Madam Frugal vs Best Buy = 2 FREE Kodak ESP 5210 Printers

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On Sunday 8/21/2011, I had an unfortunate incident happen to me when I visited Best Buy Northridge in California to recycle 2 old printers and redeem the Kodak Swap for Savings $50 Off Coupon that is eligible on these Kodak ESP All-In-One printers: ESP 5210, ESP 2170, ESP 9250, & ESP 7250 and store manager refused to honor this coupon.
I checked the Best Buy site to see the Kodak ESP printers and if it was on clearance sale $45 since several people online had also found several Best Buy locations that were trying to get rid of their Kodak printer inventories.  Well, guess what?  The Kodak ESP 5210 printer was posted $49.99 (see scanned picture - printout provided by store manager):

Kodak ESP 5210 Best Buy Price $49.99

Woohoo, I called the Northridge Best Buy store to make sure it was available at the store and same price.  They held 2 printers for me.  I went to the store with my printed $50 off Kodak printer coupon and proceeded to get cashier register.  The store rep ran into a problem when he tried to ring up this product $49.99 with the $50 off coupon which their staff didn't have authority to override when an item is $0 (free).

So the store managers were called over and tried to override it, but I guess they must have an A-HA moment and said: "I can't let you take this printer for free.  We can't give away free printers." I told him that's not my problem that it was priced at "$49.99".  I couldn't believe that they asked me where I got this Kodak coupon.  I told them it was on their website and they gave me a printout of this page: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Computers-Promotions/Kodak+Swap+for+Savings/pcmcat228100050019.c?id=pcmcat228100050019

When you click "Download Coupon" icon on the above link, it will display this coupon is available on the Best Buy website Kodak Swap for Savings Coupon: http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/en_US/images/abn/2011/com/pcon/cpn_kodak_072511.pdf

I tried to tell them their printout looks different because you need to click on "Download Coupon" icon.  Both Store Managers said that they were the only managers at the store who can make the decision still refused to honor this coupon and store sale price $49.99 and brushed me off like I was some adolescent kid.  I was very disappointed and expecting better customer service instead directing me to call Customer Service toll-free number.  

I couldn't believe these managers don't know the content of Best Buy's site which makes me think if these managers know how to do their job.  Customer Service kept me on hold forever and hung up on me several times (probably on purpose).  After the 3rd phone call, I finally was able to reach a rep who I thought could help.  Unfortunately, the Customer Service rep sided with the store managers and said it is the store manager's discretion to honor these coupons.  They all thought this Kodak coupon was a manufactured coupon from Kodak ONLY yet it had Best Buy's trademark.  I don't think these store managers understand the law of trademark.  Even I am just an average consumer who is well aware that you can't use another company's trademark without their permission.

I left the store and went to call other nearby Best Buy stores and found out that Best Buy had changed their site price from $49.99 to $99.99 after my situation.  Unfortunately, all nearby Best Buy store was not selling this printer at their clearance sale price of "$49.99" .


After researching all of the Best Buy and Kodak executives' contact information, I wrote a detailed lengthy email:


If you can't read the above screen shot, below is the actual email:
Best Buy Northridge in California - Refused to Honor the Kodak Swap for Savings $50 Off Coupon
3 messages

