Best Buy has managed to suck time, and deliver aggravation yet again. I usually put up with their high prices, as they are located everywhere, have a simple enough exchange policy, and have that 18 month no-interest thing. However, in a crappy economy, when people are not buying, you’d think that a large company (any company) would try anything to get buyers…. including good customer service. But not Best Buy inWest Boca Raton…
Best Buy? You mean Worst Buy!
I was emailed their new specials, and saw that there were some GPS units on there. There was this one “Insignia” that was on special for $199 (instead of $500)– never heard of the brand, but my friend Liz was looking for a GPS (after having borrowed my Garmin Nuvi, and seen the awesomeness which is GPS), so she went to best buy. The store was completely empty … perhaps the other shoppers already heard about the crappy service! But this guy was saying that the item is no longer on special. Liz called me up (What a shocker… me? Near the computer? Never!), and I looked it up… sure enough, it says it’s until 01/03/2009. She quickly calls me back “he says it’s for premium members only” — now… I’m working on planning out my entire 2009, and am not taking kindly to interruptions… but Liz is a good friend, so…. I look it up yet again… “Tell that moron that it is specifically on the `For *ALL* members’ part of the page! “ I shortly get yet another call “He says I have to print up the e-mail and bring it into the store then” “WHAT?? Just go talk to a manager! I’ve never had to print up their e-mails to get the savings (Which are more expensive than you can get it online anyways!” “Yeah… I already walked away…” — so… she goes to their computer section, which conveniently has the Best Buy website up. I gave her the URL for the special, and she pulled it up, so she can show a manager.
“Excuse me, are you the manager?”
“Yes”
“Can I talk to you real quick?”
“About what?”
About what??? Since when does a client have to beg for a retail manager that’s sitting around picking his nose (doing nothing) to please provide a second of his time?? I worked for CompUSA back in the day. I study brands these days. Zappos.com just broke 1 Billion dollars in sales, 2 years earlier than planned, completely based on having superb customer service. Does Best Buy not realize that *EVERYTHING* is advertising? Yes, that’s right! The piece of gum on the floor, or the unarranged displays, or the frozen computer on display… and ESPECIALLY the snooty attitude of an employee… those are ALL messages to the consumer that the store is not professional, and does not deserve their business. So, finally he says “I guess we’ll honor it… just take it to customer service, and tell them.” –Liz has to go to the back of the store, and get this GPS from the same guy that didn’t want to honor the price. He throws it in her hands “pffft.. here!” awwww… poor baby has to actually do some work!
The website mentioned that this product comes with a year of web connectivity, and map updates that are provided in-store, at Best-Buy. “Liz, find out how much that subscription costs to renew, so you don’t get anally violated when it’s time to renew!” – she was at customer service at this point… The guys at customer service had no clue… Geek Squad has to do it…. ask them…. wait in another line… ask the Geek Squad guys, who didn’t know, so tried to tell her that she doesn’t have to update her maps! “But I want to update my maps!” “You do it on the internet.” “The product description says it has to get done at Best Buy, and regardless of where it gets done, I want to know how much it costs!” “Well, you have to go all the way to the back, they may know there.”
Needless to say, Liz did NOT get the GPS, or the $300 speakers for her mp3 player. That’s $500 (plus tax + subscription fees) that will go to another store… actually, she now never wants to shop at Best Buy again, and I don’t blame her. I wish I could invoice Best Buy for my 30 minutes of wasted time, and I’m sure Liz wishes she could get her 1.5 hours and good mood back. A crappy employee is not really excusable… but it happens. A manager has no excuse for providing lousy service! That is inexcusable… they should know better, as they are the ones who are supposed to police the lesser employees. The Customer Service people should definitely know how to provide Customer Service… their frigging sign tells people that that is what’s provided there.
I’d like to conclude by saying that there are many places for you to shop at. Some of those places actually would like your business, and will try to earn it. In these crappy economic times, stores should learn that the consumer can -and will- shop around, and if they would like to get those customers, they should provide some sort of value. If it’s the best price, that will only work until the competition undercuts you. If it’s superb customer service, then that store may actually see “Loyal Customers” that keep coming back, and tell their friends about the store. As a consumer, you should go online and check prices… just because Best Buy sends you a coupon saying their product is on sale, does not mean it’s the best price… that’s why they overcharge you to begin with. If you can wait 3-7 days for your product to arrive by mail, you can get huge savings. Check out PriceWatch.com / Froogle.com / Nextag.com / Ebay.com / Amazon.com – A perfect example is that $40 Phone charger that BestBuy may have, will only cost you $5+$4s/h on Ebay. So… be smart! And if you’re a business owner, you had better be doing some serious watching to make sure your employees are treating clients like the precious commodity that they are!
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January 3rd, 2009 at 7:05 pm
[...] every single thing you do affects how the public perceives you. In fact… you can read my post on Best Buy’s crappy customer service (by the way, yesterday in conversation, an associate mentioned they too had a similar experience in [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 8:21 pm
From what I just read you are either full of crap or you just managed to find an employee who was having a bad day (Go figure). I’ve worked for Best Buy for two years, and I have had a lot of fun working there. The Insignia GPS is usually 199 any way because it is a Best Buy brand and we do price match and that includes our own site if you just had them look it up Best Buy.com for the price they have to price match, it’s a policy. What makes me think you are full of it is the premium members only part, Best Buy has nothing like that. The sales person could have just been an ass, that is just as likely. I will give you the benefit of the doubt though in my two years of working there 1 out of 10 people that get hired to work the sales floor are actually good at it. Working retail is not an easy job and it’s people like you that bitch about crappy service that make it a pain.
