Best Buy Bad Experiences

[Souless]

When i recently went to best buy i went back to the xbox 360 section to get the new DDR universe game that just came out. I noticed that the sticker in the area it was in said $59.99 which was a wrong price so I looked closer at it and it said the name of the game DDR Univ. Bundle $59.99 I was shocked because on thier site it said $79.99 so i was glad for the $20 off. I get into line and when the lady rings it up the price is $79.99 and i explain that in the back it says differantly so she called the manager over and we went a checked and it said $59.99 same as it did 10 minutes before but i had to pay the full price because it was a stocking error and I call that false advirtising and got a bit upset. Then the lady said that it wasnt her fault but the stocker's fault and i say that i dont care whose fault it is i just want it as the price advisetised in the back so she says that she cant do that and told me either to get out or pay and seeing that im so lazy i paid for it which i probablly should have gone to another store but again to lazy.

 

[SonicIce]

horv nooooooob

 

[thudia]

This is not my long issue but another one i remembered while reading others posts. about 2 years ago i bought a belkin wireless g router that was on sale for $9 after rebates ($20 from belkin and $40 from BB) i sent the stuff out and got belkins within 2 weeks. after 3 months i contact best buy and they say there is nothing they can do. so after a month of complaining to corporate and such i am later told to resend the reciepts and they will give me it anyway. so a week after i send the new stuff in i get a letter from BB telling me that the rebate had expired and i won't get the money. also the guy at geek squad one time told me that after replacing my laptop cd drive they had to reinstall windows because of "driver tatooing". that is such bull crap. has anyone ever had to reinstall or even reactivate windows after replacing the cd drive. it doesn't make such. i have never had to do anything like that.

 

[thudia]

HORVNOOOOOOOOOB

 

[PottedMeat]

Originally posted by: Raduque
My worst experience with Best Buy was the rebate for a HDD coming in late.

Seriously, as long as I steer clear of the salesdrones, all my shopping experiences at Best Buy were fine.

Yeah, thats been my experience as well. As long as you know EXACTLY what you want and know what it's worth, Best Buy is ok.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: thudia
This is not my long issue but another one i remembered while reading others posts. about 2 years ago i bought a belkin wireless g router that was on sale for $9 after rebates ($20 from belkin and $40 from BB) i sent the stuff out and got belkins within 2 weeks. after 3 months i contact best buy and they say there is nothing they can do. so after a month of complaining to corporate and such i am later told to resend the reciepts and they will give me it anyway. so a week after i send the new stuff in i get a letter from BB telling me that the rebate had expired and i won't get the money. also the guy at geek squad one time told me that after replacing my laptop cd drive they had to reinstall windows because of "driver tatooing". that is such bull crap. has anyone ever had to reinstall or even reactivate windows after replacing the cd drive. it doesn't make such. i have never had to do anything like that.

i broke my dvd drive the other day so i took it out. after i booted back up i had to reactivate.

 

[thudia]

but when you reactivated was a drive in. in that case the hardware did change but if you take it out and replace with out rebooting windows shouldn't see a hardware change that needs reactivating because all drives use the same generic microsoft driver

 

[dquan97]

hmm...let me count the ways:
1. Manager called the cops on me for having a "weird" looking drivers license...coincidentally, I was redeeming $150 worth of BB bucks. Cops say there's nothing wrong with ID. Felt treated as a thief by the manager....
2. Won't honor PM on AR items
3. When I used to work there, it's unusual to be frisked and searched at the end of the night shift

 

[athithi]

Buying computer parts vs buying consumer electronics at BB can give a very different experience. I haven't personally been subject to some of the horror stories I've heard (like the guy that got arrested!), but I've received poorer quality service when I used to buy computer parts, particularly when using their price match policy (only on computer parts - I recently price matched my 50" for a $150 CC coupon + wall mount discount and the sales guy had no problems doing it). More often than not I am ignored by most of the salespeople at BB so I can't complain about pressure sales tactics Oh, the last thing I bought at BB was a TV stand - I asked for the open box item as it came with a $50 GC but it had a big screen TV displayed on top of it and the sales guy offered me 10% (~$35) off a NIB TV Stand so he wouldn't have to haul the TV and replace the floor model. The only less than satisfactory experience I had with consumer electronics was trying to exchange a Samsung phone after getting it fixed 3 times - battery wouldn't last for more than 30 mins. I had to finally tell them I wouldn't leave the store without a replacement phone (I had a PSP on it, of course) and they very reluctantly gave me a replacement.

 

[hoorah]

I had to purchase 2 laptops with a bunch of accessories for some very wealthy clients of mine once.

The first laptop I purchased was a Sony (can't remember the model), but at the time, 1GB of ram was the best they came with. So I purchased that one, and my client loved it, asked for another.

So when I went back, they didn't have any more of that model, but they did have a similar one with 512MB of ram. Since my clients want everything yesterday, I said that would do and asked for another 512 stick of ram to put in it to bring it up to 1GB.

