In Short: Best Buy in West Covina, CA. sold me a 21.3” LCD monitors that turned out to be a BRICK taped to a board.

Details: On August 4th, after a haircut, at about 7:15 I went to the Best Buy store in West Covina, to buy a Wireless Printer Server. After picking up the Wireless Print Server, my interest in purchasing a big flat screen monitor awakened.

I got home at about 8:10pm…and decided to open the box and install the monitor. I was very anxious see what had cost me so much money. When I opened the box up, to my surprise, I found that instead of the expensive 21.3" flat monitor, the box contained a brick taped to a piece of wood. (see picture:Monitor2.jpg) I was of course shocked and immediately started to panic; thus, I put the item back into the box. I went back to Best Buy as fast as I could and got there at about 8:30 and told the person at the entrance of what had happened. At this point, Best Buy also looked confused. I asked some of Best Buy's employees who were around if this had happened before; some of them confirmed that they had seen it happened before—with VCRs.

For the next 30 minutes or so, Best Buy store manager was eventually deciding what they would do. During this time I was left standing at the entrance with the brick taped to the wood. Best Buy would open the box and eventually took the item out…and then force it back in the box to the point that the box eventually got damaged (see picture: Monitor1.jpg).The cashier claimed that the box she had lifted was heavier than that one I had brought back!!! This was such a humiliation. Eventually Best Buy took the cashier's words and then decided that I must have replaced the real monitor with the brick taped to the wood. At the end, Best Buy decided not to take the monitor back.

I then called my attorney who suggested that I should call the police to take a report. The 911 response said that this was a civil case—but to keep the peace she said—she redirected me to the West Covina police. The police appeared at about 9:10pm. They once more confirmed that they couldn't take a report given that it was not a criminal case and that issue was between me and the store—a civil case. I then called the attorney back at 9:23pm for further advice and decided that we would file for small claims. The store manager gave me the number of the corporate office and said to call them the following day (Thursday). I came back home—so humiliated.

The following day I called the corporate office and talked with Leanda, the consumer relation. At least it didn't take her almost an hour, as they did in the store, that Best Buy couldn't take the merchandise back. She told me that it was not their problem and that I had to call Samsung for shipping me a defective item.

As per my lawyers advice, I am filing small claims against both Best Buy and Samsung.

--Mario

Before going to small claims court there is another option for your friend that the lawyer he consulted evidently missed.

Under Federal Law a purchase made with a credit card may be disputed and in some instances charged back to the vendor. This law is called the Fair Credit Billing Act (FCBA) to read more on this go to http://www.timduffy.com/credit/consumer_rights.htm.

If the Fair Credit Billing Act fails to resolve the problem then it would be appropriate to go to small claims court. Should this become necessary, I strongly suggest that Mario go the http://www.nolo.com and read about small claims law and consider purchasing one of their very excellent books on small claims.

My personal suggestion to anyone that goes to small claims court, refuse to have your case heard by a Judge Pro Tem. You should have your case heard by a Judge or Commissioner. The reason for this is a Judge Pro Tem is an Attorney who presides over cases on a part time basis and may not have a good understanding of the law that applies to your case. (An example is a Real-estate Attorney presiding over a medical malpractice case; he or she would be in way over their head and wouldn't know the appropriate applicable laws.)

One final note: It's very nice that you are helping your friend but in small claims court he has to speak for himself without assistance and advise him to keep it short and to the point. Nobody cares that he worked hard to make the purchase or that he got a haircut on the way to Best Buy. As Joe Friday would say on Dragnet Just the facts.

Good Luck let me know the outcome.

(UPDATE THIS LETTER MAY BE A FRAUD) Find Out

Tim

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