Deadpool

[RANT] Went to BB to take advantage of the "Preferred Customer Weekend" by picking up a few DVDs. I went on my lunch hour so the lines were long, clerks were slow, and their AC seemed like it was having problems. I've been through that before, so I didn't mind too much. My turn comes up and here is where the fun starts. I had The Emperor's New Groove (Ultimate Groove) 29.99 and Enemy at the Gates 17.99. She scans the DVDs. Enemy at the Gates scanned up at 17.99, it's sale price this week. She looks at the price tag and changes the price to 22.99 to match the sticker I calmly told her that's on sale for 17.99, that's why it rung up as 17.99. She holds it up and says "This is on sale?" I'm like yea, it in the paper. She slowly finds her sales paper and flips to the DVD page. "I don't see it in here" I told her to look on the back cover. She corrects that mistake. Then she says the price is ????. I pull out my 15% off coupon. She looks at it and says "This doesn't start till tomorrow". I told her to read (I put much emphasis on read) the coupon. She looks as if I pissed her off, but I'm about to flip right now and I ask her are you OK? She looks at the coupon then rings up 15% off of Enemy at the Gates only. I said didn't you read the coupon? It's 15% off any 2, limit of 5! Take 15% off both of them. At this point people in line were starting to get uneasy as well, becuase this was taking a long time to complete. To end the rant, she finally gave me the discount I deserved and I walked over to CS and complained to a manager. I somewhat felt bad afterwards because everyone has bad days & I would hate for someone to get wrote-up or fired because of me, but the attitude and lack of service she gave me just was too much. [/RANT] Did I overreact?

LBPound

I would have been pissed too, but I probably would have just twikoffed.

POWERBOMB

Was she cute? Since you didn't mention it I would assume she wasn't. Tough call. Do you complain about the ugly chick even though you know her looks will hold her down forever, or if she is cute do you say something and risk her never working there where you can "see" her again?

Seriously, I don't blame you for being pissed. It's is great you didn't take it out on her. She probably doesn't get paid enough to take abuse from customers. I think you did the right thing. Issue your complaints to a manager (gawd knows they are banking enough to take this kind of heat) and be done with it. I wish more people could do what you did.

Heat

You were right, she didn't make one mistake, she made three mistakes which could have easily screwed somebody who wasn't aware of what was going on (like you were).

She needs an attitude adjustment.

BigT

Look - this kind of stuff has happened to me and many others. This is how I handle it - I don't get pissed, I don't rant and rave, I remain calm, speak politely and stick to my guns. If the checkout person has to call in a superior, that's ok. If there's a long line of people behind me, I don't worry about them. If I'm in the right, I always prevail (a couple times I was wrong - then I apologize). But this clerk does need better training. Best Buy's policy is to charge the lowest price between what rings up and what the sticker says, even if it was mismarked.

D-Ball

I wouldn't have gotten that pissed because you have to remember that stupid people have to work for a living too. If this happened everytime I went into the store, then I would be pissed. Otherwise, just let it go.

eau

I took my unopened Akira LE back to BB. The CS allowed me to repurchase it with the Preferred Customer Weekend 10% off. Pretty painless.

I didn't get the $17.99 price at K-Mart since Oregon didn't get any. Instead I got it at $25.19 final at BB. Not too bad.

Contactsport1

The only really bad experience with BB came from an online order that they screwed. I won't go into the details but in the end I ended up (2 weeks after it started) with a $10 online gift certificate for my next online purchase, which paid for shipping, handling and taxes. So it ended well. People and companies make mistakes. How they end up handling those is where the big questions are answered.

CaptDS9E

Actually she wasnt supposed to give you 15% off of the SALE price of Enemy at the Gates. You got lucky you got someone who didnt know what she was doing.
Somtimes these coupons catch employees off guard if they dont know they are coming. Expecially for new employees. I was shopping at best buy yesterday waiting online to purhcase Josie and the pussycats and In the line of fire:SE(complete opposites there ). At my house we got both sets of coupons. I knew that the 15% off coupon wouldnt work since josie was already on sale , So i took out my 10% coupon. I get on line and there is a guy (15% off coupon) with 5 (3 on sale and 2 old) dvd's spread out on the counter who is making a big scene trying to be heared. A manager comes out and is trying to explain to him that you cant use the coupons on sale items. The guy kept saying it dosnt say that. It actually does on the coupon (Can not be combined with any other offers). You just got lucky

Capt

eau

Use the Shaws card and problem solved (does not work at Boston areas)

mint

I used to get upset about these things...until I worked in retail. After my first day behind the counter, I immediately realized how difficult and stressful it can be. Now when I start to lose my patience I think about how I frustrated I would get when I would make a mistake and just relax.

lostatmidnight

Ahh...Someone who understands...I've worked in retail for over three years while going through college and everyone on this board just doesn't seem to understand how tiring and frustrating it is to work with the public, especially an uncooperative, arrogant uniformed public who expects everything now and for free....People want everything for free, they want this, they want that, and they will bitch and moan to high corporate Heaven to get what the want, usually undeservedly....Most places do not have enough help, not because they don't hire people, but because corporate policy puts limits on new employees...Why was the girl confused about the discount? Maybe nobody told, hell, nobody tells the employees anything, your just supposed to KNOW---they don't pay me enough to know everything, but I try...People change when going into stores---nice grandmothers become malevolent beings who enjoy torturing everyone in sight with complaints, people shout about return policy's, technical support, the list is endless....

Everyone tries to but on a happy face, but after dealing with human beings all day, it tends to deaden our souls...Be a little nicer and empathetic next time with the girl at Best Buy, because, you never know about karma...

end of rant.