The guy rings it up and then rings up the installation. Although money was really no object to these people, I said "No thanks, I think I can put memory into a laptop" in a joking way.

The guy literally, honestly, no BS said to me "You can't do that, you're not certified."

I just kind of stood there for a second, waiting for him to start laughing. He didn't, and continued to write up the "Geek Sqaud" install of the memory for like $90. So I said again "No, uh, I really don't need that, I'll be fine". He said something to the effect of "You don't know how the voltages work, and will probably break the laptop". So, after looking around for a hidden camera and the prank team (I really couldn't believe what I was hearing), I just said "I'll take my chances". He then tried to pull the "Well, I already rang it up, so you have to." I mean, talk about PUSHY. So, when I asked for someone else, he took it off. I paid for my sht and left.

I honestly thought the whole experience was hilarious, mabye because it wasn't my money he was trying to steal, but I was never upset. I just honestly couldn't believe how far he was pushing it. I mean, there are a LOT of people out there that don't know much about computers, but could easily install memory in a laptop and know the guy was full of sht.

Anyway, that was my funny little story.

I ended up with about $140 in best buy gift cards for buying those too, it was nice.

 

[Cobalt]

I worked there, especially during Christmas season. /thread

 

[thudia]

rather then write a book about my long story ill just tell a few short stories. my first one is actually related to when they reinstalled windows from cd change. anyway that was abut a year ago and now i should get a new laptop due to no lemon policy. they told me i am one repair short because there records don't show that the drive was replaced. when i showed the manager the reciept he told me that it is a software repair not hardware so it doesnt count. My most recent repair was for a bad HDD. when i got it back the HD was bad and they just lied to me some more. long story short i havn't had a working laptop in over one month.

 

[tealk]

I used to work there......I cant go into details(due to settlement)....but I sued them for slander, after 6 months of court dealings I won. Needless to say, It was a sucky experience, but I'm glad I got my justice. I still walk in the store and it's hilarious....becasue I am spending there money.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Long story short:

My dad got my sister a digital camera from there for Christmas. The lens didn't open. My sister took it into Best Buy and they told her it looks like she super glued the lens shut.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

Originally posted by: Amused

This isn't really all Best Buy's fault. It's a breakdown in a number of steps along the way. It's also the reason why many manufacturers now make the product visible inside the box or use that terrible plastic packaging.

The problem originated when they accepted a return without inspecting the product and then put it back on the shelf. Hell, for all I know, a Best Buy employee put his fried card in the box and used the store's equipment to re-seal it.

Best Buy was protecting itself. Look at it from their POV and would you believe your story? Or would you think you were trying to scam the store?

I understand why they refused my return. It would be real easy for me to bring any old fried video card in an claim the same story. The jacked up part is that I probably woulda been better off packing it back up, re-sealing it again myself, and re-returning it to the store so some OTHER poor sap would have to deal with it.

Granted, if it was a return item, even "unopened," BB would have a larger fault here. But it could just as well have been a case of employee theft and all took place in the back room.

In my mind that doesn't absolve BB of any liability. It seems to you it does.

Yes, it's aggravating when someone doesn't believe you. But ask yourself why they don't and try putting yourself in their shoes.

I have, and I know why they didn't accept my return. That doesn't mean that they aren't at fault for stocking falsely-labeled and faulty equipment on their shelves.

 

[rgwalt]

I have had good experiences with Best Buy, though I mainly just buy video games and CDs from them. I hardly ever buy computer parts, but I should start opening them at the customer service counter after reading a few of these stories.

The sales people can be pretty pushy, especially in regards to the big consumer electronics. They also love to push the service plans on everything... I was even asked if I wanted to purchase a service plan on a CD and on a GBA cartridge game!

This being said, I wanted to buy a wall mount for a new TV and the service rep recommended that I check with my apartment manager first before putting one on the wall due to potential damage. He could have easily sold me a $100 wall mount, but instead he chose to warn me. Pretty cool if you ask me.

R

 

[thudia]

I have realized that when going to buy something it is nice and painless. but the minute you need an employees help it turns into a big deal. i realy believe that corporate trains them to lie and be lazy. At my particular store i go to there is only one geek squad agent with A+. A+ is so easy to get and should be required. i once over heard geek squad tell a guy that he couldnt dual boot between xp and vista because even though they are on seperate HDD they share the same regestry. that was one of the dumbest thing i have ever heard.

 

[thudia]

Circuit city now has a forum so if customer service can't help you with hardware upgrade or service other users can. not much help from the companies end but better then nothing

CC forum > no help > Best Buy customer support > poop > geek squad.

 

[Tommy2000GT]

I love best buy. they always have hot college girls wearing tight white or beige pants working.

 

[rh71]

Good experiences are the ones where you have no problems. You'll never see people remark about those because they don't stand out.

