Best Buy has a long history of treating it’s customers like dog shit when the think they can. In 1997 they had Reston, Virginia customer Ronald Kahlow arrested for comparison shopping, and CEO Brad Anderson told the Wall Street Journal (summary) last November they wanted to “fire” up to 20% of their customers – the ones who they don’t make enough money on.
This story popped up all over the internet this weekend, based on the Micheal Olesker’s Baltimore Sun news story (Registration required – text below) from last month,
Put yourself in Mike Bolesta’s place. On the morning of Feb. 20, he buys a new radio-CD player for his 17-year-old son Christopher’s car. He pays the $114 installation charge with 57 crisp new $2 bills, which, when last observed, were still considered legitimate currency in the United States proper. The $2 bills are Bolesta’s idea of payment, and his little comic protest, too.
For this, Bolesta, Baltimore County resident, innocent citizen, owner of Capital City Student Tours, finds himself under arrest.
Finds himself, in front of a store full of customers at the Best Buy on York Road in Lutherville, locked into handcuffs and leg irons.
Finds himself transported to the Baltimore County lockup in Cockeysville, where he’s handcuffed to a pole for three hours while the U.S. Secret Service is called into the case.
Have a nice day, Mike.The full story is shown below. The story hit Slashdot and has generated lengthy discussion. If you’re outraged there are only two viable courses of action:
1) Avoid shopping at Best Buy
2) If you must shop at Best Buy, pay in $2 bills
In fact scratch option #1, just stock up on $2 bills and shop at Best Buy. Keep the number of a really good civil attorney in your wallet – you could be in for a payday!
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I LOVE IT when people find out they AREN’T all powerful. I know the manager at my local grocery store, Blockbuster, and CVS PERSONALLY and I’ve had more than my share of SNOT NOSED PUNKS try to give me that “I’m running the register and you’re not, so you’ll do it my way” attitude only to learn that they aren’t as high and mighty as they think.
Wasn’t there a news story that was linked here not to long ago about a guy who got a ticket. He was so pissed off he sent his money in but smeared it with, well you can use your immagination, first. The city clerk was not amused. He was arrested for felony assault. Had to do some jail time and, get this, lost his license as a psychiatrist!
“Why did the police arrest him?”
You’ve obviously never lived in the People’s Republic of Maryland. Hopefully Best Buy will settle out of court for about $50 million.
You’ve obviously never lived in the People’s Republic of Maryland.
I have. Montgomery County, in fact, a D.C. suburb chock-full of federal workers. The ratio of assholes-to-the-general-population is about 5 times higher than anywhere else I have lived.
$50 million for what? The same people who decry excessive jury awards are the same people who demand that some guy get $50 million for losing 3 hours of his time.
And don’t tell me his reputation was damaged. He has to prove damages. He also is the one who went to the media. So that ain’t gonna fly.
Those of you who doubt this story obviously have never been screwed over by either Best Buy or the Police. If Bolesta had been belligerent, the police spokesman would be jumping all over that instead of grovelling and apologizing.
Both the cops and the store employees should be fired.
Hey! I’ve been screwed by everybody.
As to the police spokesman, I see one sentence taken out of context. It doesn’t say what question he was asked. I see no groveling and no apologizing. If I overlooked something, please let me know.
Intersting… I’ve seen this story here and on several other blogs, and one thing that runs as a constant thread is how bad Best Buy’s customer service is. The odd thing is, I shop at a Best Buy (Huntsville, AL) frequently and I’ve never had a problem with service there. Are the tales of Best Buy’s bad service exaggerated, or did this particualr one not get the David Spade memo?
As for the odd currency: Part of the problem is that cash register drawers don’t have slots for $2 bills or $1 coins. And, since customers don’t want them in their change, they usually wind up in the bottom of the drawer mixed in with the paperwork. Also, the SBA and SC dollar coins are just too similar to quarters. However, back in my fast-food days (Pizza Hut, 1979/80), at one of the Huts I worked at, I had the nickel cup partitioned to allow a place for Susie B’s. When customers checked out, i would offer to take any Susie B’s that they had and give them dollar bills as change if they wanted. At the end of the shift, I bought all the ones that had collected in the register. I used them in pinball machines. In those days, many pinball machines had their coin acceptors arranged to give extra plays if you paid with a Susie B.
A few years ago, I was traveling to Canada a lot. I got a bit of a kick out of their $1 and $2 coins. It was kind of weird to reach into your pocket and realize that you were walking around with $20 in coins.
Brother Sword, I am saying that his story is most definitely right on. The Baltimore Police Dept. is rife with corruption and twenty-something meatheads looking to crack skulls. Unfortunately I know from experience. My dog also found out the hard way, he was a labrador retriever, sweet as anything, and was shot to death, IN MY FENCED IN YARD, by the big bad Baltimore Police, who are apparently afraid of puppies. Oh yeah, he was the sixth LABRADOR in a month to be SHOT be a Baltimore Police Officer, who knows how many other breeds suffered the same fate. And yes, he had all shots, tags and licenses.
