Best Buy = Poor Customer Service
 

Do I need to write out several paragraphs of details regarding my recent BB experience, or can I just get an AMEN from the congregation? I am seeking catharsis. :vash:

You expect something better from best buy? They suck. Period. And their "geek squad" should be named "idiot squad".

I had an extremely bad experience with them involving a brand new TV that broke within a week of purchase and they simply refused to even talk to me about it

I hate their service, but I have never really had any major problems with them that has kept my dumb ass from going back for more. I've purchased probably $4000 worth of stuff from them over the years, including my 55'' Samsung and my Nikon D50, along with tons of car stereo junk and other random gadgets. Outside of their shitty people either bothering you too much when you don't need them or being non existent when you do need them, I haven't had any real complaints.

My mother in law begged me to get her mini-fridge fixed cause it broke some tube in the back. Just cracked to shit.

So I took it there. They took it in for repairs. Returned it a week later with "repairs rejected: improper use". So she asked me to take it to them again saying she spoke with a manager and this time they'd fix it.. I did. Same thing. 3 times over. LOL

So on the 5th time I take it over there and they're like "we already tried fixing it (no shit) 4 times already, we're sorry but we can't do anything to it"

I ask for a refund or exchange. They won't give me either.

So I start screaming at those fuckers that I'm not lugging this stupid fucking mini fridge back home for the 5th time, and they better do something about it. I literally yelled at the top of my lungs. Asked them to explain to me how the hell you could "improperly use" a fridge. You bring it home, put shit into it, and take shit out. The tube that cracked was completely inside the fridge, not outside where it could get damaged.

So finally a manager gave me a gift card for 80 bux (the fridge was 120) and told me to take the stupid thing and discard of it.

Never went to best buy again

Their new caroling commercials make me want to fucking strangle those geek squad ------s.

Great story Vlad. I feel better already. I yelled at them vicariously through you.

I'll save you the long story and skip straight to the moral: Never buy anything from BB unless you can walk out the door with it right then and there. No ordering, no home delivery.

But, though their customer service is lacking, they make up for that with high prices. I never buy anything there unless it is a really good sale price. Most of their stuff is too expensive otherwise.

ZX, which one did you go to in town? I've never had any problems with the one in La Cantera. Never really been to any others.

I hated working at BB.

When I got my 3 month review my supervisor told me he was going to try to get me a raise (which was 7.50/hr). Sales manager bragged on me, saying I did an amazing job, blah blah. Then my supe. asks "so does he get a raise?" sales manager: "no, but he gets to keep his job!"

Their sales was driven by pure-pressure from managers and we got nothing special in return. A lot of stuff that was asked of us was way out of the standard employee's pay-grade lol.

Their prices suck, they'll have door-busters or ad peices but are only limited to 5-8 per store. There was never any rain-checks or any other price cuts for pissed-off or unhappy customers.

I worked for HHGregg for a lil over a year. Its a mid to south east company and anytime one is built near a BB they drive it's business to the ground. Employee's are comissioned based and have the power to change prices to satisfy the customer. Trained over 200hours a year, so general knowledge of electronics is quadruple that of a BB employee. It's commissioned but its not quite like a car lot. They don't just sell everyone what makes them the most money. If a customer doesn't like a product, they'll return it and the employee takes the hit and let me tell you, it sucks starting a day off -$45 in commission.

They recently went public and are starting to pick up some BB traits or morely CC traits lol. They have been picking up a lot of "top dogs" that worked in CC and for some reason they're saying "It worked at CC, why wouldn't work here!". I unfortnately saw it happen first hand, one of the reasons I bailed out.

If you live in the mid-east or south-east want a deal on a good TV, try HHGregg and haggle with the price, they won't want you to leave without it! Just watch all the accessories they'll stack on you lol.

But thats my rant for today lol.

Alamo Ranch, at 1604/Culebra. I am not even going to bother complaining to a higher power (Manager, District Manager, whatever) because it is clear to me the lameness is systemic. It is like complaining to their Desk Sargeant that the beat cops in Mexico are corrupt. No shit gringo, I get a cut.

Try the La cantera one, you may be surprised. I think they're just really nice because they think you have money if you're shopping in La cantera. fuckin idiots.

Best Buy is a big-box consumer electronics store, employing mostly uneducated workers at low wages. Just like all the rest of the extant consumer electronics stores.

What the hell do you expect?

Once upon a time, there were small shops that specialized in selling just TVs, or just washers & dryers, or just computers, or just vacuum cleaners, etc. They employed knowledgeable people and paid them more. Their prices were higher, and their selection was less diverse.

March of progress, and all that...

Best Buy is the only store in which I've had the manager threaten to get the security guard to escort me out (this was after they refused to refund or exchange a CD burner that was DOA, claiming that it must be a problem with "my system").

What is their deal with rejecting returns? Jeez
I mean you go to any other store, and they take back a bad product no questions asked.
These guys should get a "all sales are final, no returns" under the "best buy" sign.

flier129,

Thanks for the tip about HHGregg, never been to one, I'll have to check one out, the only place that was worse than Best Buy was Circuit City, and look where they are now.

I worked at a BBY for 4.5yrs. From junior year of HS till 2004. I worked in what was then the "tech bench" and then became the geek squad. I can tell you that while there have been some idiot GS's in the news, it by far does not apply to all locations.

1) The average high volume BBY GS does about $2000 of service a day. With an avg of 4 people on duty. Think about the workload that is for 4 people to handle while simultaneously working a line. If you think its easy, please try to work at one for 1 month without feeling completely overwhelmed. (this is my biggest peeve about bby, not enough people on shift). Most GS guys are overworked, over demanded, and underpaid. I made $12/hr in hs and I can tell you now looking back that I was underpaid for what they demanded of me. But I and all of my coworkers were hard working, smart guys. We did excellent work with a very low redo rate. A lot of idiots come back 1 week later for a redo after getting a virus/spyware removal done, yelling the whole time. We calm them down, and surprise...they visited the same fucking sites and got reinfected. Do you reasonably expect that work to be redone for free?

2) The Geek Squad is an EXCELLENT starting point for someone young to get a foot in the door of the IT industry. The fact of the matter is that when you work for the GS you get a myriad of experience from inventory tracking, to shipping, customer service, troubleshooting, a ton of hardware and software experience, and more. These are things that a hiring manager sees as assets. You are no longer an old school single focused IT guy that doesn't have a place in today's IT workplace. You can be molded into anything (Provided you aren't an idiot that slipped through the cracks). Taking my first job out of BBY, one of the determining, stand out features was my experience with GS. They had had several people on the team that worked there, and they were the majority of the members who could actually handle the demanding nature of the job. This was working for Verizon doing IT installations nationwide, about 75% travel.

Now I'm 23, and I'm a Network/System Admin II for a major defense contractor. I believe 100% that I would not have been so successful this early in my career if it wasn't for my experience at the GS.


Cliff Notes: Yes, there are some idiots working at GS that shouldn't be there. There are also MANY young up and coming people working at the GS that are there because they want to learn and know that its a great way to get into the field. If I were an IT manager right now, I would hire someone with 4 yrs exp at GS over someone with 4yrs exp at your standard help desk I position.

I'm done with my defense, and it applies to the GS dept only. During the 4.5yrs I worked there I rarely got to know anyone in the store other than CS people. GS people basically get no time at all to just roam the floor like the other sheep working at the store.

el fin

i work at geek squad. Mine has smart guys and a couple of hot girls even, but we do have a couple of guys who are that fucking guy with neckbeards and 8 wow accounts.

^^ all of that previous post is true. Maybe I'm just a rare good employee but I always help people non-stop. If someone doesn't get helped out its because I was too damn busy. We are overworked like shit. but I also get paid $12 an hour, and for a part time college job at 20 its not too bad of a gig. I've worked at other IT businesses as a computer repair guy and geek squad is a lot more work.

Also, pretty much everyone else out on the floor is a goddamn retard. They know nothing about what they're selling, they just want to get paid and go home. who can really blame them though? 90% of the people we deal with are goddamned idiots. It really just sucks the life out of you to have someone ask you if a computer "does the aol" several times a day.

I don't really expect to make any friends at work. I work for the man and I know it. I know people that arent goddamned retards will know better than to use our computer service which is horrible and overpriced. If you come to my counter though, obviously you don't know any better, so it doesn't make me feel bad.

Hopefully I don't have any troubles with my new Insignia tv.

This.


I used to work in media (video games, computer software, and music) when I was 16-17. I used to have guys in computers come over with customers to ask questions about computer software.

These people were in their 30s...and 'professionals' Rather sad. And I was not that much of a geek. :brain:

I've had the opposite experience with returns at best buy. I've bought stuff somewhere else, it broke, I went to BB to get a new one and returned the broken one. Yeah, I know, I can be a little lax on ethics sometimes, but when the shipping costs more than the device to send it back to the place I bought it from, it's not worth it. It's the manufacturer that eats the costs anyway, not BB. Other than that, I just buy CDs and DVDs from them when they have their specials. They truly are hell with their home delivery, though. My roommate bought a washer and dryer, sat at home waiting for it, then they call and say they can't make it cuz they're taking too long somewhere else. Then she gets it another day and they're too big to fit even though they said they would. It went on, but you get the idea.

My friend has been able to haggle pretty well for open box items, too. He got like $1000 off an already reduced price on his Samsung TV cuz they just wanted to get rid of it.

My Best Buy story is similar to Brian's. It was ok for a college job. Started around $8 or so but I was making almost double that when I quit--Part time I got paid more than most of the full time people, but I also consistently closed high dollar sales with big value accessories and warranties tacked on, and that's what they want. I worked there for 2 years, and it was the gateway into low voltage. I actually received another job offer, with a base salary over what I was making plus a generous commission, while on the floor. I got my letter of intent from the new company, and tendered my letter of resignation effective 2 weeks. They asked me to stay 3, and I did.

If I remember correctly, there were 4 managers... general, sales, merchandising, inventory. and they all got paid pretty well for retail jobs. The sales people for the most part made squat. The business model actually requires the pee ons to turn over.

I was pushed very hard by the managers to keep up "the numbers" because that's how they got bonused. I asked them to stop coming around and showing me "the numbers" because it neither effected my paycheck nor how I approached each sale. This apparently hurt the sales manager's feelings, and he wanted to fire me, but my department manager and general manager objected. I found this out later when a group of us went out drinking.

I went there a few months ago, with expressed intent to purchase a Panasonic 50" G10 tv. The store was completely remolded since I worked there, and the employees were completely turned over--it's been ~10 years since I left so I guess that's not to be unexpected. I looked at a few sets, but could not get a sales person to help me. I left after ~20 minutes or so and made my purchase elsewhere.

We now have a HH Gregg and a Brandsmart within a block of the Best Buy. Something I found interesting is that BB no longer carries any of the lower end displays and barely carries any plasmas. They also had a lot of models with proprietary model numbers. Bad move. Brandsmart and HH will pick up that business.

You sell the software on the floor, you expect me as a GS person to know everything about every piece of software that bby sells? Also, the guys in computers != GS. Most of the computer dept are sales people, thats all. The real GS agents are the ones that hate the pressure to sell, and just give people all their options.

People knock the GS because they tell people with 2 year old PCs to buy a new computer instead of adding new RAM, removing viruses/spyware, and getting antivirus/antispyware software. Well, here are the facts. As a GS employee you have a set list of services and their corresponding prices. These are prices set by BBY, and honestly are fair for the amount of time required to complete the service. If a user needs a spyware removal and software to protect in the future, and also decides they want something like a ram upgrade then you charge for those parts and services. You would be charged the following:

Virus Removal Service
Hardware Installation Service
Retail price antivirus
Retail price RAM

Well it turns out that this price ends up costing the same amount as a new better PC. So ya, I'm going to recommend that person just get a better computer and some antivirus software. For the perspective of the AVERAGE user, it is the most economical choice. The new computer will not be infected, it will have a better cpu, larger hdd and ram, and if you get AV you will be protected (unless you go searching for virii).

The point being this: Most of the people here or on tech forums already know how to fix these issues for free. They also know that they can get parts for cheap online. Good for them. Well, BBY is a business, a retail business. So they sell parts at retail price. They also provide PC services. These services are not free. If you think they are too high, figure out how to fix your own damn computer. That's all there is to it. If you want to complain that they charge $30 or whatever to install RAM, who cares. The avg joe doesn't know what the inside of a PC looks like, so they pay someone that does to do the installation. ITS A BUSINESS! BBY makes almost $0 on the RAM, so they offer a service to do the installation....

Some people have legitimate gripes, but it really steams me when people start complaining that they have to pay $200 to get viruses and spyware removed. A job that can take 3+ hours on your old P3 that should have been thrown away in the great flood and not put on the ark.

I have a P4 machine here with 3GB of PC5200 ram...I'm on what my third HDD in a week and spent countless hours trying to remove malware and reinstall software.

:)

Ever stop to think that people like you are the reason the rest of us have a hard time returning shit?

When my heat pump failed this summer I bought two window units at HD. yay for lax return polices.

