Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[Justin-BBY Community Connector]

Hi musicmansell, 

I've been working with the In-Home Team on your situation and was informed by Juan, the technician that came out for repair over the weekend and now your TV is working well. I'm glad to hear that this is the result and if there's anything else, let us know.

Best regards, 

[musicmansell]

Hello Justin,

Thank you for following up on this.  Yes, you are correct the TV is now working properly, and all it took was literally replacing every single part on the thing except the cheap plastic frame.  Literally, EVERY SINGLE PART was replaced!  This again just leads me to the question of why I couldn't just swap it out in the first place?  It saves everybody time, money, potential for business,  their sanity, etc.  

Juan was nice in getting the service done asap and I feel bad he had to be out in the rain on Saturday so a big thank you to him for that.  With that said, I do believe you guys need to implement a phone procedure policy because I received a call from him at 7:30am on Saturday morning informing me he would be there within a couple hours.  This is ridiculous, especially when I requested a phone call at the beginning of the week, or at the very latest Friday night.  I did get a call on Friday telling me they will be out sometime Saturday and that they will call first to set up a time.  I was not told I would be woken up and given an appointment in a couple hours.  I don't want to be the type to complain and then make it impossible for you guys to fix it, but do you see where the problem is in having your techs call so early.  It is considered bad business and in poor taste to call people that early on a weekend.  Those are not even typical business hours.  Typically you need to give someone a minimum 24 hours to arrange their schedule to be there for you, less than 2 hours is just unacceptable.  So this part of the service, the communication, was definitely lacking.

Getting back to the policies you all have to follow, I hope you use this case as an example of where your policies do nothing more than hurt you and hinder your staff from using their common sense.  It costs you more money to ship out broken parts, only to then have to expedite the shipping on replacement parts, pay for the GS guys time and gas to get out here not once, but twice, put me out by making me take work off and lose money, all over the course of several weeks.  I could have just brought it back in got a new TV and you guys deal with this one.  Once it is fixed you get to sell it again as a refurbished model.  The most you lose is the difference in cost of the refurbished versus a brand new model, and honestly, can you tell me that amount is worth more than the several thousand dollars you are missing out on due to myself and my friends no longer shopping at your store?  Probably not.  (No joke, my friend is now going elsewhere to buy his home entertainment system based off my experiences with Best Buy, you all missed out on a deal worth a minimum $3,200.)

Look I have wasted enough of my time trying to tell you guys how to improve your business ethics and policies, hopefully you guys can eventually figure it out, but until then I will no longer be shopping with Best Buy and I will urge all my friends, co workers, and contacts to do the same.  Yes the TV is fixed, but the hassle I had to go through to get it there, the time it took, and the basic lack of knowledge regarding your sales staff, make your company impossible to trust and work with on future deals.

In Summary:  

- TV is fixed after several weeks and major hassle, as well as me having to spend more time and money.

Things Best Buy Needs to Improve:

- Sales staff's knowledge of all products and warranty policies that Best Buy provides needs to improve, and they need to be tested regularly on how they are selling it.

- Better QC testing of products if they are going to be reselling them and guarantee they function as new.

-Customer Service needs to look up the meaning of Customer Service and realize, this is their job, as bad as it can be sometimes, they need to respect the customer and follow through with what they say they will do in a timely manner.

-Best Buy needs to stop with the blanket policies and deal with individual cases.  They tell me this is already a policy of their's and managers have the power to do it.  If this is true, then the manager's need to speak with customers and not dump it off on an assistant or employee.  Do your job, basically.

-Phone calls where I am on hold for over 10 minutes at a time are unprofessional and rude.  This can't happen, open a call center in the stores. Cheap work for beginners to work part time until they know BBs products, policies, and how to deal with all types of customers.  Then they can move up to sales staff.  Great way to train and weed out people who aren't serious about working at BB.

-Over all, Best Buy needs to remember that while they are the largest electronics chain in the US, it was the customers that put them there.  Keep disrespecting the rights of them and you will find your company going the same way as circuit city and so many others when they stop shopping at your stores.  Just like my self and those around me have.

Good luck to everyone else up here going through this type of stuff.  I know how stressful and downright frustrating it is and I wish you all the best.  Just remember, in the grand scheme of things, these are all just first world problems and we are all lucky to even be able to shop for electronics.  Just a shame those ideals have been lost when it comes to corporations like Best Buy.

B

[Justin-BBY Community Connector]

Good Morning musicmansell, 

Thank you for your shared insight about this experience and how we can improve our business. We always welcome your insights and again, I'm very sorry that it took so long to get your TV working again. 

