# TiVo Stream - Best Buy Fail



## plpmke (Nov 27, 2010)

Not that this will help anyone, but maybe put some perspective on attempting to purchase a Stream from Best Buy recently (It's been a nightmare...my apologies for this being long-winded...sooo frustrating, and a word of WARNING on trying to go above and beyond to purchase a Stream at this time):

Since tivo.com and amazon(proper) was out of stock, I have been attempting the bestbuy.com avenue...

Plan A: Ordered from Best Buy on Wed Jan 14 (nearest store in stock was 75 miles away), confirmed with tracking number early Thu Jan 15...attempted via myUPS to reroute to local hub (five minutes from work), option was greyed out...first delivery attempt on Fri Jan 17, signature required for delivery. Attempted via ups.com to hold at hub using Info Notice number, option greyed out, also not allowed to reroute to different address, even a neighbors in the same building, even for additional fee. Called UPS on Sat Jan 18, asking if I can have it held at hub (It was sitting on the truck there!), this option is not allow per the shipper (Best Buy), nor was changing delivery address. Next call, Best Buy. Best Buy CSR told me that UPS can be difficult to work with, in the context of the receiver (me), I politely corrected the rep on the phone and told her that UPS would be happy to hold at the hub, however Best Buy's delivery instructions did not allow for this. CSR eventually told me that after final delivery attempt, it would be held at hub for five days for me to pick up, perfect! Mon Jan 19, final delivery attempt (second didn't even exist!). Tue Jan 20, Stream was on it's way back to Best Buy's distribution center. Thu Jan 22, it was back at Best Buy. [FAILED] Refund back onto my CC within 5 days.

Plan B: Was flying to NYC Sat Jan 24...no Manhattan/Queens/Brooklyn stores had in stock...was then flying from NYC to Ft Myers on Mon Jan 26 around noon (blizzard be damned!), Best Buy right next to RSW had in stock (checked Sat night from my phone), perfect! Logged on to purchase Sun morning, hold at store, was checking out, "item not available for pickup". Next closest store "in stock" was 85 miles from where I was staying. [FAILED]

Plan C: When I flew home on Thu Jan 29 and stopped at the local store near my home (about 11:00am) before I went into the office for the afternoon. Asked a rep in home theater if I could order a Stream to be delivered to the store for me to pick-up. After being passed along to two other people, the third rep said "let's see if we can make this happen for for you." He looked it up, entered my order, I payed for it, it will be there for pickup on Tue Feb 3. Early morning Feb 3, email from Best Buy telling me it will be available for pickup Fri Feb 6. After work Fri Feb 6, check email, Stream will be available for pickup Wed Feb 11. Today, no emails. Attempted to look up order, "Order ID does not exists". As I am writing this tome, received an email from Best Buy, "Your item has been canceled&#8230;Because we don't know when or if we will receive more of this item in stock, we have canceled your order." [FAILED].

UURRGGHH!!! When did trying to spend $129 become so difficult! 

UPDATE: Received a voicemail from local Best Buy store on Thu Feb 12 indicating that they see a cancelation in their system for my order, and to call them back to let them know if I still wanted to pick the Stream up at the store "today", however they would need to charge me for it once again as the cancelation had already provisioned though the system (huh? it's there?). Called the store within 30 min of voicemail, spoke with the rep who left me the message, and after a brief hold, they did not have the Stream, the rep made the assumption since the order was on a manifest to be delivered Wed Feb 11, the rep had assumed it had come in with a shipment that day. Got my hopes up for about 10 min .


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## ellinj (Feb 26, 2002)

I just sold one on eBay for about $90, more then I thought I'd get for it, but I guess the scarcity is the reason.


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## fivetoedbear (Feb 10, 2015)

ellinj said:


> I just sold one on eBay for about $90, more then I thought I'd get for it, but I guess the scarcity is the reason.


I would have paid that. Unfortunately, I started looking a day too late, and if you look at completed listings, the going price went north of $160 on Feb 9.


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## PCurry57 (Feb 27, 2012)

Blaming Best Buy for the majority of your failure. You neglected to have someone present to receive, that's on you not Best Buy. The majority of your story is your failure no one else's. The final part was a policy of Best Buy that when they have no confirmation of new shipment they cancel backordered product and refund. Would you rather they sit on your money while you have no product?


