Last night I ordered a few things online from Best Buy for Christmas gifts (2 CDs, 2 computer games). Good prices, nothing hot, but quite satisfactory.

I chose in-store pickup since I work fairly near one. I didn't make it there until about 4pm. Walked right up to the counter. Promptly waited on by a very friendly lady. She had my order to me in about 30 seconds. She even made another CS person move from the computer terminal so I didn't have to wait. Verifiy ID, verify credit card, sign the slip, I was out the door. Maybe 5 minutes.

Great experience. Tried this with CC several months ago and it truly sucked. BB though, was great.

I bet it helps that you gave them nearly a full day to get your order ready. Last time I did it, I bought it from my computer at work and then left to drive there. Some 20-30 minutes later, they still hadn't got the order in from BB.com. Mind you, I used a BB credit card too.

They couldn't release my item because they didn't have the order. They wouldn't PM their website so I could buy a different one and let me just cancel the BB.com order. I was basically SOL and had to come back later. Horrible experience.

I think I read recently that they've revamped it so it's supposed to be much quicker, but I don't think I'll be bothering.

You're right, they did have quite a bit of time to prepare it. Maybe it would have be different if I ordered in the morning at work and then tried to pick it up at lunch.

I did have small items too which probably helped.

Still, it was a good experience.

They email you when your order is ready for pickup.

Edit: and the website states an average of 45 minutes.

There shouldn't be a delay. It's an electronic world with instant credit card approvals. I can understand them not physically putting an item behind the counter in 20-30 minutes. I cannot understand them having no record of the order and therefore having no way for me to complete the transaction. I would have got it off the shelf for them.

Plus their refusal to PM their own website to nullify the inconvenience was absurd.

Well they have a new policy that if they don't have your in-store pickup ready within a minute, you get $10 off your order.

I ordered the three LOTR's extended editions and they had one of the theatrical 2-discers mixed up as one of them. So I offered to go get the right one off the shelf. And when I got back, the lady told me she took $10 off my order because I had to get the right DVD for them.

One of the conditions for that is that you bring the print out that says it's ready (so that you can't show up before they've had a chance to get the item). Pinata didn't wait that long.

It may come off sounding a bit harsh, but they really shouldn't have to cancel your order and place a new one for a different item-- at the same time, price matching their website-- just because you didn't follow directions.

Nah, it's not harsh. As I said, I understand that the item wasn't "ready for pickup". I don't understand that the order "isn't in our system yet".

I don't drive that fast.

The databases for these retail companies are so old and patchworked together over the years that I'm not surprised that it's not instantaneous (since it takes time for the machines to talk to each other). Their back-ends were just not designed to interface with a website.

I don't bother going to Best Buy to pick up my order until I get the email that says it's ready.

I'm 100% on orders being ready too.

What does that "1 minute" thing mean? All the Best Buys I've been to have the online pickup at the same place as the customer service line, which is usually packed unless I go in the mornings. Actually, I take that back, I went to one BB that had a separate online pickup line, waited there for a long time with nobody available to help me, then went into the customer service line because that queue had died down.

Still, the OP is right, it's nothing compared to CC.

It's one minute from the time you talk to the rep, not from the time you stand in line.