A recent experience with Best Buy

On Friday, July 31 I decided I was going to purchase a netbook. I saw that best buy had a sale on for a Toshiba that had great specs, it was the NB200. I've always disliked Best Buy but I had to go up there anyway for something else, and my Circuit City credit card had recently been changed to a Best Buy one, so I decided to go for it.

My tale begins at the closest Best Buy to my area, the one 25 minutes away, in far Northeast Philadelphia. It was about noon. I spot the computer, ask the man working if they had any in the back, he informs me that they do not. I ask him to tell me where the closest ones are, he tells me a two stores that are 45 minutes away from my home. I thank him and get on my way.

Later that afternoon I place a call to one of the two stores that has it. It rings for 2 minutes and then a woman picks up. I ask for computers and I am dropped. I call back a second time, wait a minute and a half, ask for computers and it goes through. The phone rings for 3 minutes before I am again dropped. The third time I call the woman asks me what i need in computers and I tell her I'm looking to buy this netbook. She says she doesn't know what I'm talking about. I say,"It's in the ad.", kind of annoyed.She says, "Hold on, ma'am." I am taken aback as my voice isn't ambiguous, it's clearly male. People tell me I sound like Leonard Cohen for god's sake! So after 5 minutes of being on hold she says, "Ok, I found it. Now let me check if we have some." So another 5 minutes passes, she tells me she has them, but only in white. I thank her and tell her reserving one won't be necessary, as I was unsure if I wanted it in white at that time.

Now I decide to try BestBuy.com instead. I pick the royal blue version of the computer and add it to my cart. When I try to pay with my best buy credit card, I get an error message. After 10 minutes of changing variables and re-entering fields, I contact support. They inform me that bestbuy has not yet added cards transferred from Circuit City into the online database, so if I wanted to purchase anything online I would need to be crafty and buy an exact amount gift card, or order in store for delivery to my home.

That evening I decide that I want to get it over with and that the white looks nice. So I decide to head to the Best Buy in Cherry Hill, NJ. Here's where the real fun starts. I pick up the computer and a case for it, and the sales clerk takes the two up to the customer service desk for checkout. There were 3 actual checkouts, ALL 3 had attendants and NO customers. But we were put in line at geek squad. Meanwhile, at the same customer service desk, a young woman sat biting her nails, like there was nothing to do, despite the line of customers 3 people long. So when it's finally my turn, a man jumps in front of me and claims he was waiting for geek squad off to the side. So after about 15 minutes of waiting in line, with 4 other attendants doing nothing (not to mention the registers in each individual section), I FINALLY get to pay for my stuff. I buy the stuff, get all the way home and find that, much like me after an excursion to best buy, the power button is in a state of depression. The computer I spent hours trying to get is broken. So I pack everything back in the box and call the store back. They had 2 in stock when I purchased mine, so I figured I could get them to hold the other. After 3 minutes of waiting for someone to pick up, a woman that sounded like she just woke up answered. This woman didn't know what I was talking about. When I told her the model number she said, "That's not a model number." I said, "Really? Because Toshiba and Bestbuy.com say it is." She didn't know what was going on and said, "Yeah it's all gone we're out." So I ended the call.

A final telephone call took place, it was with the Willow Grove Store. After 2 minutes of waiting for someone to answer, the man informed me that only 2 were left. The call took place 30 minutes before closing time.

Best Buy Representative:Uhh...we got 2 here.
Me:Ok, can you hold one for me, because I just bought one and it's defective. I'll need to come in tomorrow and exchange.
Best Buy REPRESENTATIVE: :cough: My manager won't let me hold it, dude...
Me:Ugh.
I hang up and wait for the next day.


One other store in my area had the computer in stock. Willow Grove, PA. After an hour long drive we finally get there. I attempt to return the defective computer, which I do not blame BB for. The woman at returns tells me I have to wait for Geek Squad to look at it. There are 3 people ahead of me in that line. I am with some other people so they hold the broken one and wait in line while I run over to secure a (presumably) working one, I dash to the computer, grab the card and tell the attendant. "Please get me one of these so I can bring it to customer service." He looks at me and says very patronizingly, "Alright, go put that back and I'll get the computer." That was the cherry on top for me. After being violated numerous times by BB customer service in the past 24 hours, I was now subjected to this fat, sweaty, sales clerk's authority. That was wrong. I was tired because this was about 10:30 on Saturday morning and I had to wake up at 7:30 to get ready and get there.

So back in the Geek Squad line, a young woman and her husband were visibly upset with Geek Squad's limited knowledge of portable external hard drives. It was almost my turn, finally, so after about 15 minutes of waiting in line the man looks at the power button, presses it, stares at it some more and says, "Ok, return it." So now the return line, which was empty when I got there, now had 3 people in it, I walked around and demanded the exchange happen right now, I wasn't going to wait in line again, I had had enough. She processed it and I walked out with a working computer. A day later I haven't found a problem with it. This is the last time I will ever deal with Best Buy. I gave them a chance because the Circuit City credit card was a good payment option for me right now. If ever a situation like that arises again, I'll wait for whatever electronic I need rather than give any money to Best Buy.