Best Buy Sucks at Customer Service
The letters below say it all - in response to my first letter, I was basically told “too bad, we had an ad - but thanks for your input”… If a company like Best Buy doesn’t control the representations of their employees, I have no idea what I, as a consumer, can do besides bluster. I suppose I need to get the name of every employee of whom I might ask a question… I’ve spent a lot of money at BB over the years, but unlike a neighborhood mom’n'pop, there is no way they can truly appreciate these things. I doubt there’s much that can be done, but I am hoping… thanks
W Gregory Stewart
248 N. Saltair Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Best Buy
Corporate Customer Care
P.O. Box 949
Minneapolis, MN 55440
Oct. 28, 2006
To whom it may concern:
This is a complaint about deceptive practices and failure to address customer concerns.
On September 6 of this year, while shopping at a local Best Buy (11301 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA), my son saw a “Pre-Order” package for a game, 2142 Battlefield. Since it had a $10 price tag, he approached a sales associate and inquired if this was a full price or a deposit. He was told it was the full price. I stepped in to make sure – “so once we pay the $10, that’s going to be it? There’s nothing else we’d have to pay? It’s really the full price?”
The associate looked at the box carefully and told us, “No, that’s the full price.”
BASED ON THAT, we decide to purchase the item; we were told it would be available on October 17. It was not, which led to a fruitless trip to pick it up, but 2 days later, the item was in, and we went to pick it up.
Imagine our surprise to be told that what we had previously paid had indeed been just a deposit. If this had been an item I was purchasing for myself, I would have asked for my money back – but it was pointed out that we were past the refund period anyway, as incredible as that seems. Choosing not to disappoint my son – who had been eagerly awaiting the release of the game, and who was pleased with himself for having made such a seemingly good buy - I purchased the item, determining then to write this letter of complaint. (Since I was not able to speak with the manager, having received only his card – and not even his card, since his name (Rick Palese) was handwritten on it - this seems to be my only recourse.)
WHEN A CUSTOMER ASKS A POINT BLANK QUESTION about the nature of a purchase and receives such misinformation, one can only believe that there is fraud afoot, or incompetence – or both. Regardless, if BestBuy does not train OR stand behind their employees, they should post signs saying “Notice, question-askers – we may not tell you the truth, and we don’t care!”
This is not an appropriate way to do business. I have been informed that the sales associate responsible for the deception can be identified by the number 0374930 – when I asked if that was the person at the cash register, or the person who gave us the bad information, I was told the latter, but of course I have no way of knowing what’s true at Best Buy anymore.
An ironic side note – as I stood in line waiting to not talk to the manager, someone beside me was complaining to an employee that someone had sold her a $100 worth of software she didn’t need, since it was already on the computer.
A pattern begins to emerge….
PLEASE NOTE that after originally writing this letter, I decided to fax a synopsis to Mr Palese (using the fax before mailing it out, just in case he remained ignorant of what was going on, with an invitation to call us to put things right. Nearly a week has gone by and no contact has been made – I can only assume that he has no interest in how his customers feel.
Angrily,
W Gregory Stewart
Cc:
Rick Palese
11301 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Best Buy Co., Inc. Attorney General’s Office
Corporate Headquarters California Department of Justice
P.O. Box 9312 Attn: Public Inquiry Unit
Minneapolis, MN 55440-9312 P.O. Box 944255
Sacramento, CA 94244-2550
Better Business Bureau of the Southland Consumer Protection Division
315 North La Cadena Drive Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office
Colton, CA 92324 201 North Figueroa St., Suite 1600
Los Angeles, CA 90012
November 11, 2006
Steve Taylor
Best Buy Customer Care
POBox 9312
Minneapolis MN 55440-9312
Steve Taylor,
So let me see if I have this straight.
A father and son come in to look at CDs (in this case). Wandering through the store, the son sees an item with a price that seems like a VERY good deal and asks a question of a sales associate to see if in fact it is what it sounds like.
