Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[robert1882]

This is my first time to checking out the Best Buy Forum and I am very surprised to see how many other customers share similar experiences with me. One would think that Best Buy would be more understanding and resourceful in the current times and situations everyone is facing. Well here goes, one more story that I am sure many can relate to...

Recently (12/29 to be exact) I came across what seemed to be an excellent deal on a Panasonic Plasma on BestBuy.com, they also had a promotion running that allowed 3years interest free on a Best Buy Card. So after some thought I decided to go ahead and see what kind of limit I would be approved for. I was approved, unfortunately I was about $400 short with the approved limit for the TV. I decided to go ahead and purchase the TV regardless. I wanted to split the payments up over 2 cards, which Best Buy does not let you do, I was informed the only way I could make this online purchase was to use Gift Cards for extra $400. This was a little bit of a pain, but I went out to one of my local pharmacies and picked up $400 in Best Buy Gift Cards. I then split the order between the newly acquired Best Buy card & the $400 in Gift Cards. I was thrilled, the purchase also included Free Shipping and said it would arrive Sat 1/3. I could not wait...

The next day, for no other reason that pure excitement, I decided to check my Order Status on BestBuy.com. Interesting, the Delivery Date was canceled with no explanation. I had not received an email or phone call letting me know, and I do not know when I would have been alerted of this had I not signed into my account on my own. Onto the fun part...

I called BestBuy (1-888-BESTBUY) and waited on hold for about an hour before speaking to someone, which I understood because of it being Holiday season, before being immediately placed on hold and disconnected. The disconnect after holding is tough to swallow, but I am a rather patient person so I called back. Eventually I was told by whoever was on the phone that they cannot pull up a delivery schedule for my TV and that I have to contact my local BestBuy Store Manager who would be able to locate it in the warehouse. This seemed reasonable, so I took the phone number and waited until normal business hours the following day.

When speaking to the BestBuy Store Manager he seemed completely dumbfounded as to why 1-888-BESTBUY would have me calling him for my order. He told me that he had nothing to do with my order and could not bring it up in his computer. It should be shipping UPS and never coming in contact with the local BestBuy Store. I was told the only way he would know anything about it is if I had ordered a Geek Squad Service with the delivery. He then told me to call 1-888-BESTBUY back and to ask for a Supervisor...SUPER

After again being placed on hold a few times I got a human on the other end of the phone. I asked to speak to a Supervisor and he replied he was just that. I proceeded to tell him what had been going on, he apologized and seemed interested in helping. Although after some investigation into the matter he ended up telling me I had to speak to my local BestBuy. Hmmm... I explained that I had already gone that route and was sent back to 1-888-BESTBUY. He then assured me he was a Supervisor, but he had to speak to a different Supervisor who may know more (I am not one to call someone a liar, but this lead me to believe perhaps I was not dealing with a Supervisor in the first place)? After getting back on the phone he had a new explanation for me. Nobody can seem to help me because BestBuy's Computer System cannot see into the year 2009!! I could not help but laugh a bit at the thought of such a large electronics company not having computers that can see into the next year (which was only days away). How could any company function this way?? December is surely the busiest time of the year, and yet you cannot see orders for the next month??? When asking him how BestBuy.com was able to schedule a delivery for 2009 if his computers could not see it he gave me the reason of, "they have Geeks working on the website who have no idea how things really work." Excellent quote coming from one of BestBuy's own "Supervisors"?. Clearly this call was not heading anywhere.

Over the next several days I continued to be placed on hold repeatedly, frequently disconnected, and sent in an infinite loop through Customer Service. Somewhere in that loop I was told "100% Guaranteed...Without a Doubt" that I need to speak to my local BestBuy Manager, and that he does have the power to access my order. I explained I had already tried this, but the employee was dead set on that answer. He seemed convincing enough. So rather than call I spoke with some BestBuy employees the next time I was in the store. They again assured me that had nothing to do with my order and that it would most likely be shipped UPS from a warehouse. They told me that 1-888-BESTBUY was full of it, and to call back and speak to a supervisor.

By now I didn't know what to do. Nobody seemed to have any answers, and nobody seemed to want to be the one to take the blame for the canceled delivery date. I began looking for alternate resources and came across the BestBuy Forum; as well as seeing other customer's recommendations of the Attorney General, BBB, Corporate, etc... I didn't think any of that was necessary at the time I still figured there was hope for my order, and I did not NEED the item immediately (even though I had already paid for it). Until today...