Cousin Dave – I don’t think this is necessarily a company wide problem, but all too often you get these kids running a register, or worse some 19 year old punk who is NOT qualified, being allowed to run the whole store (and I know there are 19 year olds out there who are, but most of them aren’t, and those who are, probably are in school), and they figure that they can MAKE you do it their way. The concept of “the customer is always right” is long gone. When I worked in retail (all through HS and a few years after), I was told POINT BLANK that I was there to provide our customers with the BEST possible shopping experience, and that my job depended on it, but I was also raised to treat my elders with respect, show up on time, do the best I could, and so on. Today kids are taught in school that it doesn’t matter if you get 1 question or all of them right on a test, everyone is just as good, and therefore they figure that when a customer asks them to (gasp) provide a service, that they can say I don’t want to, and you don’t have the right to ask me to, and that’s fine. Therefore, I feel this was a “semi-isolated” incident, but that only goes for BB, it’s all too common today, because the younger generation is being taught that “feeling good” is a RIGHT and that no one is allowed to “hurt their feelings” (no red pens, everyone who tries out makes the team, and so on). The “PC” craze will be our downfall if we don’t stop it RIGHT HERE AND NOW!
And DH, please tell me you’re sueing for your monetary losses from your pets, as well as anything else you can from these PIGS shooting a weapon into your yard. What if you, or a family member had been back there? And if they can say for certain that no one was, that means they STALKED and HUNTED your dogs (waited for the right time/shot), and that my friend is a FELONY (meaning they are off the force, can’t vote again, and can’t own ANY fire-arms ever again)!
wow smoke eater, you’re sounding a lot like rob hackney, hah
Smoke, this was about five years ago. To give you an idea of how nice and behaved this dog was, I took him to EVERY class I went to in college, full time, he slept next to my desk, sat on the bench with the team during our hockey games, and was even on my school ID picture with me at the allowance of the campus police. Needles to say I was pretty distraught at what happend and though the Animal Legal Defense group contacted me and wanted to support me, it was easier at the time for me to let it go. Besides, I have dealt with enough bull in the city of Baltimore over the last 12 years to know that absolutely nothing would have come of it. I love the city and enjoy calling it my home, but it has SERIOUS problems, not just with their Police Department but just their “Government Services” in general. Case in point, the two officers who arrived at my home were part of an animal control unit, one white officer and one black officer. The black officer shot my dog from approximately 30 yards away, and later tried to apologize to me telling me he was afraid of dogs, at the same time the othe officer told me that he wouldn’t have “dealt” with it that way. The whole scenario begs three serious questions: 1) Why doesn’t a Baltimore Police animal control unit carry tranquilizers? 2) Why is an officer who is admittedly afraid of dogs even ON an animal control unit? and of course the obvious, why the hell did they need to shoot a harmless lab sitting on my own property with full tags? A-holes.
I’m not sure who that is, so I don’t know if that’s a compliment or an insult. Which would that be for a Republican, blogger, pre-law student?
Small nit to pick in one of Julie’s posts – it was the USSS the police would’ve called and did call, not the FBI.
Re: $2 bills.
Clemson football fans use $2 bills when they go to a bowl game out of a tradition that began when Georgia Tech tried to end a series with Clemson (when GT was not in the ACC) because of the supposed financial loss the game brought them. Clemson fans paid for everything in Atlanta with $2 bills to demonstrate the financial impact of the game. The same thing happened again at a Gator Bowl a few years later and a tradition was born.
Every year they go to a bowl game, some fans come back with stories of service employees (restaurants, bars, convenience stores, strippers, etc.) who don’t know what a $2 bill is and have to check with their manager or somebody else to confirm that it’s real. I don’t doubt this story in the least bit and it’s (along with other issues) making me have 2nd thoughts about moving to Baltimore when I get married next year – I may try to get my fiancee to move here now.
A friend of mine has an experiment he tries ocasionally that he may not want to ever try at Best Buy. He goes into a fast food place or other place to pay and asks before getting his wallet out if they take Federal Reserve Notes. There are about equal numbers of people who say “no” or “what are those?” Both of those categories lead the “yes” responses by a good bit.
Top this off with the fact that a guy they thought had bombs was ignorant enough to show up at the Capitol building (and not the WH) and ask to see the President, and I mourn for the youth of America.
He was arrested by the Baltimore COUNTY Police NOT the Baltimore City Police. Baltimore County and Baltimore City are seperate polical subdivisions.
i think that was something that was’y right so as my personal advise i think that next time yoy should trick for somebody todo the following trade those $2.00 dollar bills with somebody that has a $1.00 dollar bill in that way you will never get arrested
I remember the WV case about the “no such state”. That is not an urban legend, it actually happened. I could be mistaken, but I believe that the arresting officer was a woman, and I even remember Jay Leno making jokes about it on the Tonight Show. It was in one of the western or southwestern states, but I am unable to recall which one.