I would like to share with you an experience I have with Best Buy Store
\n[redacted] today ([adddress redacted]). Before this incident,
\nI have a perfect relationship with best buy and have been a happy
\ncustomer. In fact, I have been trying to make the company I work for to
\nshop at a newly opened Best Buy instead of another large nearby retailers.<\/p>\n
I am an IT personnel at a networking equipment manufacturer, so I’m
\nusually the person that gives advice to my friends regarding hi-tech
\nitems. Today, my friend told me that he needed to buy a laptop before
\nhis upcoming trip on Sunday. I asked him to join me at Best Buy during
\nlunch time so that he can take a look at the selection of laptops and I
\ncan give him some advice. He narrowed his choices down between an Asus
\nor Acer and told me that he’d let me know later that day which one he’d
\nprefer. Close to end of my working day, he called me and told me that he
\nprefers the Asus that he sees at Best Buy. Since I work near a Best Buy,
\nI decided that it’d be better for me to order it online with the option
\nfor in-store pickup, then he can reimburse me later. That way, he
\ndoesn’t have to go out of his way to get the laptop. As extra perk, I
\nalso get some points on my rewards card.<\/p>\n
I made the order at 7:08pm and got the confirmation email almost
\nimmediately. Since I have confirmed that the store have everything in
\nstock, I assumed that it’d be a very quick before I get my pickup
\nnotice. I left the office around 7:25 and reached Best Buy around 7:30.
\nI checked in at the customer service desk and asked if my order has
\nturned up. The lady at the cashier (K.) told me that she can’t find
\nmy order and would check with the inventory team. She came back and told
\nme that the inventory team is on break and I’m early for the pickup.
\nThat’s understandable and I told her that I’d browse the store before
\ngoing to go back to the service desk and get my item.<\/p>\n
I received my pickup notice on my email at 7:49 which was earlier than
\nthe 45 minutes time limit. I probably checked my email around 7:50-7:52,
\nand approached K. again. Once again she was courteous and friendly.
\nShe was apologetic that it took so long to get my item. I hang around
\nthe service desk area while she went to the inventory room to check on
\nmy order. At 7:55, I received a call from H. (Store Operator) that
\nmy item is ready for pickup. I told her that I was already at the
\nservice desk already. She stepped out from the room behind the service
\ndesk and found me. She then told me that the laptop is currently being
\noptimized and it would be ready soon.<\/p>\n
This is where the trouble start. I told her that I am comfortable
\nworking with computers and don’t want an optimized laptop. I also
\nrequested if she could stop the procedure. She then asked me to wait for
\na minute while she checked on it. She went to the inventory room and I
\nfollowed her up to the door to the inventory room. She then came back
\nand told me that the laptop HAS already been optimized. I told her that
\nI’d like a non-optimized laptop, preferably an unopened one. She told me
\nthat both of the laptop currently in stock have been optimized. I either
\nhave to pay for the optimization or wait for it to be unoptimized and
\nhave it reset to default. I told her that I need the laptop fast because
\nI need to go back home and help my wife with the children. She told me
\nthat she needs to talk to the manager and it should be about 5 minutes.
\nI waited around the service desk for a while, but I didn’t see her
\nanymore. I ask several other employee (F. and S.) to get me
\nH. because I can’t wait too long. When I saw her walking toward the
\nservice desk, I stopped her and asked her if she knows how much longer
\nit would take for me to get the laptop. She told me that she’s working
\non my case and would appreciate it if I stop bothering her.<\/p>\n
At this point I make the following observation:
\n1. She started telling me that they’re optimizing my laptop, but later
\ntold me that both in-stock laptops are already optimized and I have to
\nget it optimized or wait for it to be restored to default. If both are
\nalready optimized, then by the time I arrived one of the laptop should
\nhave been optimized already, why didn’t she offer to give me that one
\ninstead of optimizing the other one?<\/p>\n
2. Wouldn’t selling an optimized laptop to a buyer that doesn’t want the
\nlaptop to be optimized at non-optimized price would make a better
\nbusiness sense than having to have Geek Squad spend time and restore it
\nto default? By doing this, unneeded resource is being used to restore it
\nto default.<\/p>\n
3. Why must they optimize all of their inventory? Is this a way to force
\na sale for the Geek Squad service?<\/p>\n
4. Or, is this a way to make sure that we can’t return the laptop
\nwithout being charged restocking fee? Opened laptop carries 15%
\nrestocking fee; thus by optimizing it, the laptop is already opened.
