I hate Best Buy because....
 

Just want to vent. Everbody feel free to join in with their own reasons for hating best buy

I hate Best Buy because....

1) When I tried to add a $5 digital coupon to an existing pre-order for LOTR EE on which I had already used a $10 digital coupon, I was told it was not possible (even though it was before the expiration dat for either coupon). The nice customer service rep then offered to cancel my original order, so I could go ahead and order it again using the $5 coupon????

2) After politely declining her offer, I found I was unable to use the $5 coupon for anything else. When I called customer service back up, they informed me that I had already redeemed it. Upon inquiring what exactly I redeemed it on, I was told nothing was coming up. At this point I asked whether the coupon could be reactivated & was told by the rep that she could not do this, but would let her manager know and they would sort it out and email me. I know what you're thinking now, simple ploy to get the customer off the phone, right? Well the manager did actually email me back! Unfortunately it was a day after the coupon expired to let me know that any complaints I might have had were moot points since the original coupon's expiration date had passed???? Naturally I emailed back stating that the coupon had not expired when I lodged the complaint. I have yet to get a response back and it has been over 2 months...

3) After receiving LOTR EE, to my dismay the 4th disc was defective. Rather than deal with the hassle of a return by mail, I went to my local best buy for an simple in-store exchange. The lady at the exchange counter told me since it was bestbuy.com she would have to give me a credit and then charge me for it again. Not thinking much of this I went along. So first she credited my account $16.36 ($24.99- $10 (digital coupon) + tax), then she tried to charge me $29.99 for a new copy. After taking a couple minutes to make her understand why I wasn't about to pay almost twice as much for a movie when I was just trying to exchange a defective copy, she finally saw my point. So she types a few numbers in the cash register and tells me my total is now $17.51. When I ask her why it isn't 16.36, she explains to me that she has to charge me tax. So I'm trying to explain to her that tax was already incorporated into the original price, and she's just not getting it. This isn't even math mind you, she just has to look at the reciept. At this point she calls a manager over because she can't handle this herself. So this guy comes over and starts to explain to me how they don't pricematch bestbiuy.com After explaining to this guy that I'm not trying to price-match anything, just make a simple exchange, he tries to ring it up as $17.51 as well. Now I never really cared about the extra $1.xx in tax, but it more a matter of principle. So I start questioning him about why on earth I should be paying tax twice? I think at this point he was getting sick of me, so he ended up charging me the amount I originally paid. As I was leaving, he made very sure to point out how nice he was being because it is against their policy to honor bestbuy.com digital coupons. So I then told him I was under the impression that it was their policy to do in-store exchanges for defective items bought on bestbuy.com. He assured me this was correct and under those circumstances an exchange would be perfectly fine... Another half hour of my life wasted arguing with idiots!

I had almost the exact same experience last night, also at a Best Buy in Cleveland.

My LOTR box was damaged - BB hasn't figured out how to ship DVD's without damaging them. So I went to BB to exchange for a new copy.

I was also told they had to credit and resell to me. My order had a $25 digital coupon applied, so when they did the return I got $1.25 back on CC and reactivated digital coupon. Then I was told they could not process the coupon in the store, I would have to go home and reorder. I pointed out that the price was now $3 higher. I spent 45 minutes at the cust svc desk while they huddled, talked to BB.COM on the phone, etc., and finally told me I was SOL. The manager felt so bad about it that he slipped me a $10 gift card for my trouble.

I came home, reordered online with store pickup so that I could reapply the digital coupon, then called BB.COM and asked to have the price difference adjusted. My case is now being "considered" by the credit department. I agree with you, the repurchase should not cost a penny more - tax included - than the original order. If they don't issue a credit for the difference, I'm returning this copy, buying a gift card with the coupon, and then I'll start counting the days 'till I never deal with BB again.

BTW, I spent another 30 mins in line today to pick up my new copy. So I've lost almost 2 hours of my life to this in the last two days.

What a joke for BB to advertise that you can exchange your .COM purchases in the store!

Absolutely hilarious! Hopefully it will all work out for you. I'm really surprised to hear that I actually got "lucky" in that I didn't have to re-order it online.

just curious, did you go to the best buy in Mayfield Heights or Parma? I wasted my afternoon in Mayfield Heights

Bestbuy sucks!

