BestBuy refuses to exchange damaged tv and were extremely insulting Augusta Georgia

On 11/30/07 I bought a 42inch lcd hdtv along with a surround sound system and dvd player. When I got home I opened the box and before I even removed the tv I noticed a large crack on the top corner. I called bestbuy and they told me to bring it back. I get there, wait in line for about an hour and when I finally get to someone they tell me to wait again for a manager. The manager looks at the damage then tells me that they cannot exchange the item.

I tell him that I purchased this within the last 2 hours and havent even taken it out of the box! He responds with "well since you didn't opt for our home delivery you can't prove you didn't do it yourself." I was never told at anytime that if we didn't choose to have them deliver the item that they would not exchange a damaged item. He then said that if the box was damaged he might consider it.

I was unaware that I had to kick the box before I exchanged an item. Silly me, I thought that honesty was the best way to go! So after discussing this with him for too long and being pretty much called a liar, I opted to leave and call the corporate office. As I was leaving, the manager told me I could not leave the damaged item with them until it was resolved.

After loading the tv again and waiting on hold another hour, I finally spoke with a somewhat kind person who seemed to sympathize with me on the situation and even said that the manager had no right to accuse me of damaging something when he could not prove it. I get put on hold another 30 min, he comes back and says that the manager claims that I damaged the item then carefully put it back into the box and that I admitted to them being right and left!

That never happened!! How dare he not only refuse to exchange my item but then insult me!! I then asked to speak with a supervisor who gets on the phone after another long wait and tells me that they will not help me. The only thing bestbuy offered me was to purchase another tv at $928 instead of the $1139 I paid for the first one!! This has been the worst shopping experience of my life. I am lucky that when I actually removed the tv from the box that it worked. I also had no booklets inside the box, which leads me to believe this was a previously opened item.

I have no proof of that, it is only my speculation. I know though that I never removed it from the box before I tried to exchange it and feel robbed and insulted. I refuse to give up on this! I don't know where to go from here but I know that they shouldn't be allowed to treat people this way. I saved my hard earned money to buy something nice then ended up being stuck with a damaged item!

Msk
augusta, Georgia
U.S.A.