Best Buy

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

The service at this store is deplorable. Absolutely awful. I am a technician myself, so Im not easily lied to. I own an Asus G73sw, a rather pricey gaming/desktop replacement laptop. As this machine is critical to my income, a two week turnaround for repair would cost me more than to do the repair myself. My intention on calling the store was to find out if they could source the part from asus, have it shipped to the store, and allow geeksquad to do the repair. First, I looked up Asuss dead pixel policy, before I called. Armed with the knowledge that they have a flat five bright/dead pixel policy on this machine, I then called the northgate location of best buy. I was informed that asus will only replace a laptop flatscreen panel if there is a cluster of dead pixels. This is a straight up lie; asuss dead pixel policy goes by number of dead pixels, period. Their location on the panel, or their location relative to one another, is not even mentioned in the policy, at all. If you have five or more dead or bright pixels, they replace your panel if its within the warranty period, no questions asked. I happen to be within the warranty period, and I happen to have a cluster of about 30 or 40 dead pixels, so I press on. Next, I explain that, as I am a pentester, the loss of income associated with a two week minimum RMA process is unacceptable to me to get a part for free that I can source for a mere $65. I explain that in my experience with Asus, if a service center in their retail channel will verify the dead pixels, they would be more than happy to send the part to that retailer, so it will find its way to me. I am then informed that its asuss policy not to do this. Oh really? Ive worked at a service center, and yes they will. I can think of at least two occasions where they did it for hardware I was personally repairing. But hey, things change, policies get altered. So, I hang up, and call Asus. Low and behold, I find out (of course) that Asus has no issue with this, so long as best buy will verify my dead pixels for them. Thats two lies in under ten minutes. So, I asked to talk to a manager- clearly somebody needs some more training before they answer the phone... and I get the same guy when I call, who informs me that all of the managers are busy. I ask to hold. Twenty minutes later, I hang up. I will never, ever purchase a laptop from these folks. I consider them to be high on price anyway, the only time I buy a laptop from them to start with is when the next generation GPU comes out, and they put something on sale to make room in a warehouse. Their technicians are the bottom of the barrel, and often make things up policy-wise as they go along, all the while assuming they are talking to someone who doesnt know any better. That they only employ barely qualified kids that were still learning the finer intricacies of not eating glue when I started playing with PCs is the reason I will never buy anything from them again. Best avoided, and especially the northgate store location. I ultimately decided to go ahead and eat the $65, so I purchased a panel that I was owed a replacement for under a valid warranty claim, simply because best buy refused to facilitate my income issues with a two week RMA process in any way, whatsoever.

A

A Private User

I purchased a laptop at this Best Buy, but there were some severe customer service problems. It seems like the only computer store around. There is no Wal-Mart. When I entered this Best Buy I went to the laptop section. Within on minute a sales representative approached and asked if I had any questions. I said I had no questions. Then, 30 seconds later the process was repeated with a different representative. This happened twice more, so over two minutes I was bothered by four different salesmen. On the fifth questioning, I felt compelled to ask something. The processor chip speed were not labelled so I asked about chip speeds. The sales representative was taken aback by this question, and did not seem to know the answer. Then, he vaguely pointed at a laptop and said "yea, this one is like 4 gigahertz, " and pointed at another saying "this one is like 3 gigahertz. Its the newer model." I said I was surprised the newer model was slower. He said " yea, uh" and then dissappeared. 30 seconds later yet another salesmen asked me for questions. I asked about chip speeds on the same computers. He told me the newer one was faster than the older one. He seemed to know what he was talking about. I told him another salesperson said the opposite. Then I chose a laptop computer. But before I picked up the box some store manager named Martin came over and accused me of stealing. He asked me if I had any questions. I asked him the difference between the computer I was getting and the one on clearance. He took the computers and set them down, and then smashed his hand on one of the computer before me saying "these will work fine." Hopefully, he didnt damage anything. Then he produced some ripped up plastic security device saying " you wouldnt know anything about this." I said "no." He then said into his walkie talkie " Im talking to him now, recheck the video and tell me if you see anything, and call the police." I did nothing wrong so I just stood there, and he eventually left. I went to buy the computer and the guy who knew little about computers was the cashier. He had a slightly guilty expression on his face. Maybe he had reported I was stealing in retaliation for me calling him out on his processor chip answer? The Martin manager shot me this angry glare when he saw I was buying the computer. I stared right back. I ended up buying a laptop cooling fan too. As I was selecting a cooling fan this guy who looked like security personel was standing in the aisle watching me. I dont know of any other computer stores around. Overall, this was a terrible customer service experience. Its no wonder they already have such a low rating. Im definately giving them the lowest score I can.

RI

Rich W

I recently went to Best Buy to purchase my daughter a boom box and a couple of CDs. The selection for boom boxes these days is pretty sad. The isnt really best buys fault, but just an unfortunate fact. I picked up a couple CDs that I intended to purchase for my daughter. A woman on the floor was kind enough to ask if I needed help and took me to the section with boomboxes. I unwrapped one of the CDs (since I was going to buy it) and popped it into several boom boxes that met my criteria (i.e. it had to accept CDs), Memorex, Insignia, Sony...The cheaper Memorex and Insignia were $29.99 and pretty much sounded terrible, worked terrible, and built terrible. Then I tried a Memorex that was $49.99 and it was immensely better. I jumped over to the $79.99 Sony expecting a lot more, but while it maybe sounded decent and could accept an iPhone 5/flash dock, I was more impressed by the sound and robustness of the Memorex. This is for a 7 year old and the dock seemed risky. It also had line in for an iPod so no dock needed, just a 1/8" cable that we already have. So far so good at Best Buy...Then I go to check out...I provide my rewards number and swipe my credit card. I have a wallet full of my cards and business cards, everything but my license. (I forgot it in my other pants at home.) The guy wont take my credit card because its not signed he explains. I say, why "then Ill sign it." He tells me I cant sign it in front of him. We argue. Ultimately, I walk out of the store without my daughters gifts. While I understand fraud prevention (I own my own retail business and regularly see fraud), this was borderline insanity. I verified my rewards number, the address on file matches my business cards, I had other signed credit cards with my name on it, but this guy wouldnt budge. This is a big fail and I let the manager know by phone that they had not only lost this sale, but I would make a significant effort to avoid Best Buy for many future sales as it was a major inconvenience. With so much talk today about showrooming at Best Buy, I thanked her for the free showrooming and bought the same box that Best Buy had for $49.99 at Toys R Us nearby for $39.99 (notable $10 or 20% LESS). I will also be buying the CDs at a small local CD retailer up the street from Best Buy. I should have done that anyway! Well done Best Buy! I will probably use you again soon for more showrooming when I need a touchscreen PC for my business.