Employee may never make large purchase from Best Buy again

I worked at Best Buy part-time this spring/early summer just to pass the time until we moved. I thought I would use the discount to make a couple of necessary purchases, and a fun one. I bought a washer/dryer for our new house, and a Toshiba 65H80 TV. They came to deliver these items on Wednesday, June 20th. They informed me before even taking anything off the truck that there was no way they were even going to try to deliver the TV. Our house is technically a quad-level house. Each level is only separated by half flights of stairs, however. I want the TV in the lower level, and yes, they need to make ONE turn. My measurements made it look like it would have been close with the 65", but they should have made it.

Well, they absolutely refused to do it... So, they delivered the washer and dryer (which went down the one level and around down another level), and left without ever taking the TV off the truck. Before leaving, however, they gave me some bullsh*t about how they were sure that the 55" Toshiba would fit. I said, "They don't make a 55" widescreen Toshiba." They said they sure did because they moved them before (Toshiba does make a 55", but not a widescreen or HDTV). I said that they do make a 56" in that same model, and asked if they thought it would fit. They were like... I don't know... kind of leary-like.

So, anyway... I go to the local Best Buy later that night, and the video guy says they'll take care of it for me, but I should come back in the next day when the GM is in. He made a photocopy of my receipt for the GM and I left. So, I think, okay, no problem... I come in the next day, and I get to speak to this b*tch sales manager instead of the GM. She has a terrible attitude, walked away from me several times while I was speaking to her, and then didn't help me at all. She said I had to work through my old store where I had purchased it. Well, that store was now 6 hours away, and I wasn't planning a visit any time soon.

So, I called my old store. They (at least they were nice there) told me that we would have to wait until the TV showed back in their stock before we could work and exchange for the 56". Ok...ok... Well, on Sunday, June 24th, I talked with a manager at my old store, and she told me that the delivery was now set for Wednesday, June 27th. Ok, fine... Wednesday comes, and no TV. They had never even called to give me a time window for delivery... So, I call my old store again (after calling both the delivery number, and the 800 customer service number), and apparently my order was cancelled for some unknown reason. ?????? So, I had to call back every day until Monday, July 2nd, until there was someone there who could help me. Apparently there is only ONE person who works at that store who knows how to do this properly. So, they tell me the delivery date is today, Thursday, July 5th.

I actually received a voice-mail with a time-window. However, the half of the time window was covered by my working hours. They left no phone number to call, and I didn't have my receipt yet because they were mailing it to me. I left a note on the door saying something to the effect of,


When I got home today, the note was gone, and there was no new note, so I assumed they would return before 2:00. Nope. 2:00 came and went. At about that time, the mail came, and my receipt was in it. At about 2:05, I called the number on the receipt, and they informed me that I missed the delivery. Now, I am usually a very calm person who doesn't even like to yell at people on the phone...but I was extremely p*ssed off at this point. I asked if they could still deliver it today, and they said no...the delivery people are already off-shift (this is 5 minutes after my delivery window!). I ask to speak to a manager. She gives me the same crap...and want to set me up for another delivery tomorrow or Saturday. I said I want it today...I have waited for over 3 weeks for my $3000 TV! But, no...there was no way they could do that...

So, what do they have available tomorrow? 9 a.m. - noon. Of course, I am at work then too. But my wife could be home. Now, I eventually settled on them coming tomorrow, but I can just imagine them coming and saying...nope can't put this there... So...

Anyhow, this has been such a nightmare that I highly doubt I will ever make another significant purchase from Best Buy, and I am a former employee. If they treat an employee like this...how do they treat you average Joe?



So, anyhow, thank you for reading my rant.

Followup:

Ok, so the delivery people came while my wife was home. Immediately, they said (again) that they wouldn't even try to take that down. My wife told them that the last delivery people thought this size might fit, and they should try. They refused. She insisted again that they try and prove that it doesn't fit. He walked out the door, she assumed to get the TV. Then my wife heard the truck start, and they just left!

So, my wife immediately called the delivery number, and she was told my the supervisor that it is their policy that if a delivery person doesn't think it would fit, that they shouldn't even try. She was told that they could return within half-an-hour to just leave it in our living room... But she wanted to wait to talk to me (320 lbs between just the two of us and no special carrying tools?).

I come home and she tells me the story. Infuriated, I call the delivery line. The supervisor she spoke to informed me that they had set up a delivery for Monday. I said no, absolutely not. The TV is coming today. He put me on hold, and they came back 10 minutes later, telling me they would call me back. I was called back by the distribution center manager, and she told me that she was told that my wife had turned down the half-hour return and had agreed to a Monday delivery. I said no...she had only said that she wanted to talk to me before they drop it off in our living room. I asked her about why they couldn't even try to put it in our basement, and she again said that there was too much liability for them to try. Ugh... So, was left with the choice of having them return and drop it off in our living room, and see if the two us us can handle it...or tell them not to bother. I told her to go ahead and have them come back. I would call her back in 20-25 minutes if I changed my mind. She said I probably shouldn't expect them until 2-6 p.m. sometime. So, in the meanwhile, my wife has the idea to take some old cardboard boxes (we had just moved recently after all), and try to construct a box based on the dimensions of the TV, and see what it looks like trying to take that down the steps. Well, about 20 minutes after I got off the phone, the delivery guys showed up again... So much for after 2:00... I tried to talk them into trying it down the stairs, unsuccessfully. So, they took the box off the truck, and before we know it, they took the TV out of the box, and are bringing it into our living room. My wife and I checked it out, and there was no way the two of us were going to be able to handle it down that tight space...especially with the weight of the thing... So, after they got it in our living room, I told them to take it back on the truck. T^hey had to check to see if they could, because apparently they had destroyed the box when they took it off the truck. Ugh. Well, they eventually took it away...after some bitching and complaining about extra work and having to come to our house 3 times... (like that was OUR fault?!?)

