Best Buy's "GO AWAY!" Sales Department

Why don't you just go down to the store to take a look at what they
have?

As someone who has been on both sides of the register, I find your
comments objectionable on a number of points.

First, as others have pointed out, most people who are still employed
these days are expected to carry more responsibilities. Cut them some
slack and do your research online or by going to the store.

Next, if I have been patiently waiting in a store for assistance from
a salesperson who is busy waiting on another customer, I would be very
unhappy if that salesperson interrupted the customer's transaction to
take a telephone call. I've been waiting longer than that caller and
making me wait even longer is just plain unfair (and unrealistic!).
What makes you think you are more important or your time more valuable
than mine? I went to the store and have waited my turn, wallet in
hand.

Look at this from the store's point of view: do you want your
salespeople taking telephone calls from people who may or may not come
into the store and buy or would you rather have them assisting
customers who are actually in the store, ready to buy? It doesn't
matter whether it's a big box or small independent store, a store is a
lot more likely to sell things to a customer on hand than one on the
phone.

If you think the answer is for the big box stores to disappear and be
replaced by small independents, then expect to pay a lot more for your
purchases. Big box prices are determined by a number of things,
including volume discounts. Small stores don't do enough business
(usually) to warrant volume discounts. Are you willing to pay 20% or
30% more?

Having worked in retail electronics for years, BBY is notorious for
having poor phone etiquette or for outright not answering their
phones. I don't think, however, it's justified to wish them to go out
of business because the expectations you set for their service weren't
met.

If you're unhappy with their service, buy elsewhere.

In order to make ends meet, a lot of businesses have laid off workers.
This means a heavier workload with no more pay for the layoff
survivors. So, I seriously doubt that the TV department had more than
one person working in it (one to answer the phone and one to help
shoppers). In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they had to have one
person working TV, home audio and media all together.

Look at it from a different angle. If you had gone into the store and
were going over TV options with a sales person, wouldn't you be a
little miffed if that person kept interrupting to answer the phone?

I work for them and I hate the phone situation, too. You are NOT
deliberately being ignored. The fact is that the staff position
dedicated solely to answering phones has been eliminated at the new
set up has not yet been put into place. It's causing us headaches on
the retail side as well. The people who have to answer the phone now
are also the same folks trying to do returns and process credit card
applications. Unfortunately, it creates situations like yours.

For the moment, all I can recommend is that you e-mail Best Buy's
customer service department.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=cat12104&type=page

That link should take you directly to the customer service page.

Gregory,

While I agree with your initial point, I must say that someone not
answering the phone is hardly something to get your bowels in an
uproar about. Perhaps you should have just drove to the store to find
the info you were looking for.

However, your whole point is destroyed when you say "Go out of
business". The economy is really bad right now, and the last thing
that anyone needs right now is to lose their job because they might
have been busy helping in-store customers instead of answering a
phone. When you say that Best Buy should just go out of business, do
you realize how many people that would affect?

My point is that in these economic times, everyone needs to learn
patience, and also realize that things in retail have changed from
what we are used to. Most stores have cut staff to the bone, which
just shoves more responsibility onto those still fortunate enough to
be employed. I doubt you would rush to answer a phone when you have
10 other things you have to attend to.

"Go out of business, along with the rest of the arrogant big box
stores and bring back the locally owned and operated ones. "

Right as soon as consumers decide en masse to spend the extra money to
get the better service form the locally owned and operated stores.

Unfortunately, in these economic times that just isn't happening.

And because Circuit City is going out of business, Best Buy might be
figuring they don't have to go above and beyond and service because
where will people go then?

With CC gone BB will be the only game in town in many places.
Customer service is not going to be their priority.

I wonder what time he called....was everyone watching the inauguration
on those huge big screens?

The Best Buy's in my area are always crazy busy no matter what time of
day or what day it is. I pass one of them by as I go to work and their
parking lot is filled to the brim. With that said, if a Best Buy CSR
has to choose between answering the phone or taking care of a customer
that is there in the store, I think they're going to go with the
latter. A lot of electronic stores are having specials on TV's because
the Super Bowl is coming up so a lot of people are coming in for TV's.
For some people, buying a TV is a well thought out process and they
want to make sure they're getting the best their money can buy. So if
a person comes in, is inquiring about TV's and wants to be shown the
pros and cons of each TV then that can take a while which means no one
is going to interrupt that customer in order to answer a phone. I
mean, if someone is there in the store then the chances of that person
buying something is way higher than someone calling on the phone
calling for prices.

With that said, have you considered checking their Website? They have
their weekly ad on there and you can find out prices of products on
there as well.

Or maybe they were helping a customer with cash in hand and couldn't
answer the phone. I wonder what would happen if the OP were in the
store and the employees kept stopping to answer the phone.

I don't know why the phone wasn't answered. I just think it's unfair
to assume the reason it wasn't was because they didn't want any
business.

When companies treat me poorly, I write them off and shop elsewhere
unless forced into going back. The only thing I've ever bought in
Best Buy is printer ink, and that only because I had a gift card. The
only help I found was at the customer service desk, and fortunately
that was all I needed.

The simplest way to generate sales is decent customer service. In
this economy, stores ignore this basic fact at their peril.

I'm completely on the OP's side on this. How busy could BB have been
on a weekday in the mid-afternoon? Not very busy, is my guess. How
can they not answer their phone?

Completely on the OP's side. I'd be pretty disgusted and would call a
completely different store for assistance.

First of all you would not have been calling the same department for
delivery or repair.
Second as another comment reads stores have let their season employees
go so their departments are not staffed as well during the daytime
hours. Evenings/weekends have more staff because many more customers
shop after work or on the weekends.

Third, there are places like Kmart, Walmart, Target, etc that sell
televisions and have them at pretty good prices. Also try Sam's and
Costco. You can get a good deal plus extended warrenty.

Just a thought...this is also super bowl time. Many sports fans
purchase new televisions at this time of year to see that game.

say bring back the local stores. Out of curiosity, I did a little
search in your area. I found quite a few alternatives to the big box
stores, which makes me wonder why you didn't try them in the first
place.

Many retail stores have almost no staff on this time of the year. They
cut payroll after the holidays. There was probably only one or two
people in the department. They are taught to wait on the customers
that are in the store and ignore the phones. The customers in the
store are more likely to buy something than someone calling to ask a
question on the phone.

The third time you called, you could have asked the operator to take
your number and name and have the television department call you back.
If I was the operator and recognized your voice, or had you said
something to me, I would have asked for your phone number and name so
someone could call you back.

It could be that they were very busy. My local BB is the anchor of a
major mall and is always extremely busy.

I understand that you are upset, but they could have just honestly
been busy. I imagine that staffing has been cut, like at many retail
places, so if there was one or two people working in the TV department
and they were tied up with customers, then there would be no one to
answer the phones. These salespersons often spend quite a lot of time
with customers.

Telling them to go out of business is a bit petty, considering how bad
the economy is and how many people need jobs. Do you want thousands of
people to be out of a job because your phone call didn't get answered?