I'm not sure if anyone cares about an update, but I wanna just vent a bit.
I got the email (as shown in the screenshot) on June 25 very late at night.
Welp, I filed a Chargeback immedialy upon reading that. Guess that's one store I can't go to anymore... ๐คทโโ๏ธ
Still have yet to hear back from the bank on their process, but they say they'll "temporarily credit the balance" while they "investigate".
If my Bank decides to screw with me, the next update is probably gonna be in "c/ActuallyInfuriating" (I hope everything goes through fine, fingers crossed)
I did some online searching, and found like a few different posts from Reddit with others saying they got the same "completed investigation... unable to provide refund or replacement" bullshit.
They didn't even give me a chance to send the video evidence. The rep on the phone said they would "contact me there are any updates or request further information", but didn't tell me where to send the video to. Nor did anyone contacted me to request it.
What I think happened with the so-called "investigation" is that, BestBuy just deferred it to Doordash, and they must've looked at the picture taken by the driver and just sided with their driver to protect their bottom line, and BestBuy just accepted that as an explanation.
Pictures are stationary lmfao. That proves nothing. Only that the package was at the door (which was actually a neighbor's door btw), not that the driver didn't just snatched it immediately after.
Tbh, I doubt things would change much even if they got the video, they don't take this seriously at all. They would've just said the video was blurry and deny refund.
Btw: I ended up ordering a different laptop from Amazon and they shipped with UPS and it arrived safely, with all security seals intact. I don't like how Amazon is taking over everything and have become monopolistic, but at least their stuff actually arrives...
Will they refund you if you do in fact go to the police? This is a pretty incredible claim to take at face value.
The "libertarian paradise" idea is that as far as Best Buy is concerned, the item was delivered. If the DoorDash delivery driver happened to turn right around and steal the package, that's a separate crime and a matter for the police to deal with, same as if anyone else had stolen it. And it's OP's fault for not picking the box up sooner, during the 3 seconds it was sitting on the porch. The porch that wasn't even theirs. So anyway, the libertarian solution is for OP to contact police to track down the thief and either recover the stolen item or sue the thief for monetary compensation. Best Buy is innocent and no refund is coming. DoorDash is innocent too because they contracted with an independent contractor to deliver the item, and what the contractor does after the item has been delivered is not their responsibility.
And the Police won't investigate because of whatever mental gymnastics of the day they come up with to avoid the paperwork.
"You never actually recieved it, so it was never your property to be stolen." Or something.
Yes! It's an olympics game of mental gymnastics where everyone - BestBuy, DoorDash, OP, the police - try to offload responsibility onto someone else. However, a crime WAS committed. Someone is the victim. The victim is the one who was deprived of property/money and will not have access to it until/unless the thief is caught and property recovered. BestBuy thinks OP is the victim, since the item was stolen off (not)their porch. OP thinks BestBuy should be the victim, since OP had no involvement in organizing the delivery. DoorDash could also take up responsibility of being the victim, since it was their (not)employee that stole from them.
If OP goes to the police now, they would be losing the mental gymnastics by accepting the status of the victim. BestBuy would never refund them in this case. It is in OP's best interest to pursue the chargeback first. If OP succeeds in the refund or the chargeback, then BestBuy will have no package and no money, so BestBuy would be the victim. Then it will be BestBuy's responsibility to report the crime.
Sometimes the banks don't approve the chargeback without a police report. The police report needs to be filed. Also, if it still exist, try escalating onto best buy forums, you used to be able to get to their highest level escalation team by doing that.
This is the weirdest collection of words I've read in a while.
At the moment, all the evidence shows the laptop being delivered, including the photo showing final delivery. If OP files a police report, and presents evidence showing the laptop was indeed stolen, then it's on the delivery company, as it's their employee.
The bank would likely also want proof this happened.
The person who delivered/stole the item is not a Doordash employee, as @TauZero@mander.xyz points out. They're also right about if OP goes to the police, OP is subtly conceding that the independent contractor driver is the perpetrator, which can be argued to be letting BestBuy and Doordash off the hook - which is what they want.
I agree that doing the chargeback is the best course of action at this point. Yes, the bank will want to see the video proof - the bank is probably the only organization involved who would care about that.
This is why I don't actually blame them for wanting a police report, the laptop will have gone through their system, been scanned and processed, all the way through to final delivery. Looking at the information they have, I don't blame them one bit for being sceptical.
This is an extraordinary event.
I agree that OP is in the best position to report the crime to the police - they are closest to the police station, they have video evidence, they literally know who the thief is - but it should not be their responsibility! OP has done nothing wrong and there are no measures they could have taken to prevent this crime (other than not shopping online at all). If OP gets a police report, OP is taking up the task of being the victim, and then BestBuy has no legal obligation to refund them at all, other than out of the kindness of their heart. Rather, BestBuy is the victim in this crime, same as if the item was stolen off the shelf at their warehouse and scanner records forged. It is their responsibility to file a police report, if they want the numbers in their system to add up. Only then could they ask OP to kindly provide the video evidence to help them out, and they'd be lucky if OP would give it to them, having no obligation to do so.