Regards, 

[musicmansell]

Any chance you actually want to answer any of the questions I ask about the company before just spitting out the good old generic "Thanks for your feedback" response?  Come n man, now is your chance to answer some of the bad press and accusations I have made, or at the very least treat me like a human being and actually respond in kind to some of my queries.  Instead I get generic answers which only go to further prove Best Buy does not care about it's customers and treats them like numbers in a line.  Can you even answer the question of how the company feels it is making money on this whole deal considering the time and effort spent in repairing this and losing out on the business of my friends and co workers?  Who is running the show?  I don't think any smart businessman would be happy with this as their business model.

[Berv63]

Lol to the fact that you think people not buying product from Best Buy will change anything. If they had bought that exact model from Amazon, Wal-Mart, or any other electronic store would their experience would be any different? If Best Buy can't get the part do you think anyone else will? Do you think Amazon will send a tech out to your house to fix it? Do you think that Wal-Mart even has techs? Name one alternative that is better...people like you make me smile

[musicmansell · Accepted solution]

And people like you make me weep because you accept this as a standard now a days.  Where is your back bone?  Try standing up to this type of BS once in a while and quit being one of the sheep.  Glad that your life has come down to trolling on Best Buy forums and making ignorant attempts at trying to look clever by mocking people.  In the mean time, you will find answers to all your questions if you bother reading the entire thread.  As far as people not shopping at BB and spreading the word, I can personally confirm over $10,000 in lost sales at this point after people have asked my opinion of where to buy products.  If that is chump change to you than good for you, and again I ask, if you are so rich, what are you doing wasting time on BB's forum?  Get out of here, unless you want to be a part of the solution.

[Wilsokm1 · Accepted solution]

As long as "Justin" or "Aaron" get a paycheck, they don't care about the customer's best interest, nor do any of the "customer service reps" at BB or GS. I too had a horrible experience with Best Buy recently, after purchasing software online, and later receiving a confirmation email stating that the order information "was permanently backed up in Best Buy's PC Ap" whatever that means. Since no one had the ability to locate the order number or the very important keycode that was essential to utilizing the software I purchased, they were going to have to "further investigate" the situation, which would take 5-10 business days. I told them forget it, just refund my money, as I had basically paid for - NOTHING at that point.

Their response..."Well that too, will take 5-10 days Ma'am" ...

15 days later - surprise surprise, still no word...called them back, and got the run around.

I later filed a dispute with my bank, and gave up on receiving any kind of resolution from anyone at Best Buy. The level of incompetence, and flat out costumer neglect is absolutely unacceptable. I'll let my financial institution deal with it...

I wouldn't expect anything more than BB/GS, however, good for you for standing your ground, and spreading the word...

[musicmansell]

Thank you for your support and I am sorry to hear you have had to deal with them as well.  Good luck in finding a resolution to your ordeal.  I hope your bank helps you stick it to them.  Eventually enough people will do this type of stuff to actually put a dent in this company's ego...hopefully.

[musicmansell · Accepted solution]

So I guess the few of you who were trying to stick up for BB and it's customer service practices must have a big nasty taste in your mouth right about now.....that's your foot.

Saw today that BB is closing 50 stores and laying off 400 employees due to financial troubles forcing them to restructure.  Like I said, keep treating your customers the way you do and this is what will happen.  Looks like you all are headed the way of Circuit City and MacWorld.  Even better....reading all the comments under the article.  It appears that myself, along with many others on your own forum, are not the only ones across this country that feel this way about your company's  lack of educated staff, non competitive prices, poor quality products, and generally awful customer service.

It saddens me, because I remember the days I supported your company tooth and nail.  Your prices actually were lower than everyone else, you had knowledgable staff, and a killer selection, as well as decent customer service.  Fast forward 5-7 years and what the heck has happened to you guys?

To all the big corporate guys sitting up there watching your business dwindle and slowly shrivel up...if you all need consultants from the general public to help you get in touch with reality and your actual consumer base, feel free to hit me up.  Until then I wish you all a happy journey on your way back down.

[Jimmienomam]

Dwindle? I guess you missed the second part of that story. While they are closing 50 of its largest loss leading stores, they are opening 100 mobile shops in malls and 50 new stores in China.

Hey I saw 2 Starbucks close near me, guess their business is going under.

Oh and a Walmart shut down also. Guess they're gonna be gone in 5 years also.


It's no secret that Best Buy has to adapt its business model. So does Amazon. If you didn't notice the online Giant is going to start making B&M stores because of future contract negotiations and/or laws. Seeing Best Buy close 50 of its over 2,800 stores isn't really as big of news as you think.