My Best Buy Experience with P4P

[AnchorageAk]

Appreciate the positive feedback and thanks for sharing your insight. Over the years we've offered many special promotion opportunities to members of the PhantomPilots forum and will always continue to do so when possible. Unfortunately DJI pricing policies are rather restrictive regarding what we can and cannot do but PP members can always be assured we do what we can as a long-time support and sponsor of the PP forum.

Safe and happy flying!

That sucks, DJI policy. To bad there isn't some way to till the scales in your direction.

 

[ebi718]

People try those scams everywhere, a sad commentary but it happens. I have found Best Buy to be more diligent than most (usually inspects package at counter, gets ID of person making return, etc.) and such an issue with them is fairly rare. With regards to 'I'll never buy there again!' , well, every vendor has some percentage or errors and if you hold to this eventually you won't be buying anything anywhere from anyone.

I don't blame you for being pissed at the inconvenience but I think you can be confident that Best Buy will make it good.

I totally understand/get where you're coming from.

Probably just not that store anymore ; I have always bought online and then gone over to pick up the items. I am beginning to think their prep/handling processes are more thorough for online orders vs walk-ins.

Update: I just received the prepaid shipping label via email so will be sending the box to their KY distribution centre 1st thing tomorrow.

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[$gambino$]

Yup, I actually chuckled at that one when I saw the props shaved off.



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Sucks bro rooting for u hope dirtbag gets caught and u get your p4p!

 

[FunN4lo]

Wow, that's horrible. I assume this stems from BBY's very easy return policy and either lazy employees, or employees who are just not trained on what to look for.

I just bought a P3 batt from BBY. I got home and tried to connect to my charger. The plug from the charger would not fit at all. I tried to place the batt in the bird. It would only fit about half way in. It was perfectly square and not swollen like a bad batt. The general shape was exact to a P3 batt, and every label on it matched exactly to my other P3 batts. But it could not even be a cheap knock off, because all of the physical dimensions were way off.

I returned it to BBY within the hour. I got another replacement, no questions asked. I was trying to tell the girl at the customer service desk not to return this batt to stock, and she should probably tell her manager that someone scammed them with this return, to see if they could identify who it might be.

There was a long line behind me.

Next customer please

 

[ebi718]

^^ This would be very funny if it wasn't so true. Sad thing is they may probably just recycle it into stock.

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[Waternut13134]

Thought I would chime in,when I worked at Bestbuy last year we had stuff like this done a lot. Not so much the drone,but the batteries. People would buy a new battery and return an old battery that had 50+ flights on it. We even had to take an online class on how Apple shrink wraps its products and if we felt something was off we were supposed to open it even if it's sealed and check to make sure everything was ok due to all the return fraud. I also inspected items to make sure it was legit and what it was supposed to be,however some of the customer service reps didn't even care and would just refund the items. For something that happens to you the manager shouldn't have given you the hassle,as we have to give the customer the benifit of the doubt.

 

[ftttu]

That must me the Phantom 5 accidentally released too early by an overzealous employee. You are so lucky!!!

My daughter opened up a Jawbone Big Jambox wireless speaker we got her for Christmas a few years ago, and it looked like it had been handled by the previous owner after changing his oil and eating several Big Macs. Of course, we took it back for an exchange, but I know this is a problem these stores have to deal with.

 

[PaulDM]

It is sad that people steal in this manner. Had a friend changing the oil in his car. When he started adding the new oil he discovered it was used oil. Someone put their old oil back into the container and returned it.


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[Them00gly]

So how does it fly? [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


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[bigbadwolf]

Same thing happened last year at BB after thanksgiving. Purchased a p3p lol and behold got home opened box and inside was a p3 standard.
They replaced immediately and gave me a spare battery for my trouble , came with a free extra so I got a 3 battery rig for my troubles !



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[flowrider]

People had the same issue ordering Canon 5D Mark3's from Amazon. They got wood flooring in their boxes.

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[Techcop50]

Wow, that's horrible. I assume this stems from BBY's very easy return policy and either lazy employees, or employees who are just not trained on what to look for.

