Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[Enygma0]

I am disgusted with the service levels of BBY employees!  This launch of the EVO 4g has proven that I really should not purchase items from BBY.  

I pre-ordered an EVO 4g from BBY location @ Heritage Trace in Fort Worth TX.  After waiting in line for nearly one hour while the 3 mobile employees sat their to activate phones for customers was forced to wait.  After waiting my deposit was promptly taken and I filled out my information on the "pre-order" sheet and told that i would be able to get the phone on 6-9-10.   Here it is 6-9-10 and I call the store to find out what the deal is and I promptly was thrown on hold by "hold please click" and then waited on the line for 30 minutes presumable while the 1-2 mobile employees where swamped.  I spoke to an employee who told me, well we only got 10-15 handsets so it is first come first served on the waiting list.  We will call you and let you know what the deal is once we have more specifics.

What is the deal?  I used to work retail and am fully aware of stock replenishment issues on hot items.  However, when the latest and greatest toys came out, we always worked 2x's the effort to ensure we had adequate stock of units to be sold to a customer.  If you are going to offer a pre-order system, only allow pre-orders for that date based on the total units you are getting in. Instead, BBY suckered me into putting down 50$ in earnest money for the phone so now they've got me locked in till the phone comes in stock.  Frankly I should have just ordered the phone from Sprint, my friend ordered the phone on Saturday and got it Monday via UPS.  Don't tell me that the problem is with Sprint!  BBY just in time inventory management stinks and is light years behind other retailers.  It makes sense that in areas where 4g coverage is available the phones are going to sell like hotcakes.....but 10-15 phones for a restock?  Really guys get your act together, such a disappointment!

[Nokia]

The store employees are not told how many they have coming in. They were told to preorder as many as possible between 5-13 and 5-21 for the first shipment (6-4), and 5-22 and 6-5 for the second shipment (6-9, today). They were told they would get enough to fill all their preorders.

[Enygma0]

So your telling me that BBY's inventory mgmt system will not let them see what is transit?  I worked retail in the late 90's and this feature was something that was available then.  If you are going to make customers put earnest money towards the purchase of the phone, ensure your getting enough stock on order to cover the quantities you are allowing people to pre-order.  Otherwise, don't make them put 25% down on the purchase price of the phone.  There is a reason that BBY is making people put down 50$ on a gift card and this is because they want them to buy the phone @ BBY.  They need to set realistic expectations with their customers upfront, not pull a "bait and switch" on them and let down their customers.

[Nokia]

Agree with you 100%. Be mad at corp.

[Enygma0]

Nokia, I appreciate the insight towards the issue.  I hope that a mod sees this issue and can take additional steps towards resolving the issue.  I shop @ BBY for a reason and feel that my expectations of them are not unreasonable.

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Good afternoon Enygma0 -

Aaron, from our Community Connector team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern.  I appreciate your patience!

[Enygma0]

Sadly enough rather than just stating the obvious I am now getting excuses that the "system crashed, we may get more phones tomorrow and you may get it Thursday or Friday but we are not sure."  I wish that someone at the store would own up and say, yeah sorry BBY (corporate/store associates) didn't order enough stock to cover pre-orders which were all placed well in advance to adjust our shipments and still have plenty of stock.  Again set expectations accordingly, don't just make something up so you can blame it on someone else.

I am sick of being treated like I am idiot.

[Elganja]

I feel your pain... I pre-ordered from Fairlakes Store In virginia... 2nd shipment. I called them yesterday and they said they only got in 13 phones and I'm not on the short list

I'm a little upset as I have been waiting for sometime now... I will be furious if they don't get it by fri/sat like they "promised".

[Enygma0]

Sigh....let down again....par for the course.  More of the same answers after holding for 20 minutes...

BBY Rep: We didn't get more today and are not sure when we are getting more.  The other stores in our area all got shipments, but we didn't get ours.

Me: Do you know when you are getting more?  

BBY Rep:  No but we will call you as soon as we get a shipment.

Meanwhile BBY still has my 50$.  I guess I shouldn't have expected anything more than the past service levels I have gotten from them.  * shrug*

At this point it is pretty much laughable.  So much for the" assistance" from the BBY board mods.   More unfifilled promises and poor expectations from their employees.  Seriously, sign these people up for some Dr. Nancy!

[Aaron-BBY Community Connector]

Hello Enymga0,

I can imagine how disappointed you must feel to be waiting for your EVO 4G to arrive, but please bear in mind that Best Buy – like any other retailer – is only able to provide products as they become available from the manufacturer.  When our stores accept preorders they do so with the expectation that shipments of products will be on-time and enough units will be provided to fulfill all orders.  If not enough models are included in the initial shipment(s), however, preorders are then fulfilled on a first-come, first-served basis.  Remember that preordering a product simply reserves it for you and does not guarantee a specific delivery date unless otherwise specified.

While I do not have any specific details regarding your order, rest assured that our stores do expect to receive additional shipments soon and will be contacting preorder customers once their EVO 4Gs have arrived.

Let me know if you have any other questions.  You can send me a private message by signing into the forums and clicking on either my signature below or the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.