A Very Unfortunate Event On December 09, I purchased two gift cards at your Aiea Store #852 in the amount of $200 each. One gift card was lost (370264201423682). I wanted to report the lost card, and transfer the balance to another card or have my credit card credited. I went back to the Aiea store on December 21 with the original receipt and waited in line approximately 10 minutes for the next available cashier. The next available cashier told me that she could not help me and directed me to the customer service area. I waited again in line approximately 20 minutes for the next available customer service representative. Upon speaking with the customer service representative she informed me that I would need to speak to a manager. I waited again approximately 20 minutes and finally spoke to a manager who told me that they are not authorized to make those types of decisions at the store level and that I would have to call and cancel the card with American Express and then call corporate best buy to have another gift card mailed to me. I had to use my own cell phone to call and cancel the gift card. I then again used my cell phone to call corporate best buy who was closed. On December 22 at 6:15am Hawaii time I called best buy corporate. I waited again approximately 20 minutes. Finally, the customer service representative said that it is store policy not to issue a credit and that the only thing that could be done was for me to wait for a new gift card in the mail. I replied that this was a Christmas gift and a card sent to me in the mail would be of no use. First of all this entire experience has been one of the worst cases of poor customer service I have ever encountered. Secondly, policies need to be changed. If you continue to conduct your business in this manner your customer satisfaction ratings and company reputation will dramatically be reduced. Negative word of mouth advertising in combination with a blog posted on the Internet is something that will hurt your companies performance. Centralization is not the key. You will fail if you do not decentralize. Give your stores the autonomy to make customer satisfaction related decisions. How simply this situation could have been resolved. Once the gift card was canceled it becomes very easy to transfer the amount to another card or credit the card that was used to purchase the gift card. How can there be fraud involved when any employee can see that the person in front of them holding the original receipt matches the photo identification card and the actual credit card that was used to make the purchase can then be credited. I expect to be compensated for this unfortunate experience. You have my phone number, email address, and physical address. You may not have my business ever again if this matter is not reasonably resolved.
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