Home » Investing, Lifestyle

Customer Service At Its Finest: Big Screen TVs and Peanuts

7 April 2009 8 Comments

Last April, I wrote about buying a new big screen TV at my local Sam’s Club.  I also wrote about the return policy at Sam’s where I will be able to take my TV back at a later date for any reason at all.  While I believed the policy, a part of me was always somewhat nervous about the deal.  That is until this past weekend when I packed up my 47″ Phillips LCD TV and hauled it back to Sam’s.

I almost broke my back lugging the giant box back to Sam’s, and almost broke the TV a few times, but once I got it back inside the store, they did a simple verification that all the parts were there.  Then, they gave me a full refund for the purchase price even though the TV is worth about $500 less than when I bought it.  Amazing!  When asked why I was returning it, i said, “I don’t want it anymore.”

With the money refunded, I walked over to the TV section and picked out a new 52″ Samsung 1080p LCD TV for just about the same price.  Beautiful exchange.

Another interesting note… while I was waiting to return the TV, several people were returning cans of nuts.  The interesting part is that one of the people mentioned that Sam’s had called them personally to tell them that the nuts should be returned because of a recall.  I just thought that this was a great example of amazing customer service.

With examples of customer service like this plus the fantastic prices at Sam’s Clubs and Wal-Mart, is there any surprise why the company does so well?  I am in the camp that we are going to get a huge leg down in the broad stock market in the next few months.  I’m stil waiting with a pile of cash to put into quality companies after a sell off.  Wal-Mart (WMT) is one of these companies.

8 Comments »

  • RO said:

    If there was nothing wrong with the tv and you wanted to just upgrade to a larger size, then I think what you did was dishonest. Even if the policy is for any reason at all, I’m sure Sam Club’s policy was mean for problems with the set, not wanting to upgrade.

    # 16 April 2009 at 11:38 am
  • Kevin said:

    I wasn’t dishonest; I was completely upfront. I told them that there was nothing wrong with it, I just would like to get a bigger one. They said ok.

    Most people are just too lazy to pack up a TV and lug it back to the store. I’m not sure where the problem is.

    # 16 April 2009 at 12:14 pm
  • Andrew said:

    That is completely and totally unethical. I am all for being frugal but there are simply some lines you don't cross. You are probably the guy who keeps his fast food cup and continually returns to the fast food restaurant to fill up with soda without buying anything.

    # 8 October 2009 at 4:18 pm
  • 20smoney said:

    Nah, never done that with a cup at a fast food cup. What's the problem? It's Sam's policy. If they didn't want that, they wouldn't have the policy, they'd change it to 30 days or something.

    # 8 October 2009 at 7:57 pm
  • 20smoney said:

    Forgot to mention, when returning the TV, i said there is nothing wrong with the TV and i simply want a new one. They said ok no problem.

    So, what is unethical about that? I didn't lie and say the TV was broke. I told them the truth and they were willing to accomodate.

    # 8 October 2009 at 7:59 pm
  • Andrew said:

    You wrote that it is Sam's "Satisfaction Guarantee." How in the world were you dissatisfied with the TV other than the fact that you used it and decided there was a better TV out there? I don't care how you spin it and I'm certainly not defending Sam Club's poor choice in language, but you certainly manipulated the rule. There is no way around it.

    # 9 October 2009 at 2:14 am