Windows XP trade in Fiasco

Question

On Sunday 4/6/14, I went to my local best buy to trade in a working laptop, Toshiba Satellite A20 series with the original factory install of windows XP to take advantage of the recent promo of getting $25 BB gift card and $75 towards purchase of new laptop. When I tried to get the promotion, I was denied, saying the laptop was not in the  trade-in system and so they would not be able to give me any of the promotion credits and would just recycle my laptop. When I got back home, I checked online about this situation and saw that a lot of consumers were able to send in their laptops that were not on the trade-in system because the employees just had to go through the "recycle for trade-in" system which would then prompt the windows XP promo there. I called Best Buy customer service that night and verified that information with one of the representatives who said that as long as the laptop was working with windows XP, going through the "recycle  for trade in" system would allow for laptops not on the "trade-in" list to be taken and given the XP promo credits. 
I called to my local Best Buy the next to relay this information and confirm this. I ended up with a Geek squad employee who went through the system for me and saw that it worked after getting an associate manager log in(?) and told me I could bring in my receipt and he would let the appropriate people know so that they would be able to process me for the gift card and credit towards a new computer when I came in. I went to the Best Buy that afternoon, and I was again denied! I was told that it would not work and that they could not do anything for me now that my laptop was already given to them the day prior. 
This has been really frustrating on multiple levels. It seems that the awareness and knowledge of this win XP promo was not consistent among all the employees in Best Buy and that this confusion or lack of clarity has made it very difficult to take advantage of this promotion despite it being displayed prominently on the weekly advertisements and in store ads. Looking at other consumers' experiences online, many people had faced the same situation as me with the laptop not being in the "trade-in" system, but ultimately being able to have their laptops be accepted and go through to obtain the gift card and future credit promotion. And finally, the lack of communication between employees within the same Best Buy was astounding as the person who I spoke with at the store who I was told to speak to when I was with them over the phone, denied ever being told about the conversation had and how to process the promo. 
The fact is the local Best Buy team I dealt with stated that the reason my laptop was not eligible (otherwise, they had booted it up and showed that it had a working windows XP with a working screen, checked the windows xp sticker that was on my laptop, and saw that the laptop was able to work on battery power as well as charge) was because it COULD NOT be found in the trade in application. The instruction job aid's that were given to the local Best Buy's to help the customer reps process this deal however explicitly say in Step 1 of the Processing Instructions - "Search for the computer make and model. If the model is NOT in the Trade-in application click on Recycling and select Laptop." SO in this case, my laptop would have been eligible under the Recycling tab of the application as they DID process it as a recycle, but did not proceed to do any of the further steps to give me the gift card and promotion credit. 
After even explaining that that was the way to go about the process so that I would be eligible for the credit, the store manager at the time, Louis, said that was not how it was done and that going through the recycling tab would not give me the gift card and promo credit. However, there is direct evidence that this is not the case. Searching forums on the web about this Best Buy XP laptop trade in promotion also shows that multiple customers have been able to obtain the promotion through the recycle tab option when their laptop is not listed in the trade-in tab, as backed by the Best Buy Job Aid instructions.
It's really infuriating when the customer knows more about a particular store promotion and how it is processed then staff of the store itself. I shouldn't have to justify why my laptop was eligible for the promotion when the staff, if they just followed their own store instructions, would have found it eligible themselves. The laptop was already checked to be in complete working condition, they just did not know how to process the transaction so that I could get the promotion.  As mentioned, I've already gone to the store (Best Buy store # 483) twice to explain this (and once after I had spoken to someone over the phone at the store prior to going who understood this and told me that they would be able to process the promo for me and to just speak to Louis, the manager again) to be told at the store by the manager that this was not the case, and that the promotion is not processed via the recycling tab (even though it can be!!! - based on the Job Aid instructions and multiple accounts by other users that this was in fact how they got their promotion). 

Answer 1

Hello Disappointed233,
Our XP Trade-In promotion that we offered was a great way to have your older computers recycled in environmentally safe way while making sure you were compensated by offering a minimum $100.00 in reward offers. However, it appears there was a miscommunication with the inner workings of the promotion within our store, leaving you unable to receive this offer. I’m sure you were excited to take advantage of this only for your hopes to be dashed when you were denied the offer. I’m sorry for the frustration this caused.
When an XP laptop was brought to a Geek Squad counter, our agents should have determined its eligibility by reviewing the following terms:
-          Power on and run on its own battery power without connection to its AC Adapter
-          Not have a defaced, missing or altered serial number
-          Not have a cracked screen or water damage
Please know that these conditions are up to the discretion of store employees; however, if your computer is deemed eligible for this promotion, the agent should look up your computer with our Trade-In Estimator to see how much your computer is worth. If it has a value less than $25, this offer would supersede its trade-in value and give you a $25 gift card. If its value is deemed higher, you would receive a gift card higher than the guaranteed $25. Additionally, you should also receive a $75 trade-in coupon that may be used towards the purchase of a new computer. If your laptop isn’t recognized by our trade-in system, our employees should have had the option to choose the promotion outside of it so that you could receive both the $25 gift card and the $75 coupon.
It seems something went wrong with your latest visit that left you unable to claim this promotional offer. Additionally, your laptop is already recycled and the promotion has expired so it does complicate things. I have sent you a private message so that we may discuss this further. You may view it by logging into the forum and clicking on the envelope in the upper right-hand corner.
Thank you for posting! 
Alex|Social Media Specialist | Best Buy® Corporate
 Private Message