\nWhat if my friend decided to change his mind? Will I still be charged
\nrestocking fee?<\/p>\n
5. Is this also a way to hide returned item from being marked “open box”?<\/p>\n
I just need an ETA because I’m working with schedule. By this time, it’s
\nalready 8:10-8:15. This is starting to feel like negotiating with a used
\ncar dealership. She then told me that it’d take more than 1 hour and if
\nI can’t wait that long then I should just cancel the order and buy it
\nelsewhere. After she told me that she just walked inside. I know she’s
\nbusy, but you can’t leave a customer hanging. I also find that it is
\ndefinitely unacceptable schedule. It’d be 9:15-9:30ish by the time I
\nwalk out of best buy. I had only a small lunch because I had to go to
\nBest Buy during lunch, and I was hungry. Additionally, I’d have an
\nunhappy wife because no one is helping her to take care our preschooler
\nand newborn. I also had a long day and have WAY too much time at Best
\nBuy. I also find that her attitude is rude and unprofessional. I decided
\nto draw the line and cancel the purchase. I might just take her advice
\nand buy it elsewhere.<\/p>\n
I asked F. to page H. and tell her that I want to cancel my order.
\nHe told me that she’d be right with me and help me with the order
\ncancellation. I waited, but she never came out. I saw Charles, the store
\nmanager, nearby so I waited for him to finish talking to another
\ncustomer. I then told him that I’d like to cancel the order. I also
\nexplained to him what happened and asked him my concern #4 regarding
\noptimized laptop. He told me that Best Buy have a way to make sure that
\ncustomer haven’t use the laptop, so optimized laptop which later
\nunoptimized at customer’s request can still be checked if the customer
\nused it already or not. He told me about a mechanism to check the uptime
\nof the computer and usage timer. Honestly, this doesn’t sound right at all.<\/p>\n
1. He make a generalization that all vendors have this functionality<\/p>\n
2. My 6 years working in IT, I haven’t heard or seen something similar<\/p>\n
3. My 20 years experience using computer, I haven’t meet something
\nsimilar to this<\/p>\n
4. He has no idea what I’m purchasing. I didn’t tell him what item I
\npurchased and\/or show him my receipt.<\/p>\n
This definitely sounds like a tactic to make me not buy an unoptimized
\nlaptop and keep the inventory for people who want it to be optimized. I
\ndon’t know if this is true or not, but I can feel a difference in
\ntreatment between the first time I came into the store and after I
\nindicated that I don’t want optimization. I feel ignored, brushed and
\nscammed. I told him if he could help me cancel the order so that the
\nhold on my card can be reversed earlier. He told me that he can’t do
\nthat and I just have to wait until the 8 days past. He added that NO ONE
\ncan do it. This is where he is wrong. I know this for sure. I canceled
\nanother online order earlier because I’d rather pick up the laptop near
\nmy office than the one near my house. All it take is a phone call.
\nBeside, if Shelly knows that the store can’t cancel the order, why
\ndidn’t she told me about it rather than making me wait for nothing?<\/p>\n
I left the best buy with a real bitter taste in my mouth. I told my
\nfriend what happened that told him to purchase the computer I have
\nconfirmed available from Amazon.com. He is an Amazon prime member so 1
\nday shipping is only $3.99. He will receive his laptop on Friday and I
\ncan help him set it up when it arrive. Now I am pondering if I should
\nstop shopping at Best Buy. My experience so far with Best Buy has been
\npositive, but it seems that Best Buy slowly becoming Worst Buy. It’s one
\nthing to try to sell optimization and extended service plan, but it is
\nanother thing to force the optimization service down my throat. Worst
\nthing that they can do is ignoring and brushes your customer away.<\/p>\n
Best Buy already lost this purchase and may lose me as customer
\npermanently. One thing definite is that I will not shop at store [redacted]
\nanymore. I will give other Best Buys another chance to keep me as
\ncustomer, but if this continues on, Best Buy in general will lose
\nanother customer and all other customer that I might recommend to shop
\nat Best Buy. Best Buy used to be geek paradise, but it slowly transform
\ninto a place that try to profit from ignorant general public and drive
\naway geeks who are already familiar with technology.<\/p>\n
Thank you for your time. I have attached confirmation email and pickup
\nnotice into this email. I hope you take this issue into consideration
\nand hope to hear from you in regards to this matter. In case that you
\ncan’t open the attachment, my order number is [redacted].<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We’ll let you know what (if anything) he hears back from the Supreme Geek Squad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
J. in California tells Consumerist that he liked Best Buy. He was a loyal customer until he attempted to buy a laptop there for a friend, and ran up against a brick wall of strangeness and dysfunction, all in the name of… Geek Squad optimization. He copied us on his EECB to Best Buy. Here’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4307,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-371845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4307"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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