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Madam Frugal <madamfrugal@gmail.com>	Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 1:35 AM
To: twitter@bestbuy.com, Brian.Dunn@bestbuy.com, Shari.Ballard@bestbuy.com, Jim.Muehlbauer@bestbuy.com, Mike.Vitelli@bestbuy.com, Barry.Judge@bestbuy.com, Carol.Surface@bestbuy.com, Tim.Sheehan@bestbuy.com, Paula.Prahl@bestbuy.com, NewsCenter@bestbuy.com, Antonio.Perez@kodak.com, Robert.Berman@kodak.com, John.Blake@kodak.com, Victor.Cho@kodak.com, Steven.Decker@kodak.com, Douglas.Edwards@kodak.com, Philip.Faraci.@kodak.com, Stephen.Green@kodak.com, Pradeep.Jotwani@kodak.com, Michael.Korizno@kodak.com, Brad.Kruchten@kodak.com, David.Lanzillo@kodak.com, Christopher.Veronda@kodak.com, Alan.Brakoniecki@kodak.com, Erin.Foster@kodak.com, Gudrun.Baunach@kodak.com, Nancy.Carr@kodak.com, Jack.Kasperski@kodak.com, Jonathan.Ghent@kodak.com, Mike.Deluca@kodak.com, Krista.Gleason@kodak.com, Jacqueline.Mangione@kodak.com, Robin.Carr@kodakgallery.com, Kelly.Mandarano@kodak.com, Audrey.Jonckheer@kodak.com, Judit.Doherty@kodak.com, David.Kassnoff@kodak.com, Bruce.Graham@kodak.com, Dolores.Kruchten@kodak.com, William.Love@kodak.com, Timothy.Lynch@kodak.com, Michael.Marsh@kodak.com, Antoinette.McCorvey@kodak.com, Augustin.Melendez@kodak.com, Gerard.Meuchner@kodak.com, John.OGrady@kodak.com, Gustavo.Oviedo@kodak.com, Laura.Quatela@kodak.com, Isidre.Rosello@kodak.com, Jeremy.Salesin@kodak.com, Eric.Samuels@kodak.com, Patrick.Sheller@kodak.com, Kimberly.Snyder@kodak.com, Terry.Taber@kodak.com, Susan.Tousi@kodak.com, Kim.VanGelder@kodak.com, Nicoletta.Zongrone@kodak.com
Dear Best Buy and Kodak Executives Team Members, On Sunday 8/21/2011, I had an unfortunate incident happen to me when I visited Best Buy Northridge in California to recycle 2 old printers and redeem the Kodak Swap for Savings $50 Off Coupon that is eligible on these Kodak ESP All-In-One printers: ESP 5210, ESP 2170, ESP 9250, & ESP 7250 and was store manager refused to honor this coupon. As of Sunday 8/21/2011 mid-morning, the Kodak ESP 5210 printer was displayed on BestBuy.com as $49.99 (see attached file "BBSiteKodakESP5210DiscPrice2011-08-21AM.pdf" - printout was given to me by Best Buy Northridge Store Manager).  I provided the Kodak Swap for Savings $50 Off Coupon (see attached file: cpn_kodak_072511.pdf) that is the same file name and content as Best Buy's website. Store Managers (Frank & an African-American guy whose name I didn't see on his name plate)refused to believe that I got this coupon from Best Buy website.  Store Managers gave me a print out of this link: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Computers-Promotions/Kodak+Swap+for+Savings/pcmcat228100050019.c?id=pcmcat228100050019 When you click "Download Coupon" icon on the above link, it will display his coupon is available on the Best Buy website Kodak Swap for Savings Coupon: http://images.bestbuy.com/BestBuy_US/en_US/images/abn/2011/com/pcon/cpn_kodak_072511.pdf After explaining to General Manager (Gene Kelley) and (Frank & African-American guy whose name I didn't see on his name plate) this coupon is valid, they told me to call Best Buy Customer Relations and after being hung up several times, and situation wasn't resolved. I went to take a picture of the price tag and the price tag had disappeared and the BestBuy.com site price was changed from $49.99 to $99.99 within few minutes after talking to Best Buy Customer Relations Reps. Both Store Managers said that they were the only managers at the store who can make the decision, it wan't until after a long time, the General Manager appeared and still refused to honor this coupon and store sale price $49.99 and brushed me off like I was some adolescent kid.  I was very disappointed and expecting better customer service instead directing me to call Customer Service toll-free number. General Manager (Gene Kelley) and Store Managers said they couldn't honor coupon and allow me to recycle 2 printers and walk out by paying $0 for these 2 Kodak ESP 5210 printers. All I am asking is to honor the store sale price $49.99 for Kodak ESP 5210 that I saw at the Best Buy Northridge store and on BestBuy.com site and Kodak Swap for Savings $50 Off Coupon in exchange for my 2 old printers. I will report this incident to Federal Trade Commission for false advertisement if this situation is not rectified. I feel that I was treated unfairly and felt belittled by the Best Buy staff. Sincerely, ~Madam Frugal Sharing Frugal & Green Tips with Everyone Make a Difference in this World if We Share our Knowledge!

