What is the point of "in store pickup?" Is it just so you don't have to walk the extra 50 feet to get the item off of the shelf?

That and to make sure that the item is in stock before you go down there.

Our store has two separate lines for returns and pickup, and usually both of them have people there, but since so few people do in-store pickup, it really just turns into two customer service lines, so often I have to wait at least for one non-pickup person before I can get my item(s). I use in-store pickup when it's an item that's really popular, or if I don't have time to find the item in the store and wait in line, like when I'm on my way to the airport, or meeting up with friends.

While I'm not happy to hear other people are having problems with Best Buy, I'm glad it's not me. They can usually find my item, but they take a long time to get it. I usually forget about the guarantee, too (although I've also seen it recently on the website), although I think even if I did remember, I wouldn't bother unless they really upset me. I've tried to get a price match a few times, and they've given me the biggest attitude, even if it's trying to price match something in their own store. If I have one more bad customer service experience I may start going out to a Best Buy that's a little further away in hopes that their staff is nicer.

people that just want in store pick up are just lazy. you could save a lot of time just finding the item yourself on the shelf, paying, and leaving. so i dont feel bad for these so called 'horror stories'.

Except that Best Buy B&M stores do not honor the sale prices of BestBuy.com. BestBuy.com does not offer free shipping. Therefore, to get an on-sale item from BestBuy.com without having to pay $5 shipping you need to choose in-store pickup and deal with the horror stories.

I have never had them once not match their online price. I've done it over ten times. I guess it is YMMV or how you approach them when requesting the match.

They didn't a few years ago, but they do now.

I guess my local Best Buy takes a hard line on that, because the two times I've tried to do it they told me it was an online only sale not available in stores.

Pay attention to the wording: "an online only sale" is not the same as just having a lower price, and so the price-matching policy applies differently. Clearly, if they are labeling something as "online only," they are excluding it from being available at that price in the stores. The online FAQ even says that. Not every price online is listed as an "online sale only" price.

Well I finally had had enough last Tuesday. I'm a Premier RZ member who spends about 80% of my home entertainment dollar in their store. Ever since they got rid of the guarantee over a year ago I've had MAYBE 10% of my in-store pickups go as they should. Now granted, even with the guarantee it was a 50/50 proposition but at least I was compensated for that other 50%. So enter Tuesday...

I went in there to pickup an online order (had to place it online since I had a $10 digital discount code) as well as buy the new Clone Wars PSP game for my son. I got to the service counter and not surprisingly they didn't have the DVD. I was very nice and said 'no problem, I'll just grab it myself.' So I went back to grab the game and of course they didn't even have it on the floor yet. So while we were waiting for the game dept. idiot to grab it from the back, I went and grabbed the DVD. Still not that aggrivated at all. So I get back to the front with the DVD and there's a lady being helped at the counter and someone in the queue with a CC app (which I know from past experiences there takes them forever to process.) Then she does something that really pisses me off and calls on the guy with the CC app up ahead of finishing my transaction which I was nice enough to save her the work of fetching. Then to make matters worse the hovering BB employee just turns her back and walks away. At which point I pipe up and say 'excuse me since the other one doesn't want to help me, can you?' I then explain the issue and go through my complaints about their in-store pickup. Then the general manager comes over (ironically as I'm inputting his email address into my cell phone) and starts doing the transaction. Didn't even apologize or act like he gave a crap...which really set me off.

Fast Forward to Saturday and I have to do a return of a BR and a price match...and end up with the same girl that I first talked to on Tuesday. Long story short, she didn't know what to do (even though the guy started the app AFTER I did....shouldn't it be first come, first served?) Also found out that the dipshit manager had been there for "about a year" which ironically is when the store went to hell, all of the nice, helpful Assistant managers left, and almost all of the staff (including the security guys) turned over. If a customer can see that there's a management problem, why in the heck can't corporate?

For those that want to knock me for being upset... We'll start with the fact that I know quite a bit about retail. Also, I put up with a lot of bad in-store pickup experiences. Add to it that the GM had the balls to lie to my face that they "track the in-store issues internally" (bullshit.)

