Best Buy Sued Over Derogatory Job Reference

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An ex-Best Buy employee claims that he has been blackballed at other computer retailers because Best Buy management was making derogatory statements about him to other prospective employers. What kind of statements? How about this:

"He was hired as GM and demoted after 12 months or so because he sucked. He is desperate for a job because supposedly his wife left him because he has no job. I would not touch him. Again, do not forward this e-mail to anybody or say where you heard the info from because we were not allowed to give this info out, but I would hate you to get stuck with this guy!"
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The employee accused of making these statements has since been promoted to the Best Buy’s corporate offices. The company is currently investigating the claim. Thanks to [H] forum member “iseedeadpeople” for the heads up on this one.
 
Wow, he might not need a job after the suit settles. :eek:
 
tealk said:
If they can prove that, he is golden.
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Yea if this is true he will be making a good amount off this one. Man to think the person that sent it worked in human resources.

Gotta wonder how many other lives that person has fucked up.
 
Umm...yeah, if that is what the email really says, and he has a copy of it, he won't be needing that job any time soon. :p
 
retail sucks, retail managers suck 90 percent of the time, Only thing potentially worse is low level food service, like chain fast food type crap
 
Working in retail myself, I can say that retail HR is probably going to be the most ruthless of all. Its kinda scary what can happen :(
 
Yeah, if this turns out to be true, this guy will make bank (and should). The more media coverage this gets, the worse his reputation will be harmed.

The sad part is, everyone knows Best Buy doesn't condone what that lady did. It's not like it is in the BB handbook 2.) bash ex-employees when a reference is needed. One employee talking trash on another one is going to cost the company big time $$$$...who is the shitty employee NOW lady?!?! :D
 
stealthy123 said:
retail sucks, retail managers suck 90 percent of the time, Only thing potentially worse is low level food service, like chain fast food type crap
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I had a hell of a lot more fun working at wendys in high school than I did best buy.
 
Trust me on this, as a former employee they do this all the time, I am just surprised it took this long for someone to do this and expose them. Best buy for all tense and purposes is one of the worst retail companies to work for. I spent 6 plus years there and trust me for all the hard work and time i put in there, when I left I got alot of flack myself and luckily for me I was able to get a better job in which upon leaving I left on good terms and used them as my key point of reference for former employment.
 
oh man.. the Best Buy employee stories I could tell. :p

That place is a nightmare and the employees fuel the fire. Here's a fine example:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1177861

Post # 18 is my story. Post #50 is where Christian Powers, that Best Buy manager came into the thread and tried to defend his actions. Keep in mind this is YEARS later. He must have googled his own name and found the [H] thread because he knows he's guilty of all sorts of customer relations problems. Then he gets completely owned and ratted out. hahaha. It is seriously worth the read. :D
 
This would be quite a claim to make if it was false. I'd be interested to see how this turns out. I'm sure bestbuy corporate probably tried to shoo him away for $7,500 as they usually do.... If I'm him, I'd go for the gold.
 
w1retap said:
oh man.. the Best Buy employee stories I could tell. :p

That place is a nightmare and the employees fuel the fire. Here's a fine example:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1177861

Post # 18 is my story. Post #50 is where Christian Powers, that Best Buy manager came into the thread and tried to defend his actions. Keep in mind this is YEARS later. He must have googled his own name and found the [H] thread because he knows he's guilty of all sorts of customer relations problems. Then he gets completely owned and ratted out. hahaha. It is seriously worth the read. :D
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DUDE!!! That's friggin funny! Well I'm glad you've actually got ways to deal w/ people like that... most people feel stuck. By the way BBB does crap. If you complain, all they do is send a letter to the store or something, but like it's really going to help you w/ your case. Again, I could be wrong. But it's just what I've seen.
 
As an employer, this email would be ignored. It sounds like adolescent bickering; like whoever wrote it simply doesn't like the other person personally. You can't rely on such a thing as a professional review. The language and intent are all wrong. Any decent employer would ignore this.
 