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## foghorn2 (May 4, 2004)

Buying anything from Best But is a nightmare to begin with. That was the OPs first mistake.


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## dcline414 (May 1, 2014)

foghorn2 said:


> Buying anything from Best But is a nightmare to begin with. That was the OPs first mistake.


I actually find their buy online, pick up in store experience to be quite pleasantdefinitely one of the smoothest and best executed offerings of its kind.

Best Buy's price matching, however, is hands down the most unpleasant service experience imaginable.

TARGET:



> Customer: Hi, this is on sale for $20 less at Walmart, can you match their price?
> 
> Employee: Sure, I just took $20 off and your total is...


FRYS:



> Customer: Hey, I just did a price search and walmart has a one-day online sale on this for $20 below your price. Do you price match them?
> 
> Employee: Absolutely. Since you have their site up on your phone, can I take a quick look to verify the price? Perfect, here is a quote that you can take to any register to pay.


BEST BUY:



> Customer: This item is advertised in Walmart's print circular for $20 cheaper. Can you match their price?
> 
> Employee: I believe we stopped matching prices on this product, let me check with a manager.
> 
> ...


BEST BUY #2



> Customer: Hi, I just spent over an hour at another Best Buy verifying Walmart's price on this item so they could match it, but that store didn't have any in stock so they sent me here.
> 
> Employee: We don't match prices on this product anymore. The policy changed last year.
> 
> ...


BEST BUY #3:



> Manager: I don't believe your story about the other location agreeing to match Walmart's price, and our registers aren't even capable of adjusting the price, but I will take $20 off if you tell me the name of the manager you spoke to so I can report him.
> 
> Customer: I appreciate that, but I can't recall the manager's name.
> 
> ...


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

Sounds about right.


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## h2oskierc (Dec 16, 2010)

Really? The Best Buy by me matched Amazon.com on a Roamio Plus no questions asked. I gave him the printout, and he adjusted the price. Didn't even need a manager! He didn't even go to Amazon's website to check.


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## ellinj (Feb 26, 2002)

I have never had problems with price matches at Best Buy, usually just show them an Amazon page on my phone. 

What was the item you had difficulty matching?


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

TLR Best Buy is inconsistent and frequently clueless

This does not surprise me.. and it's why they're doomed IMNSHO


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## dcline414 (May 1, 2014)

ellinj said:


> I have never had problems with price matches at Best Buy, usually just show them an Amazon page on my phone.
> 
> What was the item you had difficulty matching?


Contract iPhone 6if they don't match contract phones, they should make sure all their customer-facing people know their own policy to avoid giving customers inconsistent and conflicting information.

It was a real pain, but I ended up paying only $129 and got a free $50 BB gift card (aka free Roamio OTA).


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## plpmke (Nov 27, 2010)

@PCurry57 Absolutely, I take responsibility for:
1) not pulling the trigger much, much earlier on the purchase of a Stream.
2) not foreseeing the UPS delivery issue (or missing some fine print on bestbuy.com concerning delivery requirements), as I have not, in the 5+ years of living in my current building (secured, no doorman), never once had an issue with having a parcel held at local hub or service center, whether UPS or FedEx or USPS, if I could not be home at the time of delivery.
3) not just having it delivered to my place of employment (see #2).

The purpose of my original post was not the "blame" Best Buy per se, but to give an example of how difficult it is to find this item for retail price in the current marketplace and to not get one's hope up too high if a retailer claims they can get it for you, as long winded and full of unnecessary details my story was. My apologies for that (there may/may not have been a cocktail or four consumed that night).
...
Personally, I have never had an issue with price matching at Best Buy. I purchased my Roamio and one of my Minis there with the Amazon listing up on my phone (we pay sales tax in my state on Amazon so it's the same price for the instant gratification), I just made sure to do so in the home theater department and not at the checkout (first time I did it, because I had never price matched before, the HT rep told me that it's best to do price matches in the department because they can confirm/override quicker because of their terminals are quicker on approvals than at the checkouts...true/false??...don't know...but has always been a pleasant experience there).


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