From your response, it seems that I am now to understand there is no point in asking questions and that it is incumbent upon any potential Best Buy customer to go out, obtain a copy every local paper in a three-city area, and look exhaustively through each for Best Buy ads before making any decision to purchase any item, just in case there is information about that item in any of those ads - AND THAT IT IS NOT NECESSARY FOR YOUR SALES ASSOCIATES to already be familiar with the specific of any such ads, and that additionally those associates cannot be trusted to provide accurate answers?
Such a policy really needs to be made clear to anyone entering your store, don’t you think? Possibly a sign that says “Best Buy takes no responsibility for anything their employees might tell you. No responsibility at all.” And then establish a policy that sales associates should be required to inform the customer that any answer given may not be reliable…
It is the height of arrogance to “thank [me] for making [you] aware of [my] concerns” when in fact you have provided neither real sincerity nor true recourse to an angered customer.
Specific questions asked, specific and incorrect answers given – and Corporate out the door, ignoring it all.
Angrily,
W Gregory Stewart
Disclaimer
This article was submitted by one of our readers. Penciltrick cannot make any claims as to its authenticity but the article was accepted on a good faith belief that it is an accurate and truthful account of the events listed.
November 27th, 2006 at 4:24 pm
Hey, at least you got to talk to them. After sitting in their phone queue longer than I could stand, I sent an e-mail from their Customer Service form on their web site. It came back as undeliverable. Go figure…
December 19th, 2006 at 6:47 pm
Well your not alone.I went to Best Buy in Meriden,CT
to buy a 27″ TV for a XMAS gift for my mother.When the guy bought the TV out to the car i told him there is no way that it would fit in my car he said they would be able to put it in the back seat with out any problem.Well after asking him to stop a few times he got it into the car.When we got home we had to cut the TV out of the box,And when he forced the TV into the car at the store he broke the screen We also noticed our rear seat was damaged and the door was damaged as well.So i called the store they said bring the TV back,The following day i brought the TV back i explained to the girl at the service desk what happened and she called her manager on the phone and stated i could have a exchange.I explained the TV box would not fit in my car and we brought it back to the store out of the box to fit in the car.She finally gave me my money back,When i had asked to have her our the manager come outside to look at the car i was told to Call 1-800-best-buy.Which i did as well as emailed as well as talked to thier adjuster and they still have not paid any part of the $415 it cost to fix the car.Best Buy has awful Customer Service.
March 22nd, 2007 at 9:13 pm
I would love to tell you of our experience my wife and I add with the Big Blue Box (Best Buy). Trust me if I would have know of your Web site I would have heeded the warnings and advice of others that have had just horrible experience with Best Buy.
Well here goes:
My wife and I decided to take some of our Tax Return to buy us a new Washer, and Dryer. Well as usual we went to BB as we have done for in the last (9) years to buy all of our Big Price appliance items, as we have bought our (3) Desktop Computers, (2) Refrigerator, (1) Dishwasher, (2) TV’s (3) DVD Player’s, (2) VCR’s, (3) Surround Sound Systems…. etc…well you get the picture, close to $10,000.00 over those (9) years.
Things seem to go smoothly with the purchase of both of them till the arraigning of the FREE delivery that was with the package deal. But the sales person worked out the glitches an made the delivery on Wed’s the 14th of February in the late afternoon. I informed the sales person that we had some serious plans made, and could they arraign it before or after the 14th. “No” was the reply that it was the only day they could make the delivery. Well ok I said, “but let’s make sure it happens”. No problem was the reply; a they would call us the night before to confirm the time in the afternoon. “Great”, I said, let’s do it.
The night of the 13th we waited till around 9pm for their call. Nothing, no call. So I called the store a talked to the sale person that sold us the Washer/Dryer, and asked when they would be delivered. I waited on hold for over 20 minutes. Finally I called back and asked for the Manager on Duty. Waited other 10 minutes till he came on the line. I explained the situation to him; he stated he would check into this. After other 10 minutes he game back on the line. He stated that the Order for delivery was CANCELLED and that there was not going to be a delivery. Well my jaw dropped to the floor. “What the Hell was going on”, I asked, I know we didn’t cancel the order for delivery. I informed him of this and said this was not acceptable and that they would need to make the delivery as promised and that we would not be available for any other day. And why the Hell had this had happen. After waiting for other 15 minutes on the phone he finally came back on with “ it will be delivered tomorrow between 4pm an 6pm” OK I said great. As I was about to thank him he hung up, without an apology of any kind, or any explanation of what was going on? Well this should have clued me into Best Buy’s customer service policy of SCREW’EM AN LOSES’EM. Well as promise they did deliver the machines on time, but not with out some hassles there too.