I had the same experience with an anime movie I ordered at bestbuy.com on sale, arrived damaged, and wanted to exchange the item in store. And that lady at the service desk wanted to charge me the full price! Took me an hour to get the exchange policy through her thick skull!

Bestbuy only hire retards for their service department!

no_creativity, Mayfield Heights for me too.

The inconsistency is the part that amazes me.

A couple of weeks ago I exchanged BOB which was also damaged in shipment. Once I convinced the clerk that she could in fact accept exchanges from BB.COM, she let me do the exchange with no paperwork. In and out in 10 minutes.

For you, they apparently figured out how to reapply the online coupon at the store.

And now, for LOTR, they put me through this hassle.

DNC, no_creativity...

I'm surprised, the Mayfield Hts. store usually gives me the fewest problems (with the recent exception of the $5 gift card they forgot to give me with the purchase of Glengary GlenRoss). They usually have the same two girls working the counter every time I'm in there - both very nice to me.

It's hit-and-miss at the other two I frequent - Parma and Great Northern. Depends on who you get to wait on you - some CSRs really do their best to make the customers happy when such incidents occur. For example, the other day I brought back a Santa Clause DVD that had a huge scratch on it. Brought a new one up to the counter, the guy opened it, and said that he noticed a few specks/marks on it that didn't look too good. He recommended that I get another one just in case. After looking at the disc, I said that it wasn't much of a problem IMHO, but he said that he wanted to make sure that his customers were happy and didn't want me coming back in case this disc was also defective. He said I could open one after another until I was satisfied. Very cool.

Of course, others truly go out of their way to piss you off as much as possible. For example, about a week ago I returned a Grinch DVD that I had bought for my nephew. When I unwrapped the case for him and took the disc out, I noticed it had a big mark on it. It looked as if a drop of glue or something had landed on the surface of the disc. Not wanting to screw around with it myself or put it in my machine, I simply brought it back for an exchange. The clerk looked at it, scratched it 9 or 10 times with her fingernail, and said that it was now OK - "it was just a little speck of glue." I s**t you not - I was dumbfounded. I recommended that I exchange it for a different one just in case (needless to say, she put a bunch of small scratches in it - but at least the glue was gone!). She just rolled her eyes, said "I guess," and rang up the paperwork. Amazing. I could have jumped across the counter to strangle her over her whole attitude.

Anyway, best of luck with future purchases/returns. Hope you get one of the better CSRs.

I just realized yesterday that I leave Best Buy angry EVERY TIME I GO.

I call up to see if they have Metroid Prime in and the guy is like "yeah, we got it in, come on and get it".

So I go and the guy in the department just says "Oh, we can't give that to you until tomorrow".

It's something new every time I go.
I just want to be done with this gift card so I don't have to go back for a long long time.

Being able to get things for 1-2 dollars cheaper is just starting to not be worth it when you factor in aggrivation and what not.

I've quit going to Best Buy. I hope Circuit City never stops their price matching policy.

I hate BestBuy.com for telling me I can use my $10 worth of Digital Coupons to order Celtic Pride w/instore pickup, only to findout that my local BestBuy was not stocking this title with instore pickup. So a call later and I get to cancel my order, but I lose a now expired $5 DC......

Well I just heard back from BB.COM - they credited me with the entire difference in cost between my original order and the reorder I had to place after the fiasco at the store.

So this pleasant experience didn't cost me any additional money, and I did get that $10 GC out of the store manager. I think he felt bad about the whole situation, but I also think he could have done things differently to avoid the problem in the first place.

Hey "no creativity", I was wondering if you checked your account to see if the value of your DC is back? I wouldn't be surprised...

I'm only 19, and I've stopped going to BB unless there is an excellent deal because of all the bad experiences I've had. From the problems I've had and hearing all of your problems, it really seems to me that they could make just as much money if they didn't argue price matching stuff, etc., and didn't have to have so many CS reps on the payroll. They really make things harder on themselves than they'd have to.

DNC, they didn't mess up and reactivate the $10 DC...

