Wednesday, January 17, 2007

2007-01-17 UPDATE

I think that it is only fair to provide an update as this blog received a little bit of attention today and I should make note of the Best Buy response.

It didn't take very much to have the Store and Regional Managers contacting apologizing for the problem. It's amazing what a quick response writing a few letters to some really important people can accomplish:

* Federal Trade Commission
* BBB - Best Buy Headquarters
* BBB - Denver CO
* Colorado Attorney General - John Suthers
* Geek Squad - Corporate Headquarters
* JVC - USA Corporate Headquarters
* Posts on numerous websites and blogs including Digg.com and Tagg.com
* And of course spending an hour searching Google for names and email addresses of Executives and Directors at Best Buy


Sad to say, all of this could have been avoided. It was really only because the Assistant Manager, Rinad Abdul and Geek Squad employee Marc Barela were so completely rude and insistant on the fact that they (Best Buy) WOULD NOT provide this television stand.

Additionally the fact that Rinad Abdul would not provide the name of her direct manager, the General Manager (Steven Byers), or the Regional Manager. I find this to be a complete slap in the face to someone who spent over $2000.00 for a purchase. The Best Buy reaction to this event should include serious ramifications to this individual for her performance with both operational procedures as well as customer service skills.

None the less, Best Buy has agreed to provide the stand as promised. However there is one major foul to the retrieval of the unit. The Best Buy Manager (Steven Byers) has asked us to drive and pick it up. Now normally this wouldn't be an issue. The Best Buy store is only 2 miles up the road. But no. They would like us to drive to their main warehouse to pick the piece up. The main warehouse is close to the airport 35 - 45 miles away.

Now the reason I have an issue about this is because if you look at the receipt for the original purchase, Best Buy has collected $200.00 towards the Home Theater Delivery Setup option. This means this store directly profits from my sale and therefore I paid for delivery. How is it that Best Buy failed to provide the unit as originally promised, failed to offer resolution or even politeness when I went in to the store to resolve the issue, (had she even just said to us "Come back tomorrow and speak with the Store Manager" this situation would have turned out completely different) and required numerous emails and phone calls to resolve the issue.... All of this and they want us to drive the 70 miles round trip to pick this item up?

Oh well. The roommate already agreed to drive out tomorrow and get it and I'm not really in the mood to complain about this any longer. I'm ready to enjoy my nice big new TV. I haven't even enjoyed it because ever since we got it I've been stuck in front of this computer monitor writing emails.

50 comments:

Paulo said...

You really should make them deliver it. You had to take extra time out of your life just to get something that you already payed for, and now they're demanding you waste more of your time dealing with their failure to deliver? That seems kind of ridiculous.

Unknown said...

As a previous BestBuy employee, I know first hand at how currupt they can be.

Unfortunately I was unable to see the entire receipt, but when best buy offers something for free, they usually have to ring it up. Did they actually ring up the stand that was suppose to be free with the purchase? If they didn't, then its the sales rep's fault for causing you so much bs. As with the other poster, I'd make them send it to you and install it as it was suppose to be included with your inital install.

Personally I continue to shop at best buy but only to find their incorrect prices, forcing them to honor it :D

Andrew said...

your words mean nothing. you still purchased the item, best buy still made a profit. complain all you want, your dollars speak louder. return the whole thing or stop complaining.

Fun Bob said...

This is not resolution. You are right back to where you started from. They have frequent deliveries from the warehouse, no? Ask them to at the very least, bring the stand to the store. Best Buy has an excellent return policy. If they refuse, tell the store manager that you will be returning the set for refund and reporting to his manager and HQ in Minneapolis how he blew a $2k+ sale. But only if you are prepared to stick by your guns. Returning a 61" set is no small feat.

darelparker said...

You're still letting yourself be pushed around.

For that sort of trouble, Best Buy owes you free delivery, apologies from both employees and the store manager, and a gift card.

Now get on the phone and make them fix this mess.

Unknown said...

you should rate them on www.checkabiz.com

Joe Lipinski said...

To all of you people that said stop crying, you guys are assholes. $2k makes up part of how much each district makes daily. And evidently this matters because they are correcting the situation. I commend you on taking down best buy for their horrible business practices. I hope that more people are like you and stand up against best buys bullying!

Unknown said...

