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best buy can eat my shorts (1 Viewer)

David Lambert

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Aug 3, 2001
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11,377
And, let them know they're losing a customer forever
The problem with that is this: if I stopped shopping at every single B&M where I ever encountered a rude employee, I would have no place left to buy DVDs.

Same for e-tailers. Every one I've dealt with has had a rude somebody, or a bad policy, or something that put you off.

You just have to keep it in perspective, and do what's best for yourself. As with me and the local Circuit City: they are overall the worst B&M I have ever dealt with, bar none. But every once in a while I give them a fresh chance...mostly when they have an item I'm unable to find elsewhere, or the price is super-stupid-low.

This past Friday, I did so, had a problem, and found an incredibly rude manager...who still did what it took to make me happy before I left the store. And that counted more for me than the rudeness. For the full story, see last week's (8/6) Roundup, toward the end (at the end, actually).

It's all a matter of perspective!
 

John Thomas

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Mar 23, 2000
Messages
2,634
As far as formal complaints, write the Better Business Bureau about your problems. The company in question has a finite amount of time to respond and address your complain or they are listed as a problem business.

Worth a shot.
 

Scott Weinberg

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2000
Messages
7,477
One time at Best Buy the salesgirl called me a dumb skinny dorky-looking Jewish weenie. So I punched her in the face.
Nah, just kidding. I just wanted to chime in. :)
(But I will agree with you guys: few things are as frustrating as the "casually rude" retail worker. I used to be one.)
 

GaryEA

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 2, 2001
Messages
454
You know, in all the years I put in as a clerk behind the counter of whatever store I was working at, the one thing that was at the back of my mind was that I had to help customers as best I could.

Most people who come into a store know what they want, grab it, and pay. Some customers may be clueless, others just need a point in the right direction and they're fine. Is it easy to do this? No. But I figured out that being polite, friendly, and backing off if they don't want help goes miles beyond sounding resentful or rude.

When I worked at the Wayne (Willowbrook), NJ Borders, I knew dozens of repeat customers, all of them really great and friendly, all of them interested in how my day was going as much as I wondered of theirs, all still busting my chops because I kept playing "Dr. Strangelove" on the tv in the video department I took care of. One jazz fan even starting calling me Mandrake.

It was the same in most of the jobs (and there were many because of college) before that; I put on my best face and the reward was you got to know people, and your bosses regarded you better than someone who watched the clock.

Now I go into a Best Buy and get snapped at by a girl behind the counter when I ask for an exchange, zero conversation when I pay my groceries at Shop Rite, and attitude when I ask for help in a Suncoast.

Anybody who gets a job should be thankful they have one, even if it's retail. I know retail can be hell, but it's no excuse - you have a job to do and it doesn't include pissing off the customers, some of whom may have been shopping there for years.

Make the best of it, and the shift will go a lot quicker. Plus, you may enjoy it in some way.

Gary

edit: forgot a word
 

ollie_k

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jun 6, 2002
Messages
78
www.bestbuysux.org for all your horror story pleasure
Man, there are some real good ones in there too.
I have vowed never to step in there again myself after a few negative experiences :angry: :angry: :angry: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :thumbsdown: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:
 

Josh Lowe

Screenwriter
Joined
Jun 19, 2002
Messages
1,063
This reminds me of the time a Best Buy in Atlanta lied to the police in order to have a customer arrested.

A kid printed out a (mistaken) offer from Best Buy for a Geforce 4 video card for something like $99. The real price was $399, BB made the mistake. The kid preordered one at the mistaken price. The order was accepted. He went to pick it up and they refused him. When he asked to see the manager, the manager kept him there while someone called the cops. They then had the kid arrested for trying to ROB the place.

When the detective investigating the incident found out the true story from the kid the cops apparently went back to BB and not only admonished the manager, they also threatened the manager with jail for filing a false complaint, lying to the police, etc.

Personally, I totally agree with what you said to that cashier. You KNOW the lazy manager isn't going to do anything about it, because if he was then his employees wouldn't act like that. So you might as well have gotten some satisfaction out of it.
 

Jason Harbaugh

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2001
Messages
2,968
I used to be a customer service rep for CompUSA in NYC. My god the horror stories. I don't know how many people I saw break down crying, throwing products, and causing a ruckess on the floor while the police jumped them. It truely was good entertainment for the most part but I was also the good guy. I never gave attitude even when I was getting chewed out by customers. It was just part of the job. 99% of the time it had nothing to do with me and so I just let them get it all out of their system. Kinda like the company punching bag. I've had customers dent my desk with their fists even! So now whenever I have to deal with other retails or customer service reps I'm always polite and if I ever get the attitude or rude service I just shake my head and say "you have no idea."

I will say that I have found a great Best Buy near me. They just opened this spring at Denver West. The employees are like little Angels in blue compared to some of the other Denver Best Buys. Of course that is probably because they are all new and haven't figured out the standard Best Buy way to piss off a customer yet. :b

Good customer service is so hard to find nowadays.
 

Randy_M

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 25, 2000
Messages
803
Location
Peoria, AZ
Real Name
Randy
My local Best Buy only got 7 (!) copies of The Wrath of Khan in the store for the sale week, and they were all gone by the time I got there. The blue shirt had a kind of "too bad" attitude.
I sure am glad I didn't take a raincheck, since I found it yesterday at Costco for $17.99, two bucks cheaper than Best Buy's "first week sale" price!
Do I have to bring my shorts to the store for them to eat them? :D
 

JimC_A

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Jul 24, 2002
Messages
154
There is a story about how a guy got a big screen tv for a father's day gift from Best Buy. He found out there was a new model coming out. He ordered the new model and watched the other RPTV until the new model came in three weeks later. Oh yeah...I forgot to mention he got the new model for the old model price, because of a price match, without the ad even. The delivery got screwed up, so they took an extra ten percent off for his trouble. It was only four days late. They can be bad, sad, rude, pushy, and narrowminded. I'm sure we all are at some time or another. They can also be helpful and curteous. The main thing to remember...you can always better than them by not stooping to their level or acting anywhere near their level. My personal motto is RAI. Rise Above It. Just my two cents...well, maybe three.
 

