Beware best buy--horrible experience

[italeki]

I usually hesitate going to Best Buy. They usually hire unprofessional non-American people with Jamaican or Haitian accents treating you like crap; bad attitude and all. It depends what part of town you live.

 

[armoredsaint]

 

[BSherrod]

As someone who works at Best Buy, I don't think you should condemn almost 1,500 stores because of one incident that sounded like a big misunderstanding to me.

 

[forty2j]

Image

Your valuable and thoughtful contribution is noted.

 

[NT1440]

If you think shopping there sucks, try working for the company.

 

[jasonapr78]

You missed the part where he rails against Best Buy for inventory logistics without realizing that Apple controls who gets what phones and doesn't tell them in advance, and rails against Best Buy for selling phones without filling all preorders without realizing that they have 18 SKUs and surplus of some and not enough of others.

The guy shouldn't have been treated rudely, or been given a fake $100 bill to refund gift cards he purchased on debit, but not everything in the novella was Best Buy's fault.

I do realize that Apple controls inventory completely. I also do understand that there are 18 SKUs for the various iphone 5 models. My issue is that one store receives 100 phones for 50 pre-orders and the next store receives 0 phones for 50 preorders. Rather than a system generated e-mail telling the next pre-order in the line that they can pick-up their phone at a different store, they sell to walk-ins. That's all on Best Buy not Apple. Their system is capable of generating mass e-mails (you can google to see the letter we received from "Shawn" at 11:44pm CST Thursday night, 20 Sep) so why not manage their inventory that way? They are a major company and they have failed in what they could control (customer service and serving pre-orders before walk-ins).

 

[littlebird]

Here's my attempt at summarizing.

TLDR: OP Pre-orders 4 iphones and 4 $50 gift cards, he cancels 2 pre-orders and wants refund for 2 $50 cards. After a lot of complaints, an employee goes behind the doors of the GS room, comes out with a $100 bill and gives it to OP. OP goes to their car, forgot to purchase something, goes back in uses $100 that employee gave him minutes ago, the cashier says the bill is fake, more complaining and rudeness, a different BB Employee gives OP 5 $20 bills.

 

[eleite]

dude... epic thread. that story sucks! sorry that happened. i wouldn't blame you for never returning to best buy again. =\

 

[forty2j]

Their system is capable of generating mass e-mails (you can google to see the letter we received from "Shawn" at 11:44pm CST Thursday night, 20 Sep) so why not manage their inventory that way? They are a major company and they have failed in what they could control (customer service and serving pre-orders before walk-ins).

I got the same letter from "Shawn". Still waiting for my wife's White 16, though I picked up my Black 16.

I know some "poor" stores tried to appeal to the "wealthy" stores to redistribute the wealth, but that had limited success simply because of the way retail works. All these stores want the phones counted against their own numbers so the manager can justify his job.

What you're suggesting - rerouting the preorders to the stores with phones - would be a lot trickier. I preordered from Holmdel because I like Holmdel. I could deal with Manalapan, and Bridgewater's decent and close to work, but I despise the Edison store and the Eatontown store's too far away. Any of those could have been valid choices for them to redirect me to. If they moved my order to a store I didn't like or a store I'd have to travel quite a ways to, I'd probably be more unhappy than just waiting for my store to get my model.