"Stop crying"?!?! Are you people high? Seriously, you would honestly accept this kind of treatment from a company and it's employees? It's deplorable that any employee would think it's OK to demean and devalue any customer, especially one that's paid what is basically a good chunk of their salary in one go. And what's *really* dumb is the fact that there was no need for them to try and cover their asses about this. It's a cheap stand and they can eat the cost if it makes a customer happy. This temporary blog has already cost them more money than one silly TV stand and delivery.

Unknown said...

This is good to know. I won't be trusting Best Buy for my big ticket purchases. They like to pretend they are for customer satisfaction when they are only greedy for the cash. I'm glad you blogged this. Such behavior needs to be known.

Unknown said...

I have to disagree with Shawn. Sure, the stores make tons of money every day, but whether you spend $20 or $2000, you should be treated respectfully.

Of course, having worked in retail and had my fair share of unhappy customers, I wonder if you went about this the proper way. I loved bending over backwards for customers that treated me fairly. But it was very, and I mean VERY, hard not to reciprocate if a customer was being unruly and demanding.

You catch more flies with honey, as they say. I don't mean to place blame on you, but without their side of the story, it's hard to reach a fair conclusion.

Unknown said...

Also, the Best Buy by my house is awesome. Never had a problem, and I've witnessed the occasional angry customer. And each time, they were handled with dignity and care.

Goes to show that just because they work at the same store, doesn't mean they're similar people.

Judge373 said...

I think you're completely right, despite what everyone says about how you should "stop complaining". It costs quite a bit of gas to drive 70 miles, and Best Buy should have to cover that. However, you've gotten most of what you demanded, and for that, I commend you. Good job!

Grant said...

I think you did the right thing by making a big stink about the whole thing. Nobody likes getting screwed out of a deal they were promised, and nobody wants to get humiliated in front of a bunch of people like that.

Unknown said...

Call 303-758-5805 and ask for Rinad or Marc.

Bombaclott said...

That sucks man, hate those best buy employees who have their head far up their asses. Hope all goes well and enjoy your new setup! Check out my blogs

Joey said...

I'm fairly sure that by purchasing the additional service offer, you voided the original free stand offer. Best Buy customer service may say differently just to please you, but as far as Best Buy policy goes, you cannot use two offers on the same product at the same time.

Unknown said...

Okay, I hate to be the one that knocks you off your pedestal, but while I think best buy should still deliver the stand, if not have it transfered to the store, you should have leveled you head and not bitched about it. I'm gonna be honest. You think you paid $200 for delivery, you didn't pay shit. They took that, along with an additional $50 off the advertised price of the TV. So off the bat, they lost $50 on that sale. Now that's not a big cut into their profit margin, but still a loss on their side. And because you only purchased the TV, you were labeled as a "Box Customer" And given the "sorry pal, your S.O.L." treatment. If you had purchased accessories or a protection plan, they would have taken much better care of you.

Anonymous said...

Reader shawn obviously works for Best Buy.

In other news, just return the bloody thing, get your money back, and go spend it elsewhere. Or, y'know, give the $2000 to an animal shelter or something because the big fancy TV isn't going to make the atrocious programming any better.

Brodie said...

My friend and I were in BB, and one of the employees left a copy of Windows Live 1 Care from behind the Geek Squad counter out on the sales floor. The Geek Squad installs WL1C on customers' computers, and throw the cost of it on the bill, so for store purposes, they have a special sticker on their copy for $0.00. Anyways, we grabbed the box, and brought it to checkout. They put up a little fight, but ended up selling it to us.
As for BB being problematic, Ive never had any problems in Fort Collins or Loveland (Just North of that Denver store).

Multimedium said...

Dude, from now on just shop at Fry's. They are cheaper...the people that work there are idiots, but if you know what you're looking for, they can't be beat.

Unknown said...

i stopped shopping at best buy months ago. customer service is just crap.

levi.rogers said...

I would ask for my 200 bucks back. And ask for a written apology.

Unknown said...

I was just screwed over by Best Buy myself. I purchased what I thought was DDR2 memory (I had to get some quick) - it didn't fit in my motherboard, so I returned it to the store. Lo and behold they sold me PC100 memory and wouldn't take it back! I got so fkn angry I threw the memory at the person and told them to keep it. That and I vowed never to shop at Best Buy again and I would be telling all of my family and friends never to shop there, ever. Hate that POS store.