People don't fill out comment cards / surveys unless something extraordinarily good or bad happened... so "good experiences should also be posted so the whole world can see how badly the bad out number the good" ain't going to work.

 

[Scarpozzi]

I went to best buy and compared prices on headphones. Walmart sells the same Sony headphones for $5 less.

Their televisions are overpriced and their customer service sucks.

They have a rewards club with a monthly or bimonthly 12% off coupon. From what I can figure, they're marking their products up 12% more than this discount for most qualitifying items.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Garth

Originally posted by: Amused

This isn't really all Best Buy's fault. It's a breakdown in a number of steps along the way. It's also the reason why many manufacturers now make the product visible inside the box or use that terrible plastic packaging.

The problem originated when they accepted a return without inspecting the product and then put it back on the shelf. Hell, for all I know, a Best Buy employee put his fried card in the box and used the store's equipment to re-seal it.

Best Buy was protecting itself. Look at it from their POV and would you believe your story? Or would you think you were trying to scam the store?

I understand why they refused my return. It would be real easy for me to bring any old fried video card in an claim the same story. The jacked up part is that I probably woulda been better off packing it back up, re-sealing it again myself, and re-returning it to the store so some OTHER poor sap would have to deal with it.

Granted, if it was a return item, even "unopened," BB would have a larger fault here. But it could just as well have been a case of employee theft and all took place in the back room.

In my mind that doesn't absolve BB of any liability. It seems to you it does.

Yes, it's aggravating when someone doesn't believe you. But ask yourself why they don't and try putting yourself in their shoes.

I have, and I know why they didn't accept my return. That doesn't mean that they aren't at fault for stocking falsely-labeled and faulty equipment on their shelves.

Look, I said that Best Buy shared some fault in this. But they aren't psychic any more than you are. They cannot know it's a repackaged item if they had no part in it any more than they can know you're being honest with them and not a scammer. The problem is, you can't look at it from their point of view. If you were them, would you accept a return with this story when it's tried over and over again by scammers?

 

[sisq0kidd]

Originally posted by: Garth

Originally posted by: Amused

This isn't really all Best Buy's fault. It's a breakdown in a number of steps along the way. It's also the reason why many manufacturers now make the product visible inside the box or use that terrible plastic packaging.

The problem originated when they accepted a return without inspecting the product and then put it back on the shelf. Hell, for all I know, a Best Buy employee put his fried card in the box and used the store's equipment to re-seal it.

From my own experience and knowledge, the perpetrators are both the employees and customers. The Circuit City in Santa Ana, CA had a problem with customers who bought items, swapped out products and sealed them back up with a sealing machine. I believe the workers did not open up the merchandise if it was sealed and simply tossed them back up onto shelves. I also know that this specific store had a ring of bad employees who swapped out Merchandise themselves on a regular basis. Of course that Circuity City cracked down heavily on its employees because it was losing so much money.

Best Buy was protecting itself. Look at it from their POV and would you believe your story? Or would you think you were trying to scam the store?

I understand why they refused my return. It would be real easy for me to bring any old fried video card in an claim the same story. The jacked up part is that I probably woulda been better off packing it back up, re-sealing it again myself, and re-returning it to the store so some OTHER poor sap would have to deal with it.

I have no qualms about Best Buy's policy on this also as they are legitimately protecting themselves and rightfully so. No one would go into business where peoples' words are the only requirement for a return where the original merchandise is MIA. But I also believe, as a customer, you have the right to raise hell and simply from a manager's prospective, it may be worth it to just refund the person before any news goes public(if the customer is going through so many steps to get his refund, he's probably being honest when he says he's been scammed).

Yes, it's aggravating when someone doesn't believe you. But ask yourself why they don't and try putting yourself in their shoes.

I have, and I know why they didn't accept my return. That doesn't mean that they aren't at fault for stocking falsely-labeled and faulty equipment on their shelves.

:thumbsup: Give them enough headaches and they'll give you credit. It's their right as a business to protect themselves against fraudulent returns if the situation looks so, but it is your right to receive a product that you paid for.

 

[thudia]

heres another thing that happened to me. When i bought my laptop was when reward zone was relativly new. back then you had to pay $10 to join. They talked me into getting it telling me that i would probably get between $70 and $100 gift card for rewards. I asked them do they exprire. (i was gonna save them for christmas shoping. bought laptop in april expected gift cards in july they told me.) the guy said no it is just like a gift card purchased in store. 2 weeks later i get 7 paper coupans in the mail for $15 off a purchase of $15. limit one per customer. they expired 2 weeks after i got them. I would not have been as upset if i could use them all one time. but no they told me i had to use one at a time. what a scam that they can just flat out lie like that.

 

[thudia]

i did not shop BB for over a year. the only reason i went back was black friday. then i started going there every few days and hated it less and less everytime. by christmas i hated them again. i couldn't go a month with out something so bad happening that they would lose me as a customer.