Locke finds a secret hatch leading to an underground area beneath Best Buy. Desmond enters the secret numbers into the Toshiba laptop, blowing up the entire mall. Michael takes Ana Lucia’s gun and kills the whole Geek Squad. The Others kidnap Jack, Sawyer, and Kate and force them to sign statements saying they are satisfied with the service they have received on the island.
No, wait. That’s not it. Here’s what really happened. Despite being told by the Geek Squad Leader that he would be in at 7:30 am Wednesday and that my pc would be his very first project. At end of day, it had not been touched. After another angry email or two to Jill Nezworski, Senior Executive Resolution Specialist, I get this:
Our technician was unable to complete this repair today, my sincere apologies. In an effort to appease our customer and hopefully keep your future business, we will replace the unit with a comparable laptop. Please visit the store with any accessories, manuals, or disks that you still have for the unit. Please visit the customer service desk and ask to speak to a manager on duty regarding an exception email sent from corporate. I trust that they will assist you further with the exchange.
I went home and packed up all my manuals and disks, and brought them back to the store over lunch on Thursday. Waited there for about 45 minutes while they looked for the exception email from corporate. Nobody had it, nobody knew about it. Nobody could do anything. Back to work.
I call the manager, John, around 5pm. All set, he said. They found the email, I could walk in and grab a replacement and be off. Just ask for him. He’ll be there til 8pm.
I show up about 6:10. John is out, they say. Should be back in 5-10 minutes. A half hour goes by. No John. They keep paging him. An hour goes by. Turns out John is actually on “an important phone call” somewhere. About an hour and 15 minutes into my vigil, John appears. He takes me over to the computer showroom, tells me to pick out a comparable model and leaves me with the sales guy. We look around and I pick out a couple of models, but nothing is in stock. I can also choose to upgrade, so I ask to look at a couple of upgrade models, but none of those are in stock either. We checked at least five models that were on the showroom floor and none were in stock. I’m not sure what they actually have in stock, probably just the hot sale items in the Sunday paper brochure.
Anyway, I finally pick out an upgrade model. I can’t tell you how much it pained me to give another dollar to that corporation, but for a really low amount I was able to jump up two notches in processor quality, double the memory, add 20 gigs to the HD, and go from a DVD Rom/CD-R to a dual layer DVD RW.
Of course, since it’s not one of the two pcs they have in stock, I had to order it. But it will be delivered directly to my door from the factory, brand spanking new. So I never have to step into Best Buy again. Actually, if you’ve ever been to Best Buy in Cambridge, you know it’s in a very strategic spot, right at the corner of the mall. I think at least half the people entering or leaving the mall do so by going through Best Buy. I’ll be taking the main entrance from now on.
Well, assuming the delivery goes fine, the story is over. Do I feel victorious? No, actually I just feel exhausted and disgusted. Jill’s last letter actually pissed me off. “In an effort to appease our customer…”??? Like she is doing me a special favor and making special exceptions out of the goodness of her heart, rather than just applying the company’s own policy, not to mention the law of the land. Thanks Jill. I’m actually kind of glad that the computer won’t arrive til next week. Had I brought it home last night, after three hours in Best Buy, I wouldn’t have even wanted to look at it. Now I’ll have a week to chill out and when it arrives, hopefully I’ll be in a better mood and it will be a nice treat.
I will update when it arrives, but the story is pretty much over. Thanks for all the support over the last couple weeks.
Glad to hear you’re on the downside of this mess with BB.
If anyone from Best Buy is reading this thread – I stopped buying from you all long ago but I’m going to make sure that anyone that even mentions they are driving past one of your crummy stores gets to hear the whole ugly story.
There is no excuse for bad customer service.
I second Scott Janousek’s recommendation. Microcenter in Cambridge is a great place to shop, they are very helpful, and their Apple staff is actually knowledgable about Apple products <–unsolicited mac endorsement here 😉 –>
As I sat at the service counter for a total of almost three hours yesterday, I had the chance to see a lot of other “happy customers”. Almost one for one, people left that counter pissed off. I think the prize winner was this one though:
A woman brought in one of those cameras that docks on top of the photo printer. It wasn’t working. She didn’t know if the problem was the camera or the printer. The guy looked it over – literally held both items in his hands and turned them around 360, and put them down and said he didn’t know what the problem was, could be the camera, could be the printer.
