Best Buy Finally Called and Asked Me To Return The GN

[bplewis24]

Whether he purchased the phone or found it in a bar (think Apple's phone), he is in possession of a product that is not released, contains confidential information, and protected under numerous laws for VZW.

This is absolutely not true. BB was in legal possession of the items per their contract with VZW. All they did is sell it before their contracted terms. They broke a contract, but they were in legal possession of the items. The end-user who purchased the item has legal possession of the items. The guy who picked up the iPhone and sold it did not.

Brandon

 

[DBVille]

This Galaxy Nexus was sold to the OP. He owns the device. It must have not been too big of an issue for Verizon's network or they would have disabled the device on their network, which as far as I've read hasn't happened. BestBuy asked for the phone back because releasing a product before the release date can result in fines and / or cancellation of their resale rights with Verizon. Hence they already supposedly lost the "Droid" line, now they were scared they could lose the Nexus line with Verizon.

I mean what would BB be able to sue for? I mean think about that....you going to sue someone for buying a product, really? What would Verizon sue for? Someone paying for service? The only person that could possibly have repercussions from any of this is BestBuy because they may have broken some contract clauses.

BB did ask for it back. But, suppose BB did not legally have the right to sell the device. Then it was not a legal sale, and VZW/Samsung (whom ever owns the stock) could demand its return. I don't see BB having any real legal standing to sue the OP.

At that point it becomes more like the iPhone case, except the OP is not liable for charges, as he did nothing wrong. But, I believe they (VZW/Samsung) could have legal standing to get the phone returned, if they really cared. After all, if BB could not legally sell it, then it is still their property. I agree, BB wanted the phone back because of contractual concerns.

Is Beg Red going to ask for it back? I really doubt it, especially if the thing will be released tomorrow.

 

[chenalex]

Too many pages to go through and many opposing points of view.

My position and belief is that you should keep the phone. However, that and $5 may get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. The reality of the situation becomes a civil matter. The holder of the phone can and will be held liable for any damages received by Best Buy from VZW. Whether he purchased the phone or found it in a bar (think Apple's phone), he is in possession of a product that is not released, contains confidential information, and protected under numerous laws for VZW.

At the end of the day, Best Buy could seize the phone if they wanted to. It would have taken a lot of legal maneuvering to do so. I am actually surprised Counsel for BB did not contact you directly. Best Buy can still hold you civilly liable for fines levied by VZW. VZW can also hold you liable for possession of illegally acquired merchandise (trust me, I was sued by Addidas over a very similar issue). Right, wrong, or indifferent, you can be sued by Best Buy and VZW. All the civil suit needs to do is prove that Best Buy made every effort to re-acquire the phone (although I don't believe they truly did). The cost of your own counsel and time is not worth it. The worst part is the OP is still on the hook for a potential civil suit. If Best Buy's liability is significant, they will go after you.

You can argue that BB should not have sold the phone, it was the employee's fault, or any other argument. What it comes down to are the facts. The facts are the OP acquired a product that was not to be released, the company made the effort to get it back, and it was not recovered. Those are the facts. Everything else is personal opinion and "screw the man" mentality.

The cost of 1 hour with an attorney is going to be over $300. This is out of your pocket and no chance at recovering it. Drag it on with the BB attorneys, it is more money out of your pocket for yours. BB's attorneys are getting paid whether they work or not. Might as well stick it to someone they have a chance to win against.

What the..

This is totally different from finding an iPhone in a bar. Finders law in property is pretty big and clear cut - if something is lost or mislaid (which the iPhone clearly was), the original owner (Apple in that case) has the right to it over anyone else. In the case of finding the phone in a bar, the guy who found it didn't even have the right to take it home. Numerous courts have held that if one finds a lost or mislaid item in a store or place of business, it HAS to be kept by the storeowner (for a period of time) before the finder can claim it. This has been the rule of law for close to a century now. The reasoning behind this is that keeping it with the store owner provides the greatest chance of the true owner recovering the lost item. When you are buying something though, you are essentially forming a bilateral contract - providing consideration (payment) for a product (the phone). No court is going to break that. We once read a case about how a drunk couple sold their farm for $500 and then were made to go through with it when the guy they were talking to showed up with the money and tried to claim the farm. The comparison here is that what the OP did formed a much stronger sale than what those two drunk farmers did. If a court made the drunk couple go through with the sale, they will definitely make Best Buy go through with this one.

