Okay, here’s a simple call for a boycott of Best Buy. Let me tell you a story that describes the straw that broke the camel’s back (I’ve had many issues with BestBuy over the years; this is just the latest and most asinine).
When we bought all new appliances for our new house (shortly after we moved in), we purchased about $3500 worth of stuff at Best Buy, because we could get 24 months of financing without interest (“same as cash”). The salesperson convinced me to sign up for their reward card since we would immediately “earn” about $75 in coupons. We bought some more stuff later and ended up with about $105 in coupons (which would expire in late July).
We talked about what we wanted/needed for the house that $105 would help with, and what we came up with – four months ago – was outdoor speakers. We are addicted to music, and given our cool network setup we wanted to be able to enjoy it outside.
A couple months went by, then I realized that I would need to do something soon or we would lose our coupons. I did research and decided that we would get the Bose 151 SE speakers, and the $105 would make a good dent in the cost.
Then I tried to buy them.
We have four Best Buy stores near us (within 5 miles or so). At each and every one of them, I’ve had one or more of the following problems:
- No speakers on shelf, even though they have a special display.
- No salesperson available to check if in stock – for upwards of 45 minutes.
- Bose 151 SE demo station not working – ever.
- No answer at all when calling store to check stock – sometimes ringing for ten minutes.
- No answer at Home Audio department.
- On hold for upwards of 15 minutes.
- Web site says in stock, store says not.
- Web site says available in store, store says discontinued – even with non-working demo station still touting the system.
- Salesperson says “we don’t have any outdoor speakers.”
I was this close to letting the dang coupons expire. Finally, I went to a store yesterday and bought the Klipsh ones instead because I actually got hold of a human being at the store and I could see the box on the shelf.
And now they are installed (even though it’s too hot and muggy to sit outside and listen at the moment).
And I’m never shopping at Best Buy again. I encourage you to do the same. I’d rather spend more money with qualified people… or use Amazon where I don’t have to deal with human beings but get great service.
On January of 2006, I bought an Insignia 32″ LCD plasma for $1,300.00 plus a $100.00 four year service plan. A month later, I started having trouble with the screen; the picture started to look like “digital” breakup. I thought it was the cable so I inserted a dvd to see if the screen would cleared up, it did not. The trouble with the TV only got worse. I called Best Buy and they said for me to disconnect the TV for about a minute and see if the screen would look better; it did for about a day then the screen went back to being unviewable.
So, a week later, I called again and Best Buy sent a technician over to look at my TV. He said that my TV needed two parts that need to be shipped. A week later, one of the parts has arrived by UPS at my house. I called the technician and he looked at the TV again and said “the other part that you need is schedule to be shipped on May 15h.” May 15th!!!! I yelled. This being March 20th. By phone, I’ve talked to several Best Buy service managers; I’ve talked to manager Bernice,Karen, Gina, and Carmen.Before them , I talked to Ryan,Scott and Paul. They all stated that Best Buy has a policy on fixing TVs. A customer has to wait 45 days for a part, if the part is not in, “maybe you’ll get your TV replaced.” So, in the mean time, my $1.300.00 just sits there; each time I walk by, I regret buying it there.
On that day that I bought the 32″ LCD plamsa, I also bought a 27″ LCD plasma from Wal-Mart. Guess which TV I’m enjoying.
I purchased a 32″ LCD wide screen tv in Jan. 2006. I got the tv home, hooke it up, no picture with cable. Hooked up a 3yr. old 13″ tv, cable worked ok. Took tv back to store, they replaced it with same tv. Now, June 2006, sometimes tv comes on, sometimes, it does not. Best Buy sold me a service contract on this tv, however, they said they are choosing to replace the unit. Store manage, W. Warwick, RI, very rude and unco-operative, would not even answer half of my questions, said he would issue a voucher for the original price of the tv since this model has been discontinued. The tv replacement would be a Westinghouse, costing $100 less, they won’t refund the $100 to me. In addition, it is not a comparable tv, it is not a widescreen. Best Buy will not budge on this. I will never purchase anything from Best Buy again, I mean Worst Buy.