LANm0nk3y said:
DUDE!!! That's friggin funny! Well I'm glad you've actually got ways to deal w/ people like that... most people feel stuck. By the way BBB does crap. If you complain, all they do is send a letter to the store or something, but like it's really going to help you w/ your case. Again, I could be wrong. But it's just what I've seen.
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The BBB is a clearinghouse for complaints and a rating system for companies. It doesn't exist to help out individuals. You check it before getting involved with a company. You voice your opinions (good and bad). That's it.
 
In his suit, Oliveri said he became suspicious after job offers at Circuit City and Target were abruptly terminated.
So Oliveri, of Columbus, Burlington County, hatched a plan.
He created an e-mail account using the name of a Target employee. Then Oliveri sent a note to his former company asking for a "candidate reference."
According to Oliveri's lawsuit, the district human resources manager, Ann McCafferty, allegedly responded:
"I will give you the skinny on him but you can't say you got any info from Best Buy or we can be sued. Just don't hire him and say you went with a better candidate.
"He was hired as GM and demoted after 12 months or so because he sucked. He is desperate for a job because supposedly his wife left him because he has no job. I would not touch him.
"Again, do not forward this e-mail to anybody or say where you heard the info from because we were not allowed to give this info out, but I would hate you to get stuck with this guy!"
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How stupid is this HR person for responding to an email not coming from Target! :D
 
BB is already a shithole as far as their hiring process goes.....

oh wait, circuit city uses the exact same application....

huh

yea, they're both horrible.
 
If all that is reported is true, Best Buy is going to get totally owned on this one. They better clean off their money coffers because this is going to cost them a hell of a lot of money.
 
For those of us that don't live in our parents basement like a few of you must, $100,000 isn't that much money. No where near enough to never have to work again. Might be enough for you not to work for 3 - 4 years if you kept the same sytle of living (assuming a GM makes between $25,000 and $35,000 a year), but thats about it.
 
I'm not surprised to hear something like this going on at BB. They are still pulling the internal web site scam. I was there Sunday, and bought new phones for the house. The web site said $129.99. They ring it up as $149.99. I say it is $129.99 on the web site. The manager comes over and says she'll check the web site. She comes back and says nope it is $149.99. I say I know it is $129.99, and she says "I'll go check the external web site." Duh, what did she think I hacked into their internal web site to get a price. BB has some pretty crappy business practices.
 
AthlonXP said:
Trust me on this, as a former employee they do this all the time, I am just surprised it took this long for someone to do this and expose them. Best buy for all tense and purposes is one of the worst retail companies to work for. I spent 6 plus years there and trust me for all the hard work and time i put in there, when I left I got alot of flack myself and luckily for me I was able to get a better job in which upon leaving I left on good terms and used them as my key point of reference for former employment.
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QFT.

Makes me wish we could make a thread about our retail work experiences.
 
I am going to ask my Legal and Ethics managment professor on this one (shes a lawyer who represents big time companies when they get sued). I'm curious as to what her take on this will be. I'll try and let you guys know.
 
Well when you call for a reference verification or letter.. you only can verify non-positive/negative stuff...

proper responses:
were they a good employee?
-I am not allowed to respond to that due to State/Federal laws

invalid response:
-he was great (although this happens alot, people dont mind it even if illegal)
-he was a crackhead liar (still illegal)

question:
did john work at your company from 1996-2000

proper: yes/no he did/didnot

improper: yes, he was a terrible worker
improper: yes, he was a great worker (still illegal)

this is basic HR. However as someone applying for teacher positions I had a lady ask all sorts of personal questions about me (race, religion, age etc) all very illegal and she still wanted to give me the job... but it was 12$ as an it person doing a 20$ hour job... so i turned it down.
 