Additionally, Best Buy cannot ask the OP for any damages. The only way they could have done that is through a signed indemnity agreement. An indemnity agreement has to be written and agreed to because it falls under the Statute of Frauds. Which basically prevents people from enforcing contracts that are not written. Unless Best Buy has some policy in which you enter into some other contract when you buy something from them (which is unlikely because you HAVE to know if you're entering or agreeing to a contract), then I can't see how they can indemnify the OP for damages. Even if such a mysterious contract exists and it does contain an indemnity clause, would Best Buy and a court really force OP to cover their fines? Think about the precedent that would set and the horrible publicity that would be visited upon Best Buy and Verizon.

Finally, if a lawyer is charging you $300 an hr, run far away. Good lawyers will charge 3x that. Great lawyers won't charge you anything until you've won your case.

Anyways this is the opinion/analysis of a law student.

 

[Qazme]

BB did ask for it back. But, suppose BB did not legally have the right to sell the device. Then it was not a legal sale, and VZW/Samsung (whom ever owns the stock) could demand its return. I don't see BB having any real legal standing to sue the OP.

At that point it becomes more like the iPhone case, except the OP is not liable for charges, as he did nothing wrong. But, I believe they (VZW/Samsung) could have legal standing to get the phone returned, if they really cared. After all, if BB could not legally sell it, then it is still their property. I agree, BB wanted the phone back because of contractual concerns.

Is Beg Red going to ask for it back? I really doubt it, especially if the thing will be released tomorrow.

Right BB didn't have the right to sale by their contract. They have broken no laws other than binding contractual agreement. It was a legal sale, BestBuy owns the stock. Verizon buys from Samsung, BestBuy buys from Verizon. BB has no legal stand what so ever to take out any legal action, however Verizon does in contractual law to hold BestBuy to whatever consequences were bargained for at the beginning of the contract.

This is nothing similar to the iPhone case, the phone was never sold to anyone, someone found it and sold it to another person. That is receipt of stolen property, not someone breaking contract rules. Verizon has no hold in this because technically it's not Verizon's property once it's in BestBuy's hands. The only thing Verizon could do is disable access to their network to that device and claim it wasn't an authorized phone on their network, which would break several clauses in their contract with you because you are in good standing. That and they don't want the bad press.

Contractual law and breaking of anything agreed to isn't carried over to someone not under that particular contract and last I checked I never signed anything with Verizon saying I couldn't purchase unreleased phones.

 

[guinnkevinr]

Are you really only using it at a 'medium' usage pattern? lol, mine probably won't hit a medium amount of usage until I've had it for a few weeks. ;-) Good news about the 9-10 hours regardless.

Haha yeah, I'm judging from my work day. I use it heavily when home and it's on the charger! I was rethinking my 9-10 hour post and honestly I get close to 12. I take it off the charger at 6:30am and it hits red by the time I get home from work at 6PM. Pretty good if you ask me.

 

[coskier]

The only bummer for me is that was my favorite best buy to shop at. It has two floors! So now I'm going to have to start shopping at another one so I don't get awkward stares from the BBmobile side of the store

I would go in there every day and browse, just to remind them they could have avoided all the trouble they brought down on themselves.

 

[Phadunkin]

Jimmy Eat World

I thought I was the only one out there.

 

[obidos]

My background is from the Christmas category of the "Backgrounds" app. The clock is just from beautiful widgets. I'm using stock ics here. No added launcher.
Battery life on medium use is 9-10 hours for me
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

hello - can you tell me what theme your transparent clock is? very cool.

