Complaint Rating:

My complaint concerns Best Buy Inc. They do not back the products they sell. If they sell you a defective product that does not reveal itself within 30 days after purchase, they refuse to allow it to be returned for credit or replacement. They will not allow consumers to complain directly to the store manager.

On August 3, 2007, I purchased an XM Satellite Radio Boom box for $104.99 and an XM Radio receiver kit for $39.99 for a total cost with tax of $156.94. The display screen of the receiver began to malfunction about the third week of September. I waited a week or so to see if it was the XM radio signal that was the problem. After the display of the channels began to disappear soon after I turned it on, I called XM Satellite radio. After hearing my problem the XM Radio technician told me I should take it back to Best Buy where I bought it because the receiver was not working right.

Today, October 9, 2007, I finally found time after work to bring in the radio boombox and receiver. As soon as the clerk at the repair desk saw what I had brought, he said that he was pretty sure that Best Buy would not be able to help me. He said We do not repair these. Since you bought it over 30-days ago, you will have to talk to the manufacturer (AudioVox). I showed him my 12 month warranty from AudioVox. I stated that Best Buy ought to return defective products to the manufacturer and honor the warranty by replacing the defective receiver by another. He stated that he could not do anything for me and started to wait on another customer.

After asking to see the manager, Ryan Travis, Deputy Counter Intelligence, met with me. I told him that I felt a 30-day return policy should apply to only those products that had not stopped working and that Best Buy should respect the 12-month warranty on the receiver set by the manufacturer. That is the way stores used to do business. If your vacuum cleaner or coffee pot was defective, you could always get a refund, a store credit, or replacement from the store where you bought it. The store dealt with the manufacturer. But Mr. Travis told me that he could not repair my receiver and he would not replace the receiver or refund my money. He said that I had to contact AudioVox.

When I asked to talk to the store manager, he said he was the store manager. After pressuring him, since the card he gave me obviously did not indicate that he was any kind of manager, he told me the manager was not in the store and he was acting for him. He gave me the number of the Best Buy customer service line.

I called the Best Buy corporate customer service center from the Walnut Hill parking lot. I spoke to Steve (no last name given). I explained that I intended to file a complaint but wanted to give the store manager a chance to hear me out. I told him that I believed a store should back up the products it sold. I told Steve that I planned to complain online because I thought consumers should know that if they buy a defective product from Best Buy, they are SOL if the product does not malfunction within 30-days of purchase. Steve tried to contact the store manager, Don (no last name permitted to be given), while I waited 10 minutes in the parking lot. When he got back online he was quite apologetic. He said that Don, the store manager, was quote unavailable. He said he too had gotten no where with Ryan Travis.

So now I am supposed to send AudioVox (located in New York State) my receiver and ask that it be replaced. In the meantime, I do not have a radio that I paid over $150 to listen to.

What I want first is for Don to get the guts to talk with me about this issue. Second, I would like Best Buy to change their return policy for defective products. Who would buy anything expensive like a computer (14-day return policy) or entertainment electronics (30-day return policy) from a company that will not let you return it if it is defective!?