Careful with ATI at Best Buy

Z

zshift

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 13, 2007
Messages
98
[H]ey guys, I work at best buy and I found out something very interesting yesterday. We sell the Visiontek hd2400 agp cards, but inside every single one is actually an HD2600! and no, it's not just one, or two. I opened the entire stock yesterday with a manager and they all had the hd2600 (512MB agp), completely oblivious to the fact that the box displays all the info for an HD2400 (512MB AGP). also strange is that the card doesn't exist in our system at all (the hd2400 does, and so does a 256mb agp hd2600 and a 512mb pcie hd2600). the only accessory in the box is a single dvi to vga adaptor, no secondary and no power adaptor cables for the six-pin plug. even some customer reviews online state this fact!

This might seem great, but here's the downside: a coworker of mine decided to buy a 4870, but when he openeed it there was an x1900xt inside (OMGWTF!) so if you decide to buy an ATI card from best buy (or anywhere for that matter), please open the box in front of an employee (AFTER buying it) so they believe you when you try to return an x1900 inside of a 4870 box. also, this is not a best buy problem, but an issue with the manufacturer. all of these come prepackaged from the, so it is a major issue for the manufacturer as well as customers, best buy seems stuck in the middle because they purchase and sells these as the box advertises.

any questions, please respond, ill be free to answer any questions regarding this.

UPDATE:
I think a lot of you guys are a little confused about what i said originally. the cards were not returns (at least the hd2400s, I never did see my coworker open the 4870). all of them were off of a recent shipment and were all sealed. the inside packaging was all the same, but they all had hd2600s inside. and it wasn't just a mislabeled sticker, the unit had a 6-pin plug for extra power, which the 2400 series does not have.

again, this is not a best buy return issue (though we've had some HUGE F* ups in the past, like returning a laptop box with nothing but soup cans inside the box to make it heavy...seriously, it happened, but not at my store)
 
i use to work at best buy in the past , people would fool customer service all the time an return there old card in the box , its a shame
 
yeah, i dont think the brand really matters,..somone is opening the boxes and exchanging the card..

People tried that at compusa all the time...although its wierd that you found all the same card in a diffrent box
 
The x1900 in a HD4870 box is more than likely a customer return. Visiontek doesn't even sell X1900's anymore and we heard of swapping/returning problems from other people on the forums in the past with other BMs (I also recall it was bestbuy).
 
Yes. The X1900 was a pure BB screw up. Someone bought a 4870 and then returned the 4870 and put the X1900 back in the box. This clearly shows what type of people handle the returns at bestbuy. But the person who did this has 0 morals, plain and simple.
 
I'm guessing you didn't actually see your coworker open the box in front of you?
a X1900 in a 4870 box seems extremely unlikely.
Its frightening that people can do this with no guilt.
 
/subscribed.
I know this kind of thing happens a bit (people buy a card and return a different card for credit or a refund), but not to this scale. BB should have a way of tracking returns so they can look back at the last consumer and issue a charge to their credit card or hand it over to the authorities. I know that when I bought my TV tuner from a BB in Tri Cities and returned it here in Utah without a receipt, they just scanned the bar and serial and it brought up my info and allowed me to either get store credit or exchange it (which I did.. I just got a bad card).
 
And this is why video cards have a opening on the back so you can check to see if the numbers match that on the box. Now if they went as far as to actually remove the sticker from the new card and put it on the old card, more power to them. But ya, i often wonder what its like to go through life with no conscience.
 
hehe I remember reading on Tomshardware forums, somebody bragged about how he bought a X1900XTX, then "returned" it, with his old X850XT in the box, since they look similar. Probably what was happening here.
 
ATi FTL

I bought a X1650Pro 512MB PCI-e, and it only lasted about 6 months. Guess what brand it was?

I've had terrible luck with ATi graphics cards, and not one nvidia has failed on me [yet]
 
What annoys me the most is Best Buy sticking it back on the shelf after resealing it and selling it as new. Course, if they didn't reseal it and someone is dumb enough to buy a non factory sealed computer product without checking it first, well they just learned a lesson.
 
ok you guys are confusing me because last time I looked the 2600 thats in those boxes is a BETTER card than the 2400. so how is this a scam? :confused:
 
cannondale06 said:
ok you guys are confusing me because last time I looked the 2600 thats in those boxes is a BETTER card than the 2400. so how is this a scam? :confused:
Click to expand...

It's not. The OP was combining two seperate issues. The 1st is an honest screw up by the manufacturer. The 2nd is dishonest people returning their old video card in place of the new one and asking for a refund, and then BB goes and puts it back on the shelf to sell to someone else.
 
Astral Abyss said:
It's not. The OP was combining two seperate issues. The 1st is an honest screw up by the manufacturer. The 2nd is dishonest people returning their old video card in place of the new one and asking for a refund, and then BB goes and puts it back on the shelf to sell to someone else.
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yeah I just read the first paragraph from the OP and then starting reading some responses. :eek:
 
this is a pretty damn old trick.

shit, I remember when they first started putting stickers on the PC game boxes instead of shrink wrap...

lol people were burning games, shrink wrapping them at home, or wherever (not that hard to find a shrink wrapping machine) and returning them. faster than downloading them illegally I guess with dial-up...

it was bad, but this is a bit worse, emotionally, cause it's hardware. poor sap buys a card, and he gets a crappy one lol..... god that sucks.
 
This happened to me once at bb when I was buying my JBL 10 inch sub, I took it home and opened up the box to find a 2 year old worn out 12 inch JBL sub in its place with a hole punched through the center. I was livid , I went right back to BB (about 20 mins away) got a manager and of course at first he didn't believe me. It was crazy , I spent about 30 mins trying to convince about 3 upper tier managers that this sub was a switch and not what I paided for.