Unknown said...

Can you make a post of the letters that you sent your complaint and the addresses that you sent them to. It would help others in this situation.

buericana said...

We had almost this exact situation happen to us with Best Buy as well. We purchased a washer and dryer set at a Virginia location on Black Friday last year to be delivered in Atlanta. Well, they forgot to tell us we needed a connecting piece in order to assemble this particularly model. The day they brought the w/d, sure enough there was no connector and we were told we needed to get it from the store. Nope, store said to get it from the warehouse. Wrong again, warehouse said the store would have it. I should also mention this part only cost $25. In theory, the connector would need to be purchased in store and delivered from the local warehouse that needed to deliver the piece. Well the Atlanta manager refused to comp the small price, even after a week of discussion. After having heated discussions with the manager at both store locations I finally got the Virginia manager to yell at the Atlanta manager and force him to pay for and deliver the part. Good times.

Bill Harned said...

Nice Job. I feel like i have had to do that in the past too. It's a shame you have to go through so much trouble to get good service. Especially after spending 2k...

Those best buy employees act like it comes out of their pocket...

Good Job..

Bill Harned said...

Good Job. I would have done the same thing

Stevo said...

Glad you got a satisfactory response. I didn't, and it's probably because I simply wrote a letter directly to them instead of making my gripe public on the Internet. I'm guessing they only responded to you because of the public attention, not because they wanted to right a wrong.

I used to shop at Best Buy all the time. My Best Buy card alone racked up more than $15k in purchases over four years, and I always used to praise them to friends and strangers alike.

A year ago I had an experience that was 3X more frustrating than yours. I received the same unprofessional behavior and received zero cooperation. I wrote a 3-page letter to their corporate headquarters with all the details but received no reply and no satisfaction.

I no longer shop at Best Buy. That one experience was so horrible in so many ways that it made me very vocal in warning people about their business practices.

Anyway, glad you found a resolution you can live with.

Joe said...

Also a former Best Buy employee....

Yea, they have got to be the most currupt company I have ever worked for.

It is just a matter of time before Wal Mart and the internet take them over.

Unknown said...

I also think you should ask BB to deliver your tv stand. If they continue to be rude to you, ask them for your money back - and let us know. I'm not sure if another letter would be better than calling their corporate number.
I found these:

Best Buy Corporate Office: (612) 291-1000
Customer Care: (888) 237-8289

Good luck. I don't like to shop at BB because of the environment and their policies.

PS - Tell us what you do. You're getting a lot of attention.

Cary said...

You should have returned the TV. Keeping it meant that after all this, they still had your business and ultimately you still went and got the stand. You taught them nothing. PLEASE everyone reading this, STOP doing business with BB. They are horrible and it won't stop until they are out of business. The reason why there are so many businesses that have atrocious customer service is because we CONTINUE to do business with them. PLEASE STOP.

incognito69 said...

Good news for you.. Regardless of whether you have to drive to get the stand you HAVE made a difference.

For sure, I'd understand that at this point you might choose to give a little just to get this over with.

It's absolutely incorrect for people to say that all this is for nothing, because lots of people have seen it and "dugg" it and are therefore on your side.

I've had pretty good experiences of that exact store in Denver, but will think twice now.. but I'm tempted to go there just in case I get to meet that assistant manager and kindly ask to be served by someone else.

Soylent said...

Typical best buy customer.

Unknown said...

I've had several problems with BB too.

1. Shelf prices are sometimes not always clearly marked as prices *after rebates, so when you get rung up, the price is different. They've improved the shelf markings, but in the past it was hidden in small print UNDER the yellow price tag.

2. Rebates--not always reliable. Even if you comply with terms, you don't always get them.

3. When shopping online, you check store availability, and when you get there, item is not in stock, even within minutes of checking. Circuit City and CompUSA are very reliable, and BB in my area is also within 2 miles of my house and just a few blocks away from Circuit City and CompUSA.

CC won me because they screwed up on an online availability check (we even checked in-store w/ a rep) and without asking, they gave me a $25 CC gift card because they messed up.

4. Customer service personnel are rude, on cell phones in stores, or they walk right in front of you while you are looking at items in store shelves.

