Best Buy rant - the Worst Buy

[FireArse]

Costco UK

Guys,

We have a Costco about 8miles (watford) from here - they are brilliant. Very very happy with them. From the quality, to the service and of course the returns policy. But its prices are very good too

They sadly dont have iPods nor HP iPods (remember those?) but instead do Dell - Id love to get an iMac from there one day!

F

 

[Artful Dodger]

I think Costco can and does well with the returns by way of simple "shrink" procedures. This would fall under the first year of a warranty the manufacture has to repair the said item, so if it's returned they give the store the credit and most of the time ask for the item to be returned or destroyed. This then does not cost the said store money until after the original warranty is up at which time it becomes a gamble with cost.
Now most stores as we all have seen leave the consumer to contact the manufacture after 30 days to deal with the warranty from said manufacture. A good example is a printer as most places offer a warranty but it starts after the manufactures warrenty ends (yes some just offer a replacement plan as I have this).
So BB created this by selling a plan that they modified and then modified again. Why should the customers that bought before the change be affected unlike the customers that buy now is the whole point.

 

[joepunk]

I had to make a mad dash off to Best Buy a few nights ago inorder to purchase some ink. I made it with about 15 min. before their official posted 10pm closing. Well, the doors were already locked and I had to convince the door keep that it would only take me a few seconds to get the printer ink.

 

[rdowns]

I had to make a mad dash off to Best Buy a few nights ago inorder to purchase some ink. I made it with about 15 min. before their official posted 10pm closing. Well, the doors were already locked and I had to convince the door keep that it would only take me a few seconds to get the printer ink.

That is such a damned pet peeve of mine. If you want to get out at 10 then post 9:45 as your closing time.

 

[Superdrive]

That is such a damned pet peeve of mine. If you want to get out at 10 then post 9:45 as your closing time.

I wonder if Best Buy Heartland stores (ones near corp. offices) operate differently. Our doors staying open until people stop coming in is one of those different things. I do know for sure that some stores around here have changed over to a customer centric business model. Soon enough most stores should be converted to that style. I apologize for bad experiences at your stores and I would be happy to offer you top notch service if you ever come to mine.

 

[katie ta achoo]

hoooo, let me tell you

I don't think I've ever shared my horrible experiences with best buy.

Ohhh girl, GIRL.
Girl, no.
(Girl refers to the whole board. Not just the ladies of the board, but I think they can relate. I call everyone girl.)

So, I go to Best Buy with Colin, my dumb friend who drives me everywhere.
So, I go to find an iBook case (this is in the day of the G3 12" iBook. Aw yes.) and we roll to Best Buy, even though I told that idiot-faced lid* the case I wanted was at MicroCenter.
We go into the Best Buy and immediately, this clerk just AMBUSHES ME.
"HI! I'm Eric! Do you need help? I can help you! Wow, you're really pretty! That's such a nice notebook! Are you sure you don't need a Dell? PLEASE SHAKE MY HAND! Do you need help setting it up? DO YOU WANT MY NUMBER, I CAN HELP YOU REALLY WELL AFTER DINNER!"
and meanwhile,
colin is LAUGHING AT ME, ie NOT DEFENDING MY HONOR
and I'm just... dying. "Dude. First of all, I'm a Mac user, and I'm underage, so.. no way, Dell boy."
So, we RUN out of the store, after I make up some story about "Uhh. I already have a case, although I just came here to get a case, I forgot about it because I left it at the airport... so I can get it again or something"

Also, I tried to return something to a best buy and had to stand in line for 2 hours, just for a PAIR OF HEADPHONES. Blaaaaa! I was dehydrated and nearly passed out because if I left to get water, I would LOSE MY PLACE IN LINE AND HAVE TO START ALL OVER AGAIN!

OOoo, girl, don't even get me started on Circuit City. I got into a fight with a clerk. Once, I took my nephew, and we had the same clerk I got into a fight with. I had my 2 y/o nephew kick him in the shins. The clerk thought he was just being a mean little kid.
Little does he know, I put him up to it.
AAHAHAH!

*Lid is an insult to Ham Radio Operators. No, I don't know what it means.