Where comes the good part:
The following week my wife an I decided to buy a new laptop computer, and of course BB was having a Package Deal on a Toshiba laptop with Windows Vista installed and also with Mini mouse, and carrying case. This sounded great, and in our price arrange too. So we went into the Store and as usual we had to hunt down someone in the computer department to help us with the purchase. After finding a fresh Snot Nose Narcissistic Kid barely out of high school to help us, we decided to ask a few questions about the New Windows Vista system. We wanted to know if this laptop would be able to communicate with the other (3) computers we have in our home running Windows XP? And would it work with our Linksys Network Router System? And will we be able to share files, and to use our Lexmark Printer with this new Windows Vista, and our Network? “ Well of course it would…was his reply, with no problems. “ Well with that, and the blind trust I put in people we bought the laptop, and the extended service plan. And back home with our new toy.
Well we got it home and started to set it up, and everything was going as smooth as silk till we tried to set up the Network to share files/folders with the other computers, and the printer. Now I am not illiterate when it comes to computers, nor am I an expert, but I knew something was a miss, and something was not right. Well it was late and we decided to wait till the morning to finish the setup.
The following day was the Worst Frkin Nightmare I have had in 35 years (showing my age of 55) of dealing with any big business, and of course the worst day I ever had with Best Buy.
I kept trying to make the Laptop communicate with the Network, and my other (3) computers. I would keep getting a Microsoft Windows Error of “not finding a Network”. After spending an hour on their web site I could find nothing, so I called them. I spent over 45 minutes waiting; finally I spoke to someone about the problem (because I thought since it was a Windows Error the would be able to help) no such luck. They said I would need to contact Toshiba about this since this was an OEM (original equipment manufacture) problem, and not theirs. “Great” Called Toshiba, nothing, this were their service person informs me that the new Windows Vista program will not work with the network, router, a printer if my other (3) computers are running Windows XP. “HOLY COW POOP”. This was Frkin Peachy. Toshiba suggested to call Best Buy to see what they can do for me, buy asking someone there if they could help set up the network to communicate with the other computers. Sounded like sense. So I did.
So I called the Big Blue Box (BB) and spoke to same manager I had dealt with on the delivery problem. Wow that was the most stupid mistake I ever made. This manager was the biggest “DICK” I ever spoke to. I calmly explained the problem to him, an how I was led to believe that there would be no problem with this Laptop running Windows Vista to work with my computers, network, and printer. He told me point blank told me that his sales person would have “never would have told me such a thing”. God I was outraged, not only was He calling me a Lair but also it was quite clear that this worthless manager was not going to help me at all. I asked to speak to his Boss, (the store manager) SHE was not there. Then I asked how to get in contact with his District manager…. guess what…that’s right, he refused to give me that info also stating he did not know how, an even if he did he would not give me that info, because all customer concerns, and problems are handled at the store level, and that this problem did not warrant any further attention. What a worthless piece of human waste. I asked what was the name of his store manager, at first he was very hesent, and then he gave me her name.
Well for the next (4) days I spent calling the Best Buy customer service line, (what a gdamn joke this is), calling their Corp Office, calling their District office, trying to get someone to listen and care about my problem. Again No-one gave a Royal flying Rats Ass about what was going on. Only to inform me that all the customer relation problems needs are handle at the Store Level. “My God, don’t they understand that here in lies the problem the Store Management and the rotten little peckerhead that sold me the Laptop. “NO>>>HELL NO”. So after nearly going to the Hospital because on my Blood Pressure I decided to give it up. Knowing that Best Buy had SCREWED ME IN THE ASS AN NEVER USED ANY TYPE OF LUB TO EASE THE PAIN. Then out of the Blue the lousy Store Manager called an gave me the lamest apology I ever heard but still would not help me with my problem only offering to send out the GEEK Squad to make my Laptop work with my other computers, an network. But of course this would cost me other $200.00 for their service. God what kind of sick joke these folks live under, what kind of CON-Game they are playing on the costumer, what kind of people believe they would have me come back an waste my money in their store after this kind of Bull Sh___t.