JohnMann

Auditioning
Joined
Aug 9, 2002
Messages
2
The name of the store is "Best Buy" not Best Service, implying a cheaper price. Sometimes lousy customer service is the price you pay for less expensive merchandise. Have any of you ever been to Best Buy on their day after Thanksgiving sale? What a Nightmare!
 

Dan Keefe

Second Unit
Joined
Jun 28, 2000
Messages
408
I must be the Luckiest guy in the world. The service at my Best buy is fantastic. I bought a computer there a few weeks ago, threw in some extra memory to boot. I usually would add the memory myself but it was only 10 bucks for them to do it. I walked around the store for about 20 minutes while they did it. Anyway I go to pick it up and the guy says we have a couple of problems. Immediately, all the images surrounding Best Buy I get from this forum started filling my head... The guy says we had a problem setting up the audio so we gave you the next higher model for the same price...also the memory you chose was 100 dollars, we are currently running a special if you use brand x, it is free. Now I may be a small town boy but a slightly better computer and 100 dollars of free memory sounds like a good deal to me... Some other place probably would have told me to wait for the computer and never told me about the other memory...
I think the problem is a few bad employees at Best Buy give them a bad name...but Heck, I have run into bad employees at just about every place I have ever shopped.
Just thought I would say something good about BB... plus they do seem to support wide-screen:emoji_thumbsup:
My 2 cents is free
dan
 

Christ Reynolds

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Joined
May 6, 2002
Messages
3,597
Real Name
CJ
i am a former best buy employee, and i can say the store i worked at had a very strong cultish feel to it. i wasnt a salesperson, i was stuck in the back installing mobile audio. but the saturday morning sales meetings are very strange indeed, we were pretty much forced into chants about the store, and the salespeople who sold the most MSN packets or accessories were praised, while others are shunned. i believe this has much to do with the problems people are encountering at best buys. the employees who are working there are encouraged to stick together, against the customers in many ways. someone posted something about the salesgirl saying "hes trying to cheat the store, dont you think?" sounds very much like the store i worked at. the employees would always think the customer is trying to cheat the store. very strange indeed. just check out the employee comments section on Link Removed it all gets explained there
CJ
 

Kevin Farley

Second Unit
Joined
Dec 14, 2000
Messages
395
We went to pick up a new toaster (I mean vcr) and literally had to elbow 5 best buy "salesmen" out of the way who were jabbering about poker or whatever to even look at the vcrs. Almost as a joke, I asked one of them if they knew of any relative quality differences among the vcrs, and he replied "I have a Sony at home, if it helps." I said "Actually, no, it doesn't, " and walked off. I don't even know why they have salespeople there/waste the money paying them. They definitely don't sell anything, and they don't know anything about the goods they're selling. They just seem like they're there to annoy you. Like when you walk in and get the fake "hello" to the "can I help you?" ("no.")
I tried to get a stack of cd-r's that were on sale, and the "helpful cashier" tried to deny me the posted sale price. I went to the aisle, grabbed the whole price sign, and brought it over. She had to get the manager, and finally, we got our price. We definitely complained to the manager that she was completely rude to us.
What I don't understand is why they care? I mean the employees... What do they care if you get a dollar off here or there? Hell, I'd love to hook up customers vs. towing the corporate line if I was suffering under all that bad lighting and noise for 6 bucks an hour...
 

Jeff_HR

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2001
Messages
3,593
If you don't like being treated badly in BB, simply take your $$$$ somewhere that will appreciate your business.
 

Chet_F

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 1, 2002
Messages
776
"If you don't like being treated badly in BB, simply take your $$$$ somewhere that will appreciate your business."

That's easy to say when you can afford to do that but a great deal of people have no choice.

i.e. Why would you pay 19.99 when you could pay 15.99???

I would rather put up with the occassional A-HOLE than waste my money. Then again I typically don't post about rude people becuase I know it has nothing to do with the company, it is just another A-hole trying to get to you. It seems that life is full of them but oh well that's life and that's just my 2 cents.
 

Jeff_HR

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2001
Messages
3,593
That's easy to say when you can afford to do that but a great deal of people have no choice. i.e. Why would you pay 19.99 when you could pay 15.99???
Is there no alternative to Best Buy where you live? Do you have a Circuit City near you? Their prices are very similar to BB. There are also online e-tailers that offer free shipping that have prices similar or lower than BB.
If you don't alert a company about bad or rude customer service you will continue to be victimized. Your complaint, granted may not change anything, but not trying accomplishes nothing.
 

Ian_H

Supporting Actor
Joined
Aug 6, 2001
Messages
569
What I don't understand is their new NETFLIX promotion. I am sure that they get some green from Netflix but it seems to me that it will only decrease thier sales. A couple of weeks ago I had a little fun with the blue shirts. I saw them delivering the netflix pitch so I quickly rounded up about 17 DVDs in my hands. I then walked toward the blue shirt and sure enough he asked me if I knew about Netflix. I played dumb and listened to the pitch and then I told him that it sounded great and that it would be better than buying all these discs. I took the little trial flyer from him and then handed the DVDs to him and told him I wouldn't need to buy these then and walked away. I looked back at him and he was still stunned. It seems a little odd that Best Buy wants you to rent DVDs instead of buying them. Do they own Netflix now too?


--Ian
 

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