I hate all stores except for the Apple store.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

I wonder if Best Buy Heartland stores (ones near corp. offices) operate differently. Our doors staying open until people stop coming in is one of those different things. I do know for sure that some stores around here have changed over to a customer centric business model. Soon enough most stores should be converted to that style. I apologize for bad experiences at your stores and I would be happy to offer you top notch service if you ever come to mine.

Question, are you management or one of the associates?

If you are management, how would you have responded to my complaints of change in how the PSP was portrayed and applied, verses how I have been treated so far, even by 888-bestbuy?

Customer centric business/service models are all well and good, but may be too late if they still allow a long term, high dollar customer to turn to try to desuede (sp?) anyone from spending one more dollar with Best Buy.

I would have been the first, and have in the past supported Best Buy and positive treatment that I have gotten in public forums. But that seems to be in the past.

I will look for more companies like The Container Store, Costco, Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens & Things, Meyer Emco, and Micro Center. All of which seem to put the customer first, at least when I have gone to them with an issue. Anyone else want to chime in on customer service centric business's that deserve our dollars?

 

[rdowns]

In no way am I defending poor customer service but here's my take from a management point of view. As an aside, I think the reason you see fewer "customer centric" operations is because there are a lot of people who take advantage of it. One only needs to see the abuses posted in this thread.

I run the web (retail) operation of my company. We are the oldest and biggest in our industry and my division will do about $19-$20 million in sales this year. We sell service contracts for cars allowing consumers to bypass the car dealer. Before you go on about the lousy reputation of my industry, we are a very customer centric company (only 1 Better Business Bureau complaint in the past 36 months covering over 252,000 claims).

Our web site provides more information than any other competitor and access to the actual contract before one buys. We tell you exactly what's covered and what's not for the different coverage levels offered. Our salespeople are ethical and do not lie. If they do and are caught, they are fired. Calls are regularly monitored and reviewed. This year, 3.8% of our business each month is from repeat customers.

As the VP, I monitor customer complaints and often involve myself in investigating them. My Customer Service Manager is responsible for logging every complaint and reporting to me on the resolution. Here's our experiences with the public.

About 90% of all complaints are complete and utter BS. Customers tell us they were told this and that and that things were never explained properly. We then go and find all phone recordings of all conversations with our reps. The recordings rarely support the customer's complaint. (In fact, I can only recall one instance this year where the customer was correct) It amazes me how many customers will flat out lie and say that a rep told me this when the recording clearly show otherwise. We happily email or mail a burned CD of the calls to the customer and most go away. Often, despite no wrong doing on our part, we will offer them a full refund (no matter how long into their contract they are; we will deduct any claims we have paid) and most do not take the offer. There is definitely a culture of people who try to take advantage of companies they do business with.

Turning to the 10% or so that are valid. If we are wrong, we make it right. It costs a lot to do this but we are spending this money on legitimate complaints and make customers for life. We couldn't do this without a huge investment in technology; an investment that pays off.

Sorry for the long rant.

 

[wako]

Chip NovaMac...


Do you have the reciept with you? If you do, look at the purchase and see if the plan you bought was a REPLACEMENT or a SERVICE plan.

Replacement plans are suppose to be 2 years, while the service plans are suppose to be 3 years. If it is indeed a replacement plan they are obligated to replace it for you. If they dont, just simply call the 1800 number on the back of the pamphlet you got.

If you dont even have the reciept or the pamphlet or anything, you can always goto customer service and ask them to bring up that purchase (the logs even goes back as far as 10 years ago ) and you can see whether you did or did not get it.

They recently changed the plan to a replacement plan. They changed it I believe almost a year now.

When I worked there, many the cashiers, like myself were not updated on the change. So you might have been ACCIDENTALLY told replacement rather than service plan. So again, look at the receipt and if it says 2 year replacement plan, then you should be able to replace it. If they really wont let you even after you show them the receipt, I say sue them. When purchasing that protection plan, its a contract and they are failing to uphold it. I dont see why you should be taking any service plan when you paid much more on a replacement plan.