Well, at this point, I was pretty down... I didn't know what my choices were... But I wanted to go to a local Best Buy and talk to (or bitch at) someone. I went to the Southfield Best Buy (as opposed to the Madison Heights Best Buy where I encountered the b*tch sales manager), and asked right away to speak to a manager. I told him the whole story, and asked what he could do. He was actually very courteous, and promised me we would get this taken care of, one way or another. I went back and talked to the guy in video, and these are my options:

1. Try the Pioneer 53" widescreen HDTV. The dimensions are matters of just a few inches smaller of the Toshiba, yet it is more expensive... I am afraid that the delivery people will just laugh if I ask them to try this one too.

2. Go all the way down to the Toshiba 40H80. It would almost definitely fit without much complaining, but I am sacrificing 16" of diagonal screen space, and I would like the largest TV possible. On the positive side, I would get a large chink of money back.

3. Return this TV, and the manager I spoke to assured me that he would make sure I get the new Toshiba 50H81 when it comes in. To me this sounds like the best option right now. It is 80 lbs lighter than the 56H80, and is several inches less in both depth and width, so maybe the delivery people won't complain...

So, anyhow... That's the latest chapter in the story... Please feel free to leave your opinions, comments, suggestions.

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Thanks for all the advice so far folks...

Right now, I am tending to lean toward going the new Toshiba 50H81, because it is a new model with some neat features, and I'm fairly sure that a 50" TV will still look pretty huge in the space we are putting it.

This is not to say however that I still won't have problems with the Best Buy delivery people, so we shall see how that works out.

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I wouldn't, except for the huge price break that I am getting...

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Just a little update...

No TV yet. I last called Best Buy on Friday, and asked the nice manager if there was any further news on when the Toshiba 50H81 would be in stock. He checked, and the warehouse did not have an update yet. There also just happened to be a Toshiba rep there that day, but all he said was by the end of the month.

So, I plan to call again Tuesday. I am extremely anxious because I should be getting the bill for the TV any time now. The TV should be coming into stock this week from what I have heard, but they will be in limited supply... So I better get one!!!

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Peter,

I would be there tomorrow if I thought they would give me close to the deal I get with my (former)-employee discount at Best Buy. I would doubt they would be so generous as to match that deal...

P.S. As much of a motivator as commissioned sales is, and as much as I realize that it helps get better service... You know what I hate about commissioned salespeople? I am Dr. Grall. My wife is Dr. Grall. But when we go shopping, especially on weekends and in the evening, I wear casual clothes (jeans/shorts and a T-shirt). Many times I get little to no help because of how I dress. Sometimes makes me want to go up to the salesperson who is ignoring me and say, "Hi, I'm Dr. Grall...and you will not be getting the commission from my sale."

[Edited last by Andrew Grall on July 15, 2001 at 08:29 PM]

Well, I stopped in at the Southfield Best Buy this morning, and they still don't have them in stock. However, Dan (the nice manager guy) assured me that he is checking every day, and will lock one in for me as soon as he sees them in stock...

So, hopefully I will hear something positive soon...

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OK...Update...

I called my local Best Buy warehouse this morning and they have 23 in stock... So I went to Best Buy...

And they are still giving me a hard time... 1st of all, the manager I dealt with before wasn't there, so I had to tell the whole story to a different guy... He finally agrees to help me out, but the computer still says undeliverable, even though it is in stock. He says that he has to request ops to turn on delivery "early" since they weren't necessarily expecting them in stock until Aug 5th... Ops may or may not comply... meaning they may not be deliverable until Aug 5th!!!!!!!!!!! And then he says he can't return the other TV (see my other thread for details...) because it was purchased at another store, and he has to get them to return it... UGH!!!!!!!!!

Anyhow, I am going back at 2:00 - 2:30, when the other manager I have dealt with will be there. I am going to tell him that we ARE going to get this set up today, even if it means that he and I are renting a truck, driving down to the warehouse, and bringing it to my house. This is ridiculous!


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2nd update:

You won't f****** believe this...but I went back to Best Buy, and even though it is in stock, there is no way they can sell it to me because the computer still says "not deliverable". Not only that, but they can't help me exchange my former purchase for it because the only person intelligent enough to do this isn't in until Friday afternoon! So, I have to go back Friday afternoon, and hope that the computer problem is fixed by then. If not, I might have to wait until August 5th!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I want is my damn TV! Even if they can get this figured out on Friday, I probably won't be home for delivery until Wednesday at this point... Ugh...

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Well, my patience is running very thin...

Today's update:

I called in this morning, and they said the TV is deliverable. So I went in again. I talked to the inventory manager who I dealt with yesterday, and he said it is deliverable to the stores only, but if I wanted, they could have it delivered to the store, and from the store to my house... That puts us on a timetable for next Thursday...

So, I said okay...at least it's a step in the right direction. However, they still could not refund the other TV for me, because they had not received verification that the original store I was dealing with has 1 more of the 56H80's in inventory than they are supposed to. So, they are checking back into that, and I'm supposed to call again tomorrow morning... If the other store okays it, the store here in Southfield has to do a "non-physical transfer" of the extra TV to their store so that I can get the refund. Hopefully, this can all be taken care of tomorrow... Until then, I have about $4500 + tax worth of TVs on my credit cards... And, at this point, he would not give me the employee price of the new 50” TV, even though this whole thing started with my employee discount… Well, hopefully that can be cleared up by the end too…

I'll be sure to keep you all updated as to the progress of this nightmare...

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[Edited last by Andrew Grall on August 03, 2001 at 10:48 AM]