On November 8, 2004, The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story headlined “Analyzing Customers, Best Buy Decides Not All Are Welcome.” It reported that the chief executive, Brad Anderson, “is embracing a heretical notion for a retailer.”
Best Buy had sorted its customers into angels and devils. “The devils are its worst customers,” the paper wrote, and Anderson said: “They can wreak enormous economic havoc.” The company began enforcing a 15 percent restocking fee on returns and removed such customers from its marketing lists.