RSSSignificantly less than the Best Buy possible
By Angela Gunn | Published February 9, 2009, 10:16 PM
As if anyone's inclined to dispose of serious income in a retail store these days, there's news from Palm Beach that a Best Buy employee has been arrested on suspicion of using a rogue card reader to steal credit-card information from shoppers.
The employee, who has not yet been named by officials at either the electronics chain or the Secret Service (which carried out the investigation), is accused of running her scam during the November-December holiday season. It's believed she may have grabbed data from as many as 4,000 customers.
And if that festive scene isn't cheery enough for you, may I direct you to the Consumerist blog? A conversation over there about the alleged thefts is degenerating into can-you-top-this stories about just how easy, prevalent and undetected such thefts are. Fabulous.
Finally my home town made it to Betanews! I had a friend that worked in the same store, luckly I dont shop at that location... since its in a crappy part of palm beach county.
palm beach lakes blvd/I95, I used to work next door at the target, or in that hood its called "Targetto"
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|No law that says you have to show a receipt? True. It's also true they have the right to enforce their own store policies and detain you if they feel you've stolen something. So, your choice is, abide by their policies or find a new store. You certainly don't have the audacious right to make your own rules.
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|I think all the signs are pointing to one obvious action to take:
Use Cash.
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|Oh yeah. Yeah, that seems like the right plan.
(Anyone else on here find it a little ironic that Best Buy is one of those obnoxious stores that makes a huge production about making you dig for your receipt after you walk the 10 feet from the checkout line to the door? Maybe the customers ought to insist on reciprocating the inspections.)
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|You can walk out without showing your receipt. There is no law (at least in this country,) that says you have to show your bag/receipt to Best Buy.
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|The local Best Buy has never asked me for my receipt upon leaving.
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|Yeah, I didn't know they did that. Maybe you shouldn't be putting that newly purchased Mel Torme disc right into your purse..
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|They have NEVER asked for my receipt, or even to look in my bag. In fact, sometimes the sensor goes off erroneously and they just tell me to continue on my way.
Wal-Mart is the store that always asks me for my receipt and has their greeter do their best to intimidate me into letting them search my bag. If you ask them "Are you accusing me of theft?" they usually let you go with a dissatisfied sputter.
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|Nice Night Court reference.
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|The Wal-Marts around here only ask for my receipt if the alarm goes off or if I have a big-ticket item. I'm don't mind too much, especially since at one of them my mom is one of the door greeters and I'll be talking with her anyways.
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|Hey, another one with a Wal-Mart mom! Mine's in Electronics, so I hear a lot about their loss-prevention strategies. (And she hears a lot about why the phrase "exit greeters" makes no sense -- not the job, but the title.)
Not sure why the Best Buy nearest me does receipt checking -- I'd say it's the neighborhood, but Best Buy's actually pretty notorious for it in other cities too. (Sample story from Consumerist, with a good discussion thread: http://consumerist.com/5...ot-showing-your-receipt .) I lump it in with the rest of the bad service and shop elsewhere. Trying now to remember if Circuit City did checking, but that's another store I'd dropped from my list of vendors...
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