Some Best Buy customers give up on the retailer and buy their new Pixel 7 from Google
Remember those Best Buy customers who pre-ordered the Pixel 7 or Pixel 7 Pro and eventually had their orders canceled at the beginning of this month for lack of inventory? Most of these were orders to pick up one of the new Pixel 7 models at a local Best Buy store.
When these orders were delayed, the retailer wouldn't even allow those who submitted a pre-order to switch to having their new Pixel shipped to them. Best Buy said that it didn't have the phones available to ship even though these models were listed on the company's website for immediate delivery.
Customers who never got their pre-ordered Pixel feel the retailer was trying to avoid handing out the $200 gift cards
It surely felt that what Best Buy was trying to do was to get its customers to cancel their pre-orders (or have the store cancel them automatically on November 1st). That would allow the retailer to back away from presenting those who pre-ordered one of the two phones with a promised $200 gift card. It also would allow Best Buy to back off quotes it made for devices being used as a trade.
Some Best Buy customers have had their Pixel 7 pre-orders unilaterally canceled by Best Buy
According to Best Buy customers that this writer has been in touch with, Best Buy reps have offered confusing responses that obfuscated the issue and many have never been informed about the status of their orders. On Monday, I received an email from the original Best Buy customer who had tipped me off to what was going on. He decided that he had enough of Best Buy and ordered the Pixel 7 from the Google Store and was able to pick it up within one hour.
Best Buy customer gives up after weeks and gets his Pixel 7 from Google in just one hour
He also was able to take advantage of Black Friday pricing and some Google Store credits that he amassed. As for Best Buy? Our tipster says, "Needless to say, my order with Best Buy still has not been fulfilled and representatives continue to circumnavigate. Essentially saying wait, no status yet, that it is 'awaiting inventory' (which is clearly untrue as it's been available in multiple stores near me), and that there's no date yet."
We should point out that even the $150 Black Friday discount on the Pixel 7 Pro offered by Google does not make up for the $200 gift card that Best Buy customers were promised and ended up not receiving because of the way the retailer handled their pre-orders. If you had a similar situation with your Best Buy pre-order for a Pixel 7 series pre-order and ended up sans phone and your $200 credit, let me know by dropping your comments in the box below.
Before we wrap things up, here's another comment posted on the retailer's customer forum. It was posted a couple of days after our original story and explains why Best Buy customers are so frustrated. It was written by chino4887 and says, "Frustrated with Best Buy. Pre ordered Pixel 7 with $100 GC and enhanced trade in on Oct 12 with estimate available date of Oct 18. Kept getting delayed.
I contacted customer support twice since my order and they kept giving me the same excuse of supply shortage but online orders are fulfilled in 3 days...This morning, my order was cancelled. I lost out on pre-order promotions now, enhanced trade in value and no phone. Best Buy never really wanted to fulfill our orders and give out the promotional Gift card."
When we originally told you about this story at the end of last month, we tried several times to get in touch with Best Buy and received nothing in the way of a response from them. If we do get a statement from the retailer, we will add it to this story.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: