Best Buy service...anybody else have problems with it?

[MercutioATC]

So I buy a TV at Best Buy. It's too big to fit in my car, so I opt for delivery. The warehouse has none in stock, but the store has 4 of them. The store is 10 minutes from my house.

This all takes place on Tuesday. They tell me the TV will be delivered on Friday (today...or officially yesterday, EST).

I've received no call as of this morning, so I call the store. After nearly 45 minutes on hold with different departments, I'm told to call a delivery number. I call and they say that they don't stock my TV at the warehouse (something I know) and that the store neglected to ship one to the warehouse for delivery. They say that if the store can get them one by the ebd of the day (this call is at 11:00am) they'll deliver on Saturday. I'm pissed.

I try to call the store, but after 15 minutes on hold, realize that it'd be quicker just to drive there. I do so and nicely explain my issue. They offer to refund the $30 delivery fee and ship on Tuesday. I tell them that the warehouse promised Saturday delivery. After ANOTHER 20 minutes, the store tells me that their truck to the warehouse has left already and they can't get it there today (this is at noon). I'm more pissed.

The store calls today at 5:00pm or so and tells me the TV will be delivered on Monday.

I've spent thousands at Best Buy in the past 3 or 4 years. No more. This isn't the only problem I've had with them in the past year or so, but it's by far the worst.

Sorry, just needed to vent...

[ErasureAcer]

1. I don't like it too much either...

they're employees ALWAYS come up to me and ask me to get a best buy card...or are you finding everything alright(when I have a couple of DVDs in my hand). Really now...I know where their employees are...if I have a question I'll fucking ask.

So yeah, one day...I decided to get the stupid card they keep pushing...just to be REJECTED! I think this had to do with my card expiring soon...but even still...I was REJECTED!

The next time any of those punks asks me to get a bestbuy card...I'll go off on em...

[GOPisEvil]

2. Best Buy customer service SUCKS!

I've never seen a place where a manager is so scarce when there's a complaint...getting through to them on the phone is a nightmare. Once, on a holiday, my friend stayed on hold with their corporate customer service number (which he was told was staffed in the store) FOR AN HOUR before a message came telling him they were closed.

I shop there for one reason - open box deals. My budget appreciates it.

[illini]

3. what service????????????

They have to have service to be disappointed in first!!!!!!!!!

[jburton]

4. Ugh

The last time I tried to buy anything there was very frustrating.

It was just a friggin cell phone, and there was so much paperwork it was more like trying to mortgage a house. And they said it would take up to three hours for my credit check. WTF?

I said no thanks, and went down the road to another place. Same phone carrier, same plan, done in 20 minutes.

[Deja Q]

12. I hate to admit this but Radio Shack has been exemplary for cell phones...

Bought one in Dec 2002. Hardly any paperwork and the guy was actually knowledgeable and they didn't pressure me (having worked for RS in 1993, their policies and MO has changed - that or I was dealing with a decent guy...). Also bought the TSP and, no, he didn't even remember to mention it!

Lost the phone in July 2003. Bought another. The process of getting the service transferred to the new phone was easy, they did the work to switch it as well, and the TSP was transferred as well. I also learned that day that (since Jan 2003?) Sprint now has a stolen phone plan for $4/month. Phone gets lost or stolen then I get a new one (for $35, of course).)

In retrospect, maybe the TSP wasn't needed - though it pays for itself the moment you replace the battery and they allow that one time per year...

I'm not sure I'd buy anything else from them, but for cell phones it was a good experience.

[LibDemAlways]

5. I had similar trouble with a new stove.

They promised delivery between 1 and 5 on a Saturday (Don't you love those four hour spreads, like you've got nothing better to do all day than to sit around waiting for the delivery guy?) When 6PM rolled around and they still hadn't shown, I called the store and got the total runaround. Finally put in touch with the delivery dispatcher who informed me that the delivery person in my area had called in sick and a substitute guy was making the rounds so I should "be patient."
9PM rolled around. Still no stove. Finally around 10 the guy showed up with the stove but announced he couldn't hook it up and we'd have to do it ourselves. I pointed out that the contract I signed indicated that I had paid for "delivery and installation." He told me to call the store on Monday - which I did - to give them hell. In the meantime my husband hooked the thing up - after a trip to Home Depot for an adaptor that wasn't included.

When I complained to the store manager about the whole sorry episode, he agreed to refund $20.00 for the non-installation. No apology for the inconvenience.

Anyone thinking about buying an appliance from BestBuy - my advice - don't.

