Best Buy

A few years ago I purchased a high end $ 5,000.00 flat screen tv. They wanted to sell me a three year warranty for $ 800.00 which starts at the point of purchase (the tv came with a two year warranty and the Geek Squad protection didn’t start at the end of the two years totaling five years — it would have added one year beyond the existing two years). I asked if they could match the $ 99.00 Square Trade warranty (three years beyond the existing two years) and was told they could not. But, what if I needed to contact Geek Squad if I needed help turning it on? Hot tip: I have a $ 40,000 home theater system (which is why I was purchasing a professional grade flat screen). Do you really think I need the «advice» from a 20 year old on how to use my equipment? Why in the world would I purchase a $ 800.00 warranty? I also didn’t need the attitude about how I needed to «help the store» by purchasing this warranty. No longer purchasing from Best Buy — I will purchase from other specialty stores or go direct to the vendor.

Go elsewhere if you expect non-​biased advice and sales people who do not overpomise and under deliver. Intended to by 65″ SUHD 4K Samsung TV. Salesperson stated purchase would include 4K movie box and I could receive 10% back on Best Buy card. He even processed the Best Buy card application for me. Clearly, I believed what he said.
Neither statements were true in my case. Sent email to Store Manager with no response yet.
Churn and burn seems to be the this stores attitude from the top down.
It continues to amaze me how companies like Best Buy spend millions on advertising to gain customers and then neglect the customers who come in the store and make purchases. To me, this says a lot about Best Buy customer philosophy.

This store has terrible customer service and questionable sales practices. I completed a transaction to have an home installation done. The day of the appointment the store calls to say they didn’t charge enough for the job and it would cost another $ 150! This is after talking to 2 different sales people, having them give me the same price and having paid in advance for the service.
Needless to say I cancelled the order and wouldn’t waste my time in that store again. They would have done better to honor their commitment and keep a customer, but they apparently have short sighted sales practices.

Here is an example of why people don’t waste their time coming into the stores anymore.
My fiancé and I came in tonight to look at upgrading our cell phones. We looked around with no one offering to help. I’m surprised I wasn’t attacked by the DirectTV people trying to sell me a dish. We sat down at the cell phone counter with a couple people being helped.
Someone came by and said she’d be right with us. After the other guy finished up he walked around a bit, chatted with some other people who weren’t doing anything and then asked, «how long have you been waiting here?»
We said we had been waiting 10 – 15 minutes and he said he was sorry he didn’t see us. He had committed to helping a couple of older women and said he was going to help us since we had been waiting. They interjected saying they had been waiting for 45 minutes. Mind you… the store wasn’t very busy at all. Employees are nearly walking arm in arm chatting, laughing and certainly not working while only two people are able to help with cell phones.
We waited. Waited. Someone said she’d be with us in a minute. We waited. waited… and waited. We finally left. What a serious waste of time. I’m sure they didn’t even notice we were gone.
Why would someone come into a store to wait and not have questions answered. I could have done that online.
Do you know what is really a damn shame? No one from Best Buy will read this. No one from Best Buy will care. Because no one from Best Buy will read this nothing will ever change.

Mr. Hubert Joly,
Greetings,
We ordered Refrigerator, Washer/​Dryer through BestBuy online (total value of $ 3114.01) and these appliances were scheduled to be delivered to my home yesterday, Nov 30, 2014.
BestBuy delivers stopped by my home around 2pm, delivered and installed Washer & Dryer, then pointed out the damages on refrigerator, encouraged us not accepted it, but calling delivery center to send the new one to be delivered next day (Dec 1^st 2014) morning at 7am.
We called 1−888−237−8229 immideterly and spoke with Sean (employee ID#116 711) for 30 minutes or more, he explained he had no control on delivery schedule and mentioned BestBuy delivery department is closed on Sunday, he was sure the next delivery would not happen next day. After insisting to speak to Delivery department he transferred us to Brian of BestBuy San Francisco delivery center.
Brain was nice to listen our situation and told us he would discuss with Delivery scheduling department then call us back. One hour later he called back and promised the refrigerator will be delivered to my home before noon time, but not on 7am next day which it’s today, Dec 1^st 2014. He also said we will receive a call from Delivery Department at 4:30pm yesterday to confirm delivery schedule on next morning.
We didn’t receive any call at 4:30pm yesterday, we called back around 7:30pm — 8:00pm and we were told we would receive a call at 9:00am today (Dec 1^st 2014. and We didn’t receive call. I (Spring Chen, the mother) called to tel: 209−836−6801 and spoke with nice gentleman Mr​.Al. After long discussion with Al on the phone, he asked me to allow him discuss with delivery department regarding my shipment today. Then he told me: the refrigerator will be delivered to my home between 3:30pm — 7:30pm. I appreciated his effort but can’t be happy with the result.
1. We have had many choices to purchase appliances around my home or internet, but we chosen BestBuy, it shows our trust to the vendor. BestBuy didn’t keep the promises delivering good quality product as promised delivery time, which it’s already very frustrated.
2. We were promised to receive refrigerator before noon today, and we didn’t receive that promises either. We are not happy with the situation.
3. This quality issue and mess up delivery issue have caused a lot of trouble to our life, we have to stay home not be able to go to work for me, and not be able to return back school for my son.
4. I do not believe your company care about my painful experiences.
5. My last conversation with Mr. Al: I need the refrigerator to be delivered to my home before 3pm, that’s the best thing I can do to help BestBuy out.
5. I need someone take serious about customer. It’s 100% BestBuy’s fault on such situation. You need to take full responsibility.
Please help us and thank you very much.
Update: the new refrigerator finally arrived at 3pm, but showed another damage: water/​ice system. I hope Best Buy is embarrassed by this: twice deliveries, twice damage and unqualified products. What’s going on? Someone needs to do a better job, or someone should be fired ?
So frustrated and hopefulness…