I always do my research online before going to purchase any electronics, then I go into the store and tell them what i want, I don't ask any questions.
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I hear you, and normally I would agree here. But there are other large, major appliance stores (what I bought) that have MUCH better customer service than what I got at BB.

Take Sears for example. You order the appliance, they tell you if they have it in stock or not, if not they order it and tell you when it will be delivered to the store. When it arrives, they tell you when it is ready for pickup, you pick it up, done. BB pretty much failed miserably on all of the above steps during my transaction.

And Sears, if you catch a sale, can have good appliance prices too, so I think the discount pricing is comparable to BB.

Same here. So the only thing I am looking for at the store is out-the-door price and availability. And STFU Mr. Salesman about the awesome Extended Warranty you are offering.

+1 on Sears being awesome. Recently ordered a mattress (on huge sale) that they promptly delivered to the store, notified me of, and had IN the truck inside of 3 minutes after I pulled up. Incredible service. They also managed to not fuck up the order even though it was a special deal without box springs, and the firmest setup they make.

+1 on "damn I'm tired of hearing about the $40 BB warranty".

Lol, at HHGregg I made 22% of any warranty sold, if I sold over $1500 in a week and during the holidays wasn't hard to double that. I miss $800 days and all I did was sell TVs, cameras, and the occasional appliance!

BB's pay is capped at $12.50/hr unless your a manager. Managers are salary, except for "mobile manager" , which is hourly at like $17-$18 and you can get overtime. That would be the job I wanted if I had to work for BB.

I used to work at Best Buy, before there was a tech bench... Worked in computers. I was the only person there who actually knew about computers. Everyone else was mainly just salespeople.

It's depressing, working in sales. After a while I found out that people want:

A. Someone to tell them what to do
B. Someone else to "blame" for the money they spent, so that they don't feel guilty in some way.

The people who are there because they love what they sell usually burn out quickly, leaving people who don't care.

Still, it got me into a job where I can repair computers from home... so I'm happy with that. :D

This.

It's something that BB does quite well, actually. You go to the website, look at a product, and it tells you whether it's in stock or not at the five stores nearest you. Especially handy if you're looking for a TV, which is a situation where after you've narrowed it down based upon specs, you still need to go and view 'em all in person to make the final decision.

Sidebar: This past month, we got our first Best Buy in Charlotte county, FL. Ironically, they moved into the space that Circuit City vacated (and we'd only just somewhat recently gotten a Circuit City in the first place.) I went there yesterday to buy a replacement CPU fan for my socket478 machine, which of course they didn't have. But I really got a kick out of seeing the Port Charlotte version of a Best Buy. It's exactly like a normal Best Buy, only small. Kinda cute and sad at the same time.

Oh, sidebar #2: We also have a Radio Shack now, too! A real one, with the four-column parts bin, not a mall store. They're in exactly the same place that the old one was before it was destroyed five years ago in hurricane Charley.

I change my mind, I don't think I will shop at BestBuy again unless I absolutely have to. I was in there on my lunch break today checking out some speakers in their little home theater room, I barely had the volume up at all and some douche walks in and turns it down while I am standing right in the middle of the room listening to the speakers, and says "if you need any help let me know" then walks out... :mad: Must not want my money too badly. Then a few minutes later 2 or 3 guys that worked there came in and completely ignored me and stood around shooting the shit talking loud and on their cell phones while I am trying to listen to the sounds of the speakers...

this is when i usually pull out my wallet and starting beating them with it. shit hurts when it's so stacked.

I hate going in there just like I hate going onto a car lot. Every single person just swarms over you trying to "help you" with something. Sometimes a mfer just wants to be left alone looking at shit!

next time, pull your penis out of your zipper. people tend to steer clear when your junk is hanging out.

I have a really nasty habit of messing up displays when I can't find a salesperson to help me in a store.

Or fart a lot. SBDs are effective. Eat several hard boiled eggs beforehand and you might be able to clear out the whole demo room.

On a side note, the new Samsung LED TV's look fucking AMAZING! I could tell what it was from half way across the store because of the brightness and contrast. I stood there for probably 10 minutes just watching commercials with my jaw dropped. Makes my fairly new TV feel completely useless. I wasn't expecting that kind of difference in picture, but wow... :jerkit: If you are in the market for a new TV in the $2000-$2500 range for a 46''-55'' check them out.

LOL, they do a good job. They could replace the existing workforce and accomplish about the same thing. Standing around with hands in pocket.