Mobile Phones & Broadband

[wheels87]

To the two of you who say that we don't understand the concept of the pre-order...you are completely clueless as to how business works.  Again, the problem is not that BB couldn't get any Sprint iPhones...the problem is that they advertised availability when they KNEW that they could not produce.  THAT IS FALSE ADVERTISING!  Can you not understand that concept?  And still today, they continue to hide and not address the issue with their customers.

The way that BB handled this mess is shameful and their customers deserve better.

[OctoberMoon]

See, my local Best Buy I think handled the situation better than most I'm reading about on here. We got a call the day before launch saying they may not be getting their supply in on launch day. My husband and I were of course upset, but they at least called. Then we decided to go in on launch day just to talk to someone and they apologized and offered to give us our $50 back for the 2 gift certificates we purchased. We decided to hold onto them and look around elsewhere, just in case. The employees in our BB were really nice and really apologetic. 

That doesn't seem to be the case for most people here, though, and that's the problem. Obviously Best Buy as a whole did not have a solid, set-in-store procedure for this pre-order and launch and that's why it's turned into a fiasco. I would have been WAY more upset that I was if my BB did what some of you are describing. 

All that said, I won't be pre-ordering from Best Buy ever again. I may still purchase stuff from my local store once in a while, but I will be going elsewhere for my next phone purchase. 

[JaeHokes]

Who ever is saying im "whining" are pathetic - nobody is whining but when your the first preorder and anticipating recieving the phone and not even having an IDEA of when its coming in is unacceptable - its going to be Wednesday and i STILL do not have my phone, i was told "if you dont get it by friday you will have it on saturday" - so to all of you saying im whining you obviously dont know how to run a business so do us all a favor and dont ever open one because im sure it will be as pathetic as you

[NoNoBadDog]

@JaeHokes; it *IS* whining when you whine about something that is beyond the control of the entity you are whining about.  You won't accept that, I'm sure, because you don't have the ability to conceive the notion that sometimes things don't go your way. 

I wish you luck.  I hope you get your phone.  What I really wish is that you would suddenly achieve the ability to understand that sometimes things don't go as planned...and it doesn't happen on purpose. 

[NoNoBadDog]

@wheels87, you are the one who is cluesless as to how business works.  I have been a retail sales associate, a store manager, a district manager and a regional manager for a large electronics chain (not BB, by the way). You should choose your words carefully when responding in these forums, as there are people who know far more about this issue than you, and you only make yourself look foolish by claiming that they don't know anyhting about how business works.

[JoshsView]

It would be whining if it was beyond control. 1 problem, overnight shipping exists.

And the biggest thing everyone is "whining" about is bby is keeping us in the dark. Is that beyond control? And don't say "what if they don't know what's going on?" Because "I don't know " is an answer and that's all we ask.

Is that too much to ask from paying customers?

[wheels87]

@nonobaddog:

You claim to have worked virtually every management position in electronics retail, so I have a question for you...At what point in your training did they teach you that when your store has falsely promised (through advertising on your web-site, in print and in the store itself) product availability on a certain date, knowing that you weren't actually going to have the product on that date, that you should attack the customer and acuse them of whining, rather than owning up to your company's mistake?  What happened to "The customer is always right?"  Is that how you define "Choosing your words carefully?"  How exactly did I make myself look foolish by pointing out that it was wrong for Best Buy to advertise availability on October 14th, even after they knew they would not have ANY Sprint iPhone 4s's?  I have posted many times that the issue is not that they didn't have any phones...the issue is that they misled the customers into thinking they would have them by encouraging pre-orders and openly advertising availability on October 14th, get it?

So for someone who should know a lot about retail, you seem to be completely clueless about what kind of consumer relations nightmare this has been/will be for Best Buy.  Based on the mini-resume that you posted, I am guessing that you probably worked for one of the big electronics retailers who are now completely out of business.  Perhaps you should consider that blaming the customer when your company fails to deliver on a promise and taking no responsibility for it is why those retailers failed miserably.  Perhaps your way of thinking contributed to this failure...no?

Just my two cents.

[NoNoBadDog]

You know nothing.  No "promises" were made.  An advertisement is produced,which has nationwide coverage.  Not every store in the nation is going to have the item in stock. This is not by design, but it happens.

The fact that your limited intellectual capacity prevents you from seeing that is your problem, not mine, or anyone elses. 

You are just too conceited and self-centered, upset over what you see as a grand conspiracy, to see the truth.

Good luck with that.

No...you are the one who doesn't "get it".  I doubt you ever will.

[JaeHokes]

@nonobaddog obviously the company you work for is no long in business correct? Or you got let go, which one is it? Because with employees like you im sure it could not be a top notch retail store. You say that advertisement is produced as nationwide coverage? Well i live in New York and not ONE Best Buy in Brooklyn, Staten Island, Or New Jersey has my model yet - if youre too slow to understand that - that means two whole boroughs and a neighboring State does not have the phone - not just the one store near me- so wheres the availabilty "nationwide" - i came on this forum about 3 days ago just to see if everyone else was in the same boat ad me but listen you obviously have way too much time on your hands to be a "valued contributor" on a pathetic best buy forum - so go back to that unemployment line or your couch or wherever you are each day to have all the time in the world to constantly comment and defend best buy, but its obviously not that "retail store you worked for"

[urkel]

Just curious but if someone didnt get their preorder at this point then why didn't they buy elsewhere? I know people who preordered with AT&T who were told 3wks, people preordering at best buy and target who haven't been fulfilled and who are waiting on Sprint.com that just walked into a local store (AT&T, apple, sprint) and picked up a phone no problem. BestBuy messed up for me so I just got my refund, went to Apple and have been using my iPhone since Friday.

It's not like they're sold out everywhere so even if best buy gets stock then why not invest in a company that can fill an order rather than wait around on a company you claim to hate?