Well I used to be a fan of Best Buy, but I really don’t have the tolerance for dealing with the employees there anymore. I realized I have only been to Best Buy 2 times in the last 2 years even though I used to be a frequent shopper back in the day at another location. Went there tonight and realized I really don’t ever want to step in the store after a Geek Squad employee tried to tell me that the would need to me to authorize $ 550 ??? for repairs to look at my $ 200 camcorder and see if it could be fixed or at least try to recover my video on the internal memory. It was obvious they didn’t have anyone knowledgeable there to at least look at it to see if there was a chance of fixing it. He didn’t offer any other suggestions or seem like he cared about anything. This reminded me of the awful service on my last visit, where I was trying to describe a firewire cable but couldn’t remember the name. The associate insisted I could not be referring to a firewire cable because they are only on Macs, and he quote «had gone to school many years to study these things». After a few more condescending statements, I explained to him that also had gone to school «many years» to get my Masters in Engineering and I hoped that he at least had the same. I went across the street where an associate at Office Depot was happy to help me. Seriously, I can’t decide if they treat all of their customers poorly, or just the females, or just me.

Best Buy’s current business model is a disaster that shows lack of knowledge/​leadership/​vision — out of business within 10 years. This last visit cemented my views — this is their «corporate store.» (FYI: purchased 11 computers from them last 18 months for my business — Best Buy is a MN company, so I put up w/​them not finding items in-​stock, Web showing «non-​existing store inventory», selling discontinued product as new, misleading pricing, etc.) Not anymore. Asked 6+ times if I needed help was annoying, but a couple of them stating I was going to buy on-​line & was just doing research? Sad. Corporate has used that excuse for years. Now store personnel? They need to take their greatest weakness — on-​line vendors cheaper — and make it their strength. But they won’t — not smart enough & they have drank the Kool-​Aid. If you are buying anything for home, go to a Wal-​mart/​Sears type store. A gamer, build your own on-​line. Businesses — buy direct & create your own. Need computer equipment now, go to Micro Center. Best Buy has jumped the shark. FYI: Google Geek Squad & undercover «news stories» before using them. Then decide.

Love their customer service. I went there looking at car stereos and left with a system that was beyond my expectations and pricing was awesome. Will definitely go to back to get the other car hooked up!

I’ve been to this Best Buy location many, many times. I“ve made all kinds of purchases from CDs to iPhones to computers. I’ve had good service and some not-​too-​stellar service. Today, I had OUTSTANDING service, which cause me to have a Target Moment. You know the kind. You pop in for something small and hundreds of dollars later, you’re leaving the store.
Today was the release of the game, Disney Infinity. I’ve been waiting a long time for this game, and I’m not even a gamer. But I did my research and knew I was going to buy a PlayStation 3. Funny thing is, I pre-​ordered the game before having the system. Typical me. Buy socks and build the wardrobe around it.
But I digress. I went in to buy the PS3. Seeing a few models, and just wanting to know if there was any other accessory I needed in order to play Disney Infinity, I wanted to speak to someone. I looked around for a bit, and every associate was busy. But then I saw a Best Buy employee who could tell I needed help. He asked me if I did, I said yes, but could tell he was on a mission to get to the register. I told him he could finish what he was doing and get back to me. Turns out he had to clock in.
His name is Ramsey, and he answered all my question about the PS3 and Disney Infinity. He was going to buy it after his shift, so he must have done some homework as well. He didn’t pressure me to buy things I didn’t need, and explained the difference in tips for the HDMI cable. I purchased that as well. I was set to go and he was fast and efficient at the register.
Here comes the moment like in Target where you’ve picked up the toothpaste and then you walk past the Rubbermaid tubs and picture frames. For me, it was more electronics. I walked past the TVs and saw a 50″ Panasonic that was $ 155 off its list price. Since I wanted to replay the smaller TV in the ‘Disney’ game room, I figured buying a larger TV for the living room and moving that TV would work for me.
I found Ramsey again and asked him what he knew about TVs. He said he used to work in the Magnolia section of Best Buy, so he knew a lot. I told him I hadn’t done any research on TVs, so he explained the difference between plasma and LED screens. I really learned a lot from Ramsey in 10 minutes that I would have reading online. He did an excellent job describing pros and cons.
Because of Ramsey, I walked out with a wallet a little more empty, but with two great purchases. He even loaded it into the car. What service!
If nothing else, go to the Eden Prairie Best Buy and look for Ramsey if you need help. He’s the best!

The employees are terrible. Recently bought a laptop, and all they had were the «optimized» ones that they charged more for. They were willing to give it to me at the regular price, but I was forced to take their opened box one, with the username already created and set. Who would want an open box laptop? Other than this it’s your standard best buy with pushy employees, and high markups. I try to stay away as much as possible, and stick to amazon, and newegg.

A nicer Best Buy with unique features and layout.
Best Buy world headquarters was actually located in Eden Prairie as recently as 2003, so they have always had a reason to have nice stores nearby.
This store has parking located out front, and underneath the store, which is quite unique. In 2010 they also installed a functional windmill that generates a small fraction of the stores electricity. Its more of a test or marketing gimmick then anything else, but it is still interesting.
The store inside does feature a magnolia high end home theater area if you are looking to spend some dough.
Overall, most of the staff is friendly, somewhat helpful, and knowledgeable to the extent that high schoolers working for minimum wage usually are. The store is very nice, and in a great location.