They were both covered under her warranty, and whichever one was broken would be repaired, free of charge. The thing is, they had to send it out to the repair shop to be fixed, and if she sent a non-broken item to be fixed, they would charge her for the wasted time. So she had to guess which one to send and take a gamble, or send both and be guaranteed a charge. He offered no help. Just stood there and shrugged. She couldn’t make up her mind and left with the items, to go home and ask someone else what to do.
Countless other people came to ask about a repair and the most common answer was, “we haven’t gotten to that yet.” I heard a couple of arguments on the phone as well.
I swear I wanted to stand at the door and tell people not to buy anything there. Not out of a desire to hurt Best Buy, but because I honestly felt bad for every person who was standing in line to make a large purchase, not knowing what they were potentially getting themselves into.
Hey Keith,
Maybe this will cheer you up:
http://www.improveverywhere.com/mission_view.php?mission_id=57
After reading all this I certainly will not be shopping at Best Buy again.
Hell, you could say this shop has succeeded in all aspects of customer dissatisfaction! Reminds me actually of several stores in Germany. The only difference is, in Germany they don’t even act as if they want to provide some customer service.
Holy Crap! I just read through this whole thing (along with 3 trips to the fridge and two bags of popcorn). What a freakin debacle. Seems like theres no good place to get good service these days, you either get someone you cant understand on the phone, someone who doesn’t care in an email or someone who’s just plain stupid standing right in front of you. Glad to see you saw it through Keith…Best Buy will definitely be off my list for future purchases… now where did I put that “how to build your own TV” instructional tape? 😉
Hey Keith,
Glad to hear things are getting resolved finally! Great news its coming straight from the factory where you wont have to deal with the “Geek Squad” or Best Buy any further. Hope you can relax and get back into Brevity some more now. 🙂
Take care!
Rob
Hi Keith, which Toshiba did you bought? I hope it’s one with Pick Up and Delivery garantee, and then you wont have to deal with Best Buy anymore. Only the support of Toshiba itself.
I was just informed my Father that Best Buy tried to get him to purchase Geek Squad service for putting a new battery into a device. Yes, putting a battery in a device. Apparently, it could cause harm if done improperly. Well, maybe if you were replacing an ipod battery!
But the device in question was something you just pop the battery out. Come on Best Buy, do you have no respect for the “semi-retired generation”!? I told him to never buy high ticket items from Best Buy, ever again.
Dateline should do an undercover story on customer service at stores like Best Buy!
Oh, and the other day I was looking to purchase some items … I looked at Best Buy and said, no way in hell I’m going there.
—
Keith, looking forward to Season Two … where you learn that electromagnetic properties of the island are causing your new machine to bluescreen. Well, let’s hope the plotline isn’t along those lines … 🙂
Well, in the last month or so, I’ve probably spent at least five hours standing at the GeekSquad counter, watching people come and go. Doing that made me realize that their repair services are one of their main lines of income. They don’t give away ANYTHING there for free. Change a battery, charge for it. Format a hard drive, charge for it. There is NO leeway, NO favors. Charge for everything possible. Give nothing away. Kind of makes sense when you think of it. There’s a whole marketing campaign surrounding the Geek Squad. High budget commercials and everything. You don’t pour that kind of money into something unless it has a return value.
The Squad is not there as a public service or goodwill activity, they are hardcore money makers, as much as the sales team are.
Funny how hard the sales people push the PSPs too (Performance Service Plans [Warranties]). I’ve talked to a few people who really complained about the pressure they got from salespeople on those things, and I think one of those BestBuySucks websites talked about the whole strategy behind that.
Basically, the products are just there to lure you in. The real moneymaking starts after you buy.
Yeah, sounds lucrative I suppose … but telling a customer to pay to change a battery?? I guess they would tell you to pay them to change your light blubs as well … Donald Trump would approve.
Also, they already have competition. Nerds to go. http://www.nerdstogo.com/ …
Maybe I should start changing batteries, reformatting drives, etc … I already do that on a constant basis anyways with all the devices, etc I buy.
It is funny to listen to the upset customer threads as if it happens to everyone. Thousands of customers a day go through each Best Buy building daily so there will be occasional problems. Speak to a manager if you have an issue, but some people just like to hear themselves talk and they don’t want a reasonable solution.
Bob, I understand what you are saying, and of course, the upset customers are going to be louder than the happy ones. but this is not just the case of a few bad employees messing up. They employees were not even malicious, they were just following orders. It is Best Buy’s policies and practices that cause problems. This is documented by the Better Business Bureau, which has received many complaints:
“The complaints mainly are regarding defective merchandise, unavailability of advertised items, failure to provide repairs within a reasonable time and unsatisfactory service.”
