This loyal Best Buy member waited a week for them to replace his broken Samsung 8K TV. But then he says they carelessly broke something else in his house.
For years, Best Buy was synonymous with Black Friday. It was known for its epic deals. People skipped Thanksgiving dinner to camp out outside of Best Buy. Some even fought in the store (physically and verbally), trying to secure their heavily discounted electronics.
But the tech seller was slammed by customers last year for not having worthwhile discounts. Many claimed the store was using retailer tricks, like inflating the price on an item to “drop” it for the sale, effectively negating the “discount.”
In 2023, stores across the country were still stocked up on unsold TVs following Black Friday, despite that being the usual big-ticket item for the money-saving holiday.
It seems the tech giant got the memo. It has some better TV deals this year that this TikToker took advantage of. But his TV shopping spree didn’t quite turn out how he expected.
$4,500 TV arrives broken
In a series of TikToks, TikToker Drew (@infamousxdrew) shares his tumultuous journey with the TV. He bought it from Best Buy during this year’s Black Friday sale. His TikToks have over 750,000 views.
While it’s still a few days before actual Black Friday, many companies start their sales early nowadays, often making it a week- or month-long event.
In the initial video, Drew is visibly excited about the new TV, giddily removing all the plastic stickers. But he quickly realizes something is wrong.
Disappointment after unboxing
There is a line running down the middle of the $6,000 TV, which was marked down to $4,500 for Black Friday.
“It was a Black Friday deal. I know I was saving a pretty penny. But I was not expecting to take it brand new, out of the box, and having a line like right in the middle,” Drew says.
Best Buy, Drew says, reached out after seeing his online video about the situation.
When the Best Buy crew arrived, Drew says he thought he’d be set to enjoy his purchase. But, he claims, the Best Buy team only brought the new TV in and removed the old one. They didn’t set the new one up. On top of that, he says they handled the brand new $300 TV mount so roughly. He claims they rendered it unusable for the new TV.
“You guys should see how brute he was being with this,” Drew says.
Drew is a TotalTech member. This gives him home perks like extended product protection, installation, and GeekSquad support. He says he spoke to a Best Buy representative about the issue, and they set up an installation appointment but said they’d call back about the mount after they reach out to their insurance agency.
“Do you know how many horror stories I read in the comments yesterday? I didn’t know Best Buy was like this. Best Buy, y’all need to reach out because this is not a good look,” Drew says.
Drew is at least getting a better response than this customer, who was vehemently denied the ability to return their TV to the store. They were allegedly instead told by the employee that they needed to file a claim directly with the manufacturer.
What does the policy say?
The store’s online policy states that if a customer receives a product that is “damaged in shipping, defective or that is not the product you ordered,” they can return it during their return window. “And we will arrange for a replacement,” it continues.
This isn’t the first time Best Buy has come under fire in recent months. Another person called out the retailer for storing its TVs horizontally instead of vertically. That makes them more prone to damage.
Commenters react
“I thought they were there to help,” a top comment read.
“At this point Best Buy needs to give you a shopping spree because like whaaaaaa,” a person said.
“What the technicians that came to the house that dismounted the TV should mounted the new TV for the customer and he should’ve known how to take a mount off without damaging things,” another pointed out.
@infamousxdrew Nah this is wild @Best Buy like what 😭 #bestbuy #geeksquad #newTV #75inchtv #8kTV #totaltech #infamousxdrew #fyp ♬ original sound – drew
The Daily Dot reached out to Drew for comment via email and Instagram direct message, as well as to Best Buy via email.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