 

[Sdashiki]

Actually what you did is exactly why stores stop offering "Replacement No Questions Asked" Policy, because people take advantage of it and it's not cost efective to offer it any more. Returning something simply because you want something new is no different that saying "Well I've paid my car insurance for the last 5 years and now I want a new car, I'll just total mine and my insurance will get me a new one." People like you are the reason people with a genuine problem have to jump through so many hoops now to get anything accomplished.

guess i should have mentioned they were blown 4 out of the 5 times, they were crappy 350W (yeah my ass) Pioneer subs.

yeah people take advantage, big deal, profits are up. If you are a tried and true company, you know how to make money. its when you want to make MORE problems happen, and they look for ways to get more. Eliminating the abuse brought on by a liberal return policy is one.

Point of the problem is that since day one of their replacement plan people have taken advantage, and now they complain? BB sells repackaged/sealed stuff ALL THE TIME, so how are they losing profits on stuff returned for no good reason?

Either way, I never agree with how the management/corporate side of retail treats its salesmen. Like you MUST sell X number of plans or we fire your ass. You MUST sell X dollars worth of crap, or you are fired.

Its totally stupid. I rarely, meaning actually never, have gone into a store and NEEDED a holding hand to tell me what to buy. Salesmen are people people, if they dont know how to read an obviously "lost" customer vs. a "knows what they want leave me alone im on a tight schedule" person, then they shouldnt be in retail. Go up and talk to the lost ones, leave the others alone.

In a college town like the one Im in, the BB is almost all 20 somethings, and when you are a fellow 20 something or at least not 40+, they know you dont want to buy anything you didnt just bring to the counter.

If I was so inclined to buy a plan of anytype (applecare comes to mind, **** I DONT WANT IT GODDAMMIT) id ask. So i dont mind people telling me they offer such and such a plan, but cmon I dont want you to ask me if I want it. So forcing clerks to push crap that no one really wants anyway (.mac comes to mind) is a horrible way to keep customers/employees happy.

Customers get annoyed, and employees get fired and hate management for making them be tools.

m2c, eat me if u dont like it. LOL.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

Chip NovaMac...


Do you have the reciept with you? If you do, look at the purchase and see if the plan you bought was a REPLACEMENT or a SERVICE plan.

Actually it says a 4 yr PS on one line, and then a 4 yr BGP on the second line.

When I worked there, many the cashiers, like myself were not updated on the change. So you might have been ACCIDENTALLY told replacement rather than service plan.

No ACCIDENT about it what I was told. I really didn't want it at the time, but was told specifically that they did replacements, not repairs. In fact they had done replacements on at least two other iPods that I bought for my ex and my sister.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

In a college town like the one Im in, the BB is almost all 20 somethings, and when you are a fellow 20 something or at least not 40+, they know you dont want to buy anything you didnt just bring to the counter.

I believe that Best Buy goes out of their way not to hire the "over 40" set. I think it is probably they can't bully them with crap hours and such. I know of at least 3 people over 40 that did not get hired by Best Buy, but were able to be hired by Apple and Circuit City.

 

[Sdashiki]

After reading all the stories of employees on that website, I understand why I didnt get hired at Best Buy.

its a cult of Disneyesque proportions where TEAM playing is on the outside, but greed and intimidation is on the inside.

I said I wouldnt take a drug test, and they said bye to me.

I said ok fine, I dont understand why you test anyway....or any job for that matter outside of civil service.

 

[solvs]

I said ok fine, I dont understand why you test anyway....or any job for that matter outside of civil service.

Yeah, you'd think they'd want their employees on drugs. It might help.

 

[Koodauw]

And if you didnt have enough reasons to hate Best Buy

Employee Says Best Buy Deceived Shoppers
Dan DeRoos, KOIN News 6

PORTLAND -- They say they waited for hours outside a local best buy store to buy the new Xbox 360 then were told the price would be different from what was advertised. Employees say management took advantage of the situation to make more money.
"I felt that they were cheating the customers. I had an 11-, 12-year-old child come up to me and say, 'I saved $400 -- that's all the money I have,'" Chris said.

We'll call him Chris because he doesn't want to lose his job at Best Buy, but he says he witnessed firsthand what he calls deception.

Here's the story: The Best Buy ad said the new Xbox 360 would cost either $299 or $399, depending on the model. But when gamers got in line they were handed this flier stating that the ad was incorrect and they would have to buy the game system as a packaged deal with all kinds of extras, bumping the price up hundreds of dollars.

We were told by managers that the flier was merely a suggestion.

"It was not a suggestion. 'They will be sold as a bundle,'" Chris said.

"To your knowledge, did anyone get to buy it for $299, $399?" I asked.

"No, there were no individual systems sold."

Chris tells us it was his local management that made the change and even admitted to him it was wrong to say the ad was incorrect, forcing the sale of the pricier packages.

"They admitted to you that it was wrong?" I asked.

'Yes, they did."

"And what did they say?"

"That they could only hope that it did not come back to bite them."

Again, local management denied our request for an interview even though corporate Best Buy has said in a statement, "Best Buy takes these allegations very seriously and is investigating."

"What was your response to the 11-year-old kid?" I asked.

"Pretty much, sorry, there's nothing I can do. I'm not a manager," Chris said.

I asked Chris why he wanted to talk to us about this.

"Pretty much because I felt that what the company was doing was unfair, and I felt bad," he replied.

We were told Tuesday by management that people could return any of the extras they felt forced into buying. But Chris, the Best Buy employee, said that is not true. He says one person has tried to return some of the extras and was denied.

The Oregon Attorney General's Office has opened a file on this case. If you feel misled by the ad, call the Oregon Attorney General's Consumer Hotline at (503) 229-5576.

http://koin.com/news.asp?RECORD_KEY[news]=ID&ID[news]=5673



They actually did this at my local store when the PS2 was launched. Corse it was after the initial launch and wasnt in the ad, so I guess some how that made it ok to sell the "packages"

 

[Jschultz]

hmm. I worked at the Geneva, IL Best Buy some time ago, and now work at the Bolingbrook IL Circuit City.

2 VERY different atmospheres, and work ethics. Best Buy's was "we know we sell volume by the boatload, and that's all that matters". Move from one person to the next, etc. At Circuit City, it's more " we know we don't see as much volume, so make every customer count by really taking care of them".

I can't speak for every CC, but mine is extremely customer centric. My GM gives away free movie tix and dinner passes to customers we've truly inconvenianced.

 

[YS2003]

I have given up on good old fashioned customer service at the mass market chain stores such as Best Buy, CompUSA, and others. Nowadays, those merchants are having difficult time to get motivated workers at the less than $10/hour wage. Those retailers are in the service industry and service is rendered by people working there.

I lower my expectation from those stores as I cannot expect the minimum quality (which are: employees who knows what they are selling and where to find the products in the store, accurate check out, open extra check out register if tons of people are waiting in line with only one check out register open, while other employees are chatting with each others or walking aimlessly in store, employee who are helpful to the customers). I am an easy customer as long as I can find the products in the store (if it is available; if I cannot find it, an employee directs me where I can find the item in the store) and they ring up the proper amount at the check out. One of my pet peeves are over-charge at the check out by applying the wrong price or charging twice (this happens quite a few times at the supermarket and others and I always do the quick run down on the receipt before I leave a store)

I usually use 3 strikes-and-you-are-out method (but, I try them with lesser value for 2nd try and 3rd try). If a certain retailer manages to hit a home run (home run to the big boo boo), I won't even put my foot in their store.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

hmm. I worked at the Geneva, IL Best Buy some time ago, and now work at the Bolingbrook IL Circuit City.

2 VERY different atmospheres, and work ethics. Best Buy's was "we know we sell volume by the boatload, and that's all that matters". Move from one person to the next, etc. At Circuit City, it's more " we know we don't see as much volume, so make every customer count by really taking care of them".

I can't speak for every CC, but mine is extremely customer centric. My GM gives away free movie tix and dinner passes to customers we've truly inconvenianced.

I agree on the basic point of being customer centric. I work for a photo reseller.

We look at each customer as an opportunity to build "brand" awareness". The brand being the store I work for.

I can not comment on any details for what we do for our customers specifically - but I think it is maybe even greater on the product level since we can call specific people in each company as needed.

As an example, we have one manager that is on a first name basis with most - if not all - companies that we deal with, about rebate issues. We go as far as giving extra receipts and photocopying at the store of what is needed.

