Android Central Forums member remii picked up his shiny new Samsung Galaxy S II Sprint Epic 4G Touch (hereafter referred to as the SGSIIE4GT for short) at a Best Buy in Riverside, Calif., only to find that it wasn't quite as pristine as you might expect, with the box apparently already opened and the phone's camera having been ... tested. Here's the story in remii's words:
So I walked into Best Buy today to get my Epic 4G Touch, and I go to play with it as the rep finishes my paperwork, and look what I find on it that Best Buy decided to throw in as a bonus!I was pretty upset. There was another one as well of a random Sprint fixture. Also before I even got the phone in my hand the reps were handing the phone off to each other to check it out. They didn't even know anything about it nor of its release this morning.... I have to admit the camera quality is pretty nice, lol. But, yeah, I spoke to their manager and he just made excuses. "When we get in new devices the techs like to open them up and explore them a bit" was his reasoning. I then asked why would there be such a vulgar photo on my phone then and he went on to say that they should have deleted it before it was sold. Awesome.
We're willing to bet that's not official Best Buy policy (or anyone else's, for that matter). And while we'd agree that the photos left on the phone aren't all that offensive, but that's not really the point. If we're buying a brand-new phone, we'd prefer that store reps not "play" with it first, ya know? There's probably no need to keep things as sterile as to clearly open the box in plain sight of God and the customer, but just don't "play" with what we're about to buy, m'kay?
As for remii and his almost-new SGSIIE4GT? Hit the break to see how things turned out.
Continues remii:
So I went back in the store again (This being the Tyler store in Riverside, Calif.) and spoke to another manager in person. I explained to her my situation and about how I've already spoken to another manager who simply dismissed the issue. She seemed much more reasonable and was seemed to grasp the severity of the situation. She apologized profusely and expressed her frustration and assured me this is not regular Best Buy behavior. She assured me the employee (who I happened to run into at the store who's name I discovered is Victor. I couldn't make out a last name sadly) would be adequately reprimanded. She guaranteed me a new phone which she would personally pick up at a sister store (seeing as how this was the only Best Buy in the district to stock the phone and my friend and I were the first two to get the two out of six of they had received). I just have to stop by again tomorrow morning to get my new *crosses fingers* Epic 4G Touch. Which works out great since the "new" one I purchased this morning is refusing to charge. It's been plugged in all day and it's only at 70% battery. I was really hoping to have a chance to play with this phone after having waited for months to get it in my hands. She even threw in a $25 gift card for my problems. It makes me really sad and frustrated to know these types of situations still occur. Who knows what these retailers decide to do to these seemingly "new" devices before selling them. I hope at least in this instance this employee learns his lesson and this store in particular does a better job at training their employees. This shoddy behavior is highly unprofessional and one would think a big chain like Best Buy would have better practices in place in order to prevent these situations from occurring.All in all this wasn't the launch of a new device I was expecting to get when I walked into Best Buy this morning with my debit card in hand ready to fork over for a shiny new phone but in the end it all worked out. Now if only the morning would come sooner :]
Good on Best Buy for making this right and throwing in a little extra for remii's trouble. How big a stink would you have raised? Let's hear it in the comments, folks.
Source: Epic 4G Touch forums