Often times, they are huddled up in groups talking about personal things, and when you try to ask help, they all scatter because they don't want to help.

When the only one in line for purchases, instead of "Hi, may I help you?" you get an unenthusiastic "Neeeeehxt customer in line."

5. Must we always have to listen to loud rap music every time we go into BB stores?

Because of all the little things that BB obviously doesn't pay attention to, I don't buy high ticket items there, even as a "rewards customer." I don't trust them with large purchases, and most of mine are just sale priced peripherals and media for my computer.

I often find better deals at CC and CompUSA.

rcflyers420 said...

I agree with the others - this sounds pretty pathetic and whiny. I'm proud of the BB employees for not taking your pissy attitude!

Good for them! Jerks like you are Supposed to have it hard in life - People Don't Respond Well to Assholes. The quicker you learn that, the less polluted the internet will be with this trash.

Amit T. said...

I hope you keep this website up, since I will be sending it to my friends as an example of why NEVER to buy a tv from best buy.

Twisted DNA said...

Great job! You put up a great fight. The best part is, you know when to stop fighting. Good call on agreeing to get the stand yourself. You could fight it but you already proved your point and further fight is not worth it.

Enjoy your TV :)

Jordan Stalker said...

You really have no business naming the individual employees on this blog. They were acting on behalf of the company, regardless of what they did.

Do you expect someone to physically or verbally assault the two employees as a result of this incident?

Tell us why you included their names; I'm quite interested.

Adam said...

I'm really ticked.. I've written this huge update for my blog and for some reason I can't log into the freakin account. I'm posting my message here as I'm starting to get really frustrated with blogspot.

---------------------------------

Wow! This story came within the Top 3 today on Digg.com. I guess this story only goes to show the number of people who have also had poor experiences with Best Buy stores.

"http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/BestBuyBlog/BestBuyDiggtop3.jpg

After my last posting I had really thought that this issue had been lay to rest and I would be finished with it but that doesn't seem to be the case. I will explain once I clarify one key point.

Up until now I haven't seen much consequence of making my blog any longer with this detail, but seeing as how some management at Best Buy seem to have a problem with this I shall go ahead and clear this issue up. See, my roommate and myself have collectively saved money to purchase this TV from Best Buy. Because I work a 8-5 job I was not available to go into the store during the day to make the actual transaction. Therefore my roommate, Jorge, went earlier in the day and purchased the unit. The store scheduled delivery for later that day and by the time it came, I had arrived home from work. So I didn't actually get involved until the time in which Jorge and I actually drove to the Best Buy store to attempt to pick up the stand.

As we all know from reading the blog, this is where our transaction went from smooth to very bumpy. This is the point at which management refused to provide any assistance, started to argue with me as well as threatening to throw me out of the store for my comments regarding the legality of the transaction. Also Marc's snide and condescending comments were directed towards me.

So, while my name is not on the actual sales invoice (Jorge's is) I am just as much involved in this transaction as he. So, when the letter was written (which is also the same letter that appears first on the blog) it was written in Jorge's name. And the whole reason this occurred is because the TV and paperwork were in his name. This way Best Buy has a way to track the name on the letter back to the purchaser of the unit. I will gladly admit, I wrote the letter as well as sending it out and creating the blogs. But I did have Jorge look over it and approve of it before it was sent. Ok, so now that explains the difference between the name Jorge and the name Adam.

Now, lets get into what occurred today now that we have got this all straightened out.

So today Jorge was supposed to get the stand from the warehouse. He was supposed to visit the local store and speak with the GM to pick up a voucher to provide to the warehouse personnel. Easy enough, right?

Well Jorge contacted me later in the day and was extremely distressed. Apparently he arrived at Best Buy and met Mr. Byers as well as several other management staff at the Customer Service Island. According to Jorge, he felt as immediately he had to be on the defensive regarding this transaction. Apparently Mr. Byers immediately started inquiring about the blogs and letters. From the story I received, once they started talking about the previous night several other management staff who were also standing around in the Customer Service area (See, it is a common event for people at this Best Buy to just stand around - see reference in previous blog and comment) started to gang up on him. Jorge said he felt "snow-balled" from the moment he walked in the store.

