The 1st Amendment protects our right to freedom of speech and self-expression, but Best Buy doesn’t like that very much, at least when it comes to their employees and some of their customers too.

Everyone has opinions and an employee decides to share his on the EVO vs. iPhone debate in the form of a hilarious YouTube video (you’ve probably seen it by now, but if not you can check it out here –NSFW–)

Nowhere in the video does it mention that the creator of this video works for or is in affiliation with Best Buy in any way, but someone at Best Buy figured it out and got scared. They’re a little afraid of the powers-that-be in the world of mobile phones.

Granted the “forbidden fruit company” is a little bit touchy when it comes to the quality of their products and defending them tooth-and-nail, so the paranoia might have a little merit, but only after Best Buy opened its big mouth and let the secret out. Otherwise, more that likely, no one would have found out and we could all just keep on laughing.

Employees, and Best Buy guests, behave yourselves. If there’s a camera around though, someone record it for me, ok? Thanks.

–Update– 7/7/10   Best Buy did the right thing and protected free speech and spared the guy’s job. This is one time I’ll pat Best Buy on the back and say “You did the right thing”. A happy ending… for once.

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I bought Sony HDR-CX500V Camcorder at (redacted) Best buy. On the way back home when my husband was driving the car I had opened the box in the car and it has whole different (old)Camcorder in it. When we observe closely we found that first sony seal was taken out and re-sealed with the same and current Camcorder has HDR-CX500V’s quick menu tag. Battery was different and unpacked power cards are different. We went back immediately to the store try to return it, the store manager said they canot take this since it is a different product . When I requested to verify the current Camcorder’s purchase history based on the SKU said they don’t sell the product .

Every product that is returned to Best Buy should be thoroughly checked before it is allowed to be returned. I’m sure this is in some policy pf theirs somewhere. Once the wrong product is allowed to be returned and then placed back on the shelf, a very sticky situation is created at the customer’s expense. In most cases, there’s just no way to tell whether the customer is telling the truth or not. But, nevertheless, it’s still Best Buy’s fault for not thoroughly checking returned products.

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Wrong!

There were only two left of the system he wanted to buy, one said “damaged” and the other only said “return”.

Kind of a dim situation already.

Add to that the fact that the salesperson was basically blowing him off and distracted the entire time. Tim decided he didn’t want the “damaged” one, so the salesperson loaded up. Then he said “You push it to the front” even though the salesperson knew Tim recently had leg surgery (he was probably on crutches as well).

So, Tim pushes the cart to the front and asks a salesperson near the door if he can get some help. This salesperson is much friendlier and tells him to ask the person by the door.

As usual, the Loss Prevention agent at the door calls for warehouse help to load and unload items and tells the customer to go pull up their vehicle. Tim does so.

When he arrives back at the door, there’s no one there to help him load, so he has to do it on his own.

Surely, in the time that it took Tim to get to his car, someone from the warehouse (usually in the back of the store) could have stopped what they were doing and came to the front to help a paid customer.

Maybe there were extenuating circumstances, who knows, but every customer who needs help shouldn’t be treated as a hindrance or a pain, they should be helped as much as they need, especially if they’re injured or disabled.

Source: User Technophoto on My3cents.com

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“June” calls Best Buy’s 800 number to have a few questions answered about buying an appliance online. After a nice conversation with the friendly CSR, she proceeds to check out some fridges on Bestbuy.com

She proceeds to purchase a fridge on their website.

Some time later the delivery people show up unannounced after the warehouse fails to notify them of the appointment (kind of a big deal for a fridge, not so much for a microwave or a smaller appliance or… well, something smaller).

The fridge is moved to the front door and all is going according to plan (in a manner of speaking) until there’s a slight problem.

By some form of a careless mistake, the measurements of the fridge on the website are incorrect. The fridge won’t fit through the front door. Oops.

The delivery guys take the fridge back to the warehouse and then things really get messy.

June calls the 800 number again to process the exchange for the fridge. Slight problem though, the warehouse didn’t update the delivery status for the fridge. So, as far as Best Buy’s records go (which we saw yesterday aren’t exactly the most accurate on the planet) June took possession of the fridge and everything is peachy-keen.

According to her

It took over a week of talking to customer service representatives at least once a day to get the whole mess straightened out

Or so she thought…

At last the order for the new fridge was placed and the delivery date was set (for a full month after the original fridge had been purchased)! Then Best Buy calls to deliver the great news that the delivery has been postponed two weeks for no apparent reason (at least from what they told June).

I’ve tried contacting June to get more details on her story, so I’m not sure if she was without a fridge this entire time or if they were just being proactive and ordering a new one. Once she gets back to me, I’ll have an update for you.

Imagine though if she went a full month-and-a-half without a fridge! I can’t even imagine it!

Best Buy sometimes has struggles with even one of the most basic tenants of business: keeping appointments and promises they make. It must take a lot of effort to keep all of it coordinated (especially since the order wasn’t placed in the store) but, nevertheless, Best Buy keep your promises, especially when it comes to the only section in your store that provides necessities.

Another great tale courtesy of My3cents.com, username tactilla

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This is not Best Buy’s fault, no defective product is, but it’s how the situation is handled that is their fault.

Gary takes his Wii brick to Best Buy for service. Only to find out that the serial number on the Wii doesn’t match up with Best Buy’s records.

When Gary purchased the console, it was “spider-wrapped” as they say in the biz. It had a security lock on it that had to be removed at the register. He assumed (correctly) that the spider-wrap kept the unit from being tampered with. He wasn’t worried at time of purchase.

What worried Gary is when the customer service agent, in his words,

basically insinuated that I was pulling a con trying to get another system fixed under my warranty.

Like any sane person, Gary wants what he paid for. He paid for an extended warranty and wants his defective unit to be fixed.

This is what bugs me about Best Buy. Gary had purchased a LARGE TV, a PS3 bundle, and a Wii bundle all within 6 months of time at Best Buy. I’m sure he bought extended service agreements and gave Best Buy plenty of money. So why then is he treated like a criminal when he tries to claim service for an item he legitimately purchased? He scratched Best Buy’s figurative back, why did they slap him in the face? Where is the relationship that Best Buy talks so much about? Why didn’t someone come to his rescue?

Why is he told “There’s nothing we can do, you need to contact coporate”?

Why, Best Buy?

Getting back to the story, Gary calls corporate and gets the usual two hour tour, passing through many different departments and many phone reps who aren’t the “appropriate person”.

Frustrated, Gary checks the Nintendo website for the serial numbers and finds that they don’t have record of the serial number either.

I picture Gary getting up from the computer in quiet frustration and despair, slowly walking to the family room to sit with his children on the floor around the fallen Wii, where he embraces them and they have a good family cry.

But that’s probably just my imagination.

Somehow Gary gets in touch with the right person at Nintendo who tells him that the serial number he has WAS registered through Best Buy one day after he bought it.

Nintendo to the rescue! Thank you for keeping good records so Best Buy doesn’t have to! I’m sure Gary appreciates it.

Gary returns to Best Buy with the information provided by Nintendo and talks to a manager, who confirms the record mismatch (Why couldn’t this have happened the first time? Couldn’t customer service just as easily call Nintendo and help iron out the situation?) and confirms Gary’s warranty as valid and approves Gary for an exchange of the defective unit.

This WHOLE situation would have been avoided if customer service tried a little harder to find a solution instead of just giving up right away. That’s actually customer disservice.

Best Buy, please train your CSR’s to be patient with good customers like Gary who remain calm and spend lots of money at your stores. Tell them to bring your managers into the picture sooner so they can help. Please, try to avoid situations like this one that make us ask…

“Why, Best Buy?”

Story from My3cents.com user gtschaub. View the original story here.

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“Randall” (user name Kanzo) tells it well on his post on My3cents.com (a great consumer review site).

Problem #1: So I decided to buy a new laptop and went to Best Buy to look around. I actually found one that had all the specs I was looking for and even had a price that couldn’t be substantially beaten online (aside from sales tax of course)

Problem #2: I told a sales associate that I wanted this (pointing to a display model)

Problem #3: Sales associate brings laptop to counter, and I find out its $100 cheaper than listed.

I looked at him puzzled, and actually asked why it was cheaper. He told me it was a sales price that just started that day. Great, the computer I wanted for far cheaper than online…maybe there is something to buying things in a brick and mortar store.

So I get home open up the box and much to my amazement it’s NOT THE RIGHT MODEL. It’s the smaller screen and the Intel i3 processor instead of the i5 I was looking for.

In anger, I, of course take the laptop back to the store to in fact get the right one.

Problem #4: They, in fact, don’t have the model I’m looking for even though it’s on display.

Problem #5: I look to get a refund so I could then buy it online, but Best Buy won’t allow a return without a 15% RESTOCKING FEE because I opened it. I ask for the manager and he has the audacity to ask me why I deserve a full refund without paying $100. He tells me it’s my fault that I opened the box before checking to make sure that his employee did, in fact, retrieve the correct laptop.

Mind you, this means they expect me to pay $105 because I was sold the WRONG computer. They tell me they will find the right laptop to do an exchange…they go in back and bring the WRONG computer AGAIN. I am now to the point of rage and consider posting up with a billboard out front to ensure no one buys anything from them ever again.

Wow, so Randall almost gets put into the same situation TWICE!! You would think they would make it a point to bring up the right computer the second time. Good thing he was on his toes the second time.

Randall writes later in the post that they did return the full value of the computer to him, but unfortunately it was on a Best Buy gift card. Randall bought a computer from the store, but left with a bad taste in his mouth for Best Buy.

He writes “I will never buy anything from Best Buy again. Ever.”

And who could blame him? Maybe a simple and accidental mistake on the part of the salesperson, but if this kind of mistake is made on the simplest part of a transaction, what other kinds of mistakes is this particular salesperson making in other areas of their job?

Learn from Randall’s ordeal, and if you choose to shop at Best Buy, make sure you double and triple check the product you’re receiving, especially if that product carries a restocking fee.

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A few weeks ago I was sitting on the sofa with my baby and accidentally knocked my laptop off of the sofa onto the floor.

The screen cracked.

Great… Just what I needed.

I had purchased the Best Buy / Geek Squad protection plan that covered things like this so I wasn’t concerned.

The laptop worked fine except for the obviously cracked screen. It was annoying to look at but I was able to do everything.

A few days later I brought the laptop to the Geek Squad and asked them to fix the screen. Sure, no problem. I was told the laptop would be sent to the servicing center to fix the screen because they don’t do that in-store.

I waited about 10 days and was told my laptop was ready. I picked it up at the store and checked out the screen. It wasn’t cracked. I was happy.

Left the store and went home expecting to be able to immediately use my laptop again. Got home and plugged it in.

NOTHING.

The initial ‘HP’ black & white screen came up and then nothing, just a black screen and a blinking cursor.

I tried over & over again to restart, check the startup settings, etc. My husband is an IT professional and knew what to look for. He determined that there was no operating system installed.

What? I wondered why they would touch my operating system just to fix a laptop screen. So I looked at the Geek Squad receipt again and saw in small letters that they wrote my hard drive failed and was replaced.

WHAT?!?! I knew what this meant and it was bad – all of my files, programs and operating system were gone. I cried and then immediately called the store. (I had a baby in August and my mother had just died one week previous to getting my laptop back so my photos were more important to me than ever!)

The guy I spoke to at the store was very nice and agreed that it was strange that they replaced my hard drive when all that was requested was to fix the screen. He told me he was putting in an ‘escalation’ to get my hard drive back since I hadn’t requested this to be done. He told me it would probably take about a week or so to get it back in the store. I was pleased, though annoyed because I still couldn’t use my laptop.

A few days later I went into the store to have them address the other issue with my laptop not working or having any operating system re-installed. I figured while I was there I would also check on the status of my original hard drive. I told the young guy at the desk what had happened and what I was told was being done to get my hard drive back.

He went in the back with my laptop and checked things out. He came back out a few minutes later and confirmed that my hard drive was replaced and that there was no operating system. He said it was like that because I failed to bring my installation CD’s with me when I brought my laptop in for repairs.

Why would I bring those with me for a cracked screen?! He was clearly missing the point. He then went back and checked on the status of my original hard drive.

He came back out a few minutes later and told me that he had bad news – I wasn’t going to get my original hard drive back because they have a policy that when they replace one part out, the old part (the customer’s) becomes their property and the new one becomes the customer’s.

So he told me that essentially they now owned MY hard drive… He told me that if I want to get all of my files and photos back they can TRY to do recovery for me, but that it starts at around $250.

What?! I was very dissatisfied and left the store with nothing resolved and a skeleton of my former laptop.

I got to my car and cried. When I got home I immediately called the customer service number for Best Buy/Geek Squad. I told my story to a nice woman who listened and entered my complaint into “the system”. She told me that she contacted the department that had my original hard drive but that she got their voice mail. She said she left a voice message asking them to send the hard drive back to the store. She said that the store could then do the recovery for me and that it would “only” cost me about $100.