In all honesty, best buy is fine if you're picking up something from their catalog in-store, but when it comes to honoring their own coupons or doing echanges from the web site. They are horrible at following their own policies. It's almost like their marketing/corporate managers got different policy handbooks than their B&M managers... As for pricematching, it's circuit city all the way for me as well!

continuing the theme:
I hate bestbuy beacause...
4) They don't get games on their release dates. Similar problem as Zodo had. Main reason I went to the store the other day was to pick up Splinter Cell, which also was released on Tuesday. I was informed bestbuy does not actually put out newly released games until the day after they're released. The sales assistant did assure me that if I went to any other store however, I could get the game that day. Knowing that I went to EB and got the game yesterday, instead of wasting a trip back out to bestbuy. A buddy of mine had the perfect explanation of their rationale behind this policy: 20% of an average videogame's sales occur on the first day, with the other 80% coming later. Taking into account these type of numbers, he figured best buy probably rationalized that they would tkae 80% of sales over 20% anyday. Obviously, this makes it a no-brainer to postpone making a game available until the day after it is released!

5) The clerks can't seem to figure out how to enter the perferred customer coupons which are sent out in the mail. This past summer I tried using one of those DVD coupons for 10% off 1, 15% off 2, or 20% off 3. First off the girl at the register couldn't enter the coupon (with cashier directions printed at the bottom), so she had to call a manager over. The manager first tried to take 20% off only one DVD. She finally agreed to give me 20% off all three after I made her read the coupon which CLEARLY stated this. Her method for giving me 20% off all 3? Take 10% off of 1 DVD and 5% off of each of the other 2. Let's just say it took another good 5 minutes to get her to understand basic math. In all honesty, I'm not sure if she every got it. I finally just told her to look at the cashier instructions on the coupon (shoulda just done this in the first place). After all this, I still had to fill out some weird legal paper-sized price-change reciept...

You know, I had this same problem at the Almeda store in Houston, and there was another post about another BB doing the same thing. I really can't believe there are that many stupid people in the world. Somebody in BB mgt. must be explaining these coupons this way. Or they think thier clientele is so stupid as to believe that that is the way it is supposed to work.

The whole "not knowing how to check out a perferred customer" ordeal is managments fault.

1. Lack of training

2. The whole idea that you are a replaceable employee and that any monkey can do your job...which ties into #1

3. From my experience, employee's were hardly ever informed about preferred customer weekends.

Somer places do train and inform thier cashiers about how to use those cupons (the store here). But like everything else..its sadly not a company wide point to train thier cashiers. :(

I hate Best Buy because....

In numerous Best Buys, in various departments, I've encountered so many rude/pompous/arrogant/ people . . . I've never had problems with other chains like I've had with this one . . . with the people that is. I still shop there if there's a good deal, but I always avoid their employees.

However, I don't complain like others on this forum that want low, low prices, expert staff and A+ customer service. All of these things are mutually exclusive. You either know your stuff or you don't, if you don't, don't moan about how they couldn't answer a question. I even read a ridiculous thread a few weeks back where a person who already knew the answer to their question asked a Best Buy employee who didn't know the answer. Then this person berated the employee on this board. Give me a break.

I'm sure many of the Best Buy customers are just as bad as the employees . . . especially those self-righteous ones that think the store owes them something for some reason when it comes to a pricematch based on a printing mistake. And the ones that stomp their feet and ask for the manager every time something doesn't go their way. People really need a reality check.

jarsim,
it's interesting to read your post. I've never really had any problems with rude salespeople, in fact all of them have been friendly and helpful (but then I rarely have any questions besides whether something is in stock or where I can find it). My main problem is with management andand their illogical, overlycomplicated, time-wasting and contradictory policies. My only problem with the average salesperson (and this reflects on our school system at large more than anything else) is the inability of a surprisingly large number of them to grasp the concept of percentages and how they work...

I hate Best Buy because...

I pre-ordered a DVD and 2 weeks after it's release, I still haven't received the DVD.

Just pray that if and when they do come, you don't have to exchange them for any reason ;)

It's the same with me, when i go there i'm never bugged about anything...but that might be because i used to work there.

But my main gripe and complaint is always management. I can tolerate being treated as just another customer by a blue shirt grunt (as i have been in thier shoes)....but i cannot tolerate a person who is supposed to be a manager or even a store GM treating a customer like sh*t and then walking off with a smile thinking that that one person doesnt matter.

Treating that one person like crap will lead to them treating more people like crap and then 1 person becomes 100. Soon you have a customer happiness issue (which is starting to rear its ugly head now).