God I pray, and beg anyone reading this not to buy your need’s at Best Buy, they will Lie, Cheat, an screw you up the behind so hard, that you will see stars. If any one reading this and still believes they will get good service from BB, all you will get is a Stroke.
BEST BUY GO TO HELL YOU ROTTEN MOTHERF___KERS.
April 13th, 2007 at 11:29 am
To anyone considering a computer purchase from Best Buy:
Don’t.
I am a Quality Assurance Director for an international furniture company, and I know a little about customer service. I purchased a laptop from Best Buy, only to have it start to malfunction after a few months. The original problem was fairly minor - the processor fan was slightly off balance and would whine after a while, the reduced cooling would occasionally cause the pc to lock up and not want to reboot until the chip had cooled back off. I demonstrated this to the service manager at the Geek Squad counter. I also informed him that this was my business computer and I would like to try to get any repairs expedited, as I would be leaving for several successive business trips shortly thereafter.
I have been back to the store at least ten times in the month and a half since I turned it in - I have gotten excuses after delays - but no laptop.
They told me after a month that the laptop had substained “liquid damage” and that I would have to pay an additional $700 to get my laptop repaired. I know for a fact that there was no “liquid damage”, and not suprisingly when I asked for proof of said damage, they had none to offer. When I bought this laptop, I purchased the additional warranty (which apparently covers absolutely nothing), but it seem you have to buy the standard coverage plus some kind additional coverage no one mentioned prior to this in order for them to support the electronics they sell.
I spoke to everyone in the chain of command at the store, and they offered no help, but a bucket load of excuses. When I contacted the corporate headquarters and spoke to the highest accessible individual in the customer relations department “Matt” (he woudn’t give his last name, and now I see why), this was the rudest and most unhelpful person I have ever dealt with in this capacity. If I were his boss I would fire him on the spot for representing my comapany and department so poorly.
The moral of the story is:
If you need electronics and you expect the company that sells them to support their product - don’t buy from Best Buy - you will regret it.
Sincerly,
Greg Kelly
gregory329@aol.com
May 2nd, 2007 at 8:39 pm
May 2, 2007
I too would have avoided BB if I had know about the consistently lousy service. In brief, I bought a portable DVD player last week, which we charged a couple of days later and took on a trip. I assure you there was no misuse or abuse of the player, but when we used it, there were big black spots on the screen. BB was not open, and we were out of town. The receipt said 30 day return for defective goods, so I brought it in when I returned 8 days after purchase. I was told the problem was caused by abuse, and they would not exchange it. I am shocked! I talked to the service manager who was nice but would not help. The young surly clerk told me that I would have brought it back right away. I explained I was out of town, to which she replied, “There are Best Buys all over the country.” Apparently, either you are guilty if you can be construed as such, or there is some unpublicized “right away” policy instead of the 30-day policy on the receipt. Worse, the clerk did not have the capacity to see how I was being robbed in this situation. I welcome any suggestions on where to go from here. I wrote Customer Care a letter, but am not very hopeful. Feel free to email me with any ideas on how justice can be served, or how BB can be forced to improve this systematic breach of contract.
Sincerely,
Michael Greene
doctorgreene@charter.net
September 5th, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Hi last week i take my van to fix remote starter and techician un able to do i talk to supervisor MR Doug
and Brad they promise to fix my car but today i bring my van they said we cant fix your door lock i ask supervisor and i didnt satisfied answer i ask them to remove your system they said we have to charge you labour which is not done i am your regular customer.
this is happen today at kitchener store
my name is kalpesh bhatt
phone no is 519 584 7100
pls enquire and let me know.
December 16th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Best Buy doesn’t have a stellar reputation or record. Poor customer service, poor warranty, poor stock levels, just plain poor.
