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Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Dear Best Buy, I’m writing to say goodbye. Goodbye to your massive stores, your blue and yellow color scheme, and your horrendous customer service. Goodbye to PSPs! Goodbye to those not-so-legal loss prevention stops at the front door! Goodbye to sales people that have absolutely no clue as to what they’re selling (especially the computer department)! But before I go, I thought you might like to know why I’ve decided to end my relationship with Best Buy. I might be a little presumptuous, but if the situation was reversed--and I was the one getting this letter--I would certainly be curious. Especially if the person in question had been shopping in your stores for years. Let me first start off by saying that I used to work for Best Buy in the Media Department at the Columbia, Maryland store. At the time I was fresh out of college and excited that I scored a retail gig at a place where I loved the product. Movies. CDs. I was in heaven. For about five minutes. Having just worked at a Bed, Bath, and Beyond (further down in the same shopping complex) I was able to quickly draw the conclusion that Best Buy really could not have cared less about the level of customer service they provided. If not for Bed, Bath and Beyond, I wouldn’t have been taught to actually walk a customer to what they were looking for rather than point to a general area. Furthermore, had I not familiarized myself with the rest of store, I wouldn’t have known where certain things were outside of my area. And don’t get me started on the morning meetings. Is it coincidence that all I remember from those morning meetings is “Sell PSPs!”? It could not have been drilled into my head any harder. “If someone’s buying a pack of AA batteries, make sure you sell him a PSP!” That and those accessories that make you guys so much money. During one morning meeting it was made very clear that Best Buy made very little on the sales of computers and CDs, etc. Yet a power strip that cost Best Buy pennies to buy and resell at retail for $19.99? That where the real profit is! It’s no wonder I was bombarded with powerful suggestion (and flat out BS) when I bought my last TV there. “You really need to buy this $60 Monster Cable if you want the best possible picture to come in through your DVD player.” Yeah. Right. “And you should really get a $40 PSP for that candy bar you’re purchasing.” No, thanks. You also have the worst return policies on the planet. In fact, the return policies (and an incident that resulted from those policies) were instrumental in my decision to end my employment there. There was a guy who came in to return a defective cassette that he had just purchased from the store a day or two previous. He wanted to exchange the tape for the exact same item. But he had misplaced his receipt. He went to the customer service desk to explain the situation. What could have been a very quick and painless transaction turned into an ugly scene. Rather than simply exchange the tape and send the defective one back to the manufacturer for credit (hey, every retail place does it), Best Buy would rather blow off a customer. And because of the treatment he received I would be surprised if he ever set foot in a Best Buy again. Not only that, but I can remember the number of customers in line that heard everything. You could tell from their faces that they were totally siding with this guy. He was then escorted out by Loss Prevention. Way to go, Best Buy! So that was it for me. I left and went on to work at a few other retail gigs and ultimately to the job I have now. But I continued to shop there. I bought TVs, DVD, CDs and speakers. I bought computer cables and recordable media. You knew how to keep me coming back for more. But there were occurrences that really irked me. Don’t play dumb. You know what you did to hurt me. Remember the car stereo? Of course you do. I purchased a brand new stereo for my car. The one that came with the car had fizzled out and it didn’t have an in-dash slot for a CD (it had a 6 CD changer in the trunk). I picked out a great Aiwa player. On sale. Even paid for installation. All was well. Until the player started skipping. I returned the player (I kept my receipts) and exchanged for an identical one. Install put it in for free. It still skipped. I called Best Buy. I asked “Since this player obviously sucks, can I please exchange it for a different one?” and was told that would be acceptable. So I drove to the install bay. They removed the player. I put it in the box it came in (I kept everything!). I went into the store and picked out a new (more expensive) Sony. I took them both up to customer service with all my receipts. The defective player was taken out the box and inspected and the transaction began. But then the transaction stopped. There was light pandamonium for a bit and then all of a sudden I was face-to-face with a “manager”. “We’re not going to do this exchange, sir.” I was told. “Excuse me?” I said. “Why not?” “Because the serial numbers on the player you’re returning and the serial numbers on the box do not match.” “And that’s my problem how?” I responded. “It’s your problem because the box serial numbers and player serial numbers have to match.” And then I realized what happened. THE INSTALL BAY. When I first exchanged the player for a duplicate. They didn’t give me the right box. “Actually this isn’t my problem. It’s the install bay’s problem. Whoever switched out the stereo the first time obviously gave me back the wrong box.” I explained. The “manager” just stood there looking at me like I was trying to pull one over on him. “We aren’t going to return this stereo, sir.” He wasn’t going to budge. “Look.” I said. My voice gotten a bit louder and the Loss Prevention boys became interested. One of them walked a few paces closer to where the “manager” and I were talking. “There’s my receipt. As you can see I have had a total of two of the same Aiwa stereos. Both of them skipped while driving. I was told I could come back and pick out a different brand or stereo and make an exchange. Install obviously made an error and switched up the boxes for