%@#& YOU, BEST BUY!

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Chambered Posted: 11-12-2009 9:18 AM

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Maybe it's just my local Best Buy. Maybe it's not and it's a store-wide problem. There's only one around here, so it's all I have to go on.

Some months ago, I wanted to cash in on an ad item they had. Of course, I got there too late and they were sold out. I asked if they did rain checks, and they said they did and that they'd call me when it was available. So, I left happily with my rain check to await their call telling me they got another shipment in. Days passed. Weeks passed. A month passed, and they never called.

Finally, in frustration, I went back and lo and behold, there's a big stack of the game sitting right on the shelf. Who knows how long it'd been there, but I'm still waiting for that call.

Yesterday, I called the store and asked them if they had any Modern Warfare 2 for PS3 in stock. The Prestige edition. "Yes of course!" the lady on the phone answered quickly.
I was skeptical. The previous day they had said they were sold out. Well, maybe I've finally got a little luck, I thought. So I asked if I could put one on hold to pick up later.
"Sure, what's your name?" And finally, she said it was now on hold for me. 
I was still just cautiously optimistic. I wouldn't be surprised if she's looking at the wrong version, I thought, so asked, "How much is that version?"
If she's got the right version, then the price will be
"Um, $149.99."
Score! Right version, right system, right price!

I drove the half hour down there after work. The guy behind the customer service desk tried, he really did. He ran all over the store for 10 minutes looking, but all he could find was my name on a Hardened editon. Thanks for that, Best Buy.

And if these were the only issues I'd had, I might not mind. But it seems as if Best Buy's policy is that their employees have little to no knowledge of what's going on. When asked when they might be getting in a new shipment of a particular product, different employees give different responses, even when asked just moments later.

I was instructed by the customer service rep that if I really want something, the best way to get it from Best Buy is to call every morning and ask if it's in. And then call every afternoon, too. And once before bed. Just in case.

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taintedzodiac replied on 11-12-2009 9:28 AM

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Order online, pick up in store. Works 100% of the time.

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cheeznrice replied on 11-12-2009 9:32 AM

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I feel your pain Chambered.  Do they have online ordering for in-store pickup?  That's the way I avoid dealing with some of the not-so-well informed employees at Future Shop.

I will tip my hat to the actual employees that service computers.  They tend to know what they're talking about and don't feed you lies like component cables will make the Wii HD.  I was in the store on the weekend buying RAM to upgrade my laptop.  I refused assistance from their computer sales people, unfortunately the guy next to me didn't.  A sales associate gave him laptop RAM when he needed RAM for his desktop.  The sales associate was less than impressed when I spoke up and helped the guy out.

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Black Fox Zulu replied on 11-12-2009 9:35 AM

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The biggest issue I have with best buy is the "employee reservation policies."

An employee will take the game off the shelf or out of the back and hold it for themselves but it still shows up in inventory. 

I had this happen with my RE5 360 limited edition that I bought this year.  They had none on the shelf, we asked if they had any in the back, their inventory said they did, but they couldn't find it.  Eventually the guy comes back and says that an employee has it on hold and I can't purchase it.  We get the manager and I walk out with my red 360. 

Same problem happened when I tried to pick up borderlands, except I lost out on that one, when the still claimed they had none even though inventory said they had 3.

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I-Weapon-X replied on 11-12-2009 9:37 AM

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unless you were planning on selling the prestige edition, they did you a favor

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derekjr replied on 11-12-2009 9:39 AM

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Is best buy.com a place where you can check to see if a local store has the item in stock?

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timpysan replied on 11-12-2009 9:39 AM

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derekjr:

Is best buy.com a place where you can check to see if a local store has the item in stock?

For some of their stores, yes.

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killmak replied on 11-12-2009 9:46 AM

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cheeznrice:

I feel your pain Chambered.  Do they have online ordering for in-store pickup?  That's the way I avoid dealing with some of the not-so-well informed employees at Future Shop.

I will tip my hat to the actual employees that service computers.  They tend to know what they're talking about and don't feed you lies like component cables will make the Wii HD.  I was in the store on the weekend buying RAM to upgrade my laptop.  I refused assistance from their computer sales people, unfortunately the guy next to me didn't.  A sales associate gave him laptop RAM when he needed RAM for his desktop.  The sales associate was less than impressed when I spoke up and helped the guy out.