Apparently he was advised that Best Buy legal department was looking into my blog for slander. And apparently Mr. Byers directed casual legal comments towards Jorge that "false impersonation was a Federal offence". Jorge left the store quite distressed and worried over this conversation.

Well, I encourage and in fact, have left both a verbal message and voice mail message requesting to speak with Mr. Byers regarding these statements but yet to no avail he has not called. Had I been there when those comments were made I would have laughed!

See, false impersonation is not actually a "Federal Offence" as was so graciously stated. Actually False Impersonation (according to West's Encyclopedia of American Law) is stated as: "The crime of false impersonation is defined by federal statutes and by state statutes that differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

Therefore, Mr. Byer’s statement would have been entirely incorrect.

Furthermore, if we examine the Colorado statute for this law we will see that according to Section 18-5-113(1), C.R.S. states:

A person commits criminal impersonation if he knowingly assumes a false or fictitious identity or capacity, and in such identity or capacity he: ...

(e) Does any. . . act with intent to unlawfully gain a benefit for himself or another or to injure of defraud another.


So, as we can see, we did not commit any sort of false impersonation nor have we slandered the company in anyway. All of the events that have been stated actually occurred. Furthermore Mr. Byers stated to Jorge that I have been completely rude to the employees of this Best Buy therefore they had no choice but to be rude in return. Well I call on any of the Best Buy Management to request and review the video footage of my visit to the store. If they were to do so they will see that just like when Jorge went into the store, multiple people were standing around to belittle the customer when something isn't going the "Best Buy way" and attempt to show the power of the 'all-mighty electronics-conglomerate' by forcing good paying customers out of the store.

Additionally Jorge stated that Mr. Byers told him that I was rude to a different manager at one point when I called the store to speak with Mr. Byers (Mr. Byers doesn't seem to actually ever be at this store). And I would just like to state that if that is true, then it is a down right lie. I very carefully and professionally explained the situation to him. Several minutes into the conversation he asked if I had been in the night before, I said Yes. He asked if I was Jorge (for all intensive purposes, I am) so I said yes and he told me that Mr. Byers had already scheduled the delivery of the unit with my roommate. I told the manager "Cool, Thanks" and hung up. Never once was I ever rude to this individual.

Because of this, I encourage Best Buy corporate to setup Call Monitoring on all store locations that way customer disputes are resolved much easier.

The fact that Jorge went to pick up the stand and wasn't offered an apology and additionally felt "snow-balled" with vague legal threats goes to show the level of service that can obviously be expected at this store. Best Buy is not even concerned with obtaining our business to setup the rest of the entertainment system: HD-DVD, Surround Sound Theater, Cables or additional components and therefore must now be too large to care about individual customers. We're all just statistics in their eyes.

But, on a final note, I must point out that Mr. Byers has agreed to have our stand delivered for us on Sunday. Mr. Byers advised Jorge that he had made that offer the previous day, but Jorge says he doesn't remember the offer. So everything with my delivery has been resolved as well.

I do have to commend the Best Buy management for quickly correcting these issues back to the point of the original agreement at the time of sale. Everything is now the way it should have been from the start and we're completely happy as we've now got this beautiful TV to enjoy.

So again, I welcome Best Buy's comments regarding the remarks of Mr. Byers to Jorge today. I've requested a call back so we'll see if that actually happens.

For now, I'm done with this. We just went and bought a couple hundred dollars worth of Monster Cables from Circuit City and we're now ready to hook the PC up to this awesome TV.


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Because of the obscene amounts of traffic this blog received, my images were removed from Imageshack due to high bandwidth usage. Therefore I've uploaded the images to Photobucket where I have more usage available.

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/BestBuyBlog/BestBuyTVFlyer.jpg


http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/BestBuyBlog/BestBuyTVReceipt.jpg

Unknown said...

Driving 70 miles for the stand is a bit of a bummer, but least you got it! Good job on being persistent on elevating this up to more senior people who did something about this.

Unknown said...

Hey adam, I am also getting screwed by the same best buy (I think). At least it is the same area code, 80210. Is it the one off of I-25 and Colorado Blvd? Anyway, if you want to know whats going on check the digg comments, I am lukas88 and my post is near the top (it has 69 diggs). I was wondering if you could send me any emails or phone numbers that you got found for best buy managers/executives. It sounds like the people at customer service are going to give us the same routine that they gave you. Any tips? Email me that info, my email is virtualsnax at gmail.

