Y’all are definitely not alone.
After reading the stories here and at the site above, I’m convinced that I should never buy any sort of large appliance at Best Buy, particularly not delivered. I’ll keep going there for the one reason I do go there: DVDs.
It could be worse . . you could have put money down on a refrigerator at American Appliance!
I’ve found that many of the employees are delighted to tell you everything they know about a product, even after you don’t care anymore. “Blah, blah, blah. I know so much about this camera.” Meanwhile another customer who wants help goes without. Give a guy a brief decription/demo, then fuck off. It’s even worse when you’re the customer waiting for help and all you see are sales assosiates bullshitting other customers who are obviously not going to buy the product, so shut up with the sales pitch, or who are going to buy the product, so shut up with the sales pitch. Either way, shut the fuck up and help me!
I also hate how they tell you that they’re not paid on commision, then push the “Product Service Plan” (extended warrenty) as though their paycheck depends on it. You can’t tell me they don’t get some kind of bonus for selling those things. I had one guy, at the Best Buy in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, actually call me stupid because I wouldn’t take the $39.99 Product Service Plan on a $79.00 printer. I threw the priter back on the shelf and stormed off. Screw you, Best Buy!
When you are frustrated with Best Buy, please don’t blame the employees. They have very specific training, and they are expected to do very specific things. It’s not their fault that Best Buy has annoying policies. The employees are just doing what they are paid to do.
I was told today by a Best Buy person that the TV I was looking at (NOT Hi-Definition) was capable of 800 lines of resolution if we got the S-Video adaptor. I’m not really up-to-date on TVs, but I’m pretty sure that a $450 32" TV isn’t capable of that high of resolution.
No, I WILL blame the employees because they’re goddam idiots. They couldn’t follow a clearly written policy if it was tattooed on their hand. They can’t even chew gum and walk at the same time, let alone handle a busy store full of customers. Not even the managers.
I’ll give my own BB horror story. I bought a cel phone at BB, I didn’t want to do it but they were the only place that sold the Sony dual band phone I wanted. I had it about a week and the charger died, making the phone useless. I called to arrange a replacement, they had me speak to the manager, who said he’d just swap the charger out of an in-stock unit and send that new unit back as DOA. Except that they didn’t have them in stock, estimated arrival 2 weeks, which was quicker than the estimated 6 weeks turnaround if I did it through service. And of course, it took 8 weeks before they managed to get any units in stock so I could make the swap. I should have gone through normal service, except their estimated 6 weeks would probably have been 16 weeks.
So when I finally speak to the manager on the phone, he tells me the phone is in stock so I make an appointment to come in at a specific time to to make the swap, but when I come in, the manager is busy selling phones. He’s demoing a phone to someone, explaining all the most minor features, while I’m waiting for 90 minutes for him to finish. I see the phone that is arranged for my exchange, sitting next to him with a post-it note with my name on it, just out of reach behind the register. Finally I am fed up and I start standing RIGHT NEXT to the manager, holding my phone out, hoping he will notice the stranger who is standing far too close while he’s making the sales pitch. Even the other customer is wondering what I’m doing, but I still can’t get his attention. Finally I give up and go stand in line at the register at the front. When I get to the register, I start screaming at the top of my lungs “I’VE BEEN WAITING 8 WEEKS TO EXCHANGE THIS BRAND NEW PHONE, AND I’VE BEEN IN THIS STORE FOR 90 MINUTES WAITING FOR THE MANAGER TO KEEP MY APPOINTMENT AND I WANT TO MAKE THIS EXCHANGE RIGHT NOW!! I’VE BEEN PAYING $50 A MONTH SERVICE FEES FOR A DEAD PHONE FOR TWO MONTHS AND IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” The sales girl gets on the phone and tries to get the manager on his extension. He doesn’t answer, she asks if I could wait. I start screaming again, and all the people in the register area are starting to freak. I scream and scream the same spiel over and over and finally they decide to go over and get the manager personally. He pulls the phone, we swap, the transaction takes about 20 seconds, he doesn’t even ask me to sign anything.
Sheesh!
I will note that I had the charger die again, right in the middle of a business trip to Los Angeles. I just called the Sprint store, they said to come right in, they’d swap it under warranty on the spot. And they did. The store was really crowded, and you had to take a number to be served, but they got to me in 5 minutes and I was out of there in 10.
In my house, they are known as inCompetentUSA.
Yeah Chas E, real mature. Because everybody knows that the people at the check-out are the real ones running the store. And they work even better when yelling at them. :rolleyes: I’m sure Best Buy won’t mind the loss of your business because nobody likes to deal with a jackass.
Don’t blame the employees if they are going through a 20 minute spiel about the product. Do you think my fiance knows everything about the damn cameras because he thinks digital imaging is so cool? No, he knows all that crap because he was trained that way with a purpose.
The last time i went to best buy (and i mean the LAST time), i had 2 gift cards (a $10 and a $25), which were the only reason i went. i needed a tv, and while i was there i saw a open package vcr for $35. i figure, what the heck, my vcr has sound problems, so i ask a guy in the tv department how i buy the vcr. He goes and gets a form to fill out, and hands it to me, telling me to just give it to the cashier, and that will be that. of course, the cashier needs a upc number for so reason, which the vcr doesnt have because i has no box. she tries to call back to that department, no one answers, then i take her back and show her where the vcr was, the sign is still there, but no upc number. Before all this, i was the only one in line, now there are like 15 people, they open up 3 more registers, but i am still waiting while they call over the security guy for some reason, and then they punch in a random vcr’s upc number, and change the price to the $35. So finally, after 15 minutes, i can leave. Of course, the security guy then has to check my receipt, the one with the wrong upc number he helped type in, and says since i had the wrong one, i had to go to customer service to get the right upc, even though he SAW THE WHOLE FREAKIN’ TRANSACTION!!! So i wait at customer service for 20 minutes while the annoyingly perky lady (annoying because at that point i was seconds away from buring down the store) says it will just be a minute every 30 seconds (thats 40 times, people) until they finally get a UPC number. If i didnt have stupid best buy cards, i would have just walked away and never came back. Luckily, the vcr works great, best one i have ever owned, but best buy can still eat it.
