I've been calling an NC location since 11:01am est. It's now 3:30pm. I want to reiterate that I was reserved and kind in all my conversations, but, explained how rude and inconsiderate I thought Best Buy and it's employees were being.
I and my girlfriend really wanted the deal that was offered on the web site at the store (40 miles from me). They only had 1 left in stock. Calling and confirming availability and asking for a hold before the long ride just sounded logical? I could have purchased it on the web, held their inventory in limbo, and then returned it in the store if I didn't like it when I got there. But then, that would be unethical.
There I go again caring about people that don't give a darn about anyone but themselves!!
On the first call I was waiting on hold for 45 minutes I just hung up. It's a gift for my girlfriend and she just gave me that, "You're not giving up that easy are you?"
So I called the 800 line hoping for better results. Yea, as you guessed .... I took a vacation to India. "Steve" answered the phone and with my poor hearing it was impossible to understand him. He confirmed he was in India, I thanked him for his time, said "Thanks" and hung up. 18 more min wasted.
The second call was 57 min wait and a young woman answered. She explained that she was not in the store I was calling. So I asked for her manager to get to a responsible party for listing a local phone number that doesn't go to the store at all? She put me on hold for another 7 min and then said the manager was busy. So I told her I would hold till he wasn't busy. Without missing a beat she then "miraculously" said he said he would call me back instead of my waiting. I agreed to the terms. Left my number and waited.
While waiting for the call back I thought I'd give the "Live Web Chat" a try. I won't say there are smarter monkeys at my zoo but I'm darn close. The whole conversation was my asking a question and their answer was my question with "So... you want" in front of my question. And when I asked for a phone number he messaged "Here's the phone number:" And never typed the number! Then he messaged "Is there anything else I can help you with?" I said, "Yea, you can give me the number?". It went really south after that so I cancelled the chat.
After playing the chat game and waiting 1.5 hours and no call back, I called again. That call was a 37 min wait. When I explained to the young woman how I would like to talk to her manager and gave her a brief explanation of why ...... she hung up on me. I immediately got the "Oh no you didn't" out and called again. After a 26 min wait a voice quickly came on and said "please hold". Another 7 min go by and unbelievably I'm talking to someone in the store I was calling! I kindly explained to the manager and he apologized.
What else could he do? I thanked him. But as we all know ... excuses are like .....
Here's the low down: It appears the local phone numbers for stores listed on the web go through a call center. So pretty much they are jerking my chain by listing a local area code. That's almost deceptive fraud? The 800 number goes to India and they aren't making any efforts to trim the accent for your benefit.
A note to Best Buy:
Thanks for wasting my entire Saturday, ticking off my girlfriend, and enlightening me in your customer care. I know you don't care one way or another if customers are upset with your abilities to service their needs. Since the pandemic your sales are up, labor is down, and facilities costs have fallen. Your riding that E Commerce wave to gold toilet seats.
Just remember. All waves eventually crash on lonely beaches.
My moral of the story learned: Don't cross a Best Buy threshold unless you're in dire dire need of a bathroom and they're the only place around.
Meg-BBY