I am glad it worked out for you, wish us luck too.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Paulo. You really should make them deliver it. The fact that they now agreed to give you what you should have gotten in the first place would not be enough for me to go through the aggravation of having to write to various places just to get a reaction from Best Buy. I have similar experience with Ikea once. I bought a mattress and bed frame from them on-line and the guy delivered the frame but no mattress. I ended up having to tell at the Ikea customer service so they refunded the mattress and the shipping cost and advice me to get it at one of their stores in New Jersey. The shipping cost (to ship from Jersey to Manhattan, same day service) cost about $20 more than what Ikea refunded back to me. I called that same customer service person and told her what she refunded me wasn't enough and had her cough up the extra $20.

The story of this lesson is really that most of the people who work at retail (especially the assistant managers and the store manager) do not deserve to be treated like normal people. Treat them like scum and they will do whatever you tell them. Treat them nice and they think you are a complete idiot.

RealEstate said...

hi

DAVE N SHERI said...

You are far from alone. Two weeks ago I was sold an electric clothes dryer that turned out to be a gas. No one from Best Buy will return my emails or my phone calls. I do not know how else to make contact. I guess that I will go elsewhere and purchase the correct one. I find it very hard to believe that such a large company conducts itself in such a mannor.

HOME THEATER SUP said...

I am cross eyed from reading the initial problem up until the last comment.