In store pick-up FTW!  I usually just use in store pick-up since employees are so dumb and with in store pick-up they grab the product from the shelf and verify they have it before you come to pick it up.

I find that all the employees at places like best buy and futureshop and so forth are huge asshats that know nothing about anything they sell.  They push their crappy warranty on everything you buy, they lie about products and policies just to get a sale.  Most of them are straight up scum and whenever any of them ask me if I need help I just ignore them.  When they try to sell me a warranty I say no and when the try to ask why not I laugh at them and tell them its because their warranties are scams and I dont feel like being scammed today.

Off topic I picked up some laptop memory recently for my kids laptop.  Stupid laptop only had one of the memory slots exposed and the other one is burried deep inside so I had to pick up a 2gb one instead of two 1gb ones.  I ordered online with free shipping just so I didnt have to deal with the hassle of going to best buy.

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Black Fox Zulu replied on 11-12-2009 9:46 AM

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derekjr:

Is best buy.com a place where you can check to see if a local store has the item in stock?

Sometimes, but then if its a hot new release.... it may say its in stock, but an employee may have it squirrled away somewhere..

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Maskim replied on 11-12-2009 9:54 AM

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I don't mind their employee purchase policy, because if it's an in demand item they get next to no discount, and they aren't supposed to put it on hold, as it should be available for a customer.  Not that they always follow it, as you've pointed out, BFZ.  I went through that trying to get my Dragon Age CE.  The day after release, and next to no stores in my town got any CE in stock.  I find one Best Buy that has one of them, online.  I call to verify.  Yup, they got it.  I ask them if they physically see it.  Yup, it's there.  Get there 10 minutes later it's gone.  I'm there for over half an hour looking for it with them.  The manager and I finally find a guy who's like 'Oh, I know where that is, I'm buying it tonight after work'.  Well, I'm playing it now, so you can see how that turned out.

That's not something to hold against the store, though, that's the individual employees.  What gets me is their customer service refusing to fix an issue for me.  When I bought my ps3 slim, I did so at Best Buy.  I was going to go to Game Crazy, as I usually do for systems to get the 12 free rentals.  However, I asked the associate if it counted for the gamer's club, and was told of course, it's a video game item.  Figuring I don't need the rentals because of goozex, and the $25 in reward zone certificates would be nice, I bought it there.  Now, when I only earned $5 from the purchase, I find out Hardware doesn't count, and it doesn't matter that I was given false information, which was the only reason I made that purchase there, I can't get them to honor it.

They've done two 'investigations' on the matter when I've called to complain, each taking a couple of weeks, and each time I'm told it doesn't count, and they can't be responsible for someone giving me incorrect information.  Well, kind of, yes you can.  It was your representative that told me so.

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timpysan replied on 11-12-2009 9:57 AM

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Maskim:

What gets me is their customer service refusing to fix an issue for me.

I have the same issue. Best Buy and I have a real love/hate relationship. They love to take my money and I love to get Reward Zone certificates. But I've never had a harder time getting an issue resolved than the two times I've had to try to redeem a protection plan at BB.

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Chambered replied on 11-12-2009 9:59 AM

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Well, I haven't been able to find the Prestige edition listed on their website, so I couldn't order it there or look up to see if they had it in store.

The first day I went in looking for it, they said their computer showed that they had 1 copy, but no one could find it. So I guess that's what happened.

Now that I know that it's not an "error", usually, I'll know to press until they do find it.

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Maskim replied on 11-12-2009 10:04 AM

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I miss Fry's.  Now that I've moved to the eastern side of the state the closest one is about 5 hours away,  When I lived in Seattle and Portland you couldn't pay me to go to Best Buy, and all that business went straight to Fry's.  Over here, to get a decent deal, there's not much option besides Best Buy.

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Black Fox Zulu replied on 11-12-2009 10:06 AM

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Chambered are you trying to flip the prestige edition?

If not, why didn't you pre-order it?

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PSWii60 Elite replied on 11-12-2009 10:08 AM

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Best Buy likes to put things on sale that they have a very limited supply of. Its there own "legal" bait and switch policy.