Day from Hell at Best Buy

I go to get my new tablet, a Surface Pro 128GB that is on sale, and I am feeling pretty good. First, the guy helps someone else though I was actually waiting there first, not a huge deal so I don't say anything. I am not really in a rush. So, he checks computer, says we have 4 in stock and goes to grab it for me.  I pay for it in cash, a total of $635.99, which will be a vital fact in a bit.

So, I stop at Home Depot for a few things, and head home. Pretty excited but didn't think to try it in the car to see if it worked. Well, take it home, put it on the charger and turn it on. Well, there's a dead pixel slightly off center in screen. Well, I figure after I just spent all this money, I want one that has a perfect screen. I go back to Best Buy, and wait in line for returns.

They do the return, pretty straight forward there. She goes and grabs a new one, scans it, and I am good to go after a few minutes of waiting. This time I open it in store and try it out. Well, looks like I see a crash screen on it, but there is no backlight on, so I think, maybe the battery is just dead. I go over to the Surface display models and plug the charger into it.

Of course, nothing happens. I try holding the power button, quick tap, all the normal trouble shooting steps. I am not an idiot when it comes to tech so I know the standard routine there. Go back to service desk, wait in line, and get a different guy.

Unlike the person before, he takes it out of the box and keeps playing with it. Trying all the stuff I just did. He takes out the charger and tries to plug it in, still don't work, nothing has changed. The unit was dead on arrival.

So now he finally says that it is bad. He calls for a replacement, and no one goes over to the case. Now, 3 people waiting and complaining, for 20 minutes, and yet this guy just sits there staring off into space. He calls again, still nothing, so this is when I have had enough, and call it quits.

I tell him to just give me my money back, I am done waiting for it. I told him I was going to go buy a new one, since it would be faster than waiting for someone to get me one. That was a hint, and he failed to take it. So, he spends like another 5 minutes on this. Still no money back, then he finally goes to get a manager. Well, turns out store policy is anything over 600 dollars, cannot be refunded in cash.

So, now I am left with the option of getting a check or a gift card, not once did he offer to get me the tablet I wanted. So, make a big stink, say the usual never shopping here again, lost a customer for life, etc. Well, this is just great. I have to wait a week to get my money back, by then I will probably be stuck with NOTHING at all.

So, I go over Lowes, calm down a bit, then go back in, and ask them if they can cancel the refund check and just please give me the tablet I came in for. Well, lucky for me, she says yes, and I get the tablet! For the first time, the manager tells the guy who was doing my refund before, to go get her keys. This is something that should have been done before I even left the store!

Well now that I have my tablet, I test it, and it checks out! Everything works as it should. Well almost everything. Now, the exchange is going through. Well this is great. It was saying that the refund amount wasn't enough to cover the new price. So, she refunds the second tablet to a gift card, scans it, and I buy the tablet again. Now I have a working tablet finally!