 

[guinnkevinr]

Jimmy Eat World

I thought I was the only one out there.

I'm a huge Jimmy Eat World fan

 

[guinnkevinr]

hello - can you tell me what theme your transparent clock is? very cool.

I'm using the beautiful home weather theme. No customization to it.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[philly]

Too many pages to go through and many opposing points of view.

My position and belief is that you should keep the phone. However, that and $5 may get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. The reality of the situation becomes a civil matter. The holder of the phone can and will be held liable for any damages received by Best Buy from VZW. Whether he purchased the phone or found it in a bar (think Apple's phone), he is in possession of a product that is not released, contains confidential information, and protected under numerous laws for VZW.

At the end of the day, Best Buy could seize the phone if they wanted to. It would have taken a lot of legal maneuvering to do so. I am actually surprised Counsel for BB did not contact you directly. Best Buy can still hold you civilly liable for fines levied by VZW. VZW can also hold you liable for possession of illegally acquired merchandise (trust me, I was sued by Addidas over a very similar issue). Right, wrong, or indifferent, you can be sued by Best Buy and VZW. All the civil suit needs to do is prove that Best Buy made every effort to re-acquire the phone (although I don't believe they truly did). The cost of your own counsel and time is not worth it. The worst part is the OP is still on the hook for a potential civil suit. If Best Buy's liability is significant, they will go after you.

You can argue that BB should not have sold the phone, it was the employee's fault, or any other argument. What it comes down to are the facts. The facts are the OP acquired a product that was not to be released, the company made the effort to get it back, and it was not recovered. Those are the facts. Everything else is personal opinion and "screw the man" mentality.

The cost of 1 hour with an attorney is going to be over $300. This is out of your pocket and no chance at recovering it. Drag it on with the BB attorneys, it is more money out of your pocket for yours. BB's attorneys are getting paid whether they work or not. Might as well stick it to someone they have a chance to win against.

we all have opinions.. yours just sucks more then most.

 

[guinnkevinr]

What the..

This is totally different from finding an iPhone in a bar. Finders law in property is pretty big and clear cut - if something is lost or mislaid (which the iPhone clearly was), the original owner (Apple in that case) has the right to it over anyone else. In the case of finding the phone in a bar, the guy who found it didn't even have the right to take it home. Numerous courts have held that if one finds a lost or mislaid item in a store or place of business, it HAS to be kept by the storeowner (for a period of time) before the finder can claim it. This has been the rule of law for close to a century now. The reasoning behind this is that keeping it with the store owner provides the greatest chance of the true owner recovering the lost item. When you are buying something though, you are essentially forming a bilateral contract - providing consideration (payment) for a product (the phone). No court is going to break that. We once read a case about how a drunk couple sold their farm for $500 and then were made to go through with it when the guy they were talking to showed up with the money and tried to claim the farm. The comparison here is that what the OP did formed a much stronger sale than what those two drunk farmers did. If a court made the drunk couple go through with the sale, they will definitely make Best Buy go through with this one.

Additionally, Best Buy cannot ask the OP for any damages. The only way they could have done that is through a signed indemnity agreement. An indemnity agreement has to be written and agreed to because it falls under the Statute of Frauds. Which basically prevents people from enforcing contracts that are not written. Unless Best Buy has some policy in which you enter into some other contract when you buy something from them (which is unlikely because you HAVE to know if you're entering or agreeing to a contract), then I can't see how they can indemnify the OP for damages. Even if such a mysterious contract exists and it does contain an indemnity clause, would Best Buy and a court really force OP to cover their fines? Think about the precedent that would set and the horrible publicity that would be visited upon Best Buy and Verizon.

Finally, if a lawyer is charging you $300 an hr, run far away. Good lawyers will charge 3x that. Great lawyers won't charge you anything until you've won your case.

Anyways this is the opinion/analysis of a law student.