Sadly though these big box stores just keep getting bigger. Best Buy and Wal-Mart are giant monsters eating up the competition and stomping on customers along the way.
I too fell victim to the Best Buy warranty scam. I was foolish, I got away without buying the warranty originally, but went back to buy it for my Rogers Cell phone after I dropped it in the parking lot. I was told that the phone was 100% covered.
One year later I went in because when I closed the phone (flip phone) the hinge broke. I brought the phone to BB and was told it could take 6-8 weeks. I explained that the phone was my home phone and I couldn’t go that long without and asked for a loaner - no dice. I took my sim card and found a replacement of the same model.
About a month later I received a message saying my phone could not be repaired because Best Buy didn’t have the part. Rogers cut their ties with Best Buys over you guessed it customer service complaints.
I went to pick up my phone and figure out the mess since I had an extended warranty. After 45 minutes of waiting, my phone was located. I was told that my phone would not be repaired or replaced and I would have to talk to the manager.
The manager came over arms crossed and ready to go. I didn’t even say a word before she accused me of intentionally breaking my phone and trying to take advantage of a policy to protect customers. I explained to her that I did not intentionally break my phone, that all I wanted was it to be fixed. She told me she spoke to the people at Best Buy who made the phone and that the damage could only be done on purpose.
I explained to her that Best Buy doesn’t build phones and she said that she talked to Rogers (which by the way did not do business with Best Buy at the time) and that it was them who had stated the damage was intentional. I explained that Rogers didn’t build phones to which she said ‘yes they do’ to which I added no Motorola does. She then said ‘you know what I mean’. As I tried to explain myself again she yelled at me to stop yelling at her. Which startled me because I had hardly been able to get a word in edgewise.
I asked her if they would replace my phone and she smiled and said no - that I wasn’t going to take advantage of Best Buy. I asked her to refund my warranty and she said Best Buy doesn’t refund warranties. At that point I did raise my voice and said let me get this straight. You sell me a phone and a service to care for the phone. Then the phone breaks, I try to collect on the service by having you FIX the damage and since you don’t have the part you can’t fix it and even though my warranty pays for replacement you won’t. She said ‘that’s right’. I asked her if it was Best Buy’s policy to lie, cheat and steal from the public and walked out. I haven’t bought anything from Best Buy since. And I won’t. I also don’t buy from Wal-Mart and if the customer service at Shoppers Drug Mart continues to follow BB & WM so long to them soon enough.
I would rather pay more for an item, get the service and if I have a problem know that I can go back for help and service and to be treated like a person, not a criminal.
DON’T BUY FROM BEST BUY!
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Best Buy will not honour their price match guarantee. The only way I got them to do so was to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. Had I have researched all of the complaints against them on the internet, I would have bought my TV elsewhere. If you have an issue with Best Buy, involve your local BBB and never shop there again. I sure as hell won’t.
March 12th, 2008 at 2:39 pm
I have so many storys about how best buy screwed my boyfriend and I over, all occuring in under a year…. Now I tell off the employees when I go in there for asking if I need help by simply saying you can’t help me if I know more about this stuff then you do… Trying to complain to them about a problem is like talking to the wall but I think the wall is way more helpful. I agree with the warrenty scam mention a few posts up, there warrenty is the biggest joke i have ever come across, Its a waste of money and when you need to use it they act like you don’t know what you are talking about even though in the past 6 months the computer we bought there has been in and out of the local store and there repair shop roughly 12 times and it still doesnt work like it is suppose to if anything they have made it worse. And there geek squad is the biggest joke I have ever dealt with, when I can walk in there and tell them exactly what wrong with it and they ignore what i say and wait until i have to make two of there trainees cry from me yell at them to get it done they way it was suppose to be done in the first place. The only good thing to come out of that is when i walk in there with the computer they get the manager right away because no one wants to deal with me without him standing there. The last time we were in there the guy who was helping us couldn’t even hook up the computer tower to the screen i had to show him how… Can you say pathitic. Oh yea one more thing there best buy credit card is the biggest scam ever!!!! they screw you over on there no intrest for so long. In our case we had no intrest/payment for 18 months, first they started sending us a bill every month and when we didnt pay we got hit with late