my opinion that attaching their branding to it then not following their brand-standard policies is a little disingenuous.
- wpietri 14y agoNeither is it the purchaser's fault. Best Buy was the one who selected the item, put it behind glass where it couldn't be examined, and then wrote the FYIGM policy. They are also the one that wants to have a brand as a reliable retailer. If they're smart, they'll make this right.
- jetti 14y agoRight. But at the same time there was issues with paying (nothing major, but still an inconvenience) and on top of that, if it was at a store the difference would've been noticeable. The problem here is that you are really at the mercy of the vending machine. While the company may want to prevent buyers remorse (or even taking advantage by buying a gadget just to use for a flight then try to return it), you can't expect people to be comfortable buying anything that costs a decent amount (for me that would be > $20) without being reassured that if it isn't what they thought it would be they wouldn't be charged.
- pelemele 14y agoBest Buy is just a test center for Amazon - a lot of people come in just to see and touch stuff before buying it from Amazon. I saw a guy checking a headphones in BB and immediately buying it from Amazon on the spot from his phone.
- LargeWu 14y agoI hear this all the time from Best Buy sympathizers. The question I don't hear getting asked is "Why are they then buying from Amazon, and not bestbuy.com?" The reason is that Best Buy doesn't want its online business cannibalizing their in store business, so they keep their online prices in line with b&m. As a result, they lose the sale in both places.
- daeken 14y agoWhile I'm sure that the prices are a big factor, the only one I care about is: their site is fucking terrible. It's insanely difficult to navigate, the search is atrocious, and finding out what's available online versus in stores is just painful. There are several Best Buys near me, and I'd love to buy stuff online and go run and pick it up when I find that it's available in one of the stores. Every single time I've tried, I ended up going to Amazon and just getting it the next day that way. I don't care about the price, I just want it to work.
- calloc 14y agoI understand that Best Buy has to pay to keep their stores stocked, having physical space to showcase products and let people play with them requires a huge investment that Amazon doesn't have, yet at the same time they charge 2x sometimes even 3x more without giving me anything but the convenience of testing it out without having to receive the product and sending it back to Amazon... If Best Buy dropped its prices to something reasonable I would be more inclined to purchase my electronics in their store right there and then because there is something to be said for the convenience of instantly having the product in my hands rather than having to wait for something to ship from a warehouse, it just isn't worth 2 or 3 times the price.
- mnutt 14y ago
- waqf 14y agoAre there no consumer protection laws in your country or state? Or small claims courts? (This is the odd thing I find in reports from the U.S. ... usually there are some such laws, and I have friends who claim to have used them successfully, but journalists never talk about them.)
- HeyLaughingBoy 14y agoYou hear about the outliers, not the common cases. I tried to return a phone I bought at Target when it simply stopped working two months later. No, I didn't have the manual and box it came in (why the hell do they think anyone keeps that?) and I had thrown out my receipt long ago and couldn't remember which credit card I used and I was trying to return it to a different store than the one I bought it from. Target took the phone back and gave me a new one without complaint. It was well outside their return policy (should have some proof of purchase), and it took a manager to approve it, and someone to manually look through the stores databases for 2 months back to find my transaction, but they were professional and polite all the way and never questioned the return. I don't expect to return stuff often, but I shop at Target a lot in part because I know I won't get hassled if I need to. And yes, we do have customer protection laws, but that's a last resort.
- rhizome 14y agoSpeaking of Best Buy, I didn't read the article due to Time's instant full-pager for Citibank. WTF kind of experience is that?
- EvilTerran 14y agoWTF kind of experience is that? I'd call that a "time to install an ad/scriptblocker" kind of experience. I (w/ NoScript) had no idea there was an ad overlay 'til I reached your post.
- rhizome 14y agoAdblockers on Chrome are terrible as a rule due to architecture.
- infinitivium 14y agoThis article tries to pin the culprit here as a Best Buy vending machine problem. His problem is at most a vending machine problem, and really just his own mistake. Why would you buy something from a vending machine that is inside a package you can't see inside? He lampoons Best Buy over a personal mistake.
- lmm 14y agoThe Best Buy vending machine is pretty unique, isn't it? Or at least new? "I bought a $70 product from a vending machine" would perhaps highlight the core of the problem, but are there any non-best-buy machines selling the same kind of thing?
- nimblegorilla 14y agoHis "mistake" was assuming there would be a reasonable return policy with Best Buy due to the machine's Best Buy branding. People buy products inside packages all the time and assume they can return them if the packaging is misleading.
- dabit 14y agoBest Buy's policy makes sense. I think they are trying to avoid the probably very common scenario where you forget your headphones for a trip, nothing to worry about, just buy a pair from the Express machine, return them as soon as you are back home.
- brokentone 14y agoWell at least he's got a platform to probably get a refund, as for the rest of the world who doesn't write for Time...