Exavior said:
$100,000 isn't that much money. No where near enough to never have to work again. Might be enough for you not to work for 3 - 4 years if you kept the same style of living (assuming a GM makes between $25,000 and $35,000 a year), but thats about it.
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Let's not forget taxes; a settlement (which I'm sure Best Buy will pursue) would be better used as a base for savings or investment for emergencies and/or retirement (unless of course the divorce left him with debt, which is not unheard of, then the funds would go completely to simply staying afloat). As for Best Buy themselves: along with the famed "devil customer" memo, I'd have to say this just about confirms that Best Buy is one of the worst (or at the very least, the most careless) offenders. If retail is truly hell, then Best Buy is in charge of the place. =P

- James
 
hmm....

when I worked for cingular tech support (i was tech support for phone reps) I was accused of "hacking" into my bosses computer and then using her computer to FTP into a credit card database - which I also hacked. They quickly fired me for being late - which i'll admit, I was young and stupid and it was my fault.


Of course none of this could be proved since I didn't do it, but since the manager who accused me of it was very buddy buddy with most temp agencys in the town I speak of, it make finding a job...

uhh... impossible. Which is why I am in a different city now.

Always made me wonder if in my job search she was talking to people telling them about "this really bad guy"
 
If what the BestBuy says is accurate, then why not keep it to himself? Doesn't he want the competition to hire lousy employees? Smacks of personal retaliation more than anything.
 
Exavior said:
For those of us that don't live in our parents basement like a few of you must, $100,000 isn't that much money. No where near enough to never have to work again. Might be enough for you not to work for 3 - 4 years if you kept the same sytle of living (assuming a GM makes between $25,000 and $35,000 a year), but thats about it.
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GM starting pay for most stores is closer to $80K. from what I've seen. This can vary by market/cost of living, etc.
 
Man, Best Buy just fills the top with retards. The email is so poorly composed I would hope that any person receiving it would discount it entirely.

At a real company the policy is clear: at the very worst you can only confirm that an employee worked for you. Positive references are OK. To slam a former employee is clearly off limits and opens the company to a litigation rogering of epic proportions.

Best Buy obviously fills its management ranks with real winners. If this HR wanker really did get promoted to some corporate position after this incident then it just goes to show that Best Buy is where they are due to luck rather than skill.
 
DFranch said:
I'm not surprised to hear something like this going on at BB. They are still pulling the internal web site scam. I was there Sunday, and bought new phones for the house. The web site said $129.99. They ring it up as $149.99. I say it is $129.99 on the web site. The manager comes over and says she'll check the web site. She comes back and says nope it is $149.99. I say I know it is $129.99, and she says "I'll go check the external web site." Duh, what did she think I hacked into their internal web site to get a price. BB has some pretty crappy business practices.
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They pulled this very same thing with me and then tried to tell me that I made a mistake and showed me their "internet" site which had a complete different price.
 
Exavior said:
For those of us that don't live in our parents basement like a few of you must, $100,000 isn't that much money. No where near enough to never have to work again. Might be enough for you not to work for 3 - 4 years if you kept the same sytle of living (assuming a GM makes between $25,000 and $35,000 a year), but thats about it.
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lol, $100,000 isn't that much? What world do you live in? I work with some insanely rich folks and they would laugh at your statement. In fact, the more money you earn, the less you are to spend it and the more you are likley to value it more.
 
I won £25000 (=$50000) on a gameshow late last year - it enabled me to put down a deposit on a new house but my no stretch would allow me to give up work. Doubling the amount would be pleasant but would still not be in a ballpark where I could afford to sit on my ass. My mortage is £1000 ($2000) a month without accounting for other bills, a fair chunk of my £40000 ($80000) income is spent just living, and although I would never say $100000 wasn't a tidy sum it's not retirement money. In most people's opinion its probably life-changing though - having half that amount dropped on me unarguably changed my life as it enabled me to go and buy a new house without having to save for a deposit, however I still need a steady income to pay the mortgage.
 
Ockie said:
lol, $100,000 isn't that much? What world do you live in? I work with some insanely rich folks and they would laugh at your statement. In fact, the more money you earn, the less you are to spend it and the more you are likley to value it more.
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While it is not something you could live off of for a great deal of time I would agree 100 grand is a nice set of cash that could help you off for a good amount of time.
 
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