Exactly, If anything, BB wasted my time. The 10 minutes I waited on hold when I called asking if they'd sell me one. The 10 minute drive there. The 20 minutes I waited for the rep to finish helping the person in front of me. The hour and a half I waited for them to activate and finalize the transaction, the 10 minutes for me to get home. The countless amount of time I've put into downloading all my apps and getting everything set up the way I like it (Settings, bookmarks, and app placement), the 10 minute drive to go back and negotiate it's safe return, the 2 hours wasted on my negotiations, the 10 minute drive back home laughing that I just left them there disappointing that they couldn't bully me into what they wanted me to do.

If there is any "Damages" here, they should be paying me $20+ an hour for my time they've wasted.

Don't take my above statement as complaining or being mad, I'm not really blaming them for the time wasted, it's been worth it and honestly quite a rush and I'm really happy. I'm just saying if they really wanted it back, they could have made some sort of offer to make up for my time.

 

[thejondude]

hey when your in the dialer and you start typing in numbers does it predict who you want to call and show the contacts? like a sense phone does....

 

[Holsum]

hey when your in the dialer and you start typing in numbers does it predict who you want to call and show the contacts? like a sense phone does....

no it doesnt.

 

[thejondude]

no it doesnt.

wow how sad was hoping i didnt have to use a 3rd party dailer app

 

[chaz_uk]

Wow! What an interesting read and situation guinnkevinr.

Glad you stood your ground with BestBuy. Shocking to see they weren't willing to reimburse you considering what you went through to get the thing.

Great read and thread!

 

[guinnkevinr]

hey when your in the dialer and you start typing in numbers does it predict who you want to call and show the contacts? like a sense phone does....

Sadly no!

 

[GtoJon]

Exactly, If anything, BB wasted my time. The 10 minutes I waited on hold when I called asking if they'd sell me one. The 10 minute drive there. The 20 minutes I waited for the rep to finish helping the person in front of me. The hour and a half I waited for them to activate and finalize the transaction, the 10 minutes for me to get home. The countless amount of time I've put into downloading all my apps and getting everything set up the way I like it (Settings, bookmarks, and app placement), the 10 minute drive to go back and negotiate it's safe return, the 2 hours wasted on my negotiations, the 10 minute drive back home laughing that I just left them there disappointing that they couldn't bully me into what they wanted me to do.

If there is any "Damages" here, they should be paying me $20+ an hour for my time they've wasted.

You know they're not going to release the others until they get this one back .... don't you?? ..... just kidding

ROTFL

Cheers .... keep up the good work

 

[anon(394005)]

Exactly, If anything, BB wasted my time. The 10 minutes I waited on hold when I called asking if they'd sell me one. The 10 minute drive there. The 20 minutes I waited for the rep to finish helping the person in front of me. The hour and a half I waited for them to activate and finalize the transaction, the 10 minutes for me to get home. The countless amount of time I've put into downloading all my apps and getting everything set up the way I like it (Settings, bookmarks, and app placement), the 10 minute drive to go back and negotiate it's safe return, the 2 hours wasted on my negotiations, the 10 minute drive back home laughing that I just left them there disappointing that they couldn't bully me into what they wanted me to do.

If there is any "Damages" here, they should be paying me $20+ an hour for my time they've wasted.

To play Devil?s Advocate (not to take any sides as I really don?t have a dog in this fight): there ARE two parties to this story and you did have a choice in all of it from the start, so the wasted time is not entirely Best Buy?s fault.

Anyway it?s been fun following the story and the comments. Enjoy the new phone!

 

[guinnkevinr]

To play Devil?s Advocate (not to take any sides as I really don?t have a dog in this fight): there ARE two parties to this story and you did have a choice in all of it from the start, so the wasted time is not entirely Best Buy?s fault.

Anyway it?s been fun following the story and the comments. Enjoy the new phone!

I know. I'm not really blaming them for the time wasted, it's been worth it and honestly quite a rush. I'm just saying if they really wanted it back, they could have made some sort of offer to make up for my time.