payment, so much for no payments for 18 months, and with the intrest every time we wouldnt pay the intrest rate would go up, and after 11 months we got our tax return and paid them off well what we thought was paid off, two months later then sent us a bill for 500 dollars for unpaid intrest and we fileing a dispute with them over it and asked them what happened to the no intrest and no payments for 18 months and if paid off before that 18 months you wouldnt have to pay the defered interest. The responce we got was that it was just there policy to do it like that and nothing more was said. Which really irked me for the fact i made it a point to ask the sales person about the back interest and he had to ask the manager who said that if it was paid off in that 18 months the interest would not have to be paid. So we got screwed into paying them the 500 extra dollars because they sent it to collections.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Are telemarketing calls from Rogers Cellular driving you crazy? Have you asked them to stop calling yet the calls continue? Have these calls been eating away at your airtime? Are you ready to send a message to Rogers that you’ve had enough? If so, send me your name, cell number and story. We are collecting and forwarding this information to the CRTC and if enough people respond there may be a possibility of a class action lawsuit and / or credits from Rogers to compensate for the abuse of your phone number and wasting your time
Thank You
Mark
kawartha.lakes@yahoo.ca
May 30th, 2008 at 4:39 am
interesting story, so the guy made a mistake, kill him? like you are always right, have some human feelings buddy
now as for Ric Trout
only got to ur message n then gave up on reading wut type of BS you guys are writing. Dude, you are 55? well age doesnt matter so much. look here, if they said that they will send out geeksquad to help u make the network work then there is obviously a way to make the network work, its just you who is too computer illiterate to figure it out, no offense, there is nothing wrong with that, im sure im illiterate in fields that you have knowledge in. but calling someone a liar because you do not know how to make something work is just low. Now as for the “Snot Nose Narcissistic Kid”; well guess what, if you want to call him that, then i will say this to you, he just got out of highschool and he knows far more about comoputers than you, at age of 55, how does that make you feel? sorry just kinda gets me when people call people names, i can come up with a few for you but i wont
May 31st, 2008 at 2:48 am
Best Buy: Deceptive, dishonest, management hides behind corporate policy in an attempt to take no responsibility for anything their employees say. Mobius strip of BS.
I called Infocus after my 1080i IN5700 projector power supply burned up. I paid $3600 for it about 5 years ago, they told me It would cost $600 to fix and working it was only worth about $600 now. So, April 19/08 my girlfriend and I went down to Best Buy #104 to look at 1080p projectors. Best Buy is the closest store and usually the first place I go.They had an open box Sony VPL VW50 marked down very cheep, $1900. It is twice the size and weight as my old one but I asked to see a demo of what it would do and it did look much better than my old 1080i. I asked but they didn’t have the box, manual or any paper work, they did find the remote and the projector was missing a faceplate. So he dropped the price another $100 and said if not satisfied I could just bring it back, it had the same 30 day warranty as a boxed item.
I was leery because I had a problem with an open box DVD player from best buy before. That time the box had a sticker that said everything was in the box. But when I got it home it didn’t have a remote. I remember they jerked me around for 2 weeks before that was resolved.
I remember swearing to myself, to never shop there again. My memory and anger fades…
Next, I got burned by them trashing my refrigerator on delivery, The delivery man said the where house did it and they lost some paperwork telling the condition when it left the store. Yes, it had to go to the where house from the store before they could deliver it to my home? Anyway, my refrigerator had been down for 3 days, they just gave me the runaround, said I shouldn’t have accepted it, so I let it go.
So , I said about the projector, really 30 days, no questions asked? He said, yes, just like as if it was in a box, just keep your receipt!
So, I took it with me, twice the weight as my old one too. Had to go back for a special cable. I was determined to make it work but It would not tilt up far enough to hit the screen, to heavy to mount on my ceiling mount and I would have to relocate a new mount and the ceiling fan. Found there is not enough Blue ray content out for rent yet and Blue ray players for my PC are not up to par. Did a lot of research to see what it would take to get this projector to work and finally gave up. There was a lot of discussion with Infocus if my 1080i would output 1080p with Blue ray. No, but I figured I would fix the 1080i and hold off for 6 months or so when I can better utilize Blue ray before I got a new projector… I would have never spent so much time with the Sony if I wasn’t told 30 days. I sent the Infocus in to be fixed about May 7.