The whole upper management at this company need a collective bitchslap, and they need to start teaching store managers to take more responsability into thier jobs instead of acting like the 20 yr olds that most of them are.

A BB story:

Was browsing in one of the stores and was waiting to ask a question. (to step back, I was just browsing through their audio section and found it impossible to listen to anything, as they had twenty systems going at once in the same area - they need to seriously rethink how they present audio) There was an older couple ahead of me getting their first DVD player (some DVD/VCR combo). Seemed like nice people, was chatting with them about DVD.

The BB employee ringing them up pulled the player out of the cart to scan it and then it slipped out of his fingers and it dropped into the cart. This wasn't a horrible drop, mind you (not a good thing, though) and the player was probably fine.

Still, at this point, the couple was not pleased with the small drop and became more displeased when he tried to sell them the protection plan thing (and went through all the lies about how the player needs to be brought in for cleaning and what-not). They said no and he rang it up.

After all of the irritation about the small drop and all the discussion about it - which was a good 5 minutes, he tries to put the player back in the cart and it slips over the side, now very soundly landing on the floor. To make matters worse, he couldn't just give them a different player, he had to call the manager. He didn't really apologize, either.

I just wished the couple luck on their new player and left. I find Circuit City much more pleasant.

I have another funny story from BB, but this one is about uninformed customers. I like to bitch and moan about BB's stupid policies as much as the next guy, but when the customer is being the dumbass that makes us all lose a little bit of credibility.

I was waiting in line at the CSR counter yesterday to return a dvd. The guy in front of me was returning something because 'it wouldn't work'. The CSR calls a manager over, and the manager explains that since it has been over 30 days they can't return it. The manager points to the big sign behind his head saying no returns after 30 days. The guy still doesnt' understand. He starts yelling at the manager, calling him stupid and saying that he'll never shop there again. Then he starts yelling about how the router doesn't work with AOL. He's screaming at the manager that the manufacturer should say on the box that the item doesn't work with AOL. Finally, the guy's wife just says "Screw this, we'll do something else."

The rest of us standing in line were just laughing and sort of uncomfortable too with this scene. The manager just stood there dumbfounded, and when I get up to the counter, I ask the manager what the item was that wouldn't work with AOL.... the manager says, "Cable/DSL router."

Hey, if you epeople are going to rag on Best Buy, don't rag on the people that work there. I'm sick of the uninformed ingrates that go around posting their tripe on this and other sites about BBY's legion of grunts. We have to make a living too and BBY is how we do it. We're constantly under pressure from seniors, sups, managers, district mangers, etc. and we don't need the constant bitching and moaning from the same crop of people that will bitch about getting $2 off of a CD and then say they'll throw away a $300 radio instead of getting a $24 policy plan to cover that so they can get something better. Whatever. Remember this, the customer IS NOT ALWAYS RIGHT. It's just something retailers say to get customers to come back.

SonofSOP,

I can understand you getting insulted, but if you read this thread most of the complaining is about bestbuy's management, not the employees. My only complaint about the employees is that I've encountered way too many that can't do simple math :) It's not about spending $20 instead of $18 on a DVD, it's about having to go through the hassle of explaining that 20% off of $20 is $16, not $18! Hey nobody is perfect, I worked for one miserable summer at officemax. I think I only spent a day at a register before I realized I was completely inept at operating the damn thing with any sort of efficiency. However, I never had a problem grasping basic math problems (those credit card and check entry routines were another matter!)

As for the coverage policy plans, I have always been under the impression that the salesperson gets a large commision when they manage to push one of those plans on the customer. Knowing that I have a hard time believing the salesperson has MY best interests in mind instead of their own... My advice, be honest. Next time you try and get someone to purchase a coverage policy tell it like it is. If you buy this $50 coverage plan, I get a $25 kick-back and the kids really need winter coats.

huzefa,

you raise a valid point, perhaps we should start a stupid customer thread! :)

p.s. There is such a thing as a minor credit card. It is called Discover

HA! I WISH!!

The blue shirts get squat for pushing that crap out the door.

Managers might get something out of it, but all the low paid floor walkers get nothing but thier managers off thie back and/or get to keep thier job.

I would have enjoyed getting commission on sales instead of being threatened to be fired over those. I really think the only reason people arent on commission there is because the company is too cheap to pay employee's more....god knows they arent concerned with customer service :rolleyes:

What, you mean like this one?