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Marine's effort at Christmas spirit nullified by store policy
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Published: December 28, 2008
Tony Hyatt certainly would have liked to see his son, a 22-year-old Marine, walk though the front door of his Yadkin County home for Christmas.
But he knew that wasn't going to happen, not with Cpl. David Hyatt serving in Iraq.
So Tony Hyatt was pleasantly surprised early last week when his son called to say that he had gone online to buy a home-theater system for the family, and that someone needed to go to Best Buy in Winston-Salem to pick it up.
The gift itself didn't matter so much to Tony Hyatt. More important was the gesture made by a Marine with far more to worry about than holiday shopping.
"It didn't make much difference to me," Hyatt said. "I'd rather have him home, but there was nothing we could do about that."
Store employees wouldn't let Hyatt's other son pick up the system Tuesday. Tony Hyatt figured that somebody had made a mistake, so he got a document that shows that he has power of attorney for David and tried to pick it up himself on Wednesday.
Even with the document, it was a no-go. Hyatt was told that only the person whose name was on the order -- with his (or her) credit card in hand -- can pick an item up, even though David Hyatt's bank account already had been debited.
"How is it that the state of California DMV, the state of North Carolina DMV, all the banks and the IRS will recognize an instrument issued and enforced by the courts but Best Buy will not?" Hyatt asked. "With that document in hand, I pretty much am David Hyatt."
Sorry, it's policy
When his older son was turned away, Hyatt chalked it up to vigilant employees being wary of identity theft. He figured that they were just being prudent.
But being sent home despite a power-of-attorney document was frustrating. When David Hyatt was told what had happened, he tried to straighten the situation out personally.
On Christmas Day, he received an inane e-mail reply from a customer-relations "specialist." The only thing missing was a sad-faced Emoticon. :(
I apologize for the inconvenience it may have caused you!
The policy was made to protect the customer, of course. But surely a reasonable person with an ounce of common sense -- and a written OK from a customer halfway around the world -- would be able to make an exception to corporate policy.
Um, no.
A local store official referred questions Friday to corporate public-relations flacks, who, naturally, weren't returning e-mails or phone calls. Not even messages left with an "emergency" after-hours service.
However, the local manager -- who understandably didn't want to be quoted by name -- did suggest that Hyatt call him directly.
"I hope a manager didn't turn him away," the manager said. "It's been crazy this week, but it's not like Best Buy can overrule a legal document like that."
We'll see how that works out; Hyatt wasn't able to reach that manager Friday afternoon.
Lack of sensitivity
If no one is able to pick up the theater system within eight days, Hyatt said he was told that his son's bank account would be credited with the "$277 and some change" purchase price.
That's far from the point, though.
The larger issue is the lack of sensitivity and flexibility on the part of a large corporation in response to a Marine in a combat zone who was simply trying to take part in the family Christmas.
Did I mention that David Hyatt was shot last summer? His flak jacket stopped the round, so he wasn't injured beyond having the wind knocked out of him.
"After all he's been through, he was just trying to do something nice for us," the father said.
Is it any wonder that four out of the first five hits on a Google search of the phrase "Best Buy and customer service" contained such words as "rude," "incompetent" and "joke"?
The biggest irony of all turned up a little further in that search in a headline above an article about the company's efforts to withstand the economic downturn -- "Best Buy Hunkers Down, Focuses on Customer Service."
■ Scott Sexton can be reached at 727-7481 or at ssexton@wsjournal.com.
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