Best Buy & Geek Squad Policies

[BillLines]

And you trolling the BB customer complaints boards defending an action that you did not see or hear about until I posted offends me.

It's that rare moment in retail transactions when you can actually see the person across the counter deciding that they aren't going to go another step with you. That's not how I treat my customers. I learned long ago that a customer with a problem is a gold mine! I go out of my way to help a good customer and he or she stays a good customer. And they'll tell everyone they come in contact with that I'm a great business to do business with and word of mouth advertisign and referrals is priceless. You cannot spreadsheet it and examine it in a lab.

I forgive you if you're too young to understand basic retail-business principles and traditions. I forgive you if you've never managed an operation with employees and equipment and overhead and speadsheet accountability as I have had for the past 25 years. But I don't forgive you if you're compensated to come in here and harass BB  customers who obviously feel wronged. The disclaimer on your insulting comments says it all. You wouldn't need to put that on there if you were just some guy following and trolling comments, so you're intrusion is another reason to leave BB, really. I never signed up to argue with a paid troll when I opened my BB account. You must be one of My Rewards. Or you get Reward Points or store certificates for harassing me.

The people at BB are just human beings, just like the corporate staff, and they make mistakes sometimes, don't they  QT? And a business that wants to be in busienss better listen to the people who take money out of their lives and lay it down an BB's counter.

[AndyH]

Only the community connectors are paid to be on here, anyone with the disclaimers are here on their own time as consumers, same as you, they don't get any kind of compensation for these posts.

[BillLines]

C,mon, Andy, who adds a disclaimer to their posts on a corporate web site unless there's been a problem or complaint?

I've never had to add a disclaimer to any post anywhere for any reason. If he's not compensated, you're telling me that someone like QT, or you, just wanders in here and argues with customers under the watchful eye of  BB 'moderators' who never chime in to tell a 'super' contributor to tone it down?

I'm a consumer of BB  products and have been for nearly 10 years, 20 if you count the Sony Handi-Cam I bought when my first son was born. Cost me a pretty penney, too, about $700 back then.

And I carry no disclaimer. Why would I need one?

[AndyH]

They're required to put a disclaimer if they work for Best Buy, it's in the rules for the forum when you signed up.

[BillLines]

Okay, then we're just parsing words. He's a paid employee of BB, just not on this site. So, an employee (my complaint centers on ignorant BB/Geek Squad employees, remember?) criticizes my complaint and asks questions like,"Who is Bill Lines to think he is so special?" and "I'm offended that you described an employee using his race." Let's just say that I have less whitebread in me than Obama and that's no joke.

And that, my friend, is the crux of the problem. Just who do I think I am to receive special treatment? Just a loyal, long-term customer, Thunderpants. Nothing for you to concern yourself with, just move along.

This does bring up another point, though. The regular BB sales associates are so poorly trained that I can stand in front of a $900 camera display, ready to buy, and they will still stand 10 feet away in a 2 or 3 employee group chatting away about (online gaming session last night, seriously in this case) whatever they find interesting as long as they don't have to help a customer one-on-one. So, when I go in with a product to purchase in mind, I stop at the greeter's podium and state what I'm looking for and could they please send an associate over to meet me in that area? I cannot tell you how many times I've tried to get someone's attention in the computer area while they either talk amongst themselves or act put and interrupted if you ask them if they could help you.

Walked away from buying a wide-screen computer monitor on sale and an Ipad 2 last month because not one person would approach and ask if I needed help. There was a group of blue shirts there, but they were moving inventory and stacking things and comparing boxes asking about each other's shifts, so they couldn't be bothered. I bought them on Amazon that week, thank you very much.

And, as much as I get upset by that kind of thoughtless customer service, it pales in comparison to the downright arrogant and rude behavior emanating from the Geek Squad counter every time I've had to deal with them.

[QuantumThunder]

Um, 

I am not employed by best buy. 

I also have experience in economics, business management, and finance.

I invite you to read this:

http://positivesharing.com/2006/07/why-the-customer-is-always-right-results-in-bad-customer-service/

[carnivoran]

you can invite him to read whatever you want, im now a vet of bb bad customer service, due to my laptop i bought 2 years ago next month. I havent bought a single thing from bb ever since my experiences with them and this website, that being said i will never buy anything from bb ever again and you can be sure my friends and coworkers have had an earfull of bb's horsesh*t to boot.

Fact of the matter is bill is right, in his claim and in his belief that bb tards come on here to p*ss customers off who have valid claims against a really sh*tty customer service , nigh overall service company. you people come on here and try to justify sh*tty policies with bad cs values and "its in the contract" mentality. well let me explain it so everyone will understand it....By all means continue your sh*tty attitudes and relaxed i dont give a crap behavior, there are more than a few companies that are your competition and recieve your business all the time because of your policies and attitude towards the customer, feel free to sh*t on everyone that comes through that door, because sooner or later noone WILL come through that door and this company will go bellyup.

that being said ...Have a nice day.

[robb884]

Bill,

I work for Geeksquad myself and I feel your pain. As a Senior tech at the store I work at I love to see my store doing well in terms of business. in Geeksquad it is like any other services based industry. You need to make money. period.

I do disagree with how the situation was handled. At the store I work at I/We would have tested the card for you if you had brought in the computer. If you didn't have the computer with you we would have asked for you to bring it back in. We would do this for a few reasons. We don't have spare towers lying around to put it in. Also we would not want to use an existing clients unit for the possibility of damage to it.

Although I do not agree with how you were treated, please do not let one bad experience with a person sour your whole Best Buy experience. Just like any other industry you might have some one that you don't mesh with or you feel like you are not being treated correctly. But I can assure you every store is not that way. At the location I am at we strive to make the best possible experience for anyone that comes to our counter. Perhaps try another store if there is one close.

Carnivoran. I take offense to calling Best Buy employees tards. Not everyone comes on here to tick people off. And by no means are we being paid for being on here. Think about it. Why would a company pay for an employee to speak freely in an uncontrolled situation?

I make a stop on here sometimes to see if there are any situations that I can help clear up with my working knowledge of Best Buy/Geek Squad from the past 5 years of employment.

It almost seems as you are on here to just to stir the pot. You mention that you are no longer a Best Buy shopper for some time now. So why come back here? Are you just trying to help people with situations? Perhaps like some employees do?

Please do not generalize an entire company of approx 10,000 people while only having met a small fraction.

My comments and opinions are exactly that, my own. Although I do work for the Geek Squad, I am in no way speaking for, or representing Best Buy as a company.

[calbert]

@QuantumThunder

That was a great read, the problem here is BB doesn't have one or two customer's that are unhappy, unreasonable jerks out of millions of happy ones, they have hundreds .. and for every customer that goes through the effort of filing a complaint ( here on this site, a letter to the corporate offices or in person ) there are 20 more that don't bother. They just start shopping else where .. You can't honestly tell me that in the customer service department the Best Buy shines? 

[CrystalWoW Valued Expert]

You just said they have hundreds of customers that are unhappy, unreasonable jerks