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iPad mini Who's bought the mini from best buy and why?
- Thread starter Nychot
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I used to buy from best buy for their warranty and reward zone points. Plus there are more best buys than there are apple stores.
All of that being equal it still mattered a lot.
Bestbuy is ten minutes away. I went in, got a $170 gift card for my old iPhone 4, and walked out with an iPad mini for half price. I was back home in less than an hour.
The most Apple might have gave me was $104, but I would've had to mail the phone in and wait, then order online and wait some more because driving to the nearest Apple store costs about $50 in food and gas.
1) never any lines for apple product launches - i remember when people were lined up for the iPad 3 at apple stores. you could just walk into any best buy and get one very easily on launch day and the following days after that
2) 5% Cash Back with Chase Freedom
3) Reward Zone certificates
4) no questions asked return policies - they won't give you a hard time about 1 dead pixel like the apple store does.
apple store: "1 dead or stuck-on pixel is not enough to initiate a return, sorry"
best buy: "sorry that the product isn't working the way it should, would you like a new one or a full refund?"
2) 5% Cash Back with Chase Freedom
3) Reward Zone certificates
4) no questions asked return policies - they won't give you a hard time about 1 dead pixel like the apple store does.
apple store: "1 dead or stuck-on pixel is not enough to initiate a return, sorry"
best buy: "sorry that the product isn't working the way it should, would you like a new one or a full refund?"
I feel like with all this talk about returns people don't realize that Best Buy has a history of banning returns from people for exceeding some undisclosed conditions. It has caused me to no longer shop there.
That's my point, You get the mini from where you can get the best deal and/or its in stock
Wait. You heard rumors of people getting banned for excessively returning products then you no longer shop there? I dont get it. In your mind is Best Buy supposed to cater to people who buy/return a laptop every month?
Unless you are abusing their return policy then why would that affect you as a customer?
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You just created a scenario out of thin air to prove Best Buy sucks? Now thats bitterness.
Theres a 30/60day return policy that would enable an unhappy customer to return a product so why would they bring it in to geek squad rather than to an Apple bar?
Im not trying to defend BB because many people have legitimate reasons to not go there. But bashing of any kind should at least be based on reality.
This thread has proven that if you want a good deal then Best Buy offers more than just paying straight retail prices from the Apple Store.
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No, I rarely return anything. But the problem is that they don't specify what "excessive" is and also won't tell you why were banned after the fact. They also count price adjustments as returns so of you take advantage of their widely advertised price guarantee "too often" it could also trigger this. I only go there now when I get gift cards for some reason.
I had the same issue with Best Buy. If you have a defective device and exchange it that counts as a return. If you do a certain number of returns they cut off the return policy for 90 days. Even if you only do exchanges or price match it still counts as a return so you could get cut off even if you are not abusing their return policy. I am a silver member as well but since I did 2 price matches on my TV and returned 2 pairs of headphones they printed something out saying I couldn’t do returns for 90 days so I don't shop there anymore. If you get a defective screen and try to exchange it a few times you could get cut off too so just be careful with best buy.
Here is some more info about it.
http://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Best-B...urns-Will-Be-Declined-for-90-days/td-p/374604
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Price adjustments and exchanges both count. Its a pretty dirty system they have. It happened to me and I took my business to Amazon and Apple stores. You are smart to stay away form best buy. They probably wont last much longer with these policies. I know other people who have stopped shopping there after I warned them about the return policy. What makes it worst is that they push this 60 day return policy for Silver Members but then cut you off for returning something. Obviously I dont return that much if I spent 2500 there last year. They wont get my money this year though.
Here is some more info about it.
http://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Best-B...urns-Will-Be-Declined-for-90-days/td-p/374604
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Price adjustments and exchanges both count. Its a pretty dirty system they have. It happened to me and I took my business to Amazon and Apple stores. You are smart to stay away form best buy. They probably wont last much longer with these policies. I know other people who have stopped shopping there after I warned them about the return policy. What makes it worst is that they push this 60 day return policy for Silver Members but then cut you off for returning something. Obviously I dont return that much if I spent 2500 there last year. They wont get my money this year though.
This year I bought my iPad Minis at Apple Store but one benefit people dont mention at Best Buy is Open Box.
I know for some its not worth it for some, but as someone who upgrades far too often then getting a huge discount at purchase helps offset the resale loss and you get the same return policy. With my iPad 3 64GB I paid $560 but sold it at Amazon for $575.
You can find some gems if you search through their open box listings on the site (find your store and click open box). I saw a few iPad 4's for $100 off, but the Mini is only getting 5-10% since its still a hot item.
I know for some its not worth it for some, but as someone who upgrades far too often then getting a huge discount at purchase helps offset the resale loss and you get the same return policy. With my iPad 3 64GB I paid $560 but sold it at Amazon for $575.
You can find some gems if you search through their open box listings on the site (find your store and click open box). I saw a few iPad 4's for $100 off, but the Mini is only getting 5-10% since its still a hot item.
