Awful shopping experience and potential massive system flaw on Preorder Consoles

Question

Hello, I wanted to take the time to write a lengthy post as it seems BB Corporate is active here and tends to take the feedback given here seriously to document my terrible shopping experience recently at BB store #293 in Rockville, MD.
To give some background about myself, I am an ITPro that has very fond memories of buying some of my favorite tech toys through the years from BB when I first started getting paychecks in High School and I'm now in my mid-30s with considerably more spending power.  Even with the rise of online competitors like Amazon and Newegg, I still had a soft spot for BB and their big box presentation while local competitors like CompUSA and CC fell by the wayside.  I was happy to see BB make a comeback in recent years and their RewardsZone (MyBB) rewards system has been a mostly trouble-free experience since its inception. 
Over the last few years, I tended to make a lot of my big ticket purchases at BB due to the flexibility of their no interest financing, or the option to get 5-10% rewards on purchases paid in full, enough to qualify me for various levels of Elite membership ($2500-3000 spent per year).  I was on track again for similar spending this year with the purchase of a Surface Pro 3 for my girlfriend, which I paid in full to receive the 10% in rewards for ~$90 in Reward Certs.
We decided to check out the new consoles as well, and she favored the white edition PS4 so we went ahead and pre-ordered the white PS4 Destiny bundle on Aug. 29 2014 on a whim.  I took the option to pay it in full to get the benefit of the 10% rewards and was assured by the sales rep Jesse that the 10% rewards wouldn't be a problem when I picked the console up after the promotion ended, because I had already paid in full.
So we came back on Destiny launch day, 9/9  and it was perfect, great in-store experience that you simply cannot get buying online.  Walked in, Jesse was there again and had the console under the counter and even the local Sony rep was there, talking up the game and console.  Best part was they started throwing SWAG on us, PS4 lanyard, Destiny Bundle T-shirt and apparently there was even a free Gamers Club Unlocked membership I didn't even know about (I do a lot of research on my buys but again, this was bought on a whim) that was active, so I really felt great about my purchase with a fantastic in-store experience.  We went ahead and picked up Last of Us Remastered too, since we loved it on PS3 and we got 20% off with our new Gamers Club membership!
But that's when things started to go downhill.  Apparently there was a new employee working that day that Jesse was training, I am not sure if that was where things were missed, or what, but Jesse has provided me great service in the past so I don't really fault him here.  We also wanted to apply the $95 in certs to the transaction that would have totaled around $463, so with the original prepaid amount of $450 minus the $95 in certs, we should have been owed ~$80 back to the card..  Instead, I was asked for my BB Credit Card again and it was swiped thinking that was to get the ~$80 back on the card, but apparently it charged the card again for the balance of $463 minus $95 in certs.  I thought the transaction was a bit off, but figured they would just reverse the original $450 prepaid amount to charge the new transaction.
Fast forward a month, on 10/11, I checked my BB Credit Card statement to pay off the PS4 and was shocked to see an interest charge.  In 3-4 years of having this card, I have never been charged interest once.  It was a non-trivial amount of $13 and I traced it back to the 8/29 pre-order for $450 that I thought was reversed in-store.  I was then even more shocked to see the 2nd $364 transaction on the card, so I had essentially PAID FOR TWO Playstation 4 consoles!
So I immediately gathered up all my documentation (CC statements, RZ print outs, pre-order and in-store pick up receipts) and headed back to Best Buy.  It was a Saturday so things were busy, but the initial CS reps were responsive and tried to help with the situation.  The problem is, no one knew how to fix it.  Apparently, there is/was a *MASSIVE* glitch in BestBuy's point of sale system where you cannot apply both a preorder AND a RW Cert to a single transaction.  The system applies/attaches the preorder to the transaction but does not reduce the balance by that amount, because it is overwritten by the Reward Zone cert transaction.  It took at least 1 hour for 2 knowledgeable and extremely helpful tech managers (Alan and a woman I believe named Sheila) who almost immediately identified and acknowledged they had seen this problem before.  They also said the sales reps should have known this.
The problem was they kept insisting they could not simply return/void out the in-store 9/9 transaction of ~$363 because it was over 1 month and closed.  They also said they could not simply refund the $450 prepaid amount because the system was showing it was already applied to the in-store pickup transaction, even though the receipts, my CC statement all clearly show the in-store transaction was NOT reduced by the $450 prepaid amount. 
Now here's where things get ugly, one manager, Nucleo, was called over and simply did not have any intent to help.  One of the employees I would prefer not to name said they believed he just didn't know how to fix the problem and they would prefer to just go to their General Manager, Dave.  Dave was busy on Saturday, I am sure, so it took him some time to come over, but he genuinely seemed interested in fixing the problem.  Together with Sheila, they came up with the solution of voiding out the in-store transaction manually, and then scanning a return for a $15 accessory item to make me whole on the interest I was charged.  They also said the prorated portion of the Reward Zone Certs of ~$87 would be refunded to my BB account within a few days.
I thought that would be the end of it....until I checked my BB account a few days later and was shocked to see I had a NEGATIVE balance in RZ points.  Voiding the in-store transaction of $363 without refunding the $87 in RZ certs left me in a negative balance!  Again, I made my way to the Rockville BB store with all documentation in hand and this time, I packed up the PS4, which I had seldom-used at this point because I simply did not feel the transaction was completed.  I fully intended to just return the system and either wash my hands of this transaction, or return it and try to complete the transaction from scratch.
This time, unfortunately, the GM Dave was not on duty, it was only Nucleo.  Sad to say, he actually provided better customer service when he tried to ignore the problem.  This time, he tried to indicate it was MY FAULT that I allowed myself to be charged twice, asking "what I want to know is, if you paid for it why did you let us charge your card again?".  I replied that it was a FLAW IN BB's SYSTEM and that I assumed HIS employees knew what they were doing because I simply do NOT PREORDER consoles on a weekly, monthly or even yearly cycle.  At this point, both of our voices and tempers were escalated, it was one of my most unpleasant in-store experiences especially knowing I was being wronged and this person Nucleo had no intention of trying to fix the problem caused by BB's system.  In all of this transaction, this dealing with Nucleo is the only reason I am writing this post now, I feel everyone else did their best to try and fix the problem, but this guy is just in the wrong business because his customer service skills are awful.  Ultimately the visit ended with no resolution, the employees that had been helpful throughout (Alan, Amber, and one other tall younger man) insisted the certs of $87 would get credited back in a few days and the credits for the original $450 prepaid would also come but may take longer after they spoke with MyBB reps on the phone.
So I waited patiently for another 2-3 weeks and the points from both the prorated $87 rewards (original $95) and the estimated 2250 points ($45) from the 10% $450 prepaid amount had still not yet arrived.  When they didn't, I took a different tack and contacted MyBB Elite.  The rep was responsive and understanding, and it took a good 10 minutes for her to get her bearings while I explained the situation.  I also provided all of my documentation and she was able to verify and document it in her notes.  She immediately re-issued or pushed through the $87 in Reward Zone certs from the refunded in-store transaction while I was on the phone, and said the remainder $450 was also in process and should come through in 5-8 business days.
I had to call 2 more times, both times the reps insisted the $450 prepaid was still in process and approved, but it was most likely the same glitch that prevented the prepaid from being applied properly, it simply could not get points attached to it because it was counted as part of another transaction.  The 3rd time I spoke with a supervisor/escalation rep and they said the transaction would be funded.
Finally, I called up again a few weeks ago and was at my wit's end because I still did not see a resolution.  Somehow, this rep was able to push the amount through which was $45.  It was unattached to the original transaction as just Customer Satisfaction.  Throughout this experience, I do feel everyone was interested in trying to get this resolved for me except for Nucleo, who really tried to make me feel like this entire ordeal was MY FAULT.  The BB rep on the phone apologized and said she hoped this had not impacted my willingness to shop at BB in the future, but I answered frankly, that it has impacted my willingness negatively, as there was numerous deals on various tech toys and gifts in the last few months that I simply did not feel good about making at BB due to this experience.
I wanted to post this so that you can use this feedback as it shows how quickly someone's opinion and preferences can change on a single bad shopping experience.  And while I am not one who is going to take a faux-stand and say I will never shop at BB again, I will certainly look at more alternatives rather than going to BB for certain buying habits in the future.  Oh, and someone should speak with Nucleo, he is absolutely in the wrong line of business.
Thanks for reading!  I will be happy to provide any documentation or member # via PM for your verification if you are interested.  Some of the dollar amounts are rough/estimated as this transaction is now so old it no longer appears on my recent 3 month history.
Regards,
Jerry

