Making It Right

Last Saturday I went to the nearby farmer's market to have a look around.  Deciding that I needed to get some steps in, as I've been slacking on my 10,000 steps per day goal, I walked around the nearby area, and drawn like a magnet, I eventually ended up in Best Buy.

I didn't know this was a thing, but apparently it's a thing.  You know how girls "buy" prom dresses, leave the tags on, and then return the clothes to the store after the prom?  Well, people do the same thing with TV's for the Super Bowl.  There in Best Buy was a row of over a dozen TV's that people returned in the days after the Super Bowl.  It's entirely understandable when you consider that Best Buy doesn't have a restocking charge.  (If I were them, I'd have one for after the Super Bowl, after March Madness, and maybe after the World Series.)  There was even a huge, top-of-the-line Sony that wouldn't even fit in the TV area of my family room, that they were trying to let go for only $3000.  It sold new for significantly more.

One TV, a Vizio, kept attracting my attention.  It was a $1300 TV, sold originally on sale for $1000, and now listed as an open box deal at $800.  I mean, who can turn down a deal like that?!  I resisted, I walked around some more, but I kept coming back for that TV.  No missing accessories/components, it said on the tag.  I bought it.

I got it home and unpackaged it and right away there was a problem.  It was missing components, some rather important ones.  Like a power cord.  Like a remote.  Like parts of the stand.  I could live without the setup guide and user's manual--not my first rodeo--but those others were kind of important.  After being on hold with Best Buy for over 30 minutes I just drove back down to the store.  When I got there I was still on hold.

I spoke to a sales rep (the one who sold it to me had left) and then to the department manager--both of whom said I should just bring the TV back and they'd refund my money.  That wasn't acceptable to me, I wanted the TV they said they sold me--with no missing components.  Best Buy has a house brand, and they make a remote specifically for Vizio TV's; the manager pulled one of those remotes, and a power cord, off the shelf and gave them to me.  He put me in touch with Vizio, and they agreed to ship the stand components to me at no charge.  This seemed like a reasonable settlement to me.

Then I waited.  4 days later Vizio emailed me a tracking number for the shipment, saying it would arrive Friday.  I flew to the door yesterday when I heard the big truck out on my little street, and I met the delivery driver at the door.  He was carrying a box from Vizio.

It took awhile to assemble the TV and then get it to its required location.  I connected all the cables, put batteries in the compatible remote, and hoped for the best.

Everything went off without a hitch.  The picture is beautiful, the streaming apps I need are all there, the setup looks great.  I could not be happier.

My point here:  kudos to Best Buy, for mislabeling the box but making it right with me, and to Vizio, who shipped me the parts I needed even though they themselves were not at fault.  I'm a happy customer.