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At this point I was ready to walk out of the store, but my lustful dreams of having a beautiful Sony 46" widescreen HDTV in my living room overpowered me and convinced me to stay.

Aha! They figured it out. Return the TV and put the total on a gift card. Use the gift card to pay for the new TV, and then I had to pay the balance. We were finally walking out the door after a grand total of three hours. It literally took them about two hours to figure this out!

You'd think we were now home free. Nope! I put the TV stand together to have it ready for the delivery of the TV the next day. I know what you're thinking, but yes, they did deliver the correct TV. Problem was, when they put the TV on the stand, it was obvious to everyone in the room it was too high. The delivery guy said no problem, just return it to the store as he inexplicably cut the TV stand box with his knife. My wife and I lost our breaths until he assured us that all we needed was the panel with the UPC code and we could bring the stand back assembled. Great, I thought, I don't have to take it apart. The delivery guy even took away the TV and TV stand boxes.

That night we went back to our favorite store to take the stand back. After waiting in line for 20 minutes (while we watched a manager chat it up with an old friend), the snot-nosed customer service dude behind the counter informed us there would be a 15% restocking fee on the stand because it was assembled. He told us some story about how they would now have to sell it for 70% less. I was stunned and pissed but it was closing time at the store and I didn't see the manager around so I paid the fee. I planned to call the store manager the next morning. By the way, Best Buy didn't have the smaller stand in stock and they wouldn't let me take the floor model. They should have given it to me for 70% off because it was assembled! I ordered it from Circuit City for $20 cheaper that night.

The next morning, I called the manager and told her about how the delivery guy tore up my box and took it away with him. She checked on it and called me back to to tell me that after all, it was a mistake by the snot-nosed kid to charge me the restocking fee. I made one last trip to the store with my receipt and they credited my account.

I realize that my experience was probably the exception, but there are many other reasons I almost never shop at Best Buy. If you want to know why, see my article Not-Your-Best Buy.

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