But more so it goes back to my original post. The key is that there was a record/history of past behavior. There was a history of the change in the Best Buy extended warranty. Meaning that there was a separation between repair and replacement.

I can only say that given that Best Buy (now the Worst Buy) had performed to expectations in the past in my circumstance (even with the same manger) - the managers I work with would have "stepped up to the plate" in order to make a long term customer happy.

In another store that I worked for I saw the manufacturer take back gear that was over a year old, on the basis that it did not meet the expectations. Only because the store I worked for had a history with both the customer and the manufacturer.

In the end we would all like the "lowest" price. We all would love to to cheat the "tax man". But in the end, in some way we need support.....

 

[wiseguy27]

maybe this would help?

Maybe hitting these stupid people on their heads with the book "Delivering knock your socks off service" by Kristin Anderson & Ron Zemke would help? If it could help even 1 in 1000, it would be great!

"Customer service" or "Customer care" is such a lousy four letter word these days. I have seen companies only care about getting new customers and selling "something for now" rather than looking at long term opportunities and repeat customers. There's a lot of "customer churning" happening and nobody really cares. As a customer, in some instances you don't have any choice at all - you're screwed regardless of who you go to.

[The book mentioned above is a great one, especially if you deal with customers regularly, although the principles could be applied to pretty much any relationship]

 

[iGary]

The only time I go into Best Buy is when I know exactly what I want, and I have done my research ahead of time. Our Annapolis store is staffed with total dimwhits.

 

[FocusAndEarnIt]

I do the same as iGary. I hate BestBuy.

 

[YS2003]

The only time I go into Best Buy is when I know exactly what I want, and I have done my research ahead of time. Our Annapolis store is staffed with total dimwhits.

I also do the same thing with BestBuy. I check their web site to see what's available and if the price is in line or lower thatn CC or other stores, I will go BestBuy to get that itme only and get out ASAP. On a side note, their in-store available computers are low end mostly($500 to $1800 range) and if I go for a PC, I will go with the web merchant for better choices.

 

[bousozoku]

The only time I go into Best Buy is when I know exactly what I want, and I have done my research ahead of time. Our Annapolis store is staffed with total dimwhits.

I'd think that you'd have to do that with 99 % of the stores. Maybe, it's just my area but it seems like dimwits are the rule for any business. It's especially bad in stores which sell electronics. I think if they get a response at the interview like "ooooo, pretty lights!", they hire them right away.

CompUSA, BestBuy, Circuit City and even the higher end stores all seem as though you have to know everything before you enter. I bought $3000 worth of camera equipment having done the research and the sales people were all saying "well, I really don't know that much about them yet. I can't answer that." CompUSA is always fun. "Oh, you do realise that's Mac software and that won't run on your machine?" "Oh, I've never had a problem with running Mac software in the past 12 years." "Oh, you're one of them."

 

[DMPDX]

Same Here

Youre not alone. I purchased two cell phones a year or so back, purchased their warranty, Of course one of the phones broke, tried to replace it... And you guessed it... They told me I could buy a new one if I wanted it fixed. I am yet to buy another thing from best buy ever again.

 

[e²Studios]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Circuit City.
This thread made me curious about their plan for iPods. They replace. No questions. I digress, extended warranties and the like are rip offs anyways.

In my experience, Circuit City is much better than Best Buy. Even coming off commission, their employees know a lot more than Best Buy employees (and its even better now because they don't bother you like they used to).

I buy everything from Circuit City now. Even if Best Buy has the cheaper price id much rather not give them my money.

I bought a Sony DSC-T1 from Best Buy when it was first released, i had issues with the camera in low light, took it in to them, they proceeded to take photos in their Brightly Lit store and tell me there wasn't an issue. Long story short i had to run home load bad images from my mac to the broken camera, drive back the 30 minute drive and then finally they replaced it with a new one. When i asked for compensation for what was about 2 hours of hassle over an item i just spent $700 on 2 days previous i was told that since i got a sale price that they couldn't do anything more for me.. I will never shop BBY again.. (Magnolia HiFi is also owned by BBY for those that don't know and they are just as clueless)

Ed