It’s all in the attitude. At home, it is acknowledged that I am QUEEN. I expect to be treated as such. When I am with my SO, he reinforces that attitude. We can come off as Queen and Loyal knight who will kick your ass if you look at me the wrong way. We have never had any problems getting served. When I am by myself, the attitude goes with me. I am a nice, polite person, but I do give that aura of royalty. We often get special discounts, too.
Fenris, count me among the (now outted) members of the worshipping Fenris from afar fan club. 
You are the king of the rants.
You are absolutely correct, I absolutely did not like dealing with the jackass manager who ignored me for NINETY minutes while I had an appointment that could have been taken care of in 30 seconds. I did not like having my service problems ignored for two months while I was paying for service I could not use. And if the only way to get their attention is to yell and scream so loudly that the entire store can hear it, then I had no other choice.
You know, I worked retail too, and if I ever treated a customer the way I was treated by BB, I would have been fired. And I would have deserved it.
I’ve never had a bad experience at Best Buy other than a long wait in a check out line. If I want hands on, knowledgeable service I know better than to go to Best Buy. Their business plan is based around giving the consumer the convenience of large selection at low prices. Low prices require low overheads, low overheads require low salary structure, etc., etc.
I don’t go to the local Auto Auction looking for help in selecting the best vehicle to suit my needs and help in financing said vehicle. I go there to try to get the vehicle I want or one with similar functionality at the best price I can get it without sacrificing too much convenience (i.e. scouring the want adds and driving all over town).
It bothers me when you want/need help in a store and no one senses this and steps up to the plate, but on the same token it bothers me when you have an associate hounding you from the moment you enter the store. Both can be rectified though. No help? Ask someone for help. Being hounded? Ask to be left alone. Assuming that the sales person can read your mind is being overly presumptuous.
Don’t like the store model? By all means shop somewhere else. Is there a Circuit City in your town? They have a hands on sales policy. Like someone else said, “vote with your dollars!” Though it seems that more are currently voting for Best Buy than for Circuit City.
I have to admit that I am biased though. Being a BBY shareholder I have an interest in the company. Yet I don’t see why those who are unsatisfied with their service feel that they have to go on a mission to convert everyone else into (insert brand name here) haters. Diversity allows us choices, exercise your right to choose and shop elsewhere, but please don’t try to take away my choice because it isn’t right for you.
Maybe it’s just a matter of time, but I have always gotten excellent service and prices from Best Buy. I have bought computers, VCR’s, car audio, software, DVDs, and CDs.
I have probably purchased an item from almost every area in that store, and have yet to be ignored, pressured, forced to wait in a long line, need to speak to a manager, ripped off, or otherwise screwed.
My only complaint is that the first thing to go when the store budget is cut is employees with the specific job of making the store look good. When the place opened about 2 years ago, it was always very tidy-looking. Now, their entire home audio area is filled with boxes, and the same 2 displays have been there for months. It seems they’ve fired whoever was in charge of making sure the store wasn’t a cluttered mess.
It looks like the only good Best Buy store in the universe is right down the street from my house. Nice.
Best Buys prices are very good, but their service sucks big time.
I think of Best Buy like a mentaly retarded teenager. They are fully capable of a few things, and if you restrain yourself to those areas they’ll be fine. But if you walk out of what they usually do, you get into problems.
As for not turning people into Bets Buy haters, why not? that is the main power of being a consumer. When people refuse to give good service and lose a customer, they should expect to lose ten of thier friends. Enough people lost and they either improve or die. If any store objects to this idea, they should not piss off customers.
Just for the records, let me say I know there are a lot of total morons who work in stores. I have also been treated like shit and ignored. But check out the other side of the coin here:
I spent many, many years in the retail gulag.
Give me good service, I’ll tell a friend.
Piss me off, I’ll tell ten.
Honestly. You own stock in a retail outfit and don’t accept or understand that principle? I’ve got to look at your posts with repect to credibility issues from now on. Especially, since the majority of your post was a commercial.
A couple of years ago, I needed a backpack, I went to look at Eddie Bauer’s first. Then the next day i went to look @ JCPenney’s, to see what they had, I walked around for a bit and did not see a soul. I could not find anyone to ask where the backpacks are, much less find a store map to look on my own.
I went to Eddie Bauer, got my backpack, got waited on, and was done in 5 minutes. I have not been back to JCPenney’s,
and have told this story many times.
Today I went to Kohl’s. I bought some stuff, about $70 worth. They are having a deal where if you apply and get accepted for a charge card with them, you get an extra 10% off. The woman in front of me in line had gotten one. I didn’t get asked-I would have said no if I had been, but I wondered about why wasn’t.
I was in my usual Sunday best-ratty shorts and a t-shirt, hair in a pony tail. When I left I wondered if it was because I looked too young to apply or too ratty. Eh, it’s no major stress to me, just one of those curious things.