I am very glad that this poor fella would post his comments for the world to see.
BUT...Here goes
I have worked for Best Buy in Houston Texas for over 7 years off and on. I am currently the home theater supervisor. All of the cheers and jeers are right. To a point.
1.) If you had come into my store,
in my department, all of my people are trained and know that the JVC stand is free no matter what other type of deals you get with your purchase. As one of the other comments stated, if the stand was not on the receipt, then that is where the problem started.It is known as a package deal. When you hit total, the stand automatically pennies out-or lamens terms-comes to 1 cent. It should have been delivered straight out of the warehouse along with the Tv. old school policy used to let customers pick up product out of the warehouse, but from my knowledge, because of inventory loss issues, customers are no longer allowed to go to the warehouse. Point blank- the associate made a mistake and the manager either stuck to the associates mistake or just was ignorant to the way Home Theater works.
The Home Theater department in Best Buy is a very difficult one to maintain. It is not meant for everyone. Advertisements are always changing and technology is forever evolving. Management at Best Buy has at least 9-10 other areas of the store to focus on too. The best person to speak to is the Supervisor- or Senior (assistant supervisor)of the department you have an issue because they are there to know and focus on that one area. It seems to me that the manager did not understand the process.
2.) Installation or assembly of the Tv stand is a separate charge from the Home Theater set up. installation services and delivery
Home Theater set up includes connection and wire management of up to 5 components to your tv. This excludes DVR orTivo boxes. It also includes programming of the remote that came with your newly purchased equipment if it can be condensed to work with equipment you already have. Audio connection is in this install. Examle: you have a surround sound systenm, dvd player, PS3, vcr and cd player, all of this could be connected to the Tv for $200.00. Tv stand assembly is $80.00 more. This is a separate service-not to be confused. All the work is warrantied. So if we were to assemble the Tv stand and it fell with the Tv on it causing the tv to be damaged-WE are liable. If old Joe assembled it...S.O.L.
THIS IS NOT TO ADVERTISE ANYTHING ALL OF THIS IS TO MAKE THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE CONSUMER AND BEST BUY A LITTLE MORE UNDERSTANDABLE AND ForPEOPLE TO SEE JUST HOW THE MISUSE OF ONE WORD CAN CAUSE MASS CHAOS.
3.) Hd Advantage: This was a promotion that BestBuy started once we did research to find out why our customers were returning over 60% of the flat panels that were sold in 2005. Customers main concern-the picture quality did not look good like it did in the store. Ha Ha Ha Ha. I laugh because for people who "rented Tvs" for the game and just wanted to keep their pride at the reurn desk, you are the reason for HD Advantage and the whole confusing receipt thing. Consumers.. be careful what you ask for. This promo is put in place to bring Best Buy into your homes to ensutre the picture quality you see in the store is what you get in your home. We are not in the business to sell boxes such as Wal-Mart or Costco. We are here to build relationships. If I go on a Sunday afternoon and buy a Printer from Best Buy and the associate fails to offer me the priter cable, I would be hotter that fish grease. Because now, I have to go to Wal-Mart because its convenient in my PJ's to get a cable I could have got in the first place! WE have done research guys. Convenience is the key. We offer discounts for upgrading your Direct Tv accont toHi Def-shucks, how do you expect to buy a hi-def Tv and get such a cool picture...Rabbit ears? Its our responsibility to offer these things to ensure that you as a customer know all of your options. BestBuy pends a lot of money on trainings for the associates. If one just dont take their job seriously, or think they know it all and miss out on important info...you as the consumer miss out. It is publishings like this as well as Mystery shops(people that the company hires to come in and evaluate how we interact with our customers. We as associatesassume they are regular customers. We are evaluated on how fast it takes us to contact you, how are you greeted, are you told we are non-commission, do we ask the right qualifying questions, do we recomment the right product for you, do we offer financing to give you more buying power, do we offer oyu the Reward Zne card- our version of the CVS, Blockbuster, Krogers card ot help you save money, are you offered the Service plan for extra protection, did we ask for the sale and finally did we encourage you to come back and thank you for stopping by.) and CSI reports (comments from customers to let us know what we are doing verbatum from you. You have an opportunity to take the survey on the bottom of your receipt. The leadership team which includes supervisors andmanagers are evaluated on the comments and scores. I dont know how you could take this survey if you have not purchased something but I will be sure to find out because to me, YOU ARE A CUSTOMER ALL IN THE SAME AND WILL BE TREATED JUST THE SAME AS SOON AS YOU STEP IN MY SIGHT IN MY STORE. I DONT CARE WHAT YOU BUY, A SODA OR a 60" PLASMA
4.)Best Buy is in the business to make money just like the "mom and pop" stores. Actually it WAs a mom and pop store in Minnesota. It was called Sound Of Music. A tornado hit it and they had a big sale outside. it then evolved to be Best Buy. We just turned 40! Don't hate. If if was you who started this business and made it what it is now, would you say Best Buy was in it to rip people off? Business is business. I have stock in this company. Do you want a return on your investment as a stockholer? Margin and profit is the way to go!
5.) to the guy that was told to bring the Tv. back in the packaging..total lie! You could have brought that Tv back wrapped in a garbage bag, Best Buy has to take it back as long as it is in the same condition as when you bought it dude. Did you have the remote and manuals? There is a big sign in every Best Buy that states the return policy. It is also on the back of your receipt. Different policies go for different products because of the different technologies. Example, you buy a camcorder for a trip or just for the weekend for a beach party. You use it making it not brand new again. Store pictures in it and get yourself a couple of tapes for memories. Then you bring it back, try to clean it up, and expect us to not charge a fee? the next customer that comes in wanting one brand new in a box doesnt want your leftovers. But all in all. There is no restocking fee on Tvs in my department as long as you bring the remote and manual back within the 30 day return policy in My home theater department. Some things are just more sensetive than others which is why there is a restocking fee in some areas and not in others.
6.) Price Match Guarantee? My store is on the feeder or frontage road of some havey hitters. You've got Us, 1 street away Home Depot, a stones throw away from them WAL-MART (ooh-i'm So SCARRRRED) and a shopping center away, the all mighty Fry's. Not to mention the little Radio Shack in the middle somewhere. Yes we do price match with all of these different people. If we must price match with ourselves, you get 10% of the price match difference back as well. This is supposed to be an option at the end of the transaction to either click to select by the employee or either happens automatically when the total button is pressed. WE get customers all week and especially on the weekend that will come by us, get their questions answerwed and take a trip down the raod. When our customers say one of the competitiors names in the store, we usually all stop and say that they cannot say that word in the store! We all laugh and the customers laugh too. UR family to us now. We are confident in our store that is why we can do that. We welcome our customers to go and check out the competitiors but to remember, we price match. Now, there have been some instances in in which we could not macth. But of course we once again are in the business to make money guys. We have many customers that make the trip all the way back around the freeway hours later for us to take care of them. Sometimes seeing a better price, but if we are not able to match because of in stock issues of the customer wanting HD Advantage on top of a price match, they usually still buy from us because of the customer service.
7.) To the bumb dude about surge protectores...You sound like this guy that called me on a busy Sunday mad because your Tv is toast mad because you did not want a POWER CENTER or a PSP. a $60.00
"surge protector" is NOT going to protect your 50" tv from a hit.
DEFINITION 101:
Surge Protector: to protect power surges based on the amount of equipment and amount of electricity being used by each component. The more Joules the protector has, the stonger it is. Don't plug in a 60" plasma, satellite receiver, 700 watt surround system,and a gaming system into that..youre stupid if you do. Just dont call the store where you bought your stuff from years later when it blows out due to FLUCTUATIONS OR A BIG OL' HIT!!!
POWER CENTER: protects your quipment from fluctuations which are variances in your power flow that wears your equipment down and can effect picture and sound quality. It also does the same job a surge protector. Example: Ever get that funny line in your tv when the wife is vaccuming or you got a hot pocket in the microwave? Power Fluctuation!!! This is just like cigarettes and alcohol. It wears down your life expectancy, so do fluctuations. Cool references on this subject are How Stuff Works.com, Sound and Vision magazine and First Glimpse Magazine which i give out the First Glimpse for free to customers.
8.) Standing around? Oh beleive me. I'm not disputing it? But when you see this, say something!! Sometimes its not all horseplay. If I have a new promo that me as a leader need to make sure my people understand and inform you about, you want them to know what they are talking about..Right? Right? Maybe we are doing a roleplay to test ones knowledge. But..If you step in my store and you see this, ask for the Supervisor so I can ask them about it and if it was horseplay..Ask for me. The Home Theater Supervisor. I'm gonna send them home for the day After it is documented and in their file. customers come first!

