Check your box before you leave!

[PBennett]

0X
Decided to replace my 2215 at Circuit City today with a price match to BestBuy. I got a fresh, sealed box with all the pretty 4100 pictures on it. When I got home (an hour away) I opened the box to discover that it held a 1910 :roll:

I realize that they are similar in size but "CHECK YOUR BOXES" before you leave.

Merry Xmas :)

[Kati Compton]

Oh my. Did you have trouble bringing it back to get the real thing?

[PBennett]

Called the salesman as soon as I discovered it (He was really surprised, too!) Am going over today and make the exchange.

[rugerx]

Bait and switch, a VERY common tactic at Bestbuy/Circuit City/CompUSA type stores.

Employees will swap out items such as video cards, PDA, Memory etc with a lesser version, then reshrink wrap it, and the poor customer gets home with the wrong item!!!

How is the customer supposed to prove they didnt pull the swap??

My advice:

1. Check all purchases before leaving the store, YES open the box.
2. Use a credit card with purchase protection. If the store tries to stick it to you, you just call your company and contest the charge, case closed. You keep your money and they can figure out what to do with the junk they sold to you =)

[Frosty Vibe]

Truely scary!

I've heard of incidents like this in smaller scale stores but never with places like Bestbuy / Future ( Canada ).

[PBennett]

:mrgreen: Well, swapped the 1910 for a REAL 4155. Letting it charge now. Looks to be a winner. (Only slight yellow cast at angle). More later...

[Jon Westfall]

Bait and switch, a VERY common tactic at Bestbuy/Circuit City/CompUSA type stores.

Employees will swap out items such as video cards, PDA, Memory etc with a lesser version, then reshrink wrap it, and the poor customer gets home with the wrong item!!!

How is the customer supposed to prove they didnt pull the swap??

My advice:

1. Check all purchases before leaving the store, YES open the box.
2. Use a credit card with purchase protection. If the store tries to stick it to you, you just call your company and contest the charge, case closed. You keep your money and they can figure out what to do with the junk they sold to you =)

Thanks for the advice rugerx (Congrats on your first post), but I have one question: What's in this switching for the employees? Places like Best Buy, CompUSA, etc.. have very strict inventory control for employees as the rate of theft is so high. If an employee were to switch it, intending to buy it later for a lower price point, the odds of store security catching it are pretty good, mostly because of a customer complaining that they got the wrong item. Other than theft, I can't see any other motivation. Any ideas?

Bait and Switch is usually a term used for deceptive advertising (i.e. store advertises CD players for $10, they have 2 in stock of that model, but the $15 model has 300 in stock, guess what most people leave with). I guess it applies here as well.

[PBennett]

8) I think you're right, dadark. I think this was a screw-up from el factorio. I'm not sure how the packing line goes but a 1910 in translucent foam looks a lot like a 4155. Either we're dealing with incompetent workers or there was malice aforethought.

[Dave Beauvais]

The other thing that happens a lot is a customer buys a product--a video card, for example--installs the new one in his system, then returns the old one as a "defective" card in the new box. The customer service drone opens the box to ensure there's a card in there and gives the customer his money back. The customer essentially gets a free video card and the store will either "inspect" it and restock it, or send it back for the manufacturer to deal with.

This happens a lot right after the holiday season when the return rate is high and customer service folks don't have time to check thouroghly because they'll piss off all the people in line behind the customer.

[Frosty Vibe]

That's low...

I suppose one can even supply false name and phone number to avoid a trace-back.

[clrankin]

That's low...

I suppose one can even supply false name and phone number to avoid a trace-back.

One would have to be careful not to buy the item with a credit card then... And of course many stores will send you a company check if the amount to be refunded is over a certain dollar amount, so somebody doing this would be limited to non-big-ticket items. I suspect that this is done in part to deter the exact type of thing that PBennett ran into.

That being said, anyone who would intentionally buy something to swap it out with something they have at home is low indeed...

[Jon Westfall]

The other thing that happens a lot is a customer buys a product--a video card, for example--installs the new one in his system, then returns the old one as a "defective" card in the new box. The customer service drone opens the box to ensure there's a card in there and gives the customer his money back. The customer essentially gets a free video card and the store will either "inspect" it and restock it, or send it back for the manufacturer to deal with.

This happens a lot right after the holiday season when the return rate is high and customer service folks don't have time to check thouroghly because they'll piss off all the people in line behind the customer.

I know for a fact that in Best Buy stores, an employee can get fired for not verifying model and (if available) serial number of a return. A friend of mine is a technician and (through the infinite wisdom of management) was told to process returns for a few hours one particularly heavy day. He accidentally returned an Xbox that's serial number didn't match the receipt and was nearly fired for it. If they get that strict (and in my opinion, stupid) with a technician for not following rules that are for customer service reps, I'm horrifyed to think what happens to an actual customer service rep that screws up just to move the line along faster.

Of course, customer service reps are another rant in themselves at best buy.