January 16th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Hey Ben. Thanks for your passionate reply- it’s awesome.
I’m certainly not full of shit. My friend definitely had her time wasted by multiple employees, including a manager, and the customer service folk. In my opening paragraph I wrote ” But not Best Buy inWest Boca Raton…” to emphasize that it is that particular Best Buy. It seems my friend had stumbled onto multiple employees who were having a bad day– which would make sense, as the store was completely empty at a time when people are usually attacking the store for year-end bargains. No people = no commissions from selling service plans, etc.. My point is that the lack of sales should be extra incentive for the employees to be nice… ’cause there’s clearly less customers and dollars to go around this year, and stores need to do everything in their power to attract and keep loyal customers. Customer service is the #1 thing that can make or break it. The one in Atlanta always provides me decent service, and the convenience of not having to wait for something to ship, and having 18 months no interest is pretty great.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat168900050002&type=category&ref=36&loc=34 < --- while the prices and items have changed... this is the weekly special page. You can clearly see that they haave a "silver members only" and an "all members" section (see, not full of crap
). The staff gave my friend crap about it, and did not want to be helpful, others were unknowledgeable, and the entire experience was awful for my friend (and me, since my work was interrupted, and I had to be on the phone for a chunk of that time)... everything adds up. If only 1 in 10 are any good, that's a shame... and I don't know what the statistic is for managers. But that's not really excusable either. As I said, every single company is represented by every single employee it has. I'm glad to hear that there are employees that care, and take pride in being Best Buy employees. I used to work retail by the way (CompUSA) in 1996. Many of our employees were just there for the job... I was one of the few who was very well informed about hardware, software, and apparently customer service. I know that retail is not an easy job.... but if people receive customer service, they will bitch and moan. My friend can go and write a letter to corporate if she chooses-- she said she would, but I don't think she'll take the time. Everyone has their time full these days, it seems.
Best Buy should give you a raise, as you clearly care, and are standing up for Best Buy. They as a company are clearly not monitoring their brand though. Check out this amazing piece by Peter Shankman -- regardless of the brand awareness part, he has a ton of incredible insight and predictions into Social Media... so it's interesting. Watch the part about the hotels though, or the Rubics Cube. http://waynesutton.tv/news/2009/01/16/peter-shankman-talks-social-media-at-prsa/ – Interesting, eh? So, you went and found me, and tried to set the record straight. But corporate didn’t… management didn’t… no one tried to find out who my friend is, and offer her a customer-service concerned team to give her a private GPS tour, and a discount for her wasted time. Had they done that, I’d probably be posting about what an amazing company they are, and how much they care. You do.. they don’t (care). So, I commend you, and if I’m in Ohio, I’ll shop by your particular store. But, the west Boca store… not so much. If you want to do a great service to the company, have corporate watch that Peter Shankman presentation, and learn to monitor their brand. They would do well to show the world they care.
Whether I’m a douche-bag that just likes to complain, or a “victim of crappy service” (which is what my friend is), I still have the right to complain, and voice my experience. In this day and age where information spread is instant (like that Hudson River plane crash where all the 1st pictures were from cell phones, and twitter beat the news), people need to pay attention to how they behave. When I couch surf with people, I make sure to be the guest my mother would want me to be.. I clean up after myself, I don’t go through people’s stuff, I’m helpful, I try to add value to the people’s lives. I do that because if I’m a shitty guest, people will talk about that…. if I’m a good guest, they’ll talk about that.
You know what the kicker is though, Ben? It’s that around the holidays, Best Buy had these beautifully produced ads showing up online, and on tv… these ads that show (supposed) Best Buy employees talking about how they touched people’s lives by providing just a tiny bit of extra service that people aren’t used to, which made those people’s holidays. It’s an ad though… people don’t believe ads so much these days. So, if my friend saw that ad, and decided to go to Best Buy, and then got crappy service, there’s no congruence there…. It’s as if they are just advertising that as bait… a facade…. But, when a company advertises one thing, and then it turns out to be a lie, the word spreads quickly. As I said– the company would do well to pay you extra, and have you monitor their brand. It will do them a world of good. Will they take you seriously if you bring it up? Maybe. Perhaps just a few mystery shoppers would do the trick. Either way, my friend had a miserable experience, my time got wasted, I got to voice my account of it, and I’m sure my friend wishes she had someone who takes their job as seriously as you do to help her.
January 17th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
I came across this blog by just messing around on Google. If you type in Best Buy sucks you get an amazing amount of hits. It just annoys me a lot when people complain about our store, but don’t get me wrong most of the time the people complaining have the right to do so. The reality is there will be people who suck at retail and it usually reflects poorly on the company when that happens. I have heard a bunch of stories about how people have had bad experiences at Best Buy and a lot of it seems like an over exaggeration because when you go through the training at Best Buy they stress the point about doing as much for the customer as possible. It is a bit different for the store I work at though because we are smaller and don’t get as much business but we aim to do the best we can. I’ve seen the managers at my store go out of their way a lot of the time to help customers out, but Best Buy does have policies that they must follow so there is a limit to what they can do.