I took the Sony back May 15 and the return desk now told me 14 day return policy. They called the sales man that sold it to me and he said he remembered selling it to me. someone pulled him over to talk to him. I asked him to tell the return desk what he told me. He was surprised to see 14 days on the back of the receipt and looked a little worried. He said, yes but the receipt said projectors are different, only 14 days. I said I was going by what he had told me. I said, No big deal, an honest mistake just tell the manager what you told me, he got nervous, looked conflicted, said he wasn’t sure . A manager pulled him aside again and sent him back to work, said he didn’t remember. She spoke of “hear say” and “he said she said”. I said my girlfriend heard it too, offered to call her, and the salesman is not disputing it. I asked to see a higher level manager and she said she was the highest store manager there was. She refused to give me her bosses name, over and over all she would answer is “corporate” call an 800 number. She would not speak only say “corporate” so I left and called. After 2 calls and over an hour on the phone I got her bosses name and number. Yes, the store sends you to the corporate phone and they send you back to the store. I called him many times but he never returned my calls. Finally May 19, I went to the store to talk with him.
To my surprise it looked like he came out to talk with me but said he had to go out side and talk to the police. He came back in and told me he called the police on someone making threats out side he store? apparently another unhappy customer..
I told him what happened, that my girlfriend and I were told 30 days and the sales man was not disputing that. I told him the sales man learned it was 14 days when I brought it back but he seemed to be getting a selective memory as his management got involved. He told me he would talk to the sales man and get back to me by 11:00 am the next day. He did call and left a message to call him back. I spent the rest of the week calling leaving messages but no return call. So, again on May 23 I went down to talk to him.
He offered me a store credit. I said, no way will I agree to be forced to shop here in the future. I asked if he spoke to the sales man, he made some confusing double negative statement about what the sales man said. He was not willing to elaborate.
He then said the sales man didn’t remember any conversation. He offered me 2 more weeks to think about the store credit so I asked to get that offer in writing and, he refused. He was no longer willing to speak with me.
June 10th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I had 2 bad experiences w/ Best Buy, first I returned an Iron that was bought for a gift and broke after the first time used it. I just wanted to get another one to replace this defective one, but they said since no service plan was purchased and it now was more then 15 days that they couldn’t replace it. The service plan in itself is a bogus, because 90% of the time it isn’t going to be covered anyway and they charge you 1/3 extra to receive this. Sears wouldn’t do this! All they have to do is give you the same new item and send back the defective one to the manufacturer.
The second one is worse. I bought an HP computer there and mistakenly let the incompetent so called “Geek Squad” install upgrades, which first I should never have bought the software or service in the first place. Well anyway when I took my computer home and hooked it up to the internet, it would connect online for a while, but then out of no where it would boot me off and I couldn’t back on the internet. I then contacted HP customer service and we reset the computer and I was able to get back online, but then the same problem would happened again and again. I did this several times, until taking back the computer 4 days back to Best Buy after I purchased it. The Geek Squad tested it and said that there were no problems with this? After spending 2 hours with the so-called managers I was finally able to get a new computer, but I was not refunded for the software upgrades. I returned this 4 days after I purchased it and they gave me a hard time even though the receipt says you have 15 days to return for a full refund. They did not believe me that this was defective, even though I had documentation from HP that we spent over 10 hours trying to resolve this problem with no avail!
One thing if you must buy a computer here by no means never ever let the Geek Squad touch your computer. Do not ever go here to fix a computer problem as well. The Geek Squad is either totally incompetent or there to sell bogus software and services, which will make your situation worse.
But in general the Customer Service does really suck at Best Buy. I think this will eventually lead to their downfall several years from now, unless they change drastically.
August 7th, 2008 at 5:26 pm
We purchased a frig and 5 year extended warranty from Best Buy in 2001- it had a defect and it was replaced with an LG. We were told the extended warranty continued to the LG. The LG was a lemon and required constant service and should have been replaced under the lemon law (was serviced at least a half dozen times).