As a result, I received 2 emails from Best Buy staff: Senior Executive Resolution Specialist and General Manager at Best Buy Northridge and 1 email from Kodak staff.  My email definitely got the executives attention.
Their Senior Executive Resolution Specialist made some excuse about pricing error. Oh please, don't give me that BS excuse.  A big corporation doesn't upload its new weekly prices onto their websites without any quality assurance process.  Below is her email to me:

Lavigne, Courtney <Courtney.Lavigne@bestbuy.com>	Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 2:26 PM
To: madamfrugal@gmail.com
Madam Frugal, Thank you for reaching out to Brian Dunn and the Best Buy Corporate office.  Let me first off sincerely apologize for your recent experience with our Best Buy Northridge location while trying to redeem a Kodak coupon and recycle 2 printers.  This is certainly not the type of customer service we want to provide our customers and I apologize for any inconvenience and frustration this has caused.  There was a pricing error on Best Buy.com which has been now corrected but was unfortunately the cause of your frustration and again I apologize for that.  We want to make this right for you and I’ve personally reached out to the Best Buy Northridge to fully address your concerns.  A local manger will be reaching out to you shortly to help turn this experience around, but I also wanted to provide you my direct information if I can be of any further assistance. Again, I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and I appreciate you bringing this to our attention and giving us the chance to resolve. Best Regards, Courtney LaVigneSenior Executive Resolution Specialist Best Buy Co., Inc.Direct Line (612)-292-0297Fax (952)-430-3745

Below is the email that I replied back to the General Manager's email:
Re: Customer Issue - Best Buy Northridge in California - Refused to Honor the Kodak Swap for Savings $50 Off Coupon, Case#8724806
3 messages