And for those that rip people using in-store pickup... As has been mentioned, there are online only sales....there are also online online discount codes....and of course what most people are too ignorant to realize is that some people can not 'just walk the 300 feet' because of disabilities.

The overall experience at Best Buy has gone completely downhill in the past five years. This is not limited to a couple of stores, but has been my experience at dozens of stores. I see a day, sooner than most think, when the chain is no more. They broke their basic business model when the Internet retailers started undercutting them on price. The corporate management simply has not yet figured out how to respond and maintain in this new environment. Your experience is not that atypical at this stage.

Back when they had the guarantee on in store pickups, everything that I knew I was getting from bestbuy I bought online for instore pickup. 1 item per transaction. At least 90% of them qualified for the $10 off. About the same percentage would now, as well, if they still offered the discount.

And that's exactly why they got rid of it.

The policy didn't really get more people to use pickup, nor did it end up making the experience any more faster or accurate. Instead, it just lead to $10 discounts being thrown out over and over again.

Without a doubt that is why they got rid of it. It bothers me though, that they would offer a service and then not be able to perform the service 90% of the time. It's like having installers that only do the job right 10% of the time.

Haha, so I ordered Pinocchio online over the weekend to pick up in store. I actually picked it up with no problems. I had the e mail confirmation order print out, they had the blu ray ready (with slip cover and all) and I was pleasantly surprised. Well I checked my credit card today and noticed that I still haven’t been charged for it yet. So after going home and finding the receipt and the paperwork I noticed that they gave me someone else’s copy. I don’t know how they did that since I had my paperwork and everything, but that guy is gonna be pissed when he goes to pick up his movie…

I’m sure they will eventually figure out the mix up, but what a clusterfuck. It’s not like our names were even close or something. I’m sure they went over and just grabbed the first one they saw and called it a day.

The only problem I had recently was they picked the DVD instead of Blu-ray for my order, and I had to wait 5 minutes for them to find the BD in the back.

If you don't press the enter button, then I don't care about your Best Buy story and will blame you for anything that happened at the store.

Pass. Use the ENTER key.

i see it a different way. imho, bestbuy was trying to push something they thought was good for business. but in the end, they realized that it did not help their business at all. in addition, that in-store guarantee was something that could not be established as a standard operating procedure across all stores. but not only because of training, lack of will, employee apathy, etc. rather, because it is a near impossible (at least dollars-wise) standard in the first place!

If it was executed properly, I believe it would be good for business. If I knew that I could put in an order online, then walk into Best Buy and pick it up and walk out in less than 5 minutes, I would probably do that a goo dportion of the time. I would most likely also do more shopping at Best Buy because of that. But due to untrained , or apathetic employees they werent able to pull it off.

From my recollection, the time frame was rather short. 2 minutes or something like that? Whatever it was, did seem rather short. Even when the right products were actually pulled and waiting, there were some times that they went over on the time.

I may be incorrect but didn't their guarantee start at about the same time as CC's 24(?) minute guarantee? With CC gone they had little incentive to continue it.

I agree though, once people become more accepting of online transactions (and realize the money they pay for shipping is saved on it not being taxed for most people) Best Buy will be in a world of hurt. Their best chance of survival is to adopt some sort of non-price match-price match of online vendors. Perhaps offer to split the difference with the customer. I know in our case I would have bought our TV from them instead of Amazon if they would have budged at all on the price match. Just couldn't justify spending an extra $300 + the tax just to have it that night over having it shipped and set right on the entertainment stand by the deliveryman.

I could have sworn they did away with the guarantee long before the demise of Circuit City.

The price match system you mention, while a nice idea, wouldnt work. First they would have to limit the online retailers they are willing to pricematch. second, they would have to weed out the obvious price mistakes. Because even though amazon has a tv listed for sale for $1, and you can check out with two in your cart, doesnt mean they are going to ship 2 tvs for $2. The only advantage that Best Buy has over the online retailers, is that they are physical locations. you can go home TODAY with the product. And because of that, they can charge more.

to hell with best buy. they are becoming too much arrogant/invincible