Red Dog

I went to Best Buy (Arlington VA) earlier this month to buy the Die Hard Collection. It is around 6 pm on a Tuesday so it is pretty busy with people just getting off work. They have only 2 registers open. I am the 3rd person in line at 1 of the registers. The person at the head of the line is buying 2 or 3 items and paying with a credit card. For some unknown reason, it takes 5 minutes to complete this whole transaction. Then the next person is in line with 2 items. He is writing a check. He makes it out and the cashier looks at the guy's ID. She then puts the check into that part which endorses. It doesn't work right so she looks at the check again and points out something to the customer which he then corrects. At this point, she has been with this customer for 10 minutes. He corrects the check and gives it to the cashier who then says that the guy needs to make out a new check because they were too many mistakes with the original. I am fuming - 3rd person and haven't even gotten through 2 customer yet. I yell out "The Hell with this!" and throw the DVDs on the counter and storm out.

I walk next door to Costco. They have it for the same price. Now costco does have long checkout lines but at least they always have 90% of their registers open. Plus their cashiers are magicians compared to Best Buy cashiers. I was 4th or 5th in line behind people with probably an aggregate of over 100 items. I get to the front of the line within 10 minutes nonetheless. So in the time it took Best Buy to scan 5 items and complete only 1 transaction, Costco scanned over 100 items and completed 4-5 transactions.

I get home and I tell my roommate that if I ever say that I am going to Best Buy because something is on sale, please shoot me.

I will gladly choose Costco over Best Buy from now on, even if it is more expensive.

murpm3

Many retail stores make me mad also and I believe it all has to do with the work ethic of teenagers...Not all but most.

I am 23 now and I worked retail while I was in college and in high school. I learned early on the putting on a smile and paying attention to customers goes a long way.

It simply bugs me when I see a few 16 or 17 year olds standing around talking when they should be asking someone if they can help find something, or be helping up front when the lines are busy.

It just seems to me that over time younger workers are losing a hard work mentality and expect to get paid for standing around. Its just not the way things work.

Before every teen on this board jumps on this post...Please realize that I dont think everyone is like that. I have had many pleasant experiences at stores (even Best Buy). I have also a few times gone to the store manager to let them know that such an employee did a good job. I believe if more people did that people may take more pride in their jobs....Too many times a good job goes un-noticed....And a bad job goes noticed (which it should). Only having bad jobs going noticed only causes an employees outlook on their current employment to get work causing a vicious cycle.

Deadpool

hehe...same one I went to. I've been considering a Costco membership, but since I'm already a member at Sam's and BJ's I've never gone in. If Borders had the DVDs I wanted I would've gone there and left BB hanging.

Red Dog

I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Illinois Enema Bandit

One of the BBs near me has their checkout system arranged so that everybody gets in one line and you check out at the first register that is open. This system works quite efficiently, and I don't understand why they don't implement it at all of their stores. Needless to say, this BB gets most of my business, as the others in the area have the usual 2 checkouts open with interminable lines

dvd-fisherman

BB employees are pathetically sad and dumb. Sorry if you are one.

dirtrat

I'm used to the crappy Customer-No-Service at Best Buy but I've took this store for so much money that its not even funny. Between there own mistakes, Price Matching and so forth they loose money with me everytime I walk into that store. I think you did the right thing but unfortunately with the pay they are giving those people thats about the best effort most of them are willing to give out. Unfortunate but true!

POWERBOMB

Kind of harsh, isn't it? I mean, I can certainly understand if you said all terrorists are sad and dumb, or all child molesters are sad and dumb, but to classify sad and dumb to all employees is rather harsh. Oh sure, there are probably more than a few who work there that could care less about that job. And you probably run into them every time you are in the store. But you can't discount the many others who take pride in working there, who come in early and stay late, who take the abuse we as consumers dish out. As a former retail employee let me tell you that retail is a very stressful occupation with low pay and little rewards.

I'm not bashing you for saying what you said, cuz I know it's you own opinion. I'm just saying that it would have been better if you said that some employees are sad and dumb. Guess what though, poor customer service doesn't stop us from going back and getting a good to great price on something.

Foole

You guys must be talking about the Pentagon City store...that is the WORST BB BY FAR that I've ever been into (as well as one of the smallest)...I've had some horror stories there too...avoid at all costs!!

The Seven Corners and Fair Oaks locations are MUCH better (got my Toshiba 16:9 at Fair Oaks...no complaints)

Location is everything...

Red Dog

I agree - the 7 Corners one is definitely better, but that still isn't saying much.

Brian Shannon

I have stopped shopping there for reasons such as this.

This chain is a blight on the consumer electronics retailing world.

The coupons I get in the mail from them are not even worth the time it takes to go there and endure something like this.

I would actually rather pay more at a store that actually wants my business.

eau

Here is my story. I bought a big multimedia storage rack at BB, went home to set it up. When I was more than half way done, I found a crack in one piece of the wood. The BB I bought the rack from was out of stock. So I drove like 80+ miles away from home to the next BB that had it in stock. The bitch store manger wouldn't exchange part for part but would require me to bring the whole rack down. Heck, the rack was almost assembled and too huge to fit into a car. I didn't wanna dissemble it and drive another 160+ miles round trip. So I tried to reason with her. The bitch wouldn't take it and said it was their policy. Policy her a$$!!! The BB I bought it from would have exchanged it without hassle if they had it in stock. In anger and frustration, I bought the same rack from the bitch's store, went to my car, exchanged the part myself, and returned the damn thing back to her.

Knives

Seems like all of you need to go here..........


http://www.bestbuysux.org/