Don't rule out employee theft. Any warehouse personnel or BB stocking employee could probably pull this off. Anyone who made the purchase and returned it would leave a paper trail. Plus, it's probably been stripped down and parted out on Ebay, only way to avoid getting caught. Look for someone with a good bit of technical expertise.

 

[Techcop50]

Appreciate the positive feedback and thanks for sharing your insight. Over the years we've offered many special promotion opportunities to members of the PhantomPilots forum and will always continue to do so when possible. Unfortunately DJI pricing policies are rather restrictive regarding what we can and cannot do but PP members can always be assured we do what we can as a long-time support and sponsor of the PP forum.

Safe and happy flying!

And they provide OUTSTANDING service! I prefer that to a "coupon" any day!!!

 

[Waternut13134]

Don't rule out employee theft. Any warehouse personnel or BB stocking employee could probably pull this off. Anyone who made the purchase and returned it would leave a paper trail. Plus, it's probably been stripped down and parted out on Ebay, only way to avoid getting caught. Look for someone with a good bit of technical expertise.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen but Bestbuy was very strict and proactive about employee theft. Any employee leaving the store had to be searched by security,not to mention the cameras that was always watching us. It's possible but would be extremely dumb on the employees end.

 

[Techcop50]

I'm not saying it doesn't happen but Bestbuy was very strict and proactive about employee theft. Any employee leaving the store had to be searched by security,not to mention the cameras that was always watching us. It's possible but would be extremely dumb on the employees end.

I'm sure they do their absolute best, but where there is a will, they will find a way. If anyone purchased it and returned it, seems they could be easily caught. I imagine the BB ticket has the serial number for an item this expensive, doesn't it?

 

[smiller]

For an item of this price I imagine BB will do an internal investigation starting with the employee who accepted the return, and whoever it was had better hope that they weren't feeling lazy that day.

OTOH when I make a return I always laugh when I spend 30 minutes painstakingly returning all packaging to perfect as-new condition (can be a pretty complex task these days) only to have the counter person immediately tear it all apart to inspect the item.

 

[Roccot312]

I had the same problems with Best Buy when I got my Playstation 3 back in the day opened it up on Christmas morning only to find a disk was lodged inside the CD ROM no controller in the box and there was already a name loaded or setup for the system when I called them over the telephone they said that I was lying and trying to pull scam on them. my dad went into the store and almost got arrested that's when he called his credit card company and told them to stop payment which they did and then told me to go buy one from Target which I checked before leaving the store. I try to always check before leaving the store but it's not always possible sometimes but because of that to this day I still do not Shop at Best Buy. I might walk around in there but won't spend my money there

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[Techcop50]

Who here remembers surfing the net with a "modem"?
Back when the Diamond 33.6 modem first came out (very first day), I went to Wal-Mart and paid $150 to buy one to upgrade my 28.8. I checked it in the truck as I left, and it was an old 2400 baud. I went back in, stood in line for 30 minutes, and was told to "get another one". There were 6 more on the shelf. All had been swapped out with various lesser, used modems.
I took all 7 to the front desk and gave them to the manager. I explained the whole situation to the manager, and he gave me a refund.
Then I went to Electronics Boutique and bought the real thing.

Two days later, I went back to Wal-Mart. All 7 crap modems were back on the shelf, for sale. I haven't been in Wal-Mart since.

 

[dmurphynj]

And they provide OUTSTANDING service! I prefer that to a "coupon" any day!!!

Amen to that -- as someone in sales, I never begrudge a company the ability to pay their employees (and pay them well) -- ESPECIALLY when they offer the kind of support we get from Adventure. Would much rather support a small business that cares than save a couple of dollars.. I can do with one less Dunkin Donuts coffee.

 

[Waternut13134]

I'm sure they do their absolute best, but where there is a will, they will find a way. If anyone purchased it and returned it, seems they could be easily caught. I imagine the BB ticket has the serial number for an item this expensive, doesn't it?

Surprisingly not with drones. They do with Game Systems,the POS ask to scan the Serial number for the system. You don't even scan the serial numbers for computers,they have to be manually match if you return it. Bestbuy is so strict with the employee discount,that if at anytime they suspect you abusing it they can ask you to bring in the products to show you actually have them and not reselling them.