LIE #1
Best Buy serviced it for 18 months and then I was denied service stating the extended warranty did NOT cover the replacement.
I fought Best Buy and even LG for 3 years and finally filed a complaint to Consumer Affairs. I swore I would never deal with Best Buy again.
LIE #2
Best Buy responded to Consumer Affairs and stated they honored the terms of the extended warranty. I called the person at Best Buy who wrote the response letter to Consumer Affairs and gave him my phone logs of every call to Best Buy for service, and told him I was denied service less than 3 years into the original warranty. Best Buy gave me a Gift Card for the cost of the frig, but would not give me a check.
I tried to sell the Gift Card for it’s value without success. So we went to Best Buy and picked a frig and financed the balance through BB credit. It was an “Open Box”, and the french doors were not aligned properly. The salesperson told us that the offset doors was a leveling issue and would be fixed by the installers.
LIE #3
When the frig was delivered, the installers said there was nothing they could do about the mis-aligned doors.
The french doors didn’t work in our kitchen as we have a wall on the right side, preventing it from opening all the way. I researched online for replacements and we went back to Best Buy with five different models selected. Best Buy was unable to get any of them even though they carried other models by the same manufacturer. The only other model they carried was LG which we did not want after the last purchase. I asked our salesperson (Brad) if Best Buy was unable to get a frig of our choice and in light of our use of a Gift Card, how would a refund be handled? The employee told me that a “refund check” would be mailed to us within TWO DAYS of the return of the frig. Not taking any chances, I called Best Buy the next day and spoke to a different salesperson (Jose) for a “second opinion” since I didn’t trust Best Buy any longer. I described our use of a Gift Card in the purchase and asked specifically about how the refund would be given back to me. Jose told me that a “refund check” would be issued TWO DAYS after the return of the frig. I figured with two identical statements, it would be safe to purchase our frig from another vendor.
I scheduled our new frig to be delivered on July 23rd. I scheduled our Best Buy frig to be picked up on the 24th. I called Best Buy credit and informed them of the pick up and the time frame given by Best Buy for a credit.
LIE #4
Today is August 7th (2 weeks later) and no refund check and no credit issued to the credit card company. I called Best Buy and asked Brad the salesperson where is my check and credit. He said he had been real busy, there were computer issues, yada yada. He said he would get to it today and get the “Gift Card” issued.
LIE #5
I reminded him of what he told me as well as Jose. He said he didn’t know if that was possible and put me on hold, but didn’t come back on. I called back and spoke with the store manager, Mike Solomon, who said a gift card refund is “store policy” regardless of what I was told. I called Best Buy Corporate Customer Relations and spoke to Jean & Dana, who said “sorry, pay with a gift card, get a gift card back. The card doesn’t have any value so we can’t issue you a check”. Strangely, it had value when we purchased.
I filed another complaint with Consumer Affairs. I will again try to sell the Gift Card at less than face value and try to take Best Buy to court for whatever I was shorted. So now I have a bill for another frig and a Best Buy Gift Card that I will NEVER use. I’m done with Best Buy. I’m tired of their lies.
August 31st, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Reading this website makes me think that I should just cut my losses (only $30)and walk away from it, but it angers me so that Best Buy is allowed to do these things to consumers. I bought a washing machine from Best Buy in Los Angeles. I paid for the machine, delivery and set-up on my credit card. The salesman told me I needed a stainless steel connector for $29.99, which he added to the total cost. When the delivery guy came 2 weeks later, he set the machine up and told me I didn’t need the connector and that the salesman shouldn’t have sold it to me. He told me I should return it. I had to leave on a 2-week business trip the next day and by the time I got back to Los Angeles, it was beyond the 30-day return policy. I tried anyway thinking that it was their error and why would they screw a good customer over $30. Not only would they not make the return, I asked for the manager and he was incredibly rude. He told me “you’ve had plenty of time to return this, it’s your fault.” So I guess Best Buy’s position is I had 30 days to fix their error. How can this - and much worse I’ve read on this website - be legal?