Needless to say I won't be buying subs from bb anymore.
 
Vengance_01 said:
Yes. The X1900 was a pure BB screw up. Someone bought a 4870 and then returned the 4870 and put the X1900 back in the box. This clearly shows what type of people handle the returns at bestbuy. But the person who did this has 0 morals, plain and simple.
Click to expand...

yeah it's a pretty low thing to do. i wouldn't put it on the people who handle returns though. about a million things get returned to them so they can't be experts on everything. what BB needs to do is have someone who works in the department (of the product) to inspect and test it out before putting it back on the shelf.
 
sn_85 said:
yeah it's a pretty low thing to do. i wouldn't put it on the people who handle returns though. about a million things get returned to them so they can't be experts on everything. what BB needs to do is have someone who works in the department (of the product) to inspect and test it out before putting it back on the shelf.
Click to expand...

The returned parts are not being resold as brand new (never opened)!!!
 
I think a lot of you guys are a little confused about what i said originally. the cards were not returns (at least the hd2400s, I never did see my coworker open the 4870). all of them were off of a recent shipment and were all sealed. the inside packaging was all the same, but they all had hd2600s inside. and it wasn't just a mislabeled sticker, the unit had a 6-pin plug for extra power, which the 2400 series does not have.

again, this is not a best buy return issue (though we've had some HUGE F* ups in the past, like returning a laptop box with nothing but soup cans inside the box to make it heavy...seriously, it happened, but not at my store)
 
Metrocall said:
There supposed to just send it back when someone returns it. :rolleyes:
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not always, certain items have a status that allows us to return it to the manufacturer, but not all. almost every pc component sold should, though
 
veedubfreak said:
And this is why video cards have a opening on the back so you can check to see if the numbers match that on the box. Now if they went as far as to actually remove the sticker from the new card and put it on the old card, more power to them. But ya, i often wonder what its like to go through life with no conscience.
Click to expand...
unfortunately, visiontek (at least the ones carried at bestbuy) doesn't have a window on the boxes. neither does anything else agp or pci we sell. seems on the PCIe cards have this feature (but ill double check next shift).
 
wow, bestbuys and ati WTF? then again can understand customers being scammers.
 
Best Buy must be struggling to make money with shit like this going on... I guess this has been a problem for any retail store in the past though.
 
I worked at a Sears when they still sold computers. Returns are dealt with at a return department. The customer would take the item there, get a credit receipt, and then go to electronics to pick out a new item or get a refund. The people working returns were also the stock people, so they never opened the box for anything. So half the laptops we got back were just books or bricks, digital cameras came back all the time with usually nothing in the box. It was bad.
 
I'm not saying I condone this but my friend got an HD4870 for $185 when they were first re-leased because of a mis-price @ bestbuy. He then took the 4870 and replaced it with an X850XT and told the Service reps he received the wrong card and they gave him another HD4870. So basically he got two for about $200 after tax and what not.
 
Last night i went to BB. I was bored, didn't want to spend a bunch of money and just wanted something different to play. So for 14.99 i bought nba live 07. Opened up the box and the disk inside the box was Madden 07. I took it back with receipt in hand and they didn't believe me. I'm sure it was a manufacturers fault but it sucks that BB wouldn't let me swap it out with another nba live box. 15 bucks down the drain.
 
Drepd said:
Last night i went to BB. I was bored, didn't want to spend a bunch of money and just wanted something different to play. So for 14.99 i bought nba live 07. Opened up the box and the disk inside the box was Madden 07. I took it back with receipt in hand and they didn't believe me. I'm sure it was a manufacturers fault but it sucks that BB wouldn't let me swap it out with another nba live box. 15 bucks down the drain.
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I don't blame them. If I were in their shoes, I wouldn't have believed you either. It would be a good thing if stores got tougher on returns. My wife used to work at a department store that had a very lenient return policy. She didn't say anything about these kinds of scams, but a lot of people would return items like clothing they bought months earlier and had obviously been through some wear and tear.

But really, they need some commen sense policies about returns. Every returned item that is still supposedly sealed should be opened right in front of the customer. If an X1900 or X850 is in a 4870 box, call the store security and detain the jerk.
 
Drepd said:
Last night i went to BB. I was bored, didn't want to spend a bunch of money and just wanted something different to play. So for 14.99 i bought nba live 07. Opened up the box and the disk inside the box was Madden 07. I took it back with receipt in hand and they didn't believe me. I'm sure it was a manufacturers fault but it sucks that BB wouldn't let me swap it out with another nba live box. 15 bucks down the drain.
Click to expand...

Had this happen to me before. I got a 7800GT in my 8800GTS box... Obviously a return. I called my credit card company in front of the manager and issued a chargeback on the spot. He kept telling me it wouldn't work, and was astonished when he realized the store got no money, and I got to keep the 7800. I mean, sure, it took a few days to get the funds returned, but all in all it was really funny coming back into the store afterwards (I worked right beside it).

After I succeeded in getting the chargeback, he told me I could return the card if I liked. I laughed, as sarcastically as I could, and walked out.
 
the store has to believe you ! its too easy to win a chargeback with your back
the bank is basically on your side and bestbuy is their enemy
so you will win 100% of the time
 
you just call your bank and tell them you didn't recieve the product as describe
or if you never recieve the product
 
What gets me is these retailers go thru the trouble of rewraping these returns to pass as new product but they don't do a simple inspection to verify what is returned. :rolleyes:
 
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