Thank you, Best Buy, for sending me a free $40 battery for my new camera. It was the least you could do.

I bought a new camera a month ago. I took it home, opened the box, the camera wasn’t in a bag, the battery wasn’t in a bag, the manuals were scattered throughout the bag, the sliding lense cover was broke, and there was a scratch on the body of the camera. It was definitely not new. I took it back that same day, and they didn’t have any more in stock. They were able to get one shipped from the Midland store (3 hour round trip), and after waiting 8 days, they finally got me a new one. I exchanged it, opened the box there in the store, everything was in order — everything was bagged, unopened, and obviously new.

I took it out to the bar for Keri’s birthday, and took pictures for 4 hours and then it wouldn’t turn on. I figured it was the battery (which would suck if that were the case). The next day, I took it to Best Buy. The “Geek Squad” guy tested my battery, and determined it was a bad battery. I had to call an 800 number to get a new one shipped. I was going on vacation that weekend (last weekend) and wanted to get it expidited so I would have a camera for the trip — no can do. So I went around to the local Best Buys, CompUSA’s, etc., and finally found a battery at Circuit City. I charged it, put it in, camera still wouldn’t turn on.

I took it back to Best Buy, and told them what I did, and they said I could exchange it for a new one. Just like last time, there were none in stock, so they gladly refunded all of my money, including the service plan. I went home, ordered the camera on Amazon, and it was shipped next day for the same price I would’ve got it at Best Buy. It works great. I took it to Toronto (see previous entry) and took about 150 pictures.

I got home from vacation, and found an e-mail in my inbox. Great news! We have just shipped the part(s) for your Best Buy Partsearch order number xxxxxxx. UPS Tracking tells me it’s out on the truck for delivery. Sure enough, when I got home it was there shortly thereafter.

Thank You Best Buy. You made me run around in circles, come up to the store 4-5 times, go to different stores, hold onto a broken camera for a week, and deal with customer service countless times. It’s the least you could do. Now I have 3 batteries and an awesome new camera.

I got a Canon PowerShot S70, by the way. It’s a 7.1 MegaPixel camera with tons of features. Check out the pictures of Toronto or Keri’s birthday party for samples.

(two non-music entries? in a row? whhaaaat?)