Ever get taken or swindled?

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » July 1, 2004, 4:13 pm

I admit I was a dumbass when this happend and I am not sure if I was having a brainfart or what. Here is the complaint letter I wrote to Bestbuy.

On June 19th at store #28 I was doing some shopping. I was told by an employee that I can check out in the department instead of the front registers and that I would get a free prize when I did. So I completed my shopping(a few dvds and a spool of cdr's) and found this person to check out. He told me that I was getting a free 8 weeks of Entertainment Weekly and he needed to see my debit card so he could verify my age. Well it turns out that I was charged $27 from Entertainment Weekly and they took money from an account that was empty. It cost me another $25 in overdraft charges from my bank. I had not intended on subscribing to something I thought was a free gift. It turns out that the receipt I got was also contained a survey code on it. I filled that out last week and haven't heard anything since. Does Bestbuy really Care?

Not sure if this will help or anything but I feel better having sent this to them. I feel like I was walking on a fence and slipped and crushed my berries. No one to really blame but myself for the pain.

Sargeras · Post by **Sargeras** » July 1, 2004, 4:21 pm

WTF. They told me the same thing. I'll have to look and see if they charged me.

Sabek · Post by **Sabek** » July 1, 2004, 4:32 pm

They tried that on me recently and I told them no thanks.
I get enough crap mail as it is.

Kylere · Post by **Kylere** » July 1, 2004, 5:05 pm

Smart and Safe Answers

Can I have your zip code? No
Can I have your phone number? No
Do you want free X? No

There is no such thing as a free lunch. Your data is valuable and they should not be getting your name phone, zip etc to build a mailing list while also tracking your purchases over time. If I came to your door and said, Hey gimme your Name, Addy, CC#, A list of all the things you have bought this year and when and how much you paid, you would laugh at me.

You should laugh at Best Buy, Radio Shack, Microcenter, Fyes, Sears, JC Penny etc when they do the same. Ever wonder how you get on all those junk mail lists?

sweetkastings · Post by **sweetkastings** » July 1, 2004, 5:49 pm

sorry you guys got screwd

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » July 1, 2004, 6:50 pm

I had the same thing, and I chose Sports Illustrated since I had a choice (and they already had my info from a Best buy card). It took a couple months before SI arrived, and only on the receipt you get AFTER they fill out all of the info does it tell you that you will be automatically billed after your free 8 issues. I made sure they heard about that scam real fast at best buy and at SI.

XunilTlatoani · Post by **XunilTlatoani** » July 1, 2004, 6:55 pm

Kinda reminds me of these commericials I've been seeing on TV for free software. They send you four CDs (Home Depot, Encarta, and other crap) for $7, but in fine print it says that you have to send back one of them or else you'll be charged full price.

It's all about the fine print

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 1, 2004, 7:29 pm

Don't do anything that requires you to give out your credit card info. That's almost always a scam or fine print detailing automatic renewals etc.

I'm surprised a store like Best Buy would do it though. Lame. It sounds like Best Buy also was swindled by whoever convinced them that pissing off their customers with a magazine scam was a good idea.

That checkout person probably got some sort of bonus for the number of scams he could pull off.

I think some RL PK is in order Bubba!

kyoukan · Post by **kyoukan** » July 1, 2004, 7:30 pm

hot tip: nothing is free. the best buy execs (or any company) wouldnt cross the street to piss on you if you were on fire, unless you had money falling out of your pocket. the only reason they are going to pro-actively offer you anything is when they stand to benefit from it.

radio shack is the worst. I went there like a year ago and loaded up on about sixty dollars worth of batteries for all our flashlights and shit. I was paying in cash and the radio shack guy wanted my phone number.

I said "why the hell do you want my phone number"

sales guy was like, "we take everyone's number" I told him I didnt want to give him my number. he told me that I had to, so I was like "whatever, its 555-1212" and he says "well that's obviously a fake number." I didn't want to give him a legit sounding number in case it was actually someone's number and radio shack started harrassing them with calls. I was pretty fucking dumbfounded. I actually said to the guy that he would seriously not take my cash for those batteries unless I gave him my phone number and he was like, "yep" so I told him to pound sand and bought the same fucking brand of batteries at wal-mart for like half the cost.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » July 1, 2004, 7:36 pm

kyoukan wrote:
radio shack is the worst. I went there like a year ago and loaded up on about sixty dollars worth of batteries for all our flashlights and shit. I was paying in cash and the radio shack guy wanted my phone number.

OK, what's really draining all of those batteries???

kyoukan wrote:
I said "why the hell do you want my phone number"

sales guy was like, "we take everyone's number" I told him I didnt want to give him my number. he told me that I had to, so I was like "whatever, its 555-1212" and he says "well that's obviously a fake number." I didn't want to give him a legit sounding number in case it was actually someone's number and radio shack started harrassing them with calls. I was pretty fucking dumbfounded. I actually said to the guy that he would seriously not take my cash for those batteries unless I gave him my phone number and he was like, "yep" so I told him to pound sand and bought the same fucking brand of batteries at wal-mart for like half the cost.

Yep, Radio Shack is hands down the worst. No one else comes close. I have a fake phone number memorized for any store or business that asks for it. I memorize it so I can use the same one if I need to return an item.

I can't stand Radio Shack.

Dups. · Post by **Dups.** » July 2, 2004, 10:38 am

Does Bestbuy really Care?

Dear Customer 84781293791283792873212324

Sorry what was the question?

Sincerly, Best Buy!

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » July 2, 2004, 4:48 pm

Follow up from Best Buy and my response to them.

Thank you for contacting Best Buy about your Entertainment Weekly subscription. I'm Jered with Customer Care.

We apologize for any confusion caused by the subscription process. In order to be signed up for the free magazine subscriptions you must verify your address information and have your credit card swiped at our store checkouts. Your purchase receipt should then have this statement at the bottom:

"Yes! I want to try 8 issues of Entertainment Weekly with automatic renewal benefits as described in the brochure. I understand my credit card & billing information will be sent to Entertainment Weekly.

For questions about Entertainment Weekly please call 1-866-228-1183."

If you wish to cancel your subscription, we encourage you to call the above number.

Best Buy strives to make each experience you have with us as positive and fun as possible, and we are disappointed if we don't live up to that expectation. We have forwarded your message to the appropriate personnel for internal review.

Thank you for sharing your comments with Best Buy. Please don't hesitate to contact us with additional questions or concerns.

Best wishes from Best Buy,
Jered and the Customer Care Team

My response.

Hello Jered,
While I totally understand that I would have to cancel my subscription before the end of the 8th week so I wouldn't get charged for renewal, I wasn't given that choice. They took the money out of my account right away and in the process screwed me by causing an overdraft.

What it says on my receipt differs slightly from what you have put in this email.

"Yes! I want Entertainment Weekly's 8 issue trial offer with automatic renewal. I authorize Best Buy to give my credit/debit card to EW and EW to charge my card for the initial and six month renewal terms."

This says nothing about my information going to EW. This says they are taking money now. I understand that if I had read the receipt directly after receiving it then I would have known I would be screwed if I didn't cancel right away.

I guess the thing that really pisses me off is that I was lied to by your employee. He told me he needed my card for AGE verification. He didn't say, "Please give me your card so I can charge you the cost of the magazines in addition to the 8 weeks free." Maybe our definitions of "Free" are different.

I just want it known that I am not a satisfied customer and I feel somewhat betrayed.

Thank you.

Cracc · Post by **Cracc** » July 6, 2004, 8:03 pm

Did you suddenly morph into pilsburry kyo?