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Madam Frugal <madamfrugal@gmail.com>	Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 12:09 AM
To: Kevin.Kelley@bestbuy.com Cc: Courtney.Lavigne@bestbuy.com, twitter@bestbuy.com, Brian.Dunn@bestbuy.com, Shari.Ballard@bestbuy.com, Jim.Muehlbauer@bestbuy.com, Mike.Vitelli@bestbuy.com, Barry.Judge@bestbuy.com, Carol.Surface@bestbuy.com, Tim.Sheehan@bestbuy.com, Paula.Prahl@bestbuy.com, NewsCenter@bestbuy.com, Antonio.Perez@kodak.com, Robert.Berman@kodak.com, John.Blake@kodak.com, Victor.Cho@kodak.com, Steven.Decker@kodak.com, Douglas.Edwards@kodak.com, Philip.Faraci.@kodak.com, Stephen.Green@kodak.com, Pradeep.Jotwani@kodak.com, Michael.Korizno@kodak.com, Brad.Kruchten@kodak.com, David.Lanzillo@kodak.com, Christopher.Veronda@kodak.com, Alan.Brakoniecki@kodak.com, Erin.Foster@kodak.com, Gudrun.Baunach@kodak.com, Nancy.Carr@kodak.com, Jack.Kasperski@kodak.com, Jonathan.Ghent@kodak.com, Mike.Deluca@kodak.com, Krista.Gleason@kodak.com, Jacqueline.Mangione@kodak.com, Robin.Carr@kodakgallery.com, Kelly.Mandarano@kodak.com, Audrey.Jonckheer@kodak.com, Judit.Doherty@kodak.com, David.Kassnoff@kodak.com, Bruce.Graham@kodak.com, Dolores.Kruchten@kodak.com, William.Love@kodak.com, Timothy.Lynch@kodak.com, Michael.Marsh@kodak.com, Antoinette.McCorvey@kodak.com, Augustin.Melendez@kodak.com, Gerard.Meuchner@kodak.com, John.OGrady@kodak.com, Gustavo.Oviedo@kodak.com, Laura.Quatela@kodak.com, Isidre.Rosello@kodak.com, Jeremy.Salesin@kodak.com, Eric.Samuels@kodak.com, Patrick.Sheller@kodak.com, Kimberly.Snyder@kodak.com, Terry.Taber@kodak.com, Susan.Tousi@kodak.com, Kim.VanGelder@kodak.com, Nicoletta.Zongrone@kodak.com, CustomerRelations@kodak.com
Kevin, Thank you for the follow up e-mail.  I feel completely duped when I visited your store, Best Buy Northridge in California.  Since you are the "general manager", I wanted to see a resolution and not be pushed off to a toll-free number which both general and store managers directed me to call Best Buy Customer Relations (877-BEST-BUY). I can't comprehend a person in your authority position is unaware of pricing, product and coupons on the Best Buy website.  I tried to make you aware of the valid Best Buy-Kodak partnership coupon but unfortunately you and your staff refused to acknowledge the Best Buy-Kodak partnership coupon.  The price change at the last minute is very unprofessional and unethical business practice.  You and both store managers understood that I was getting a good deal and you change the price on me!!!???  If Best Buy staff incorrectly posted the wrong price on the Best Buy website and a consumer (that's me) saw it as a valid price then Best Buy should still honor this store price as a customer courtesy. If you were in my position, how would this make you feel as a consumer??? As I expressed during my visit, you should honor the store and online sale price $49.99 and $50 off Kodak coupon plus tax which total $0 in exchange for my 2 old HP printers.  I am reiterating this request again.  I just want my 2 Kodak ESP 5210 printers for this transaction. My next step is to venture out to other social media and contact the Federal Trade Commission.  I have done a general survey and many social media forums and other consumers had been duped and had the rug pulled underneath us with this false advertisement and from store clerk to managers unaware of product and pricing!!  Changing the price on consumers when they knew that we are getting a good deal headlines will rain on Best Buy. I hope that you will be able to resolve this issue. Sincerely, ~Madam Frugal Sharing Frugal & Green Tips with Everyone Make a Difference in this World if We Share our Knowledge! http://twitter.com/MadamFrugal http://foursquare.com/madamfrugal http://madamfrugal.blogspot.com http://madamfrugal.yelp.com http://www.facebook.com/mfrugal On Mon, Aug 22, 2011 at 1:56 PM, Kelley, Kevin <Kevin.Kelley@bestbuy.com> wrote: I just received some information around your Kodak printer that you were trying to buy yesterday.  I want to first apologies for the misunderstanding.  When you pulled up the promotion you were right that the coupon was valid on the printer.  Unfortunately the system had fixed itself by the time you got to the store.  We at the store did not have the line of sight that corporate had.  I am sorry for the inconvenience and you were absolutely right for coming in.  You can reach me at the phone # down below or just come in to the store. Kevin Kelley General Manager Northridge, Ca. #1180 (805)501-2330

It's so funny how he made some excuse that the system fixed itself! Yeah right, the webmaster went into the site to manually change it, buddy! By the way, I forgot to mention that I went into this store looking like a poor gal. I think I would have been treated better if I got all dolled-up in a nice outfit.
Below is the last email thread from this issue:
Re: Kodak Printer - Customer Issue - Best Buy Northridge in California - Refused to Honor the Kodak Swap for Savings $50 Off Coupon, Case#8724806 - Resolved
2 messages

