No, really, this time it is you. Clearly.

Dear Best Buy,

I never thought I’d set down and put fingers to keyboard to write this letter.  It really hurts me to have to tell you that, you, my friend, have lost the Christmas spirit.   You and I (and Brian.  Especially Brian) have had a long and wonderful relationship these past few years.

It was tyou we turned to when Brian the kids were bored one Saturday night. A few clicks of a mouse, and a 30-minute road trip later, we were a newly formed band destined for greatness and world fame.

When it became frustrating to help our youngest daughters stay afloat financially while Slum Lord Brian kicked everyone’s ass in Monopoly, it was you who provided the easy to play Xbox 360 version.  Now Brian can take over the neighborhood in record time leaving us all in the poor house or on the streets.

When I went in search of my own laptop, I turned to you, my trusted friend because you offered the best warranty.  And since Murphy’s Law seems to start and end with me, I felt safe and protected. It’s turns out I was right to turn to you.  I had my laptop less than a year when the monitor when out.  You were there to fix it and keep my DT’s to a minimum.

Every time Brian has felt the need to increase the size of his HDTV (because, believe me, size does matter) he went to you.  When he added his surround sound stereo system to complete his in home theater bedroom, it was you who provided him the most bang for his buck.

We have given you thousands of dollars over the past several years, and you in return have given us endless hours of family entertainment.  So, this holiday season, when I went in search of laptops for my daughters, you were the first I turned to.  Sure I could have found what I was looking for a little cheaper, but I knew that should something happen to the laptops (and with Drama Tweens and laptops, you know something is going to happen) you would have my back.

Brian and I went Monday night to get the laptops.  We found the one we wanted right away. Sure it was a bit more than I wanted to spend, but it was something I could live with.  There were two left, so we picked them up and headed to check out when one of your helpful sales associates stopped us to ask if we had found everything ok.

It was at this point that he pointed out the orange sticker on the boxes, “Do you know what those stickers mean? They mean that these laptops are Geek Squad Certified.”  He went on to explain that they anti-virus protection installed good for 2 years, and that all the trials of the any programs installed by default had been removed, blah, blah blah.  And all of this wonderful certification was going to increase the price of these laptops by $200.  Each.

When I looked at the display model and the pricing card by it, there was no mention of Geek Squad Certification, or any additional expense.  When I looked at the orange sticker on the laptop, there was no mention of the increase in price for having software removed before I even had the opportunity to try it out.  In fact, if your salesman hadn’t stopped us and explained that to us, we would have had no way of knowing that until we got to the register to check out.

I think it is pretty underhanded to load an additional $200 expense onto a laptop and make no mention of it anywhere on or around the display or the laptop itself.  Also? It’s kind of presumptuous of you to just assume people don’t want the trial version of the software that comes on the laptops by default.

We walked out of there that night empty handed and with a very bad taste in our mouths.  I went out and found my daughters their laptops at another store, for a significant savings, and without any hidden costs or assumptions on their part.

I’m sorry it has come to this Best Buy.  Up until this past week, I would sing your praises, but after this little stunt of yours?  I’m not sure I’ll be giving you the attention and support I have in the past.