I hope this long comment is read at least once to let people know that it is not the same wherever you go. Everyones job is not perfect at all times including mine! So to all the X Best Buy Guys, I feel where you are coming from, but a job is a job and as long as you make a difference where you can, thats all that matters. know your business when you start typing so that you wont waste space or anyones time. But of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinions and comments just like me. All this and I am a WOMAN!!! Get That!!

Sonny said...

Hi is it possible to e-mail me the list of everyone you sent an e-mail to at best Buy, I have also been scamed and need to send them an e-mail. jtmassive@hotmail.com, check out my blog under best buy scams

rcdc said...

It baffles me how Best Buy stays in business.

I am writing to share a recent personal experience.

The short story is that Best Buy (Tenleytown DC) let my laptop be stolen from their store (I believe by an employee). Best Buy/Geeksquad "Customer Service" then lied to me about the repair status and location of the phantom computer for months. In failing to disclose the theft to me, they left me unnecessarily exposed to identity theft, and violated DC consumer protection and privacy breach notification laws, and have left me stuck with paying for ID theft prevention services for years.

The company-wide disregard for consumer privacy protection obligations disturbs me greatly.

Engagement of the local PD, attorney general's office, and other authorities failed to yield anything more than a low-ball offer (original purchase price of computer, not replacement value of computer, software and other content, or compensation for ID theft service fees, etc.). I've filed a lawsuit and launched a blog that details the background and motivation for the lawsuit ( http://bestbuybadbuyboycott.blogspot.com/ ).

My hope is to bring attention to the issues involved, so they can be addressed and future customers will not be put at risk by Best Buy's negligence.

I would welcome advice and/or help spreading the word.

Misery loves company!

WICKED said...

I always look at the weekly ads of Bestbuy and go into the store to ask about computers on sale, and every time I went into ask for the advertised computer, they would say that they are out of the regular ones and the only ones they have are optimised. Their employees are completely shameless about it also. It is because of this optimised scam that I no longer buy anything from Bestbuy.

Unknown said...

I’ve got another great Best Buy scam for you! I posted it up on my blog. Feel free to copy my horror story and use it for your own blog. The short story is a "warranty" for my laptop ended up costing me the price of the laptop. No one seemed to care that I was getting completely screwed over. www.eric031.com

Unknown said...

I’ve got another great Best Buy scam for you! I posted it up on my blog. Feel free to copy my horror story and use it for your own blog. The short story is a "warranty" for my laptop ended up costing me the price of the laptop. No one seemed to care that I was getting completely screwed over. www.eric031.com