Furthermore, the attorney generals of at least three states have filed suit against Best Buy for a pattern of misleading conduct and failing to honor warranties and rebates, among other things…
“In May 2004, Best Buy entered into an Assurance of Voluntary Compliance with the New Jersey Attorney General. The agreement alleged that the company engaged in deceptive advertising, failed to have advertised merchandise available for sale, and failed to honor rebates and warranties. The company has not admitted any wrongdoing. However, the company has agreed to comply with the State’s advertising laws in the future. More information can be obtained by contacting the New Jersey Attorney General’ office or by accessing their Web site at: http://www.state.nj.us.
In August 2004, the Attorney General of Ohio filed a lawsuit against Best Buy Company. The lawsuit alleges that Best Buy engaged in a pattern of unfair and deceptive acts and practices including: Failure to honor implied warranties of merchantability, substandard and/or inadequate customer service, and making false and misleading statements to consumers. The matter is currently pending. Consumers can see the formal complaint at: http://www.ag.state.oh.us.
In May 2005, the Attorney General of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit against Best Buy Company. The lawsuit alleges that Best Buy engaged in a pattern of unfair and deceptive acts and practices including: Representations related to promised rebates, extended service plans, supplement magazine subscriptions, the return and exchange policies and restocking fees, gift cards and “Reward Zone Points”. The matter is currently pending. Consumers can read the formal complaint at: http://www.doj.state.wi.us”
All quotes from http://www.bbb.com
In short, if you feel comfortable doing business there, go for it. You’l probably be fine, but if you need some service work done under your warranty, let me know how that goes.
Just like any other company, sometimes you have a good store and sometimes you have a bad store. I have tried a couple Best Buy stores with no problems, but sometimes I leave without feeling great. My recommendation is find a store that you like, find an employee that is helpful and stick with them, that way you don’t end up with bad service.
Walking in and buying something is no problem. Getting service when it breaks, even when you payed good money for the special service plan, is hell. I agree that you should find a store you like. For me, that will not be Best Buy.
Well I sure wish I’d read this before! I got an HP computer at Best Buy, got all the accessories, etc., spent almost $3 000… broke after a month (this is in Richmond, BC, Canada) and it’s been gone for 2 weeks…has to be backed up, which they say will cost $300 so that I don’t lose all my files, but I’ll still lose all my programs…interesting customer service technique haha. So now it’ll be sent off for about another 2 weeks, and I’ll be without it at university until a family member can travel all the way to see me and bring it with me, which should be an aditional $50 add on. Managers at the store don’t care really, so thanks for the advice in this. Going to contact the Canadian Better Business Bureau, my Attorney General, Head Office of Best Buy, not going to settle till I get my money back!
I am so glad I read these messages. I was in the horrible process of trying to buy a Samsung tv with a stand and DVR from Best Buy. I purchased the items on-line and rec’d an order confirmation. About an hour later I rec’d a cancellation notice. When I called customer service they said I cancelled, which wasn’t true. So I asked to speak with a supervisor, (one of many useless people within the BB organization) and she told me that the order was cancelled because they ran out of TV’s. Another LIE. I called the store and they said they had 82 tv’s in stock. So I called back, spoke with another (waste of skin) supervisor but now the price has changed. They have been running me around for 4 days, I finally got Jill Nezworski on the phone, and as polite as she was, she wasn’t of any help either. Their corporate office is a joke. I’ll never, NEVER buy anything from a Best Buy store again. I would rather pay more for something than step inside of their store again.
i had a bad Experienced in Best Buy Richmond too My bad experienced was in Geek My Laptop was there for repair for Over 2 Months i called them they always Says oh we will find out and call you back no but nobody never calls Back nobody even tried to help me Finally i found a Angel There i think they hire a new Geek Lady there Anny yeah her name is Anny i really Like the way she deal my case She called me and update me for all my case And i really Appreciate her Help Ahh Finally i got My Laptop.Well atleast they still have some good peoples Making Best Buy Best
I want to know how you got then to authorize an exchange. There’s been something wrong with my laptop for 75% of the time I’ve had it. I have their waranty. The last time I brought it in, they replaced the mobo, the fan, the ac adapter and the battery. When I got it home, there were NEW things wrong with it. The card reader, one USB port weren’t functional. And the battery wouldn’t charge past 45%. Even at 45% when it was unplugged it would shut off. I brought it in AGAIN and called their corporate offices and I’m getting no where with them. Any tips???