A recent experience prompted us to begin a special feature we've been tossing around for a few years now. We call it The DailyBust.

While The DailyBuss focuses on the positive and the very best in online shopping and style, sometimes you have to vent the negative to prevent other shoppers from incurring such retail fiascos themselves and to hopefully bring more awareness to said offending shops so that they can fix their problems, in hopes of making the entire retail landscape a much better one for all of us.

Congratulations to the ironically named Best Buy for being our first DailyBust!

INT: BussBuss HQ. After hearing from friends that the new Wii Fit is super fun -- but sold out everywhere, BussBuss feverishly clicks around the Interweb to buy two, one for herself and another as a gift. Le sigh. They are indeed sold out. Everywhere. Despite her instincts and previous eye-poppingly-bad experiences, not to mention a communal family ban on the retail chain, BussBuss picks up the phone and dials her local Best Buy, Geary Street, San Francisco, California.

Best Buy: Thank you for calling Best Buy. How can I help you?

BussBuss: Yeah, I was wondering if you happen to have any Wii Fits?

Best Buy: [laughs] No, ma'am.

BussBuss: Can you tell me if your other locations might?

[long pause]

Best Buy: Looks like the Harrison Street store and the San Rafael store have some...about 20 each.

BussBuss: [nearly chokes on her Vitamin Water] Really? Great! Thanks so much. I'll head there now.

Best Buy: Thank you for calling Best Buy.

[hangs up]

[Feeling like that was oddly too easy and being miffed one too many times by the Best Buy establishment, BussBuss diligently dials the San Rafael store to confirm that they do indeed have the Wii Fits in stock.]

Best Buy: Thank you for calling Best Buy. How can I help you?

BussBuss: Yeah, I was wondering if you happen to have any Wii Fits?

Best Buy: Lemme see. [pause] Yes we do. It's showing we have 26 in stock.

BussBuss: WONDERFUL! Would it be possible to hold one for me?

Best Buy: [laughs] Noooo, they won't do that.

BussBuss: Okay, I'm on my way to get one. Thanks! [BussBuss happily pats herself on the back for being able to track down any product, any time. All that carpel tunnel was worth it!]

Best Buy: Sure thing. Thank you for calling Best Buy.

[grabs a cupcake, keys and heads to car]

INT: Best Buy, San Rafael, California. BussBuss decides not to waste any time and approaches the greeters at the store entrance.

BussBuss: Hi, can you tell me where the Wii Fits are? [BussBuss finally notes how silly that sounds out loud]

Best Buy Greeter 1: [laughs] Oh, we don't have any.

BussBuss: [attempting to control her annoyance] Yes you do. I just called 30 minutes ago and they said you have 26.

Best Buy Greeter 1: Well, we have them, but we can't sell them to you. We're not allowed to sell them until June 8th.

BussBuss: [no longer controlling her annoyance] WHAT?! I just drove 30 minutes because I was told you have them and I'm not leaving this store without one. [snap] Can I talk to a manager?

Best Buy Greeter 1: [into his mic, laughing like a nervous teenager, probably because he is one] Uh, dude. Uh huh huh. Er, I mean Manager.

Best Buy Greeter 2: Dude, that's yer boss. Show some respect, homey.

Best Buy Greeter 1: [again, into his mic] Uh, Mister Manager [chuckles], come over here. [chuckles] Yeah, here. Now. A customer wants to, uh, talk to you.

[Mister Manager saunters up with the little pride he has left after working around Beavis and Beavis all day]

BussBuss: Hi. I called a half hour ago to see if you had any Wii Fits and was told you have 26. I was told this by another Best Buy location, too. I said 'great, I'm coming to get one'. Now I'm being told you have them but I can't buy one until June 8th?

Mister Manager: That's right.

BussBuss: [through the roof, despite best attempts to retain composure, curse that fiery Greek blood] WHAT?! Are you telling me I just wasted an hour of my day driving here to get one? I am going home with a Wii Fit. [realizes how ridiculous that sounds and how children in third world nations are so lucky not to have to deal with these first world problems...]

Mister Manager: Umm..I'm really sorry ma'am. We have an ad restriction on it, so we legally can't sell you one until June 8th.

BussBuss: But your employees can tell customers on the phone that they're available [a.k.a. lie]?!

Mister Manager: No, that was a mistake. They know they're not available until the 8th.

BussBuss: Multiple locations told me they were available here. Available means 'you can buy it', does it not?

Mister Manager: Yeah, I'm really sorry. There's nothing I can really do.

BussBuss: So they're literally sitting in the back and I can't have one, though I was told I could? [Channeling Britney] Are you kidding me?

Mister Manager: Yeah, I'm really sorry.

BussBuss: Can I talk to another manager?

Mister Manager: Well, I'm the general store manager, but, um, you could call 888-BEST-BUY.

[BussBuss has a fit, sadly not a Wii one. Storms out, leaves dignity and Wii Fit behind]

[End scene]

The resolution, for those interested: After 30 minutes of being passed around on hold from one customer service rep to the next who could vaguely speak English (hallo, Bombay!), BussBuss was given an apology and a $25 gift card -- the last $25 BussBuss will ever be spending at Best Buy. Better yet, a complaint was filed. We're sure that'll go far. For fun, today BussBuss will be dialing the same Best Buy stores and asking if the Wii Fits are available. We predict we'll be told they are, and will then have lots of fun telling this story to multiple managers (if we had a Wii Fit, we would have better things to do, but we don't, so stop judging our hissy fit). We'll let you know how it turns out.

Have a retail adventure of your own that you'd like to share (beauty product nightmare, customer service or shipping snafu)? Email us! If your retail re-tale makes the cut, we might just publish it for our thousands of readers to see.