[Doug Decker]

6. Service, if you can call it that, is horrendous...

Took my computer in for cleaning and new fan. They cleaned it and put in the new fan.

I got it home, it didn't work, called back, got some idiot (no offense to idiots) and they wouldn't walk me through it on phone, I had to drive 45 minutes to take it back in.

They had forgotten to plug in off/on switch. No apology, nothing about we're sorry we didn't do it correctly in the first place, nothing.

Best Buy sux!!

[PeakOil2008]

7. You get what you pay for.

I don't mean to sound harsh or rude at all when I say that. But it's true. National electronics/appliance chains like Best Buy and Circuit City may tend to have cheaper prices overall, but they keep them that way by skimping on employee pay, staffing and training. Most of Best Buy's staff, for instance, is part-time and makes scarcely more than minimum wage. The company considers them highly expendable, and therefore doesn't invest too much effort in training them to be effective sales reps. They're basically warm bodies on the floor to give customers the sense of "customer service". That's nice and all, until you have a question about how something actually works.

You see the same thing with Big Box discount retailers like Wal*Mart and Target. Having worked for the latter, in electronics, I can tell you firsthand the frustration of trying to help undecided guests (customers) select cameras based upon a single, 15 minute CD worth of sales training, and a handful of product info pamphlets that the customers can poke through on their own, and learn virtually the same as if I read it to them word for word. I was often tempted to tell them to simply go to a specialist store where the sales reps are experienced, knowledgeable and paid on commission. You may pay more, but you will more often than not receive better service, and you will know what you're getting.

[BiggJawn]

8. Best Buy has SERVICE?????

I bought a copy of "Destination Tokyo" on VHS from them. Take it home, it doesn't play. Oh, it plays, but it's a silent movie...

Take it to work, try it in the VCRs there (All 39 of them) and it's the same story, except I find that there's a "Hi-Fi" sound track on it. I don't have a Hi-Fi machine.

Take it back and they give me the run around about "Your VCR must be broken. Why don't you bring it and we'll fix it"

"No, I think there's no linear audio track on this tape."
"It plays fine in our machine, you heard it yourself."
"How about exchanging the tape?"
"No, you opened the tape. No Refunds."

Best Buy sucks.

[alfredo]

9. I was at the camera counter,

waiting and waiting. I wanted to buy a telephoto lens. While I was waiting, an employee carrying a flattened cardboard box put the box between me and the display. He then walked away. Not only was I not helped, he blocked my view of the camera equipment. I sent a complaint to the headquarters with a self addressed stamped envelope. I never heard back.


Fuck Best Buy.

[Chuckup]

10. HERE'S THE SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM!

You have a choice, don't buy a product too big to fit in your car, or:

There must be a Car dealership close by?
Go take a truck for a test drive, drive it to Best Buy, load on your TV, drive it home, return Truck to Car lot, tell the salesperson, you liked the truck especially the payload capabilities.

"Let me sleep on it, and I'll give you a call".

[ronnykmarshall]

11. Mixed feelings

I've spent a lot of money there too. When I purchased my PC I was almost ready to throw in the towel. The orginal one I wanted was not in stock so I purchased another one like it.

Here where it gets ugly:

I was having problems with my CD burner. I was able to burn music CD's without a problem but I couldn't get the damn thing to burn data files. I called customer service and was told that I needed to purchase additional software to do so. :wtf: I knew that was a line of shit. When I went into a store one of sales people agreed with me and gave me some info on how to solve my problem.

Another issue. I purchased online a AM/FM walkman type radio for the gym. When I used it, the battery life was a joke so I wanted to return it. The manager at the store was a total asshole and bascially walked away from me. At the same time I wanted to return this overpriced serge protector that I bought when I got my PC. The clerk was questioning WHY I took it back to THAT store and not the one I bought it from. :wtf:

Overall it's been a mixed review. The cute boy clerk at one of the stores that flirted with me made up for it.

[curse10]

13. They are also racist fucks

at my previous job (at a law firm) we were suing Best Buy for wrongful termination because our client was fired when he refused to discriminate against a black gentleman who had some video games in his cart.

[kimchi]

14. YEAH! I mentioned this yesterday

SEVEN different people called here about the stove we ordered for my husbands house that he rents now that we inherited this one. I gave them the tenants number 6 times, and the last time I just lost it. They have computers. They have fields for different phone numbers, and they should have a damn field for extra information. It was just ridiculous how stupid these people were. They woke my baby up from her naps twice with this ridiculous stuff.