I came home from work to see an email saying my order has been canceled. It stated the TV was not in stock so it could not be delivered from the warehouse and needed to be canceled and any money from Gift Cards was placed back on the cards. This was the worst possible scenario for me. I would have waited months for the TV to come, as long as I was given an explanation, but now I am without a TV and stuck with $400 in BestBuy Gift Cards I no longer need, as well as a BestBuy Credit Card I only applied for to purchase this TV. I tried to call 1-888-BESTBUY immediately after reading this email, only to be hold for 30mins and disconnected. I understand things happen and there is not any one person to blame; but I was allowed to purchase a TV on BestBuy.com at a guarenteed price with shipment that weekend only to have the order canceled. I feel that I should be allowed a rain-check for this item for when it does become available, and if they do not plan on getting any more in stock any time soon I feel that BestBuy should be responsible for obtaining this TV and delivering it free of charge, as was promised when I made the purchase. This is what any reputable seller would do for their customer. I never thought that out of all the websites I have ordered from BestBuy would be the worst to deal with. Allowing the purchase of a product on Sale with Free Shipping, and then canceling the order after the date it was due to arrive without any sort of resolution is simply unacceptable.

I would appreciate if someone could help me with this matter so that I do not have to be sent in circles on the phone once again. All I want to do is give Best Buy my money for a TV...I do not want my order canceled and I do not want my money placed back on Gift Cards...

[robert1882]

I guess you could call this a sort of Bait and Switch. BestBuy baited me with this TV, only I switched to another retailer to purchase the larger version. I am no longer concerned with BestBuy fulfilling my order I simply would like the money back that they told me I needed to buy gift cards with for the online purchase. Since they are the ones who canceled the order I think it is only right. I am calling today to cancel my BestBuy Card and hope to never have to do business with BestBuy.com again.

[Elizabeth-BBY Community Supervisor]

Dear robert1882, 

Thanks for posting your concern on our Best Buy® Forum.  Your issue has been assigned to one of our Community Connectors for further review and response, and you should be hearing something within a maximum of 3-5 business days.  Please note that it may be sooner depending on the complexity of your issue and the current volume of posts.  Thanks for your continued patience as we work to assist all of the customers who have reached out to us on this forum.

[robert1882]

That would be great seeing that I am now on my second case number from 1-888-BESTBUY, and still have not received a call that was promised to me multiple times.

[John-BBY Community Connector]

Hello robert1882,

I’m sorry to hear about your frustrating experience after ordering the Panasonic TV on BestBuy.com.  In most circumstances orders like yours are fulfilled without a hitch, but that is clearly not what happened here.

Products like large TVs are often delivered through a BestBuy® warehouse by Best Buy® trucks.  If the warehouse servicing your area doesn’t have the stock, the order may be canceled if replenishment is going to be significantly delayed or the product has been discontinued.  In some circumstances, a store will serve as the delivery warehouse.  While I can’t say that this is what happened for certain, it’s a possible explanation for why you may have been referred to contact your local store.  Many orders are delivered by UPS for online orders and that is why the store manager informed you of that.

According to the terms of use of BestBuy.com, the right to cancel an order is reserved by us.  This is not the desired outcome for you or for us, but it does sometimes happen.  We would certainly not intentionally create ill will with our customers by canceling an order if there is another option.

Because the gift cards you purchased were not purchased through Best Buy®, we are unable to offer you a refund for them.  They will retain their value and can be used for any future purchase.

Having said that, please look for a private message from me with an offer that may be of interest to you.  You may check your forum inbox by first signing in with your user name and password and then clicking on the envelope icon.

Thank you for taking the time to make us aware of your experience.

Sincerely,

[robert1882 · Accepted solution]

Thank you to everyone for the responses, but to the users who may be reading this these forums may not be the best route for your problems. The initial response was encouraging, since I have never yet received a call that was promised to me in over two weeks. Although the results were rather anti-climactic. I was offered Free Shipping/Delivery on a future order; which many large online purchases already come with, as mine had. Also after responding through private message I never received another response.

I finally grew tired of waiting two weeks for a phone call and decided to give Corporate a call. Surprisingly this went alot smoother than I had imagined due to my previous dealings with BestBuy Customer Service. They sincerely apologized for the all of the trouble and we were able to reach an extremely reasonable solution.

Overall I would still have to say BestBuy needs alot of work with their Customer Support for Online Orders, and that anyone who feels they are not being treated fairly try dealing with the Corporate Office as they were very helpful for me.

[hockeycanuckjc Trusted Contributor]