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Madam Frugal <madamfrugal@gmail.com>	Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 12:34 AM
To: Kevin.Kelley@bestbuy.com Cc: Courtney.Lavigne@bestbuy.com, Bob.Sokol@bestbuy.com, twitter@bestbuy.com, Brian.Dunn@bestbuy.com, Shari.Ballard@bestbuy.com, Jim.Muehlbauer@bestbuy.com, Mike.Vitelli@bestbuy.com, Barry.Judge@bestbuy.com, Carol.Surface@bestbuy.com, Tim.Sheehan@bestbuy.com, Paula.Prahl@bestbuy.com, NewsCenter@bestbuy.com, Antonio.Perez@kodak.com, Robert.Berman@kodak.com, John.Blake@kodak.com, Victor.Cho@kodak.com, Steven.Decker@kodak.com, Douglas.Edwards@kodak.com, Philip.Faraci.@kodak.com, Stephen.Green@kodak.com, Pradeep.Jotwani@kodak.com, Michael.Korizno@kodak.com, Brad.Kruchten@kodak.com, David.Lanzillo@kodak.com, Christopher.Veronda@kodak.com, Alan.Brakoniecki@kodak.com, Erin.Foster@kodak.com, Gudrun.Baunach@kodak.com, Nancy.Carr@kodak.com, Jack.Kasperski@kodak.com, Jonathan.Ghent@kodak.com, Mike.Deluca@kodak.com, Krista.Gleason@kodak.com, Jacqueline.Mangione@kodak.com, Robin.Carr@kodakgallery.com, Kelly.Mandarano@kodak.com, Audrey.Jonckheer@kodak.com, Judit.Doherty@kodak.com, David.Kassnoff@kodak.com, Bruce.Graham@kodak.com, Dolores.Kruchten@kodak.com, William.Love@kodak.com, Timothy.Lynch@kodak.com, Michael.Marsh@kodak.com, Antoinette.McCorvey@kodak.com, Augustin.Melendez@kodak.com, Gerard.Meuchner@kodak.com, John.OGrady@kodak.com, Gustavo.Oviedo@kodak.com, Laura.Quatela@kodak.com, Isidre.Rosello@kodak.com, Jeremy.Salesin@kodak.com, Eric.Samuels@kodak.com, Patrick.Sheller@kodak.com, Kimberly.Snyder@kodak.com, Terry.Taber@kodak.com, Susan.Tousi@kodak.com, Kim.VanGelder@kodak.com, Nicoletta.Zongrone@kodak.com, CustomerRelations@kodak.com, connect@kodak.com
Kevin, Thank you very much for your cooperation in this matter.  Earlier this evening, I was able to pickup the 2 free Kodak ESP 5210 printers at Best Buy Northridge in California by recycling my 2 old printers and presented the $50 Kodak coupon.  I will definitely write a positive shout-out about Best Buy on my blog, twitter, facebook and other bargain deals forums very soon so check back on my twitter and blog later this week. Sincerely, ~Madam Frugal Sharing Frugal & Green Tips with Everyone Make a Difference in this World if We Share our Knowledge! http://twitter.com/MadamFrugal http://foursquare.com/madamfrugal http://madamfrugal.blogspot.com http://madamfrugal.yelp.com http://www.facebook.com/mfrugal  On Tue, Aug 23, 2011 at 10:19 AM, Kelley, Kevin <Kevin.Kelley@bestbuy.com> wrote: I am sorry there was some confusion around the e-mail that I had sent yesterday.  I would be happy to honor the Kodak promotion that you saw on line.  You can come in at you convenience and we will have the printers waiting for you.  Please feel free to call me at the # below or email me back if I can assist you in any other way. Kevin Kelley General Manager Northridge, Ca. #1180 (805)501-2330

Yesterday Tuesday 8/23/2011, I went to pickup my 2 free Kodak ESP 5210 printers and recycled my 2 old printers.  I really appreciate how Best Buy stepped up to the plate after my complaint email and resolved it within 2 days. I hope my experience will help others achieve the customer service results that needs to be given to all customers at all stores.