Best Buy Business Review

Best Buy - The name defies its inherent meaning. Great deals doesn't always mean great service, and I found out the hard way when my own little Internet Rat Race was threatened by my trust in this large chain of stores. I like to consider myself a contemporary, educated Internet User. As a rule, the description fits. So when my little empire of blogs, retail websites, traffic exchanges and paid-to-click sites were threatened by the dead computer sitting on my desk, my answer was to find a store that had a great computer at a good price that I would pick up, set up and be working two hours later.

I visited many stores including Circuit City and Best Buy Online. Normally, I am a tried and true, faithful customer to Circuit City. However, this great deal was calling my name from Best Buy, the computer was in stock at our local store and so I ordered it. I waited for my confirmation e-mail, printed it out and headed off to drive 45 minutes with gas prices of almost $4 a gallon to get my new toy. $800 dollars later, including round trip gas fees and my new computer bundle, I sat down excitedly to set up my new computer and get back to work!

Imagine my surprise when the monitor for my wonderful purchase didn't work! Straight out of the supposedly sealed, brand new box...and no power! I immediately called the online number for Best Buy and stated my problem to Mallory, the customer service representative. Low and behold, according to Mallory, I would have to box up the entire set of printer, tower and monitor and take it back to the store. Acceptable? Nope...and so I asked for a supervisor. Jen B. answered my call after approximately 5 minutes on hold, again, an unacceptable wait for a customer service call center. Once again, I explained my situation to Jen and the immediate time sensitive nature of me being back online and ready to work. Her only solution was that I return the monitor to the store, wait 24-72 hours (boggle!) and return to pick up the new monitor. Issues, issues and more issues...

--90 minutes round trip at $4 a gallon for gas. Pick Up - 90 Minutes. Return - 90 Minutes. Pick Up Again - 90 Minutes.

--24-72 hours offline for an online related business? Impossible.

--No other solution such as a replacement monitor? Nope!

Jen suggested we call and speak with the store manager. Now have you ever tried to get a manager on the line at any store or physical place of business? It isn't happening until you have explained your entire situation to whoever has just answered the phone. Once again, I find that I am now spending valuable time explaining to a normal employee with no right to make a decision, my situation. Imagine my surprise when Damien said..."Just bring it in Ma'am, and I will exchange it for you right here tonight!". This is what I wanted to hear, and so without further ado, I headed off to Dickson City, PA to exchange this broken monitor for my new one!

Hahaha...so much for the easy answer! Enter the Customer Service Exchange and Refund Desk to our story. The young girl behind the counter ( and I did forget to get her name..remiss of me I know!) begins to explain that they will have to credit my card and recharge the entire package to exchange the monitor. Had this been explained on the phone, I could have saved myself the trouble of one again, explaining my situation and asking for a manager. But Damien had forgotten or wasn't trained properly, and had not explained that my over taxed, over maxed credit card would have to be refunded and charged again!

Now Jim, the M.O.D., enters our little saga. Remember, M.O.D means Manager On Duty. The true meaning? Whatever Department Manager or Supervisor the real manager could get to take on the night shift so he could prepare for the Pocono Race this weekend! This is what it has become, and I swear by the end, would have made a TV Movie that made millions! Jim and his cocky attitude walk up to myself and my husband and says "Ya!". Ya? Is this how you address a customer who has just spent more than $770 with your company and has an issue? I asked him his name, and if he was the manager, and he responded..."I am in charge of the whole building!". Great!! Maybe now we will get our issue resolved and get home to get back to work. Alas, it was not meant to be as Jim had three options for me. Ready for this?!

--We will refund your card and recharge it for the new package. Not working for me here...I already maxed the card buying the first computer!

--Open a Best Buy card account, we will refund the other account and charge the Best Buy card. HUH? In this day and age, who needs or wants another card? All I wanted is my monitor to work and be out the door.

--Return the entire package, get a refund and come back to buy the machine again when the refund was credited to my card.

Hrrrmmm...why can this not be an easy exchange? Well because I mixed easy with easy, I guess. Because I purchased the item online and picked it up in the store, their accountants wouldn't be able to keep things straight if this wasn't done their way! At this point, I admit. I became more than upset. What has become of the number one rule of thumb for any retail establishment, "The Customer Is Always Right"? It flew South for the Winter and forgot to return!

My only question for Jim at this point - "Who is going to pay for the 6 trips of 45 minutes each for me to return this piece of crap to your desk and get my money back?" Admittedly again, I was a bit more colorful with my description in person, but I will save you the gory details! I will share the gory details on my blog one day if you should choose to know! My little buddy Jim obviously was much younger than he looked, as he stuck his hand in my face and told me that he was treating me with respect and profanity wasn't necessary. Obviously, Jim must need to take a step back and realize that he has pushed me to my limits with his unacceptable solutions, however, since that was not going to happen, I took a step back and walked out of the store, leaving my poor husband to deal with the issue.

Upon returning, I assume Jim and my husband decided that the good ol' boy club needed to stick together! Jim was off checking on "something" and when he returned, he "stepped outside of the box". If you are familiar with retail in any way, this is a term used by any manager as they train their employees on how to handle situations. Unfortunately, this entire article would never have been written if he had listened to my situation the first time and provided his ending solution. After insulting me once again by asking if anyone had tested the monitor that I had brought back, and the time it took to explain that they were free to test it, however, my husband is a Network Manager for a local college with a Bachelors Degree in Computer whatever, Jim did exchange my monitor without having to go through refunds and new charges at the end. I requested that he test the monitor before I left the store and it was done.

However, I can honestly say that I will never return to Best Buy again for any item. Ever heard the term "Three strikes and you are out!"? I apply it daily to my life. First strike, bad customer service from beginning to end. Second strike, a manager who walks up to a visibly upset customer and says "Ya?". Third strike, the three hours I spent talking with online customer service, the in store M.O.D., drive time and the eventual $800 of hard feelings that Best Buy has incurred.

The only question left for me to share with you remains...

Why should customers who are spending their hard earned money have to beg for good service?