Lousy Customer Service Experience

Question

My husband and I purchased a TV on 7/31/14. What started out as a good experience has turned into some of the worst customer service I have had the displeasure of experiencing. We made an online purchase for in-store pick up. When we got to the store and saw the TV we were purchasing, we changed our minds and went with a different TV. The sales person was extremely helpful and went above and beyond assisting us with our decision and purchase. We were told to cancel our online order, which we did. We received an email confirmation stating, "At your request, we've canceled your order. Be assured that if you paid by credit card, it has not been charged..." What we discovered was that we were indeed charged for the online purchase, in addition to the in store purchase. As soon as we noticed the charge, my husband called customer service and was told we should receive a refund within 7-10 business days. The customer service rep refused to look into it further, and my husband left the call feeling frustrated and annoyed.
Several days passed when I decided to call yesterday, 8/11/14, to address this issue again since we had still not received our refund. I was told the same thing by a different customer service rep. I informed this person that I understood the policy, however, according to the email, our card should never have been charged in the first place. His attitude was that he couldn't care less, that was the policy, they didn't have the money- it would be refunded soon. I asked to speak with a supervisor who immediately met me on the defense, and repeated the same policy back at me. I expressed my irritation and frustration at hearing the policy over and over again, without hearing a solution AND they were failing to understand that my issue was not with the policy, but the fact that my card had been charged despite the cancelation email saying otherwise.
After insinuating that 'if I needed the money,' he said that the best he could do was fax my bank to have them make the funds available. He told me he'd need my bank's fax number and put me on hold. I was on my bank's web site looking for a fax number, when he came back on the line. When I explained to him all I see is an 800 number and asked if that would work, he responded, "I guess" in the most put-out way possible. He said he would call me personally to inform me when this happened.  It's now the next day. No phone call from Dimitri, the customer service manager, no refund in the bank. This has truly been an eye opening and disappointing experience. 
In this day and age of Amazon and other competitive big box retailers, the most precious asset a company has is it's employees and their ability to deliver exceptional customer service. This experience has left me questioning if I ever want to shop at Best Buy again.
Sincerely,
Maja (removed per forum guidelines)

Answer 1

Hello jbuck,
Purchasing a brand-new TV should be a quick, easy and painless process -- not a tiresome experience like you described -- so I can imagine how frustrated you must feel. I'd be disappointed too if I cancelled an order only to later discover that transaction on my credit card statement. We rely on our in-store and phone support reps to provide prompt and courteous service, so it's disheartening to learn of situations where that expectation may not have been met.
Like AWBrown mentioned, a hold may be placed on the paying debit/credit card whenever an order is placed on BestBuy.com. These funds aren't officially collected until the order has been fulfilled (shipped or picked by in-store personnel), but this may have an effect on your available credit in the interim. If the order is later cancelled, Best Buy's role in the transaction is complete and it's the responsibility of the card's issuing bank to ensure any pending or expired authorizations are properly removed from the customer's account. Most banks are able to do so within 2-5 business days, but some may require up to one full billing cycle. For more information on this process, please refer to BestBuy.com's Conditions of Use, our Payment Options FAQ, and your card issuer.
That said, I'd like to take this opportunity to gather some information. Please make sure to check your private messages when you can by signing into the forum and then clicking on the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
Aaron|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
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