Best Buy target of consumer complaints By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle Best Buy, the large electronics retailer, may be the target of legal action from the state of Wisconsin. The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has forwarded 89 complaints against the chain for a variety of problems to the attorney general's office for enforcement, the DATCP said Wednesday. The 89 incidents occurred at Best Buy stores throughout the state including the one in Green Bay, said Cynthia Sich, manager of the Northeast regional office in Green Bay. The chain is building a store on Oneida Street in Ashwaubenon. The department said consumers have filed complaints against the stores for: - False advertising. - Unauthorized credit card charges. - No recourse after buying faulty products - Problems getting warranty service, even with extended warranties. - Not paying promised rebates. - Repackaging of used or old products. In two cases, Sich said, people who bought products they thought were new opened them at home to find used products or products that did not match the description. "One was a DVD player and one was a sound system," she said. "There were used products in the box and the serial numbers didn't match. The consumers went back to the stores to try to resolve the issue and weren't able to get satisfaction until they filed complaints with us." The department has been looking at Best Buy since May 2002, but started seriously investigating the complaints six months ago. Sich said that if there are 89 complaints, "there are a lot more who don't complain to us. These are the ones that did file complaints." In a statement from its headquarters at Richfield, Minn., Best Buy officials said: "Best Buy is aware of statements regarding 89 consumer transactions made by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection in a news release today. Best Buy conducts millions of customer transactions in Wisconsin each year. Many of the products and services Best Buy sells are complex and we do our best to educate customers about their purchases. However, in some cases, customers bring concerns to the company regarding their purchases. Because Best Buy values its customer relationships, we do our best to resolve customer issues in an amicable way. Therefore, we are surprised that the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is making these statements and we deny any wrong doing. One of the complaints cane from Kevin Weigman of Green Bay. Weigman, an instructor at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, filed a complaint over a rebate 18 months ago, he said. "I had purchased a memory module for a digital camera," he said. "I filled out the paperwork and mailed it to a company, PNY." The company denied the rebate with a postcard containing a telephone number that was disconnected when Weigman called. He called Best Buy and was told the store would not get involved. "They said 'that's not our issue, that's the vendor's issue, see you later,'" he said. He finally found the PNY number from a Web site and was told that he had not sent in the UPC code from the package. Weigman said he had sent it in. He said he again asked Best Buy for help and received nothing. However, after contacting Consumer Protection, a rebate was sent the day after the state contacted PNY. "I'm not a customer of PNY, I'm a customer of Best Buy. Whatever the deal was, it's too bad Consumer Protection had to get involved," he said. The state of Ohio has filed suit against Best Buy for similar infractions, Sich said. The department is also looking at other complaints and other stores to see if they have caused similar problems. She suggested consumers with problems always get offers in writing, examine boxes carefully to see if they have been opened and resealed, use credit cards that allow challenging of charges, and contact Consumer Protection if they have a complaint. "We want consumers to take the time and file the complaint with us," she said. FYI The hotline number for the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection is 1-800-422-7128.