Best Buy Cancels Orders Before Christmas, Issues Apology Credits (Updated)
In the aftermath of Black Friday, we cheered Best Buy for it's excellent prices. The deals were so aggressive that many of them seemed too good to be true. According to reports that have been circulating today, however, that might actually be the case.
FOX 9 News reports that Best Buy has had to cancel numerous orders recently, including some that were placed as far back as Black Friday. Many customers have taken to the store's comment section to complain, and Best Buy released the following statement to FOX 9:
Best Buy claims that all affected customers have been notified of their canceled orders. Several members of the dealnews staff had orders canceled after Black Friday, but none have reported problems this week. And the Black Friday orders that did go through for our staffers sometimes took several weeks to be delivered.
Gizmodo however reports that some customers didn't receive notification until recently. As we get closer to Christmas, it's obviously a terrible time to be canceling orders. So we want to know: How many of you have encountered issues with your purchases from Best Buy? Was anything canceled this week that has caused an upset in your gift plan?
Update: Readers and dealnews staffers have reported that last night Best Buy emailed an apology to customers for their canceled orders with a note that they would be receiving a store credit for their original order amount. So, according to Best Buy, customers will not only receive a refund, but they will also be given a credit for the same amount to use later. And although some reports indicate that the credit won't "arrive" to customers' inboxes until after Christmas, one of our Senior Content Editors received his credit this morning for a Black Friday weekend purchase.
Readers, have you all received an apology credit from Best Buy? Are you appeased by this resolution? Does it make you more likely to shop at Best Buy in the future, despite the company's last-minute order cancelation?
Photo credit: mobi health news
Merry Christmas!!!
Yes, I got an apology email from them yesterday with the indication of the e-gift card. Three hours later, I got the e-gift card email. I am satisfied with their solution, and I WILL still buy from them in the future!
Merry Christmas to Everyone!
This being said, I have purchased more from best buy this year than ever before. I bought a 19', 23" and 37" tv. The 19" I ordered online (on thanksgiving day) and picked up the next day in the store. I was in and out in 10 minutes. The employees couldn't have been nicer. The other tvs arrived quickly by delivery. I ordered 3 just dance 3 wii games at $10 less each than Walmart and scored $30 in gift cards as well. Great deal! I also purchased 2 other items online that arrived quickly (all with free shipping mind you). One i returned in the store and again employees were extremely quick and pleasant. Please don't stop the best buy deals. I wouldn't have know about the wii games and $10 gift cards with each if it hadn't been posted on this site.
Dear ____,
I can only imagine how disappointed you were when you learned that Best Buy was unable to fill your recent online order. The holiday season is supposed to be a time for happy news, not for notices that may mean that someone special in your life is not going to receive the gift that you had planned for them. The experience you had ordering from Best Buy was unacceptable. You deserve better.
We know that we cannot fill the order you placed in time for the holidays, and for that we are so very sorry. However, we do want to make it up to you in one small way. Within the next few days, you will receive a Best Buy e-gift card for $5 the purchase price of the item that was ordered and subsequently cancelled by us. (You will receive this e-gift card in a separate email to this address.) The e-gift card is yours to use as you wish ...on whatever you wish...in a Best Buy store or on ttp://bestbuy.com[.
On behalf of all of us at Best Buy, best wishes for a 2012 filled with much happiness and good health.
Sincerely,Lisa SmithVice President, Customer Care
2. The only promise Best Buy ever made is that you will get your delivery by Christmas if you ordered by a certain date. If not they'll give you a gift card. No retailer would ever promise that they'll always have an item in stock.
3-5 I agree.
Disappointed!
With that being said I have to admit that I was impressed with the deals that Best Buy had. It has been a long time since I even considered buying anything there since their prices were usually $10 or more than their competitors. Last BF I shopped at amazon and this year I just was not very impressed with amazon's deals. Hopefully BB can clean up their act as I feel amazon needs the competition.
2. Don't promise what you can't deliver.
3. Unhappy customers means no customers.
4. No customers means no more BB
5. WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
Delivery all made it on time. I cannot stand people who cry that their
sale item was sold out espcially if its a game that was 5 bucks. Best
Buy is losing money on every sale, esp with free shipping. Yet some
people will cry and moan that Best Buy is decieving people. WTF?"
Er, it's not complicated in the computer age. If they have it in stock, sell it. If they don't, don't take an order for it.
There should be no case of "backordered" items nor canceling orders unless a tornado rips through a warehouse,
I was just notified last week that Best Buy was suspending my "return rights" for 90 days, which a CS rep told me was due to "returning too many things" (ignoring the thousands of dollars of items I kept, apparently).
Yeah, I think Best Buy is on the downswing with policies and behaviors like this. I for one am sorry to see it.
I buy from ://NewEgg.com[/ur when I can. I have had good luck with them.
My bad holiday shopping experiences this year have all involved everybody's favorite online retailer...Amazon. Amazon has been the one to drop the ball for me this time around, with their 2-day Prime shipping taking a week or more, orders never leaving their warehouse, inability to answer question about their own product, the Kindle Fire. (Interestingly enough...it was a Best Buy Associate who was finally able to answer the questions I had about the Fire.)
But do I want dealnews to stop listing Amazon deals just because they have inconvenienced me this holiday season, or cause me to go spend more money somewhere else (Best Buy, by the way) at the last minute? No, I don't. Please, dealnews, keep all the great deals coming from all the great retailers and keep saving me money!! :)
Happy Holidays everyone!
Today I received a 15 dollar gift card from Best Buy wonder if it is because of the above or because I spent so much money there this season. Thank you best buy.
Thank goodness for p://Amazon.com[/u and Newegg.
UPDATE: 12/23/11: No e-mail from Best Buy. No credit.
I don't think it makes sense for dealnews to BAN Best Buy — it's too popular a store, with too many good deals that most people get without hassle — so much as WARN people that Best Buy's service is shoddy, not just now but in the future. Repeatedly.
NV57H50U on Nov 22 and had it on Nov 30. No problems here.
Also got an iPad 2 16 GB on BF, and it shipped no problem.