BestBuy.com

[cleardave]

The price on two products changed were discounted the day before the return period ended for an order I placed. According to Best Buy's terms "If we lower our in-store, online or app price during the return and exchange period, we will match our lower price, upon request." I noticed that discount the day after the return period ended. When I called customer support this was my experience:

1. Call 1 - I was denied the price match because "the system won't allow it". I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told a supervisor would call me back in 30 minutes...never happened.
2. Call 2 - Explained story again and was told I was being transferred to a supervisor...I was hung-up on.
3. Call 3 - Explained story again and was asked to stay on hold to speak to a manager. 15 minutes later the "supervisor was free" and I would be transferred...was transferred to the Main Menu robot.
4. Call 3 cont. - Got back do a different person in level 1 support, explained the story again, and they actually spent some time to listen and document my frustrations even though they "could not do anything". I was told that in the next hour or so I would get a call from a supervisor...I am not hopeful but we'll see.

I've been a happy customer for 30 years and honestly this will be my final purchase from Best Buy if I do not get any call back or help from this forum. This is not really for the denial of the price match, it's for the way I was treated as a customer. This was a $3k purchase and I was asking for about $500 returned if the match was honored. I feel I deserved at least some respect as a customer...at least an explanation besides "the system won't allow it" from someone with an ounce of authority. This was by far the worst customer experience I have ever had with a retailer, or really any large company...nothing even close honestly.

[LisaF-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Hello, cleardave, 

Welcome to our online community. 

Thank you for posting on our forum regarding your recent experience price matching. I love getting the best deal on a product as well, so I can understand wanting to take advantage of our Price Match Guarantee. I hate to hear about the experience you had with our phone support when looking to price match products on your recent order. I'm happy to provide support. To begin, please send a Private Message including your full name, email address, phone number, and order number. Also indicate the specific item/items that you would like to price match. To send a Private Message click the blue button next to my signature below. 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Cordially, 

[cleardave]

Update:

Well it is so long I guess. While I appreciate the outreach from Lisa I am totally unsatisfied with the outcome. Full transparency, of the $540 I felt I was owed as a refund, I was offered a $100 giftcard. Lisa told me she did everything they could, however, I was denied my request by the "system" I was again told. I was not able to reach any human with the ability to override the "system" that could give me a yes or no. Through this action alone Best Buy has shown that it cares nothing about their customers and only about profit.

I was also trying to get in contact with management regarding the insulting and possibly fraudulent customer support they provide. Lisa assured me it was brought up to leadership, but just like the phone customer support there is little reason to believe this. Having outsource, offshore contractors that are trained to not escalate anything. I honestly got the feeling the people I spoke with didn't even have a supervisor to pass me along to...they are trained to LIE. This is no accident and the decision was made at the executive level...again to maximise profits.

Because of my experience, especially because I had no way to speak to a supervisor or escalate my case in any way, you have lost another customer for life and the $100 plus any rewards left on my Best Buy card with be the last I spend with your company. Also FYI, I am a "tech" guy and will be forever telling this story when someone asks my opinion on Best Buy or where to buy electronics. I also know these forums are shutting down in the next week or so (smart move for a terrible company) so I will also be reposting my story everywhere I can with screenshots of the current price match terms. 

[cleardave]

One more follow up on Best Buy's return period of 15 days:

While I understand that this is Best Buy's policy it does not compare to the competition, say Amazon with a 30-day return policy. This is also something that I was unaware of on purchase honestly as I assume all major online retailers are comparable. If I had purchased my speakers through Amazon I would've been able to get the lower price. Amazon has been a bit unfriendly with price matches after the fact as they required me to do a fully return and repurchase to get it. I would imagine that Amazon would've probably made an exception when it comes to shipping back 150lbs worth of speakers but either way I would've got the discount. How can Best Buy compete with that??? ...well, my opinion now is by lying to the customer with vague terms and FAQs. 

[cleardave]

Just To summarize how I came to my opinion again:

1. (100% honest)I would've made my entire purchase through Amazon, if not for the fact that I assumed the same return window and price match with Best Buy. The ONLY reason to go through Best Buy was to be able to do returns directly to the store...and a LOT of business in the past personally.
2. And then the above happened...
3. Then, I wanted to bring this up to a higher level of support than level 1 using Best Buy's ONLY support contact (1-888-237-8289) besides "chat"...after no help I reached out to this forum...and....

[LisaF-BBY Social Media Specialist]

Hello, Dave,

Thank you for the additional feedback. I have added your comments to the documentation here in our corporate system.

Kind Regards,

Lisa

Social Media Specialist

Best Buy Corporate

[cleardave]

Awesome!!! *sarcastic tone*

[cleardave]

And don't get me wrong, I do appreciate everything Lisa did and I believe they did everything they could. By design they are not given certain authority, like maybe authorizing more than a $100 giftcard no matter what the case is. Lisa is probably trained to not escalate it to the person with authorization to override the system...or their supervisor is trained to always say no. So basically what I am saying is that the support mods here can't do anything the "system" denies...whatever that is. 

My frustration is 100% with the leadership directly as they seem to not care what is brought up to them. Again, as stated above, I feel now that the customer comes a far second to profits. I see posts on this forum from a while back about the insulting phone Customer Support provided by Best Buy. The support mod always says they will pass it along to leadership I am guessing. That's why no Customer Service is offered in the first place. Putting my story in a file that no one will ever read means nothing to me. Found the post below from a while back that seems to explain what is happening. Seems to be written by someone with some business background. Nothing has changed from what I can tell...if anything it has gotten worse as I also see a lot of fraud being reported here...with no outcome.

https://forums.bestbuy.com/t5/Best-Buy-Store-Purchase/A-concerned-long-time-Best-Buy-customer/m-p/13...

[cleardave]

I mean I guess in my experience with any decent large retailer's Customer Support is that they give a pretty generous level of authority to "Level 1" support. It's best if they are the "hero" tbh if it's a reasonable request (and I have seem MUCH more reasonable requests than mine with the same experience). You can usually get an outcome with the "Level 1" support's direct supervisor if needed who will at the very least tell you THEY are saying yes or no. But still, they are all "heroes" to the customer. This person has even more authority but still limited of course, however, it is them that is denying the request...not the "system" if that is the case. They are also denying the escalation and they are a real person you can complain about if you want...as a customer...the people that should be put FIRST right? But instead it is the "system" that denied the request. The "system" does not allow it. And good luck complaining to anyone about the "system"... LOL

[Bryant-BBY]

Hello, Cleardave. 

Thank you for reaching out to us on the Best Buy forums page. I appreciate all the feedback you have provide to us about your experience you had with getting a price match done. I see that you were being helped by Lisa. I'm sorry to see we were not able to approve this price match for you at this time. We are committed to continuously improving our customer service. Often, positive change comes from the feedback we received from our valued customers, such as yourself. So, I will happy report and document your feedback about your experience in our corporate system today. 

Thank you,