Again, she was missing the point. I did not ask for this service and should not be paying for this service. All I wanted was my original hard drive back!

I waited a few days and heard nothing back from them. Finally I was so fed up and decided to write a letter to the corporate offices explaining the situation and threatening to take legal action if my original hard drive was not returned to me. I sent the letter by mail but also sent it by email. I received a response the same day. I was told that he would investigate the situation.

Finally someone was DOING something.

A few days later I received a call from the manager of the store that I had gone to. She said she had my original hard drive in the store for me to pick up. I was thrilled! She was very nice and apologized for the frustration I had gone through.

We picked up my original hard drive the next day. My husband placed it into the laptop for me. It worked perfectly in fact I am typing this from the supposedly “failed” hard drive that Best Buy wanted me to pay $250 to “recover” files from!!!! Unbelievable!

I will NEVER shop there again and will never let them touch any of my equipment again. Afterwards, I sent a follow-up message to the man from corporate who helped me get my hard drive back. I told him that the “failed” hard drive they took from me was in perfect condition. I still haven’t heard back from him…

CG added at the end of her first message to me “P.S. This message was sent to you from my supposedly “failed” laptop hard drive.”

It’s pretty sad that customers get subjected to this kind of anguish frequently with Best Buy. Thankfully for CG, this tale ends better than most.

Too bad she won’t be shopping at Best Buy anymore, we sure could use her to write some more stories like this one! Well done!

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I bought an iphone 3g and purchased geek squad insurance, 7 days after having the phone I dropped it and stepped on it which smashed the screen. I was told prior to getting the insurance they DO NOT give out refurbs … I brought my phone in and had to deal with the worst manager I’ve ever come across. She (Sharon) told me they only give refurbs and she was doing me a favor by accepting the phone because that damage wasn’t covered … I told her that’s not what the salesman said before I bought it, she dismissed it and when I asked why they couldn’t replace it with a new phone she (Sharon) said ‘because thats not what we do’,

All this happens right before Mary to go on a trip where she’ll need her phone, hence the urgency.

So Mary proceeds to call back into the store to talk to a manager with less of a mean streak (not Sharon) who agrees to give Mary a non-refurbished replacement. Come the next day and …

I went there and the same terrible manager (Sharon) was there. She (Sharon) talked to salesman and said “I dont know what the other manager did because SHE (Mary) went over my head and now my order (Sharon’s order for the refurbished iPhone) was canceled” loud enough for everyone to hear.

Looks like someone needed a day off or maybe some Pamprin. Then of course Mary receives the wonderful news that new 3G iPhones are no longer in stock (since the new 3GS is coming out). The manager then adds that

had I (Mary) listened to her (Sharon), I wouldnt have had to wait so long but now it would be at least a week or longer before I got my phone.

Meaning that if Mary had done what was convenient for the company and taken the refurbished phone instead of a new one the whole situation would disappear and everything would be as right as rain.

I thought companies seek to make the customer happy, but maybe I got that mixed up.

Somewhere along the line, Mary was given the option to upgrade to the 3GS for $100, in addition to what she already paid for the Geek Squad protection, which is understandable (considering the phone price difference), but there’s no excuse for anyone (ESPECIALLY a manager) to act the way that Sharon did (ESPECIALLY to a customer).

At one point Mary says in her story

her (Sharon’s) attitude was so bad with me, other customers were asking me why she was being so rude! When she left the salesman apologized for her behavior saying he couldn’t believe how she acted and he would tell the other manager since her behavior was so awful.

It’s bad enough that a line-level employee takes note, but it’s really bad if customers notice and comment on the situation.

So, after all this, Mary contacts Corporate and files a complaint against Sharon. The phone rep says they’ll pass along the complaint to the district manager and it will be taken care of.

There’s much more to this story, but that’s the brunt of it.

A manager so arrogant and with such a bad attitude that she tells the customer how inconvenient their requests are is in serious need of reprimand. I think everyone would agree that a person-to-person apology from Sharon to Mary would be the beginning of a much needed company-customer relationship mending process.

Mary says also that no one from corporate, disctrict, or the local Best Buy has issued an apology of any kind to her to this day.

In closing, Mary wrote to me that Best Buy

proved to me that they’re not consistent, they allow managers to make different decisions, and don’t care if you’re a happy customer

Sad.

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