Answer 1

Dear Jerry,
Thank you for coming to us on the forums and sharing your recent tribulations around this purchase. I can fully empathize with your disappointment in the treatment you spoke of in your post as I have experienced this with other retailers in the past as well. Any frustration this lengthy experience may have caused you is completely understandable. For something that seems like it should be so simple from a customer standpoint like correcting rewards points, can sometimes not be so cut and dry on the other side of things.
I had the pleasure of being a manager in our stores for a couple years before I came to work at the corporate level. There were interactions that challenged my knowledge level and my patience in that time, but I was always working to educate the customer and leave them feeling heard and appreciated. This should be the goal of all of our managers to express through their words and actions with our customers. My apologies if you didn’t witness this in your exchanges with Nucleo. I can fully empathize with your disappointment with the treatment you spoke of in your post as I have experienced this with other retailers in the past as well. Using your email address you supplied here on the forums, I was able to verify your interactions with our phone support and that your points issue appears to have been corrected. This process should not have taken as much effort and follow up on your part as it did. 
The information regarding the preorder points issue you described has been documented here for review by the appropriate business teams. Your feedback has also been passed along to the General Manager at the Rockville, MD (store 293) location to be used for coaching and training with his team. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us with any other questions or concerns. I am genuinely sorry that this occurrence has damaged your inclination to come to Best Buy for your technology needs, and I hope you will continue to visit our stores in the future. Your loyalty is much appreciated.
Warmest regards,
JD|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
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