I have never been a victim of this but it makes me too paranoid to keep shopping there. Did you ever get your return report form TRE to see what was on it? And in what time frame did you do those returns and price matches?
I got in on the reward zone program very very early and I share my RZ account with my brother and parents (all in different states). They tend to return a LOT more than I would like so accumulated return totals must be pretty high, but I've never been warned or threatened with a return ban. So Im not sure what it is thats happening to people who get banned with just a few reasonable returns and it does feel more like a specific scenario blown out of proportion rather than common practice.
Theirs don't count against you. It is totally independent of any reward zone memberships. They scan your ID for every return/exchange/price match and those records are kept by The Retail Equation, a third party who decides whether you return too much.
As Steve Dave said its on an individual basis. If they get cut off for returns it wouldn't affect you. I think it goes by price too so the two times I did a price match on my Panasonic 55" TV I that counted for $1500 x 2 so around $3000. I don't mind the return part if that’s all it was but it’s ridiculous that it counts against me if I get a price match or exchange a defective product.
First of all, Best Buy will return all your items until you have been notified you've been banned. I.e., If you have not been notified, you can return all you want (assuming the return criteria is met).
Second, If you've been banned, you want above and beyond excessive returning. These could include people who nit pick everything, keep returning the same items over and over and over. Or, if you return everything you buy. An example of that is buy at Best Buy and buy from an internet dealer, and then return what you bought from the internet to best buy. Your getting instant gratification while getting the internet price. And then you do that over and over and over and over.
It's for the people who are super abusive to the return system. Do you blame Best Buy for that? They probably don't mind losing money on you sometimes but when it's everytime, they don't want you as a customer.
For the record, Amazon does this too.
Second, If you've been banned, you want above and beyond excessive returning. These could include people who nit pick everything, keep returning the same items over and over and over. Or, if you return everything you buy. An example of that is buy at Best Buy and buy from an internet dealer, and then return what you bought from the internet to best buy. Your getting instant gratification while getting the internet price. And then you do that over and over and over and over.
It's for the people who are super abusive to the return system. Do you blame Best Buy for that? They probably don't mind losing money on you sometimes but when it's everytime, they don't want you as a customer.
For the record, Amazon does this too.
I didn't get my report. I just stopped shopping there. It was over about a year period. I did the two price matches on my TV and returned two pairs of headphones and a mac book air. The mac book was an impulse buy because it was open box and was like $400 off. I liked it at first but I found that I used my iPad and didn't use the air much so I returned it. That is when they printed out the receipt saying no exchanges for 90 days. So 3 returns in about a year period and 2 price matches and I was cut off. Ive spent too much money at best buy to have them treat me like Im trying to rip them off so Im done with them. I may look at something there just so I can buy it on Amazon but thats it. I havent spent a single dollar there since then and that was about 4 months ago.
That's interesting. That goes to the contrary what I said in a couple posts above. There has to be some mistake they made.
I have returned numerous stuff since they started requiring ID. That includes multiple ipads, computers, and other expensive stuff. They were mostly impulse buys at the time. I had a problem with impulse buying but I do it much less now.
I do however, still manage to spend over $2500 every year though.
How can you say what is "above and beyond"? Nobody knows what the criteria is. And the concern is that if I buy a bunch of **** from there for Christmas and end up doing a few price matches or returns and get flagged in the mean time then my family could be stuck with any defective merchandise that I bought but didn't open until Christmas. So they get away with having a price guarantee that they don't have to live up to and they can sell defective crap and not have to live up to that either. It is a shady policy and more people should be aware of it before they shop there. I think many people will choose to go elsewhere.
I fully agree it is their right to have such an ambiguous policy just as it is customers right to let them go under.
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Doesn't matter since the ones deciding are a third party and have no idea what you spent there.
That's the problem is that there is no set guideline to what they determine to be excessive. After reading the forum on Best Buys site I saw quite a few Silver members like myself that got cut off for not that many returns/price matches. If they said a certain amount cannot be returned over X period then at least we would know but they don't do that. They just cut you off when they feel like it. At least they give you a warning though and don't reject your return but still I spend too much money there to be accused of excessive returning. I'd rather just take my business elsewhere. If I wasn't a Silver member it wouldn't be as bad but knowing that I spend a lot of money there it makes it unbelievable that they treat loyal customers like that.
Apple store was sold out of 16gb black minis, best buy had them in stock..and they have a 60 day return policy (thank you holidays!)
I purchased the iPads in November. Their current holiday promotion is purchased items from November 4th, 2012 - December 24th, 2012 are eligible for return by January 24, 2013.
Reason why I'd buy from BB is their lenient return policy due to the holidays. Nice timing to try out the iPad mini that I'm itching to do. Although I have the Air at home, it's just no comparison when surfing the net with it in bed compared to the iPad 3, the iPad mini should enhance that experience even more due to its form factor and weight.