Best Buy Strikes Again
In Best Buy's latest attempt to drive customers away they had a man arrested for using $2 bills.
What happened was a sales rep at Best Buy misinformed a customer (big surprise) about a car stereo's compatibility, when the customer came back in for a different stereo they gave him a free installation to apologize. The next day they threatened to call the police if he didn't pay for his free installation. This irritated him so he decided to pay using a stack of $2 bills that he uses for his tour service. Since no one at Best Buy had seen a $2 bill before they called the police. Guess the officer wasn't up on his currency either since he hauled the guy out in handcuffs and leg irons. He was held until the Secret Service confirmed they were legal tender.
Lesson number one: Always get everything in writing! I have had this bite me a number of times. Both maliciously and accidentally I am sure. Had he gotten the free installation offer in writing he could have avoided this mess.
Lesson number two: Don't shop at Best Buy. Any store that labels some of their customers as daemon or devil customers because they make legal use of rebates is not the kind of store that really cares about customer service. Best Buy groups customers who make heavy use of rebates with those who fraudulently return things after claiming the rebate.
The guy was justified in being irate with Best Buy for charging him for the free installation, and threatening him with calling the police if he didn't pay it. He was also justified in using the $2 bills since they are "legal tender for all debts public and private". Best Buy has the option to not accept his money and give him the install for free.
When I was in school I actually went on a field trip where they gave us $2 bills to buy lunch. I guess it is a really common practice and pretty cool when you are a high school student.
As much as I hate to see frivolous law suite I hope he files one against Best Buy and the Baltimore County police department. Best Buy just keeps moving itself further down my list of places to shop.
posted by unused on Tuesday, April 12, 2005
2 Comments:
I have such an incredibly large ammount of $2 bills, I should go around trying to pay for things with them. Fun fun fun!
Just so you know, Best Buy doesn't label it's customers "devils." The term comes from a book called "angel CUstomers, Devil Customers" which has principles in it that have been used by Best Buy. They are not the originators of the term. Most retail companies use principles from that book.
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