the Aiwa’s. This isn’t my problem at all. It’s yours and the install bay’s. You can stand there looking threatening as much as you want. It doesn’t phase me. What do you think I’ve done here? Do you think I’m some sort of weird car stereo thief who goes around looking for the right model car stereo to take out of someone’s car so that I can return it (with receipts) to the store I didn’t buy it from? Is your reasoning really that ridiculous?” The “manager” started to stammer a little. “No” I said. “Pick up your phone and call the install bay. You deal with them.” The “manager” called the install bay and within seconds the problem was worked out. My transaction continued smoothly. “Would you like to purchase a PSP for your new car stereo?” No. I thought I was done then and there. But like a battered spouse I kept coming back. Best Buy abused me, sure. But look at all the stuff Best Buy has! Now enough is enough. The straw that broke the camel’s back happened in the evening hours of June 16th, 2005. The location: Best Buy, Laurel, Maryland. I had been looking everywhere for a copy of the new ‘Batman Begins’ soundtrack. No one had it. But according to Best Buy’s online reservation system, Laurel did. Hooray! I placed my online reservation (order # XXXXXX-XXXXXXXXXXX) at 2:27PM. At 3:03PM I got a notification that my order was ready for pick up. At roughly 5:15PM I left work and went directly to Best Buy, Laurel to pick up the CD. I was psyched. I walked into Best Buy, Laurel at approximately 5:45PM and stood in line with both my initial email order and pick up confirmation. I was set. When it was my turn to step up to the register I gave the clerk my order confirmation and he took it to where they keep the online reserves. He looks around in this cabinet behind the counter. He’s looking under stuff. He comes back to me empty handed. “It’s not in there.” He says. “What?!” I say. “Hold on.” He says and then calls for the media department to come help with the order. I’m just left standing there. Dumbfounded. I turn to talk to the clerk behind the counter again. “I got a confirmation that the order was pulled and waiting for me. Why isn’t it here? How does the online reservation system work here?” “I don’t really know, sir.” He answers. “Well you actually have to go and pull the product before you send out that email confirmation, right?” I push. “I don’t know how that works, sir.” The clerk has the tone of someone who’s really put out to be talking to me. Someone comes up to him. They speak for a moment. He turns back to me. "We don't have it, sir." He says. And then without an ounce of remorse or sympathy says, “Sorry.” My jaw dropped. “I want to speak to a manager.” I demand. The clerk sort of half rolls his eyes and gets on the phone to page a manager. The manager arrives at customer service. It’s now about 6:00PM. I explain what the problem is and ask again how the online reservation system works. He says he’s looking into the problem yet evades my question as to how the reservation system works. He calls up the guy working in media (presumably the person who “pulled” the CD in the first place) who has no information on it whatsoever. He doesn’t even confirm it was pulled. I ask again about the way the reservation system works and asked if my item was pulled or not. The only answer I get it that they’re looking for the CD. At 6:10PM another manager comes up and offers assistance. I have to go through the entire story for a second time. I ask again about the reservation system. Again I get no answer. Only that they’re looking for the CD. I’m left waiting there for another 30 minutes. At 6:40, the second manager I talked to comes up to me. “I’m very sorry, sir. We can’t seem to find this.” He says. “I’ve just waited here almost an hour for something that I was told would be waiting for me when I got here this evening. Why did I get a confirmation that my item was waiting for me if it was, in fact, not found?” “I don’t know, sir. I’m not exactly sure how the online system works.” He admits. “Thank you for looking.” I said, and left the store. Although that same manager did call me later that evening saying they had miraculously located the CD, I never went back. And haven’t been back since. Nor will I ever go back. Put simply, I’ve had it. That evening was such a colossal waste of time. Something that should have been a 10 minute errand turned into an hour long exercise in patience. Who is Best Buy to waste my time? I’ve learned something since breaking up with you, Best Buy: There are other fish in the sea. Walmart, Circuit City, Target, Amazon, Borders, (and the list goes on). You can count on two things from me from now on: 1) I will never set foot into a Best Buy store again. 2) I will always speak my mind about how much I think Best Buy sucks. Goodbye forever, Matt Frankenberg CC: General manager, Best Buy, Laurel, Maryland; Regional Manager, Maryland; Chairman & CEO, Best Buy Friday, November 12, 2004
We have the Holy Hand Grenade. ARTHUR: Yes, of course! The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch! 'Tis one of the sacred relics Brother Maynard carries with him! Brother Maynard! Bring up the Holy Hand Grenade! ARTHUR: How does it, um-- how does it work? LAUNCELOT: I know not, my liege. ARTHUR: Consult the Book of Armaments! BROTHER MAYNARD: Armaments, chapter two, verses nine to twenty-one. SECOND BROTHER: And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, 'O Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade that, with it, Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits in Thy mercy.' And the Lord did grin, and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals and fruit bats and large chu-- MAYNARD: Skip a bit, Brother. SECOND BROTHER: And the Lord spake, saying, 'First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin. Then, shalt thou count to three. No more. No less. Three shalt be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, nor either count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then, lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who, being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it.' |
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