Disappointed in Best Buy

I never shop at Best Buy for several reasons: 1) they use Bait &
Switch advertising; 2) they do not honor warrantees; 3) they wouldn't
refund an expensive camera that did NOT work when it was returned one
day before their refund period had expired and 4) ALL of their
employees are unncessarily rude. I once went in my local Best Buy,
with my son and spoke to three different sales clerks, each one
nastier and more hostile than the next -- I was merely looking do
purchase a specific vacuum cleaner and the rudeness was beyond belief!
It did teach my son a lesson in how NOT to behave to people. I will
NEVER, EVER shop in Best Buy because of absolutely NO positive or even
neutral experiences with the place, EVER. That's a pity because since
Circuit City closed, life would be easy to just go to the local Best
Buy. But I'd rather drive out of my way to go elsewhere.

We recently were in the market for a new home stereo. We first went to
Walmart and found a nice Sony GX99. We liked it the best, but wanted
to shop around. So, we then went to Best Buy. We found the exact same
Sony GX99 at Best Buy for $100 more then Walmart! Neither items were
on sale and we were blown away at the price mark up at Best Buy. We
also looked at some additional stereos at Best Buy that we had also
seen at other stores and every one of them were at least $50 more
expensive then where we had originally priced them. We mentioned this
to a store clerk at Best Buy and he said, "well, we have a better
warranty." We checked out the warranty for the Sony GX99 and it was
the exact same as at Walmart. So, needless-to-say, we went back to
Walmart and bought the stereo there and saved $100.
So much for "Best" Buy.

my boyfriend had something similar happen to him

He tried to purchase Snow Leopard there and it was always "out of
stock". He'd have gone directly to Apple but there's not one in his
city.

One of the employees told him they had some copies in the back but
they'd been earmarked for employee purchase. However, they told him,
for a small shipping/handling fee he could have it ordered and sent to
the store.

The prospect of having to pay extra for something, especially after
being told they had a few copies hidden, was not appealing and he
ordered it off of Amazon instead. (and without any s/h charges)

You would do better to contact Best Buy about this directly.

888-BEST BUY

Ask for the customer service department.

I won't do business with BB. I bought a laptop from them that died
within a week. They wouldn't exchange it until I spent another $200 on
a warranty I didn't need. As I said, the laptop was lees than a week
old.

I also bought a DVD jukebox from them. I brought it in to have one
slot repaired. They said they had to ship it off to a repair facility
in another state. After a few days, they called and said they couldn't
repair it, so I could pick a brand new one from the store. The only
problem was that the store no longer sold them, and when I asked for
the old one back, they said it was already scrapped. I then said I
wanted a refund and they said it had depreciated and gave me less than
a third of what I paid for the unit - and it was as a store credit.

Best Buy has a horrible, horrible reputation. Do not do business with
them.

I too had a bad situation at BB, they scratched up a laptop computer
that was 2 months old, kept in a secured case with cloth baby diapers
encasing it. When I called to complain they said sorry we can't do
anything for you. There tech support team is crappy too. I paid for
them to fix my computer and they couldn't do it and charged me $100,
when my stepson came this summer, he got it up and running.........my
stepson is 14.

I am surprised to see this about Best Buy. I have found them to be
nothing but accomodating/ The only problem I have ever encountered
at Best Buy is that they keep their television and stereo volumns at
dangerous sound levels that can damage your hearing. I do Christmas
shoppping well before Christmas to avoid the noise problem or I wear
ear plugs/muffs to avoid the noise enduced miagraines I sometimes get
at Best Buy. My most recent visit to purchase a new computers
printer: no excessive nosie, very comfortable environment and they
met me more than half-way when the printer I wanted was out of stock.
If you are having a problem with your local Best Buy, come to the
store in Columbus, Ga., they are great folks to deal with!

Hi Emanuel,

I am Gina, Best Buy’s online community manager. I am sorry to hear
about your attempted purchase of a Microsoft ZuneHD from Best Buy.
From your description of the events it sounds like you did all you
could to purchase this product from Best Buy, but unfortunately
encountered some unforeseen issues. I’m glad you were still able to
purchase a ZuneHD, albeit from one of our competitors; when given
options, we would obviously always prefer customers choose to make
their purchases with us. It seems we got in our own way this time.
What I can offer is to let you know I have forward this information on
to the Howell, NJ store so that they can review this situation and
hopefully improve their process implementation.

If there is anything else you need assistance with, please let me
know.

Gina
Best Buy Communities Manager

I'm personally not a big fan of Best Buy. Especially when it comes to
purchasing expensive electronics. My husband and I like to look
around and salivate...but we usually end up purchasing electronics on
line.

That being said, I don't think there was much BB could have done in
this situation. Other than the manager promising a Zune would be held
for you and then not delivering, I don't know that this is their
fault. It sounds as if their supplier didn't come through for them,
so they had to be the messengers in this case. Either way, you
received a refund and were able to order the Zune from someone else.

Well said.

Too many people ask for gift cards or other things for situations like
this.

They clearly didn't communicate well and, for that, an apology seems
reasonable. And I'll bet you get it.

I had a similar issue earlier in the year with Best Buy. I wrote,
they called me, explained how things worked, and apologized that the
person in the store didn't communicate better. Like you, I expected
no gift card. So, when none was offered, I wasn't disappointed.

Okay, after re-reading this, you got a refund--"refunded my $25.00 +
tax to my credit card." Why do you need/want a gift card?

I understand the inconvenience, but it was only two days from when you
purchased the pre-order thing (on the 15th) and to when you decided to
order a Zune directly from the Dell website (I assume on the 17th, if
I am reading this correctly). I am not sure if you can get your money
back, although it would be nice. Does it say anything on the
pre-order slip/ticket/receipt about it being non-refundable?